LONGMIRE, LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES REVIEWED

TV Series Review – LONGMIRE

With the success of TRUE GRIT and HELL ON WHEELS, and the anticipation for Quentin Tarantino’s DJANGO UNCHAINED, every network, and many cable outlets, announced pilots for Western series.  In the recently posted TV schedules, however, these new Westerns are conspicuously absent with one exception, and that is LONGMIRE, a present-day Western which premieres on Sunday, June 3rd, for a ten episode first season on the A&E Network. 

Craig Johnson has written eight Walt Longmire mystery novels since he began with the critically acclaimed THE COLD DISH in 2004, and he set the stories in modern-day Wyoming.  This is a familiar world to Johnson, whose ranch borders both Crow and Cheyenne reservations.  The TV series is likewise set in Absaroka County, Wyoming, where Walt Longmire is sheriff.  Australian actor Robert Taylor plays Longmire, and he’s fine casting as the easy-going-until-you-cross-him sheriff.  He seems like an amalgam of all the young guys who populated 1960s Warner Brothers Western series – CHEYENNE, BRONCO, LAWMAN, LARAMIE – but now he’s in his late forties, with joys and sorrows in his past.   His wife died a year ago, and he still has her outgoing message on the answer-machine.  His daughter Cady (Cassidy Freeman) can’t even get him to give up her mom’s ashes so they can be buried.  She worries about him.  Everyone worries about him, especially after a car wreck: is he drinking too much?  Is he cracking up?

Longmire is assisted by three deputies.  Blonde Katee Sackhoff, lately of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, plays Vic Moretti, who is doing her best, but would be much more comfortable back in a big city police department.   Adam Bartley plays ‘the Ferg,’ young and soft and inexperienced, and looking for a chance to work in the field.  Handsome and ripped Bailey Chase, whose career got kick-started by BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, plays Branch Connally, the kind of co-worker you’d only learn was gunning for your job if you spotted a campaign poster.

The pilot episode centers on a sheep-killing that leads to a man-killing, prostitution on the res, a runaway Indian girl, and an old Sharps rifle.  It’s a tight and logical mystery, and populated with the kind of rural characters not found in cop shows.  It’s not a cop show, after all, but a sheriff show, even more so than JUSTIFIED is. 

Lou Diamond Phillips

Among the people Longmire turns to for help is friend and saloon owner Henry Standing Bear, played by YOUNG GUNS’ Lou Diamond Phillips.  Happily, he’s a continuing character.  The guest cast includes the lovely Irene Bedard from SMOKE SIGNALS, and Zahn McClarnon as Mathias, a res cop who has no patience when Longmire steps onto the res and out of his jurisdiction. 

If the pilot is a fair indication, LONGMIRE successfully balances having satisfying and thought-provoking mysteries, and characters worth thinking about after the end-titles have rolled.  I’m setting my DVR for the series now.

Movie Review – ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES

Before you try to correct me, no, I don’t mean ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER.  That Tim Burton-produced movie, which opens on June 22^nd, is reportedly budgeted at $85 million.  ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES, which will be available on video May 29^th, reportedly cost $150,000.  I watched it last night, and found it morbidly delightful.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES is a production of The Asylum Film Company, which is currently celebrating its 15^th year and 100^th movie.  If you are not familiar with The Asylum, they’ve created a kind of movie called ‘The Mockbuster,’ a movie that follows on the publicity coattails of big budget movies, either making fun of them, or frankly trying to confuse the consumer into renting the wrong one.  Their ALMIGHTY THOR is based on the Norse myth rather than the comic books; their SHERLOCK HOLMES, while lacking Robert Downey Jr., was shot in Ireland and featured a tyrannosaurus rampaging through London; their JOHN CARTER OF MARS is based on the same public domain Edgar Rice Burroughs novel as JOHN CARTER; and yes, they produced TITANIC 2.  They’ve also made 6 GUNS, a very low-budget but very watchable western starring Barry Van Dyke.

I cannot say how close the ZOMBIES version is to Seth Grahame-Smith’s best-selling novel, ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, because I haven’t read it, and my impression (possibly wrong) is that few people have.  It’s the sort of book you buy not to read, but to give to your history teacher to amuse or upset her.  But the story in this one is by Karl T. Hirsch and J. Lauren Proctor, and it’s scripted and directed by Richard Schenkman, who first made a splash when he wrote and directed THE POMPATUS OF LOVE.  As someone says in the ‘making of’ featurette, it’s not historically accurate so much as an alternative to historical accuracy.

As the movie begins, we first see the future Great Emancipator killing a zombie as a child.  Then later, now president, in the midst of Civil War, while calming Mary Todd Lincoln’s fears about his safety as he prepares his Gettysburg Address, what stuns the viewer is the absolute seriousness with which the filmmakers attack their story.  While the premise is obviously nutty, this movie is a comedy with not one spoken joke, with not a wink to the audience in the entire film.  Bill Oberst Jr., who plays Lincoln, is not a familiar actor to me – no one in the entire cast is – and yet he brings a seriousness, dignity and heart to his performance that moves you, and compares well with Royal Dano (Disneyland’s GREAT MOMENTS WITH MR. LINCOLN) or any of the hundreds of previous Lincoln portrayals.    

A group of soldiers have been sent by the White House on a secret mission down south.  Only one comes back, and he has become a zombie.  The president, fearing a zombie outbreak could decimate the country’s population, assembles a dozen of his best men and, as the only one with first-hand zombie-fighting experience, leads them into the deep South, to the fort where the outbreak began, and there he must fight not only zombies but Confederate General Stonewall Jackson (Don McGraw).  The fort is where most of the film occurs, and it was shot in Savannah, Georgia, at Ft. Pulaski National Monument, the site of an early battle of the Civil War, and the first post of Robert E. Lee after he left West Point. 

From this point on, the story resembles Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, except that the small group being attacked by zombies is the president and his team in a fort, rather than a group of random people in a Pittsburgh farmhouse.  If your suspension of disbelief lets you accept that people can be menaced by zombies in the first place, it’s no more of a stretch to have the president in that situation than anyone else.  And the cast members, while not familiar, are uniformly convincing in their performances. 

Cinematographer Tim Gill makes excellent use of the Georgia locations, and the color has been adjusted to frequently make the images nearly black and white, which lends a nice subconscious Matthew Brady effect.  The art direction, costumes and props all feel correct for the period, and the make-up, zombie as well as normal, is convincing.  My only criticism of the look of the film is that, while two of the female leads, played by Baby Norman and Hannah Bryan, are quite beautiful, their hair is much too modern for the period.

While you don’t need to be an expert on Lincoln to enjoy the movie, the writers have utilized enough of his words to give the savvy viewer a wry grin, especially in the speech by another character that inspires what will become the Gettysburg Address.  There are also some great cameos by real historical figures,  some that are funny for their logic and some for their arbitrariness. 

While I doubt it will replace our memories of Henry Fonda in YOUNG MR. LINCOLN or Raymond Massey in ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS, it’s entertaining in its silly earnestness, and certainly worth what Redbox will charge you.  Mr. Oberst’s performance of the Gettysburg Address near the end is beautiful in its delivery and simplicity.  And the audacity of the very end of the movie – once you get it – will make your jaw drop.

‘LEGEND ON HELL’S GATE’ FINDS A DISTRIBUTOR!

Back in February, I reviewed THE LEGEND OF HELL’S GATE (you can see it HERE ), and offered readers a discounted on-line screening of the movie.  I’m very happy to report that HELL’S GATE has been picked up by for distribution by LIGHTNING ENTERTAINMENT, and will be released on DVD on June 19^th.  I’ll be featuring my interview with writer/director/costar Tanner Beard here in the Round-up within the next couple of weeks!

TV WESTERNS ALL OVER THE DIAL!

More and more, classic TV Westerns are available all over the TV universe, but they tend to be on small networks that are easy to miss. Of course, ENCORE WESTERNSis the best continuous source of such programming, and has been for years. Currently they run LAWMAN, WAGON TRAIN, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, LAREDO, RAWHIDE, GUNSMOKE, THE REBEL, and MARSHALL DILLON, which is the syndication title for the original half-hour GUNSMOKE.

RFD-TV is currently showing THE ROY ROGERS SHOW, first at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Pacific Time, then repeated several times a week. They show a Royfeature every Tuesday as well, with repeats -- check your local listings.

INSP-TVshows THE BIG VALLEY Monday through Saturday,LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE seven days a week, DR. QUINN: MEDICINE WOMANon weekdays, and BONANZA on Saturdays.


WHT runs DANIEL BOONE on weekdays from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., Pacific Time, but they’ve just stopped showing BAT MASTERSON. They often show western films on the weekend, but the schedule is sporadic.


TVLAND has dropped GUNSMOKEafter all these years, but still shows four episodes of BONANZAevery weekday.

For those of you who watch TV with an antenna, there are at least a couple of channels that exist between the standard numbers – largely unavailable on cable or satellite systems – that provide Western fare. ANTENNA TV is currently running RIN TIN TIN, HERE COME THE BRIDES, and IRON HORSE.


THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

Built by cowboy actor, singer, baseball and TV entrepeneur Gene Autry, and designed by the Disney Imagineering team, the Autry is a world-class museum housing a fascinating collection of items related to the fact, fiction, film, history and art of the American West. In addition to their permenant galleries (to which new items are frequently added), they have temporary shows. The Autry has many special programs every week -- sometimes several in a day. To check their daily calendar, CLICK HERE. And they always have gold panning for kids every weekend. For directions, hours, admission prices, and all other information, CLICK HERE.


HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM

Across the street from the Hollywood Bowl, this building, once the headquarters of Lasky-Famous Players (later Paramount Pictures) was the original DeMille Barn, where Cecil B. DeMille made the first Hollywood western, The Squaw Man. They have a permanent display of movie props, documents and other items related to early, especially silent, film production. They also have occasional special programs. 2100 Highland Ave.,L.A. CA 323-874-2276. Thursday – Sunday 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. $5 for adults, $3 for senior, $1 for children.

WELLS FARGO HISTORY MUSEUM

This small but entertaining museum gives a detailed history of Wells Fargo when the name suggested stage-coaches rather than ATMS. There’s a historically accurate reproduction of an agent’s office, an original Concord Coach, and other historical displays. Open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Admission is free. 213-253-7166. 333 S. Grand Street,L.A. CA.

That's it for now, pardners!  Next week I'll have my review of the HATFIELDS & MCCOYS miniseries, and all about the Spaghetti Western Festival at FILM FORUM in New York.

Happy Trails!

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright May 2012 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

‘REBEL’ CREATOR ANDREW J. FENADY

Andrew J. Fenady is a writer and producer who will not stop working.  On Saturday night, when I offered him a draft of this article for his comments, he asked me to FAX it to his office, as he’ll be going in to work at 9:00 a.m. – on Sunday!  When I asked him what he’d been up to, he said he’d just sent 73,000 words of his new western novel, DESTINY MADE THEM BROTHERS, to his publisher, Kensington.  He told me it’s about three great men who cross paths: U.S. Grant, George Armstrong Custer, and Johnny Yuma – the character he created for Nick Adams 53 years ago for THE REBEL.

A.J. Fenady, Nick Adams, Irvin Kershner

A. J. Fenady has been creating exciting and thought-provoking entertainment for the small screen, big screen, stage and page since he started as a self-described ‘stooge’ on the documentary series CONFIDENTIAL FILE in 1953.  He went on to create, write and produce THE REBEL, to rescue and revamp BRANDED, to adapt John Wayne’s movie HONDO into a TV series, and to write and produce the Duke in CHISUM.  And the movies he’s made for theatres and TV include RIDE BEYOND VENGEANCE, BLACK NOON, THE MAN WITH BOGART’S FACE, THE HANGED MAN, TERROR IN THE WAX MUSEUM, and many more.  I was grateful that he took some time off to talk to me about his career for the Round-up.

Andrew:  I just fired up my favorite cigar, Romeo Y Julietta Cedro #1, so fire away.

Henry: That’s Cuban, isn’t it?

A: No, no.  It’s Cuban seed, but Dominican Republic.  I’ll tell you, those Cubans are so damned strong.  When we were shooting up in Canada, the prop me gave me a box of Cuban cigars.  After I smoked a few of those damned lung-cloggers I said, “Go back to the station and get some American cigars: these things are killing me!”

H: What were you shooting in Canada?

A: We shot a lot of things there.  The first thing was a two-hour TV movie with Bob Hope and Don Ameche, A MASTERPIECE OF MURDER.  It’s the only TV movie that Bob Hope ever did, and it did very, very well, and Don Ameche was just a wonderful man to work with.  And after that we did YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS.  We also did THE SEA WOLF with Charles Bronson up there.

H: Did you always love westerns?

A: Yes.  When I was a young fellow I had an old broom, and I sawed the end off, and I would ride around the neighborhood.  And that stick was Tony, and I was Tom Mix.  So it goes back to that.  And in those days there were two tiers of Western movies, of western stars.  The Saturday matinees and the serials – there were people like Bob Steele and Buck Jones and Hoot Gibson and Ken Maynard.  And then on Sunday – well, at first John Wayne was in the lower tier, but then he graduated with STAGECOACH.  And then there were people like Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea and the Duke.  So we had the 60 minute cheapies, and we also had things like THE PLAINSMAN, and UNION PACIFIC to go to on Sundays.  There was a movie theatre in Toledo called THE REX, and the admission price was a nickel.  And I went there one day and put down my nickel, and she said, “Ten cents.”  And I said, “What?!”  I was shocked, shocked, as Claude Rains would say.  Twice as much money to see the same damned picture. 

H: You’ve had a very extensive career as both a writer and a producer.  Which do you think of yourself as, primarily?

A: You know, I am what they call a hyphenate.  A hyphenate wears two hats.  The old saying is two heads are better than one, but that’s only true when one head knows what the hell the other one is doing.  But the billing is writer-producer because of the saying, first comes the word.  Well, that’s really not true either.  First comes the idea.  Words come from ideas, not ideas from words, so you’ve got to have some kind of a concept or some kind of a character.  And for many years I had the advantage of being the writer, which means you might as well be living up in a cave, cloistered, and putting down your thoughts.  Then, when you become a producer you pick up the phone and say, “Let’s get together.”  And forty-seven guys come in and say, “What, chief?  What what what what?”  When I felt kind of cramped (as a writer), then I got to be the producer and we were in the wide open spaces.  

H: You’ve done movies and TV shows in a wide range of genres, but more westerns and crime stories than anything else.  Why do you think you focused there?

A: I’ll tell you.  I really started out in this business with Paul Coates’ CONFIDENTIAL FILE.  I started out sort of as a stooge, then did some parts in the documentaries.  Then I started giving them some ideas, and making outlines of what we were going to shoot.  A lot of it dealt with crime, with dope, counterfeiting, and used car rackets – I mean, we exposed every racket in the world except tennis racquets.  So crime was sort of my beginning and my background in documentaries.  And the first feature that we did, STAKEOUT ON DOPE STREET (1958) was about three kids who find a quarter of a million dollars worth of heroin, and they don’t even know what it is.  So the mob is after them, the cops are after them, and other kids are after them.  But the switch to Westerns was because as a kid I was interested in Westerns – who the Hell wasn’t?  We all had those six shooters and caps, and Westerns were the rage on television. 

H: How did you get together with Nick Adams?

A: I got the rights to THE EXECUTION OF PRIVATE SLOVIK, and we had it all set up.  Niven Bush and I were going to co-write the screenplay, Irvin Kershner was going to direct it – this was after we’d done some pretty good things.  And Paul Newman said he wanted to play it.  Well, I get a letter from Nick Adams saying, ‘Look Mr. Fenady.  I know you’ve got Paul Newman, but if anything should happen to him, I should play Eddie Slovik.  Eddie Slovik was Polish – I’m Polish.  Eddie Slovik was from Detroit – I’m from Detroit.’  The Polish part was true, the Detroit part wasn’t, but it didn’t matter.  He said, ‘Can I buy you lunch? I’d like to meet you.’  I said okay, fine.  We had lunch, and I paid for it.  But then he kept pestering me.  He’d come over and say, ‘Listen, do me a series – I want to do a series.’  I said, ‘Well Nick, what do you want to do?’  He said, ‘I do a great Jimmy Cagney.  Something like a JOHNNY COME LATELY.’  I said no.  He said, ‘How about something like Cary Grant on GUNGA DIN?’  No, no no.  Well, eight of the top ten shows on television were westerns, at the time.  GUNSMOKE and HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL and all of those.  I said to him and Kershner, ‘Boys, if we’re gonna do a television series, we’re gonna do a Western.’  So I sat down and wrote the damned thing.  We took it to Dick Powell, who was a friend of mine; we were going to do a feature once.  And he’d said, if you ever want to do television, let me have a look at it first.  He looked at the script for THE REBEL and said, ‘We’ll do this on ZANE GREY THEATRE next year as a pilot, like we did WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE,’ and a couple of the other things that he sold.  Great!  Now this goes back to how we got involved with Goodson Todman Productions.  While I was preparing a feature at Paramount, Kershner did a PHILIP MARLOWE (episode) – that was the first project they had that wasn’t a quiz show.  They only did thirteen episodes.  We were pretty hot – our names were in the paper all the time.  And a fellow that worked there, a vice president, Harris Katleman, who is still around, said, ‘Do you and your partner have any westerns?  We’d like to do a Western.’  And Kershner said, ‘Well, we do, but we’re going to do it with Dick Powell.’  (Katleman) called me.  I said THE REBEL’s already promised to Dick Powell, but take a look at it, and if you like it, I’ll write another one for you.  So he read it, called me back and said, ‘How much would it cost to shoot this picture?’  I didn’t know how much.  I grabbed a figure and said, fifty thousand dollars.  He called me back and said Mark and Bill will put up fifty thousand up front: fifty-fifty.  We’re partners if you want to do THE REBEL, and we’ll do it now.  I said, we can’t.  He said, I don’t think Dick Powell would stand in your way.  Why don’t you go see him?  Dick Powell said, God bless you, go ahead and do it.  Who the Hell knows what’s going to happen between now and next year.  Give ‘em Hell.  So that’s how the association with Goodson Todman came about.   We shot the damned thing in four days, and the irony is that at ABC there was only one half-hour left.  And it was between a Four Star pilot (Dick Powell’s company) that they did with Michael Ansara, and THE REBEL, and THE REBEL beat out the other pilot.  And the first one to call was Dick Powell, and he said, hey, we’ve got a lot of pilots.  You only had one.  I’m glad that it turned out this way.  And after this if you want to see me any time the door’s wide open. 

H: Now Irvin Kershner is quite a director.  All of the serious STAR WARS people always say that THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is the great Star Wars movie.  What was he like as a guy?    

A: Well, Kershner and I were like brothers – we lived together for years when we were doing CONFIDENTIAL FILE.  We were joined at the hip and in other places. (laughs)  So we truly got along.  Now Kershner always had kind of a hesitation at the beginning of each day.  All he needed was a, ‘Come on Kershner!’  A kick in the ass, really.  And once he got going it was in a fury.  He was terrific.  But when you ask, what kind of a director was he?  Well, he was a silent picture director.  Because CONFIDENTIAL FILE was silent.  We did 150 episodes, and we only had dialogue in about five of them.  So it was a silent picture technique.  The story was told in pictures, but when someone spoke, it meant something.  That’s the way that we worked. 

H: Very interesting.  I’ve never been able to find any CONFIDENTIAL FILE episodes. 

A: Well, they’re around.  We did one on capitol punishment.  He and I and a fellow named Gene Petersen – that was the entire staff – we went up to San Quentin, and I’m the only one who sat in one of those two chairs in the gas chamber, got strapped in, and got up and walked out.  I played the part and wrote the narration and produced the damned thing.  You can’t find that kind of experience today.  You can’t buy it.  One day we do that and the next week we do the John Tracy Clinic, or we do blind children, and then we do homosexuals; so in 150 episodes we did every kind of picture that was imaginable. 

H: Getting back to Nick Adams, did he really co-create the REBEL?

A: Oh, that’s another story.   He read the thing and he said, ‘Let’s say that we co-created this.’  And I didn’t care. Hell, I figured I was going to go on and do a lot of other things.  If this helps the kid out, that’s okay.  If you look at him, he wasn’t a leading man.  But put him in that damned costume and he’s suddenly a leading man; and he was a talented fellow, and he was the most cooperative kind of a star you’d ever want.  Just a prime example is, we’d shoot a day out on location, out in Thousand Oaks, or Vasquez Rocks, and Nick bought a house out there in the Valley.  We’d have a stretch-out, be on the way over there, and he would (meet us) in a gas station, already be in his outfit, be standing there waiting for us, and this is sometimes in the bitter cold of December, January.  We’d slow down the stretch-out, he’d hop in and – zoom -- out we’d go, do the day’s work, and on the way back we’d dump him off at the same place.  There weren’t many guys like that around.  There weren’t then, and there aren’t now.  Another thing about Nick was, if we were running behind, I’d save his close-ups and not shoot ‘em, and say, ‘Nick, we’ll do this later.’  And sometime later on, two or three episodes after that, when we were ahead, I’d say okay Nick, we’re going to do all your close-ups from all the shows.  He’d say, ‘Okay, who are you?’  I’d read the lines offstage.  ‘I’m Agnes Moorehead.’  He’d take a look at the script – ‘I remember that one.  Let’s go.’  And we would shoot the close-ups for that one.  Then we’d shoot the close-ups for Carradine, or whoever the Hell else that we weren’t able to get.  That’s the kind of a guy he was, too. 

H: It’s so sad, he died so young.  Do you think he would have gone on to be a big leading man?

A: Well, I don’t know about the leading man part.  But I think that he was the kind of a guy that, as he grew older, he would settle into more character parts, and be very comfortable doing that.  So I think he had a future.  No doubt about it in my mind. 

H: The character of Johnny Yuma is a Confederate veteran with ambitions to be a writer, which is not the goal of your standard western hero.  How much of Johnny Yuma was Andrew Fenady?

A: I didn’t tell this to Nick until the second season.  I said, ‘Nick, you know what we’re doing, don’t you?’  “Yeah, yeah – we’re doing THE REBEL.’  I said, ‘Nick, we’re doing Jack London.  We’re doing a story of a young man who had a limited education, who had fought a war, only not with guns and with bullets, but against poverty.  He wanted to be a writer, and he realized that you couldn’t write it unless you lived it.  So he did everything he wrote about.  He was a sailor, he was a miner, he was a farmer, he was a fighter, and this was my inspiration for THE REBEL; it was Jack London.’  And how much of that is Fenady?  Well, I don’t know, maybe 90% is Jack London, or maybe fifty fifty, half Jack London and half Fenady.

H: Now you couldn’t write them all yourself.  Who were the best writers you were working with? 

Nick Adams with Strother Martin 

A: The best writers I ever worked with – are you ready? – were Emily Bronte, Jack London, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett.  I once said to my son, who is a writer, ‘My boy, if you’re ever going to get a collaborator, get a dead one.  They’re the best kind.  They don’t give you any damned trouble at all.’  It’s true that a lot of the stuff that I did is based on classics.  RIDERS TO MOON ROCK, that’s a western version of WUTHERING HEIGHTS.  THERE CAME A STRANGER is really a western version of DOUBLE INDEMNITY.  There are only so many plots – some people say there are nine plots, other people say there are seven, some say there’s only one plot.  Somebody loses something.  That’s the plot.  Or vice versa – somebody finds something, like John Steinbeck’s PEARL.  So never mind the plot, give me a character; give me somebody that people are interested in.  What about this guy?  Here’s a guy who has his face changed to look like Humphrey Bogart.  That’s interesting – what’s he gonna do?  What’s on his mind?  You’ve got to have somebody that people are interested in.  Bill Goldman (BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID), who’s a damned good writer, just kept saying ‘Structure, structure.’  Well, he’s wrong: it’s the character and conflict that makes for an interesting story.  And I always had characters that were interesting, conflict, something that was almost impossible to do.  Something that the odds were against you. 

H: THE REBEL was your first series as a creator and producer.  And you made 79 half hours in two seasons, which would be four or five seasons now.  The pace must have been grueling.  How did you get it all done?

A: Well, I’ll tell you how: because I was young, ambitious and ignorant.  (laughs) That was the whole thing.  The first 26 years that Mary Frances and I were married I never took a day off including Saturdays and Sundays, until we did THE MAN WITH BOGART’S FACE, and they sent us to Cannes.  And I said, ‘Mary Frances, we’ve been doing this all wrong!’  Listen, in those days it was easier.  You could talk to somebody who had some authority.  You know, these days it’s all corporate.  No one person can take the credit or will take the blame.  When we did THE YOUNG CAPTIVES, I wrote a script, we went over to see D. A. Doran at Paramount, and he could greenlight any picture up to $250,000.  Well he liked the script, and he said, ‘Boys, how much can you make this for?’  I said, ‘D.A., we’re going to make this one for $215,000.’  He said, ‘Shoot it!’  Well, you can’t get that kind of a go-ahead today. 

H: Where was THE REBEL shot? 

A: We shot it in three days.  We were in profit right from the first day.  We got $40,000 for each episode the first year.  And I made ‘em for 38, 39 thousand dollars.  And every once in a while I would do what I called a DESPERATE HOURS or a PETRIFIED FOREST, an episode that only took place in one place.  Some of them went down to $29,000.  But what we would do is we would shoot one day on location.  Vasquez Rocks, and a lot in Thousand Oaks.  And the second day we would shoot on the lot; the (western) street at Paramount.  The third day we would do the interiors, whether it was someone’s house, or a shack, or a hotel or a jail.  A sheriff’s office.  So that was really the formula: first day out, second day on the street, and the third day interiors. 

H: I know you used some other western towns, because I’ve seen still of you shooting in Corriganville.

A: Oh, well that was where the pilot was shot.  Wonderful place.  And also we shot out at Fort Apache that (John) Ford built.  We shot the third episode I wrote out there; it was called YELLOW HAIR. 

H: In THE REBEL and later in BRANDED you attracted a remarkably high level of actors, who didn’t usually do half-hour episodics.  John Carradine, John Ireland, Joan Leslie.

A: Well, what my plan was, I didn’t want to pay people a lot of money.  But on the third episode, I rewrote this thing; it was a strong woman’s part.  And I sent it over to Agnes Moorehead.  Now I knew her slightly.  And everybody said, ‘Jesus Christ, she wants more money than we really should pay anybody.  Andy, why are you paying her so much money?’  I said, ‘I’ll tell you why.  Because if Agnes Moorehead does a REBEL, I can’t think of many actors who would turn it down.’  I could always say, ‘Agnes Moorhead did it, fellows.  Now here’s how much money we’ve got.  You want to do it?’  And I would say 99% of the time the actor wanted to do it.  Of course the scripts were good, too. 

Agnes Moorhead

H:  They sure were.  And the one with Aggie was particularly good. 

A: Yeah, Bob Steele was in that, too. 

H: Who were your favorite actors that you worked with in guest roles?

A: On THE REBEL?  Well, John Carradine of course.  We got to be very good friends.  He was in the pilot.  I’ll tell you about that.  Stallmaster-Lister were so-called doing the casting, and when I wrote the pilot, I said, ‘Look, I wrote this part for John Carradine,’ though I’d never worked with him.  They said, ‘Ahh, you don’t want him.  We’ve had some bad experiences with him, and he’s done those horror movies, and blah blah blah.’  So finally they convince me; J. Pat O’Malley was going to play that part.  He’s good, but he’s not John Carradine.  Well, the good Lord or an angel must have been looking over my shoulder, because I get a call from O’Malley, and he says, ‘I know I’ve got a contract, and I’ll honor it, but I’ve got a chance to do a feature.  Could you excuse me from this?’  And I said, ‘You bet.’  I called Stallmaster-Lister and said, ‘Get me John Carradine, and I don’t want to hear any buts.  This was meant to be.’  So he did that, and after that we did a dozen things together.  And a real pro, always prepared, just a gentleman.  You know I went to his funeral, and Harry Townes, the actor -- he was in the pilot for THE YANK, and I used him in BRANDED and several other things.  And I go to the funeral, it’s an Episcopal Church in Hollywood, and who is the priest but Harry Townes.  And he performed the ceremony.

RIDE BEYOND VENGEANCE

H: I have the feeling that Michael Rennie must have been a favorite, because it’s so unusual to see him in any Westerns but yours. 

A: That’s right.  We got Michael Rennie to do that (BRANDED), and we became not real friends, but we had respect for each other.  And then, when RIDE BEYOND VENGEANCE came along, I thought Michael Rennie, and he did the part and was very, very good.  Another pro. 

H: Were there any actors that you wanted to work with that you didn’t get?

Chuck Connors in RIDE BEYOND VENGEANCE

A: Not there.  But I’ve never worked with James Garner, and I would have loved to do something with him.  And Clint Eastwood and Clint Walker.  As a matter of fact, I may as well tell you this now; when I got RIDE BEYOND VENGEANCE and wrote the script, I wrote it for Clint Walker.  Because (the character) was supposed to be a big, strong fellow.  And I like Clint; we were pals.  Never worked together.  And I took it to Joe Levine, the sonuvabitch.  And he said, ‘Great, we’ll do it.  You’ve got a deal.’  Then he calls me up and says, ‘I don’t want to do it with Clint Walker.  You might as well do it with King Kong.’  So that fell apart.  But in the meanwhile, I did BRANDED, and Chuck Connors, who is a terrific actor, is also a thief.  One day I had a script for RIDE BEYOND VENGEANCE – it was called NIGHT OF THE TIGER then – on my desk, and it was missing.  And I said to my secretary, ‘Erika, did you take that script?’  ‘I didn’t take it.’  Well in walks Chuck Connors a couple of hours later.  He slams the script on the desk and said, ‘Goddamnit, I’ve got to do this picture!’             

COMING SOON – PART TWO, featuring A.J. Fenady’s memories of BRANDED, HONDO, and John Wayne!

TOMBSTONE CAST REUNION IN DALLAS, MAY 4-6

It’s about the last place you’d expect to have a TOMBSTONE reunion, but when you think about it, it makes sense.  Dallas' TEXAS FRIGHTMARE WEEKEND, to be held at the Hyatt Regency at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport, is a gathering of horror movie stars and their fans, but there is a lot of crossover from genre to genre, and Signing Convention Agent Scott Ray had three clients attending who were, in addition to being in horror flicks, all TOMBSTONE cast-members.  Dana Wheeler-Nicholson plays Wyatt’s opium-addicted wife Mattie Earp; Joanna Pacula is Doc Holliday’s paramour Kate; and the great Buck Taylor plays Turkey Creek Jack Johnson – Buck has never done an autograph show before, so getting him is something of a coup.  In addition, also attending will be Michael Rooker, who plays Sherman McMasters, and Michael Biehn – unforgettable as Johnny Ringo.  Although the details aren’t set yet, there’s sure to be autographs, photo opportunities, and a panel discussion. 

Dana Wheeler-Nicholson

Joanna Pacula

Scott Ray tells me that he hoped to get in a few other TOMBSTONE names, but the event managers were very strict, and only approved those with legit horror bona fides.   I’m hoping it’s a big success – if it is, Scott is already talking about getting more TOMBSTONERS together for a California show. 

Buck Taylor

Michael Rooker

Among the non-TOMBSTONE attendees who will be of interest to Western fans are Ernest Borgnine, Kim Darby, Michael Madsen, Piper Laurie (okay, maybe she hasn’t done a Western, but she’s a great actress) and author Michael Druxman.  For more info, go HERE. 

Michael Biehn

‘GOOD FOR NOTHING’ LOOKS MIGHTY GOOD!

A tip of the Stetson to Leonard Maltin for recommending, on his REELZ show, this New Zealand Western that’s just opened on the East Coast.  Starring newcomers Cohen Holloway and Inge Rademeyer, the Kiwi Western is directed by first-timer Mike Wallis, and the trailer looks great. Strangely, there is no writer credited either on the official website, or the IMDB listing.

I’ll be getting more details about when the rest of us can see GOOD FOR NOTHING, but in the meantime, check out the trailer.

LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES WRAPS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES has wrapped in Savannah, Georgia, and the folks at Asylum are hard at work preparing it for its May 29^th direct-to-video release, not quite a month before the release-date for the much larger-budgeted ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER.  Written and directed by Richard Schenkman, who first made a splash with THE POMPATUS OF LOVE, the picture stars Bill Oberst Jr., a popular movie villain who will be portraying the Great Emancipator. 

The Asylum takes pride in slick-looking productions, and the glimpses in the teaser-trailer look good.  I’m including the trailer, but I warn you that it is a zombie movie, after all, and pretty bloody.

That's all for right now! 

Happy trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright March 2012 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

LONE RANGER UPDATE - OUR 100TH ROUND-UP!

TOM WILKINSON JOINS ‘LONE RANGER’ CAST

(Tom Wilkinson negotiating his contract with Disney)

According to Deadline Hollywood, Tom Wilkinson, Oscar nominated for his roles in MICHAEL CLAYTON and IN THE BEDROOM, will be playing lead villain Latham Cole (not Butch Cavendish, as us purists were expecting),  in the Disney film budgeted at $185 million. He joins Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp as the LR and Tonto respectively, as well as Ruth Wilson, Barry Pepper – Lucky Ned Pepper in TRUE GRIT, Helena Bonham Carter, James Badge Dale, Dwight Yoakum -- soon to be seen as Gen. Meade in TO APPOMATTOX, and LEVERAGE star Timothy Hutton.  It’s being directed by Gore Verbinski from a script by Ted Elliot, Justin Haythe and Terry Rossio.   The Disney film, budgeted at $215 million, is scheduled for a May 31, 2013 release.

MORE ‘LONE RANGER’ NEWS

The start date for principal photography will be February 13^th.  The big question is whether the picture will be shot in Louisiana or New Mexico, or both, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer has been playing the states against each other to get the best deal.  He explains to The Hollywood Reporter, "We found that Louisiana gave us a better tax incentive than New Mexico -- that was another $8 million. We're still shooting in New Mexico, and we might [also] go to Louisiana. We're asking New Mexico to come closer to the Louisiana incentive. We dropped our California location not because they didn't offer a tax break but because it was another production office that we had to open. Every time you have a new location, you have to use crew time setting it up for you. There are a lot of expenses."

Today, Sunday, December 11^th, an extras casting session was held at Far Horizons Studios in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The notice, using the code name SILVER BULLET to confuse the simple-minded, described their needs:  “Major Motion Picture, Silver Bullet is currently seeking Native American males and females for featured extra roles to film in the Shiprock New Mexico area. Individuals who are experienced horse riders are particular encouraged to apply.  The production is seeking males with no facial hair, males with a lot of facial hair, females, Native Americans, Asians. The production is also casting for a Native American Boy age range 9-11 for a featured speaking role in the film. Candidates must be available from February 13^th through July 14^th, 2012.”   So here’s a tip to aspiring actors: don’t shave.  Both LONE RANGER and Quentin Tarantino’s DJANGO UNCHAINED casting notices are looking for men with a lot of facial hair.

And the studio has finally issued an official synopsis.  SPOILER ALERT!  If you’ve never heard the radio show or watched the TV series, you may not know all of the following, but it is virtually identical to the plot created by Lone Ranger creator Fran Striker: "Left for dead in an ambush with five other Texas Rangers, lawman John Reid (Armie Hammer) survives and is nursed back to health by an Indian scout named Tonto (Johnny Depp). He then dons a mask to avenge the murders of his comrades and to foil evil doers, never accepting payment for his services. His gratis vigilantism is made possible by the silver mine he inherits from one of his slain brothers - the same mine that affords him an endless supply of his trademark silver bullets."  Intriguingly, actress Ruth Wilson plays Rebecca Reid, but it’s not explained what relation her character is to the masked rider of the plains.

IT’S THE ROUND-UP’S 100^TH POST!

My sincere thanks to all of you ‘Rounders’ who read this blog!  I started it about two years ago, because I couldn’t find a central source of news for Western movie and TV production and events, and decided to create one.  Naturally, it took time for people to find it – it took a few months to get up to 100 hits! I must express my gratitude to the thousands of readers who now visit the Round-up regularly; there have been just about 38,000 visits to the Round-up, an average of 5,500 pageviews per month.   And I’m thrilled at how far across the globe the Round-up has reached.  Today alone we’ve been visited by readers in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Norway and Russia.  Also this week we were read in Canada, Chile, Finland, Spain and Poland, and we’re also popular in Portugal, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Jordan and Israel.

I also must extend my thanks to the film and TV industry production companies, networks, and industry professionals who have embraced us, from our long-time sponsor, DISH HD, to Turner Classic Movies to The Autry Center to RFD-TV and INSP-TV, and the Western movie and TV productions – YELLOW ROCK, THE FIRST RIDE OF WYATT EARP, SHADOW HILLS, GANG OF ROSES II, MORGAN KANE:  THE LEGEND BEGINS – who have generously welcomed me onto their sets.  

For the future I have a substantial number of interviews lined up with important actors, writers, producers and other industry professionals, both current and from the golden age, and already have ‘in-the-can’ conversations with actor Earl Holliman and writer-producer Andrew J. Fenady.  I am much obliged for your continued support.

‘LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES’ DETAILS REVEALED

Following up on last week’s survey of Honest-Abe-related projects, Asylum Entertainment honcho David Latt confirmed that they are moving ahead with their story of the Great Emancipator vs. the Living Dead.  “We are indeed working on Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies.  Our budget is $69 million...or less. The script is getting written; the treatment is non-stop action. Lincoln is more like Wesley Snipes in BLADE. He's a bad-ass zombie killer. Based on a true story...or not.”  I’d probably play it safe, Hollywood style, and say, ‘inspired by actual events.’ 

When I asked about the likelihood of a new Western from Asylum, Latt was encouraging.  “We are talking about it.  6 GUNS is one of my favorites, so I hope we are jumping into another western soon.”  

HARRY MORGAN DIES AT 95

The long-faced actor with the deep voice and droll delivery, best remembered for playing Bill Gannon on DRAGNET and Col. Potter on the M*A*S*H series, has passed away at the age of 95.  An Emmy winner for his Potter portrayal in 1980, in 1982 he was nominated for a DGA Award for his direction of a M*A*S*H episode. 

(Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan in THE OX-BOW INCIDENT)

Morgan also had a long list of memorable Western roles, often as a bad guy. In THE OX-BOW INCIDENT he was part of the lynch mob. In HIGH NOON he hides behinds his wife’s skirts when Gary Cooper comes looking for help. In THE SHOOTIST he’s Marshall Thibido, who is gleeful that old gunfighter John Wayne is going to die in his town. His other Western featured credits include STAR IN THE DUST, THE OMAHA TRAIL, YELLOW SKY for William Wellman, THE SHOWDOWN with Wild Bill Elliot, BEND OF THE RIVER, THE FAR COUNTRY and CIMARRON for Anthony Mann, THE TOUGHEST MAN IN ARIZONA, and BACKLASH for John Sturges. Additionally, he appeared in THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG Western comedies, and guested on many Western series, including GUNSMOKE, THE VIRGINIAN, HEC RAMSEY, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, and two WILD WILD WEST TV-movies.  He was a winner of the Golden Boot Award. To see his interview with the Archive of American Television, click HERE.

BOOTHILL, TOMBSTONE

One of the first things you see upon entering Tombstone is the Boothill Graveyard.  Ironically, Tombstone is a desert boomtown that was destroyed by too much water in the wrong place – seeping up from the silver mines.  But the town is definitely in a desert, and that is nowhere more obvious than in Boothill, where the headstones spring up in fields of sand and gravel, the graves themselves marked by mounds of stone. 

A small booklet available in the shop at the entrance contains, as it says on the cover, “a descriptive list of the more than 250 graves in Boothill.”  There are eleven rows of graves, and the booklet tells you as much information as could be garnered from locals or family or the Arizona Historical Society.  Sometimes sources vary in their version of history.  The last grave in row ten is Mrs. Ah Lum.  The booklet says, “Born in China, and buried in Boothill in 1906.  She had great influence among the Chinese residents here.  Some believe she had Tong affiliation in China.”  Other sources, correct on not, put it more bluntly, that China Mary was the Queen of Opium and other vice in Tombstone.

One gravestone serves for five men: Dan Dowd, Red Sample, Tex Howard, Bill Delaney and Dan Kelly were all legally hanged for taking part in the robbery of a Bisbee general store, where several innocents were killed in the crossfire.  John Heath, who masterminded the crime but didn’t actually take part, was sentenced to life at Yuma prison.  A furious mob dragged Heath from the Tombstone jail and strung him up.

Little is known about some.  One stone reads, “Teamster Killed By Apaches.”  Another simply, “Two Cowboys Drowned.”  There’s also the grave of Margarita, the Bird Cage Theatre prostitute stabbed to death by another, Gold Dollar, over a regular customer. 

Also here is the grave whose oft-quoted poetry made it into the movie TOMBSTONE:  “Here lies Lester Moore, Four slugs from a .44, No Les, no more.”  Moore was a Wells Fargo agent who died in a gunfight over a package.  He killed the other man, but that man’s name is not remembered because no one wrote a poem about him.

Of course, much interest here turns on the O.K. Corral.  Right by Old Man Clanton’s grave (yes, ‘Old Man’ is what his marker says) is a headstone shared by Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury, with the legend, “Murdered on the streets of Tombstone 1881.”  According to LA ULTIMA, a collection of last words of early Arizona Pioneers by Troy Kelley, Tom McLaury’s last words – in response to Virgil Earp’s command to throw up his hands -- were, “I have got nothing.”  “I have you now!” Frank McLaury shouted to Doc Holliday, just before he was shot in the head by Morgan Earp.  Billy Clanton’s words were more dramatic still: “They have murdered me.  I have been murdered!  Chase the crowd away from the door and give me air!  Drive the crowd away!”

As my wife and I were shopping in the store at the entrance, a DVD player was showing TOMBSTONE, and a table held a wide selection of O.K. CORRAL-related videos.  I asked the lady at the counter about her favorite version of the legend, and she said to her, Wyatt Earp would always mean Hugh O’Brien.  When I agreed, she told me that back in 1994, WYATT EARP: RETURN TO TOMBSTONE, with O’Brien, was shot in town on all the real locations, and her granddaughter, five at the time, had a small part in the film.  Now the girl was 22, and it was a shame, but no one had been able to get them a copy of the movie.  I told her I’d get her a copy, and when I went back to Los Angeles, the folks at Eddie Brandt’s Saturday Matinee, the best video store in the world, were able to get me a VHS tape for her in a matter of minutes.

Of course, people always ask to see Wyatt Earp’s grave, but he’s not buried there.  And that leads us to another story…

WYATT EARP’S SECRET BURIAL

In 1957, The Tombstone Restoration Commission, then headed by Mrs. Edna Landin, decided they wanted to move Wyatt Earp’s ashes to Tombstone.  Of course, to do this, they would need his family’s permission and, even before they could seek that permission, they’d have to find out where those ashes were.  Because, incredibly, no one seemed to know where the lawman was buried, including his closest living relative, 92 year old cousin George Earp.

All that was known for sure was that Wyatt Earp had died in Los Angeles on January 13^th, 1929, and his widow, Josephine Marcus, had him cremated, and took the ashes with her.  She died in 1944, also in Los Angeles.

(Deputy KIng with McCarty's plaque of Earp)

Artist and True West writer Lea McCarty has just finished a series of canvases of lawmen and outlaws, including a portrait of Earp, and an article in a Santa Rosa paper brought it to the attention of A.M. King.  King had worked as a deputy with Earp in Los Angeles, from 1910 to 1912.  He contacted McCarty, to see the pictures.  McCarty, who’d been commissioned by the Tombstone organization to do a plaque of Earp, for when the ashes were moved, welcomed King to his studio.  Several times.  King admired his work.  He talked about his time working with Earp, when they were each paid $10 a day to deliver beer during a beer strike in L.A..  He talked about the Ned Buntline special that Earp carried in his car.  In fact, he talked about everything except where Earp was buried!  He claimed that he knew, but wasn’t talking. 

But eventually King came clean, and presented McCarty with an old newspaper article that solved the mystery.  Josephine, after having Wyatt cremated, had taken the ashes with her back to San Francisco, where her family was from, and had his ashes buried in the Marcus family plot at the Hills of Eternity Jewish Cemetery in Colma, California.  Her ashes were now beside his, and they shared a marker.  The reason the location had been kept a secret was perfectly understandable: nobody wants their family plot to become a tourist site.  When the Tombstone Commission learned this, they cancelled plans to try to have him moved.   Mrs. Landin said, “I do not think it would be right to remove Mr. Earp’s remains when he rests there with his wife.”   

(caretaker pointing to spot where headstone had been)

Remarkably, that’s not quite the end of the story.  This information is taken from McCrea’s article in the September-October 1957 issue of TRUE WEST MAGAZINE.  But before it even went to press, they had to add another article:  WYATT EARP’S GRAVE ROBBED!  On July 6^th or 7^th, someone had driven a truck into the cemetery and managed to dig out the 600 pound grave marker and abscond with it.  They also tried to steal his ashes, and dug five feet down in their search, but missed it.    I have read that the stone was eventually recovered, but a much larger stone is there today.   

(Wyatt and Josephine Earp's grave today)

TV WESTERNS ALL OVER THE DIAL!

More and more, classic TV Westerns are available all over the TV universe, but they tend to be on small networks that are easy to miss. Of course, ENCORE WESTERNS is the best continuous source of such programming, and has been for years. It’s not in my current satellite package, which is why I often forget to mention it, but currently they run CHEYENNE, MAVERICK, LAWMAN, THE VIRGINIAN, WAGON TRAIN, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, GUNSMOKE, BRET MAVERICK, CIMMARON STRIP, and HOW THE WEST WAS WON. (I’d get it in a minute, if I didn’t have to buy a huge package of STARZ and ENCORE channels just to get the one!)

But there are several new, or at least new-to-me, channels showing sagebrush fare. GEB, which stands for Golden Eagle Broadcasting, is largely a religious-programming cable outlet that runs at least one Western on Saturdays – the ones I’ve caught have been public domain Roy Rogers and John Wayne pictures – and sometimes have weekday afternoon movies as well.

For those of you who watch TV with an antenna, there are at least a couple of channels that exist between the standard numbers – largely unavailable on cable or satellite systems – that provide Western fare. ANTENNA TV is currently running RIN TIN TIN, CIRCUS BOY, HERE COME THE BRIDES, and IRON HORSE.

Another ‘in between’ outfit, ME-TV, which stands for Memorable Entertainment TV, runs a wide collection: BIG VALLEY, BONANZA, BRANDED, DANIEL BOONE, GUNS OF WILL SONNETT, GUNSMOKE, MARSHALL DILLON (the renamed black and white GUNSMOKE), RAWHIDE, THE RIFLEMAN, and WILD WILD WEST. Some of these channels are hard to track down, but if they show what you’ve been missing, it’s worth the search. 

TCM FANATIC - WESTERN NOW ONLINE!

That's right, the segment I was interviewed for is now viewable here:

THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

Built by cowboy actor, singer, baseball and TV entrepeneur Gene Autry, and designed by the Disney Imagineering team, the Autry is a world-class museum housing a fascinating collection of items related to the fact, fiction, film, history and art of the American West. In addition to their permenant galleries (to which new items are frequently added), they have temporary shows. The Autry has many special programs every week -- sometimes several in a day. To check their daily calendar, CLICK HERE. And they always have gold panning for kids every weekend. For directions, hours, admission prices, and all other information, CLICK HERE.

HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM

Across the street from the Hollywood Bowl, this building, once the headquarters of Lasky-Famous Players (later Paramount Pictures) was the original DeMille Barn, where Cecil B. DeMille made the first Hollywood western, The Squaw Man. They have a permanent display of movie props, documents and other items related to early, especially silent, film production. They also have occasional special programs. 2100 Highland Ave., L.A. CA 323-874-2276. Thursday – Sunday 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. $5 for adults, $3 for senior, $1 for children.

WELLS FARGO HISTORY MUSEUM

This small but entertaining museum gives a detailed history of Wells Fargo when the name suggested stage-coaches rather than ATMS. There’s a historically accurate reproduction of an agent’s office, an original Concord Coach, and other historical displays. Open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Admission is free. 213-253-7166. 333 S. Grand Street, L.A. CA.


FREE WESTERNS ON YOUR COMPUTER AT HULU

A staggering number of western TV episodes and movies are available, entirely free, for viewing on your computer at HULU. You do have to sit through the commercials, but that seems like a small price to pay. The series available -- often several entire seasons to choose from -- include THE RIFLEMAN, THE CISCO KID, THE LONE RANGER, BAT MASTERSON, THE BIG VALLEY, ALIAS SMITH AND JONES, and one I missed from 2003 called PEACEMAKERS starring Tom Berenger. Because they are linked up with the TV LAND website, you can also see BONANZA and GUNSMOKE episodes, but only the ones that are running on the network that week.

The features include a dozen Zane Grey adaptations, and many or most of the others are public domain features. To visit HULU on their western page, CLICK HERE.

BONANZA and BIG VALLEY

Every weekday, TV LAND airs a three-hour block of BONANZA episodes from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They've stopped running GUNSMOKE.  INSP is showing THE BIG VALLEY every weekday at noon, one p.m. and nine p.m., and Saturdays at 6 p.m., and have just added DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN to their schedule.

NEED YOUR BLACK & WHITE TV FIX?

Check out your cable system for WHT, which stands for World Harvest Television. It's a religious network that runs a lot of good western programming. Your times may vary, depending on where you live, but weekdays in Los Angeles they run DANIEL BOONE at 1:00 p.m., and two episodes of THE RIFLEMAN from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.. On Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. it's THE RIFLEMAN again, followed at 2:30 by BAT MASTERSON. And unlike many stations in the re-run business, they run the shows in the original airing order. There's an afternoon movie on weekdays at noon, often a western, and they show western films on the weekend, but the schedule is sporadic. 

AMC has been airing a block of THE RIFLEMAN episodes early Saturday mornings, usually followed by Western features.

And RFD-TV is currently showing THE ROY ROGERS SHOW at 9:30 Sunday morning, repeated several times a week, and a Roy feature as well -- check your local listings.

That's about all for now!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright December 2011 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved