BURT REYNOLDS TO AUCTION PERSONAL PROPERTY
In order to raise cash and save his Florida home
from foreclosure (according to The
Hollywood Reporter), Burt Reynolds is selling over 600 lots of his personal
property in Las Vegas December 11th and 12th. The 78 year old star whose impressive career took
off when he was cast as blacksmith Quint on GUNSMOKE, and has included numerous
Westerns, DELIVERANCE, the SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT movies, and an Oscar
nomination for BOOGEY NIGHTS, has had numerous health problems in recent
years. The sale, to be held at the Palms Casino Resort, will be run by Julien’s Auctions, and a look at the
on-line catalog reveals that many items already have bids, some already passing
the estimate’s high-end.
How'd you like the numbers
on Burt's Rolodex?
There is a great deal of art for sale, and many
items related to sports, both Burt Reynolds’ own career, and those of
professionals in several sports. There
are many books personalized to Burt by authors such as Louis L’Amour, Ray
Bradbury, Budd Schulberg, Ossie Davis, Robert Stack, Rudy Vallee, Roddy
McDowell, and Carol Burnett.
Sculpture by George Montgomery
Among the art items of particular interest are those
by other performers. There’s a brass
sculpture by Western star George Montgomery, a lithograph by Burt’s GUNSMOKE
co-star Buck Taylor, a sketch by Fellini, paintings by Doug McClure, Henry
Fonda, James Cagney, a poster by Red Ryder-creator Fred Harman, several by Burt’s
long-time love Dinah Shore, and a striking horse-head sculpture by Reynolds
himself.
This sculpture is Burt Reynolds' own work
Sketch by James Cagney
Among other collectibles are a slew of badges, real
and prop guns, boots and belt buckles.
You can guess who one of Burt’s personal heroes is: included in separate
lots are a leather chair, desk, and name-plate that were property of director
John Ford. There’s also a framed check
signed by Zane Grey. There are also
souvenirs given to him by Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, and signed photos and
letters from many stars, including Clayton Moore, Clint Eastwood, Steve
McQueen, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Liz Taylor, Ronald Reagan, Barbara
Stanwyck, and Katherine Hepburn.
Clayton Moore signed this pic for Burt
Zoom in to read this great letter to Burt
from Katherine Hepburn
Among the dazzling array of awards for sale,
including many Peoples’ Choice and
box-office trophies are a pair of Wrangler
awards, his Emmy for EVENING SHADE,
and his Golden Globes for EVENING
SHADE and BOOGIE NIGHTS. While few items
relate directly to specific Western movies, his hat from THE MAN WHO LOVED CAT
DANCING, and his sombrero from 100 RIFLES are up for bids. To see the entire catalog on-line, and to
bid, go HERE.
Several items belonged to John Ford
You can buy the sombrero Burt is
wearing from 100 RIFLES
‘THE ROUND-UP’ – AND HENRY C. PARKE – IN THE ‘INSP’
BLOG!
It’s shameless self-promotion time! The good folks at INSP invited me to write an
article for their blog, and the result was ‘When Times Changed, So Did TV
Westerns,’ examining how outside events effected long-running Western
series. To read it, go HERE . If you’d like to read ‘Henry C. Parke in the
Spotlight’, INSP’s Q&A with me, go HERE .
TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES AND DISNEY TO TEAM UP!
Audioanimatronic Duke in
The Great Movie Ride
A very promising teaming has been announced between
the two great entertainment concerns, and it bodes well for Western movie and
TV lovers. At Walt Disney World in Florida, TCM will help the mouse revamp one of
Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ most
popular attractions, The Great Movie Ride,
currently an 18-minute ride that is said to immerse you in classic
Hollywood, and utilizes over fifty audioanimatronic figures. Although details about changes are not yet
available, TCM host Robert Osborne will be filming a new introduction, and “inject
TCM brand authority” into the ride.
In exchange, Disney will open ‘the vault’ so TCM can
run great stuff the Disney Channel
hasn’t shown in decades. To be presented
as a ‘block’ of programming four or five times a year, the first scheduled
block will be just in time for Christmas.
On December 21st, nine items from the Disney archives will
air, including the 1932 cartoon SANTA’S WORKSHOP, the 1954 documentary THE
DISNEYLAND STORY, the feature film version of DAVY CROCKETT, KING OF THE WILD
FRONTIER, and the classic nature documentary THE VANISHING PRAIRIE. This is not the first TCM/DISNEY teaming of late:
the last two TCM Classic Cruises have been aboard The Disney Magic.
BONANZA – A VIEWER’S GUIDE TO THE TV LEGEND
If you’re a fan of Western TV, David R. Greenland’s
BONANZA – A VIEWER’S GUIDE TO THE TV LEGEND will be an indispensible volume on
your reference book-shelf. I’ve
previously reviewed his excellent book on RAWHIDE ( HERE’s the link ), and will soon review his book on GUNSMOKE. And I understand he’s got a new one on Michael
Landon, all from Bearmanor Media.
It ran for fourteen seasons, more than any other
drama series except GUNSMOKE. It was the
first hour-long drama to be shot in color.
It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of BONANZA in the
world of popular entertainment: it was the prototype for all family TV dramas,
and its echoes are heard not only in Westerns like THE BIG VALLEY and HIGH
CHAPARRAL and LANCER, rurals like DR. QUINN and LITTLE HOUSE, but Depression-era
series like THE WALTONS – any show where family is important.
Usually, by the time a series is judged worthy of
this sort of study, the principals are long gone, but Greenland convinced
BONANZA-creator David Dortort to take part on the project, and his input
elevates the telling of the history of the series from theory to indisputable
fact – and a lot of those facts are quite surprising. You’ll learn that Dortort’s original
motivation to do a show about a family was to make sure he never again got
stuck doing a series with one principal character – producing RESTLESS GUN with
John Payne was a royal pain. Also, he took his inspiration for the
Ponderosa from Camelot, seeing the Cartwrights as knights in denim armor.
Although they were largely unknown actors, he’d
worked with Michael Landon and Dan Blocker before, and wrote the roles of
Little Joe and Hoss for them – and had an awful time convincing NBC to go with
actors who weren’t names. Dortort found
his ‘Pa’ when he visited the WAGON TRAIN set, and saw no-name actor Lorne
Greene refuse to take abuse from series star Ward Bond. The last to be cast was Pernell Roberts as
Adam, and little did Dortort know how prescient his description of the
character as ‘the spoilsport of the Ponderosa’ would be. Roberts’ lack of professionalism when he’d
tired of his role is even more appalling than I thought when it was happening
back in the ‘60s. Greenland’s research
is remarkably in-depth. I knew that
Victor Sen Young, who played the Cartwrights’ cook, Hop Sing, had played Tommy
Chan in the CHARLIE CHAN movie series many times, but I had no idea he was
Captain in Air Force Intelligence during World War II.
Greenland examines all of the Cartwrights’ careers
at length, before and after BONANZA, then analyzes the series season by season,
marking high and low points, discussing guest stars, writers and directors, and
their contributions. I was particularly
interested to learn how early on Michael Landon began writing and then
directing episodes. Daringly, Greenland
suggests that BONANZA started off weak, story-wise, and improved with each
season. He notes where episodes were
shot, and to what effect locations were used.
There are chapters on the show’s legacy, the collectibles, and then a season
by season, episode by episode guide, with cast and crew, plot summary and often
interesting details of the production.
The book was first published in 1996, and this is a
reprint – not an update. Hence, its
narrative is frozen in the1990s, so it makes no mention of the deaths of David
Dortort or star Pernell Roberts. You’re
encouraged to visit Incline Village, home of the Ponderosa location which,
regrettably, closed in 2005. Much is
said about the now defunct Family Channel,
which was airing the series, but not all
of the episodes, back then. Nothing is
said about INSP, ME-TV or TV-LAND, which air the series today. The shows then available on VHS tapes are
listed, but not current DVDs – I’ve been looking on Amazon, and can’t figure if
the whole series is available, or not. The book lacks an index, so you cannot look up guest stars or directors or writers,
or titles. To find an episode, you’ll
need to know its year, and search through the titles. Also, this reprint was made by
photographing each page of the earlier edition. As a result, the photographs have the grey,
grainy quality of a photocopy.
BONANZA – A VIEWER’S GUIDE TO THE TV LEGEND is a
carefully researched, entertainingly written book with a wealth of information
for the legions of BONANZA fans. It’s
available for $24.95 from Bearmanor Media
HERE
FRENCH WESTERN ‘BUFFALO RISING’ MAKING FEST ROUNDS
‘BUFFALO RISING’ is the story of a father and young son,
Tom and Jack, moving their herd to market, hoping to raise a big enough stake to
move to California, and what happens when they cross paths with bison and bad
men. With a French cast and crew, but
dialogue recorded in English, much was lensed at a Randall Bisons, a huge ranch
in the middle of France, on the hills of Cevennes. It’s written by Laurent Bertin and Pierre
Yves-Hampartzoumian, and directed by Pierre. Filmed this past June, the fourteen-minute
film will play on December 10th at the Almeria Western Film Festival, and then it’s on to other festivals,
even as pre-production for the feature-length version has begun.
Here is a teaser trailer. I’ll have more to tell you about this one
soon.
THAT’S A WRAP!
As I write, it’s been pouring rain all day – which in
L.A. is a blessing! Next week I plan to
have an in-depth article on the filming of BOONVILLE REDEMPTION, which I
understand is near completion! Have a
great week!
Happy Trails,
Henry
All Original Contents Copyright November 2014 by
Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved
Thanks, Henry!
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