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

BATTLE OF THE BEARDS – Five Abraham Lincoln Portrayals Are On The Way!

Many folks surfing the internet this week have seen a shot of Academy Award winner Daniel Day Lewis having lunch wearing his Great Emancipator beard.  He’s currently working for Stephen Speilberg in LINCOLN, a film which will tell the story of how our 16^th President steered the Union to its victory over the Confederacy. 

(Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln at lunch)

In addition to Lewis, who won Oscars for MY LEFT FOOT and THERE WILL BE BLOOD, his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, will be played by Sally Field, who won Oscars for NORMA RAE and PLACES IN THE HEART.  Their son, Robert Todd Lincoln, will be played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, soon to be seen in the sci-fier LOOPER and Quentin Tarantino’s DJANGO UNCHAINED.  The cast also features Tommy Lee Jones as Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, David Strathairn as Secretary of State Seward, Jared Harris as U.S. Grant, Jackie Earle Haley as Confederate VP Alexander Stephens, as well as James Spader, Hal Holbrook, and a host of others.

It’s based on the book TEAM OF RIVALS: THE GENIUS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN by Doris Kearns Goodwin, the nationally known historian and former aid to President Lyndon Johnson.  The other three writers, credited with the screenplay, are Tony Kushner – Oscar nominated for MUNICH and Emmy winner for ANGELS IN AMERICA, John Logan – Oscar nominated for THE AVIATOR and GLADIATOR, and Paul Webb, who has no previous professional credits.   

As revealed in last week’s Round-up (go HERE if you missed it), SONY Television is producing a miniseries entitled TO APPOMATTOX, starring Stephen Lang, who played Ike Clanton in TOMBSTONE and Gen. Pickett in GETTYSBURG, as Lincoln.

(Stephen Lang)

While Speilberg’s LINCOLN is currently in production, and APPOMATTOX is aiming at a 2013 TV release, another, less scholarly biography of Honest Abe is closer on the horizon.  On June 22, 2012 Benjamin Walker, of FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, will star in ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER.  The film is being produced by Tim Burton and directed by Timur Bekmambetov.  The Lincoln make-up is the work of three-time Oscar winner Greg Cannom. 

(Benjamin Walker as Lincoln)

These are not small projects – the Speilberg LINCOLN is budgeted at around $100 million, and the President-with-a-wooden-stake version is not far behind at $70 million.  When, in an earlier Round-up, I quoted a Paramount insider who opined that VAMPIRE HUNTER was a movie that should be made, but by Asylum Pictures, for $350,000, I heard from Asylum honcho David Latt: “Hey Henry! Thanks for the suggestion...and you'll be happy (sad?) to know that ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES is already   in the works. Ours will cost less than $70 million. Promise.” I’m waiting to hear back from him how the project is progressing.

And because I am something of a completeist, also coming soon is FDR: AMERICAN BADDASS, in which HERCULES star Kevin Sorbo will play Lincoln opposite Barry Bostwick’s Roosevelt.  I know I’ll be hearing from historical nit-pickers about the fact that the presidents may never have met, since FDR was born seventeen years after Lincoln’s assassination.

My personal disappointment is that, with all the interest in Lincoln, no one is filming the best Lincoln-related – actually assassination-related – book of the last several years, MANHUNT – THE 12 DAY CHASE FOR LINCOLN’S KILLER by James L. Swanson.  Once optioned by Robert Redford, but dropped when he decided to do the interesting but unsatisfying THE CONSPIRATOR instead, it would make one helluvah movie, even without monsters.

DVD REVIEWS

FINDERS KEEPERS CLASSICS is a great place to get hard-to-find movies and TV shows.  Their pricing is very straight-forward: all single disks and many 2-disk sets are $7 each, larger sets are more, and shipping is a flat $6 no matter how big the order.  They just sent me a crate full of interesting westerns from the ‘30s and ‘40s, and I’m reviewing a pair of them today.  Their site is HERE .  Incidentally, Finders Keepers Classics is the work of Martin Grams, an excellent writer and film and radio historian, and author of more than twenty books.  Here is a link to an article he wrote about HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, one of the very few shows to start on television and move to radio: MARTIN GRAMS. 

DVD REVIEW -- LAWLESS BREED

As a long-time fan of SKY KING, I was eager to take a look at LAWLESS BREED (1946), starring Kirby Grant, with Fuzzy Knight as his sidekick, Tumbleweed.  While Republic and Monogram and PRC Westerns are easy to come by, B westerns from the majors are rarely seen, and this was the last of seven that Grant did for Universal before moving on to Monogram for his Canadian Mountie series.


At first, I was dubious.  It looked like Universal, knowing it was the last of the series, had decided not to spend a dime on it: the opening scene in a sheriff’s office, where Kirby and Fuzzy try to talk themselves out of a murder charge, is static – Kirby tells his story as a way to introduce endless clips of stock footage, and I started to wonder if they’d ever leave the office.  But once they do, the story -- and the new footage -- takes off.  And you have two innocent victims of blind justice, a gang of serial bank-robbers, a good girl who happens to be the sheriff’s daughter (Jane Adams), a bad girl who happens to be a saucy French saloon chanteuse (Claudia Drake), and delightfully broad character actor Dick Curtis playing brothers, one a stodgy banker who is murdered, and the other a sea captain -- with a parrot -- trying to catch his brother’s killer!  There’s also insurance fraud, grave-robbing, and our heroes tricked into taking on a murder contract with a gun loaded with blanks – not to mention several songs, all in under 54 minutes! 

Kirby is all charm when he’s flirting with the ladies or cajoling the Sheriff, but there’s a grimness to his demeanor when things are bad that’s startlingly convincing.  On the other hand, I was surprised to find what a pleasant singing voice he had, when he and Fuzzy take turns vocalizing in the slammer.  LAWLESS BREED is an often exciting and amusing Western, and John Ford favorite Hank Worden is effective in a small role as a deputy who’s out of his depth when things go awry. 

The print it’s taken from is pretty scratched, and splicey in a few spots, but the contrast is very good, giving you a wide range of grays.  There were a few scenes that I thought were too dark, but when I rewound, turned off the lights and watched again, I saw they were fine.  They were just shot to be seen in a darkened theatre.  Because this movie was from a time before all movies were shot with the knowledge that they’d eventually be shown on television – the reason most movies from the mid-sixties on are a succession of flat-lit close-ups. 

DVD REVIEW – CHEROKEE STRIP

Richard Dix and Victor Jory face off in CHEROKEE STRIP (1940), an 86 minute B+ production from Harry ‘Pop’ Sherman, released by Paramount.  Dix, as Dave Morell, has come as the new Federal Marshal to the town of Goliath, gateway to the Cherokee Strip, once the property of the Cherokee Indian Nation, and about to be opened to white settlers.  But he has a hidden agenda: he’s the head of the Morell Clan, which has been feuding for years with the Barrett Clan, led by Coy Barrett, played by Victor Jory.  The two men have actually signed a formal truce, but neither trusts the other farther than they can spit. 

Jory is now a successful and respectable banker, but that’s just a front to run his clan’s stage-robbing and cattle-rustling activity.  And into the mix comes Senator Cross (Charles Trowbridge) and his daughter and son, Florence Rice and William Henry, who are working as federal census takers, the natural allies of Federal Marshal Dix, even before he becomes sweet on Florence Rice. 

CHEROKEE STRIP is an exciting and smart story, and much of the fun is watching the cat-and-mouse game Dix and Jory play, always polite, but always ready to cut the other to pieces if a fair opportunity arises.  The stagecoach trip they take together is a classic of deadly one-ups-man-ship.  

Producer Sherman, who made his first fortune distributing BIRTH OF A NATION, was a savvy businessman and a gifted Western filmmaker.  He’s the man who bought ‘Hopalong Cassidy’, and cast William Boyd.  Beloved by his crews, who called him ‘Pop,’ Sherman infused his low-budget films with high production values, beautiful locations, top technical credits, and a loyal stock company of actors that made his films many cuts above the average with a similar budget.

Unlike so many stars of his time, iron-jawed Dix had successfully made the transition from silent to talking pictures, and had his greatest success in 1931’s CIMARRON, the first Western to win a Best Picture Oscar (the next wasn’t until Eastwood’s UNFORGIVEN in 1992), and for which he was nominated for Best Actor.  Though no longer a top box-office star, his career continued on successfully in the 1940s, and he arguably did his most interesting acting in that period, as the lead in Columbia’s THE WHISTLER series, and as the ‘kindly’ sea captain in Val Lewton’s GHOST SHIP. 

Victor Jory, fresh from his villainous triumph as Tara’s overseer in the previous year’s GONE WITH THE WIND, the former Coast Guard boxing and wrestling champ would have a busy career until 1980.  Also in the cast is Andy Clyde, as an assistant to Dix, but not the traditional sidekick he would later become that same year, when Pop Sherman would cast him as California Carlson, a role he would play in HOPALONG CASSIDY movies, TV and radio episodes for a dozen years.  Among the other stand-out tough guys in the cast were Sherman stock-company actors like Tom Tyler, Morris Ankrum, and Hal Taliaffero, and George E. Stone who, as he did in CIMARRON, plays an obviously Jewish character, someone rarely seen in the traditionally ‘white-bread’ Westerns.

It’s written by Western specialists Norman Houston and Bernard McConville, and directed by Lesley Selander, who directed exactly half of the films Pop Sherman produced – 36 out of 72.  Selander’s work was many cuts above what was done in most B or A westerns, not just in terms of action, but in direction of actors, and creativity – 21 post-World War II Tim Holt Westerns he directed at RKO are among the best B-westerns ever made.  

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 a wrap for today -- I was hoping to include a story on Tombstone's Boot Hill, but that will have to wait until the next Round-up.

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

RON HOWARD TO DIRECT ‘DOC’ FOR HBO

According to Nellie Adreeva at Deadline TV, Ron Howard will direct the pilot for the proposed series about the Wild West’s favorite dentist, Doc Holliday, inspired by the book DOC by Mary Doria Russell. Howard’s credentials in Westerns are pretty-near unmatched these days: before the camera from GUNSMOKE to THE SHOOTIST, and behind it from FAR AND AWAY to THE MISSING. It’ll be produced by frequent Ron Howard and Imagine Film collaborator, producer Akiva Goldsman, and is the first project in a two-year exclusive deal between Goldsman and HBO.  In addition to being a very successful producer, Goldsman is a fine screenwriter, who scripted DAVINCI CODE, CINDERELLA MAN, and won his Oscar for writing A BEAUTIFUL MIND.

DOC will be scripted by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, who co-wrote ACCEPTED and the story for TOWER HEIST.   Among co-producers will be Ron’s dad Rance Howard, along with Rance’s wife Judy Howard.

Reportedly the series will be soft-pedaling the ‘lunger’ aspect of Holliday’s life, although he’ll be presented as a well-educated professional from the South, moved to the West for his health, and there will be a romantic triangle involving himself, his 'wife', Big Nose Kate Elder, and his friend Wyatt Earp.

SONY TV TO REFIGHT CIVIL WAR IN ‘TO APPOMATTOX’ MINI

In 2013, Sony Television will be presenting an eight-hour miniseries about the Civil War, focusing on the generals on both sides.  And what a cast they have: Michael C. Hall (DEXTER) as U.S. Grant, William Petersen (CSI) as William Tecumseh Sherman, Will Patton as Robert E. Lee, Rob Lowe as James Pete Longstreet, Stephen Lang (Ike Clanton in TOMBSTONE and Pickett in GETTYSBURG) as Abraham Lincoln, Kim Delaney as Mary Todd Lincoln, Bill Paxton as Stonewall Jackson, D.B. Sweeny as George Mclellon, Noah Wylie as George Pickett, Trace Adkins as John Gregg, Dwight Yoakam as George Meade, Powers Boothe as Albert Sidney Johnson, Walton Goggins as Richard Ewell, Kix Brooks (of Brooks and Dunn) as Winfield Scott Hancock, and many more.

Not unusual for a Western-ish show, a number of country music stars will be playing roles.  In addition to Yoakam, Adkins and Brooks, the members of Rascal Flatts, who will be doing the score, will be acting as well.  Very unusual, in a bid to make the project more accessible to a general audience, several NASCAR stars will be playing parts. 

Produced by Thomas Augsburger, Mikael Salomen, and Michael Frost Beckner, Salomen will additionally be directing, and Beckner wrote the script; I’m told this project has been his primary focus for nine years.  I’ll have more details soon.

WEB SERIES ‘WESTERN X’ #1-6 ONLINE

By far one of the most ambitious webisode productions I’ve seen, WESTERN X, the creation of Michael Flores, is available online through Youtube and ITunes, and tells its story in six-minute ‘bites’.  Chapter #7 is coming soon, and I believe the whole will be fifteen chapters.  Shot in striking desert locations and Western towns, its hero is named X because he awakens after a beating, not knowing where he is or who he is. 

I’ve seen the first six chapters, and they are beautifully produced, with eerie music, striking editing and often beautiful photography.  But they’re heavy on atmosphere and light on plot – there’s a lot going on at times, but while I assume it will all become clear down the line, for the time being, much of it is incomprehensible.  But it’s certainly worth a peek.  Here’s the official website link:  http://www.westernxtheshow.com/index.html

And here’s chapter one:  http://youtu.be/6ucb7rX2DqA

TIME STRETCHES IN TOMBSTONE – THE BIRD CAGE THEATRE

In September my wife and I spent a week in and around Tucson, one of those days in the fabled Tombstone.  It’s an odd place, not a ghost town in the usual sense, but a far cry from the activity that once filled its streets and saloons and brothels. 

The people that live in Tombstone today are immersed with the brief but remarkable history of the town when it was at its most active, in the years between 1881 and 1889, the years the silver mines were producing, before uncontrollable water seepage flooded the mines, and all but drowned the town too tough to die.

(Bird Cage Theatre 1932, by Frederic Nichols)

Among the many fascinating places to visit is one that is unique: The Bird Cage Saloon.  While most other attractions – The Crystal Palace, O.K. Coral, Tombstone Epitaph – have been lovingly restored to how they once were, or should have been, the Bird Cage has been the beneficiary of benign neglect: when it closed its doors in 1889, those doors literally remained closed for nearly half a century.  It was declared a landmark in 1934, and opened to the public, as is.  Some historical displays have been added, but no interior decorator has come after-the-fact to fix it.  Ancient posters for vaudeville acts that once played the theatre adorn the lobby.  A favorite is for the woman who, with magnets on her shoes, danced on the theatre’s ceiling.

(Note the boxes along the balcony)

From the day it opened, The Bird Cage Theatre never closed until it closed for good nine years later.  It took $1000 to buy into its poker game, and that game ran continuously for eight years, five months and three days.  The movie TOMBSTONE did a marvelous job of reproducing both the exterior and interior of the Bird Cage for the memorable scenes where Wyatt and Doc and their wives (we’re giving Big Nose Kate the benefit of the doubt) watch a theatrical performance from one of the boxes on the balcony.  But the filmmakers took one liberty here, because those boxes in fact contained not chairs but a bed: they were cribs, so prostitutes and johns could do their business and still enjoy the show onstage!

(The stage, small open doorway on left)

The small door below and to the left of the stage leads to the wine cellar, and the high-stakes poker game, and a little farther and to the left, more cribs, including the one where Wyatt Earp would visit Sadie Marcus, who became his third wife. 

(Sadie Marcus' crib)

On the stage, behind the curtain, are stored all manner of knick-knacks, among them a beautiful and much-used hearse, and to its right, one of those elegant caskets with the glass window of the sort that Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McClaury were famously pictured in.  There is disagreement as to how many people died in the Bird Cage.  It’s been claimed that it was the site of sixteen gunfights, that twenty-six people were killed there, and there is no argument that 140 bullet holes pepper the walls and ceilings.  One of the documented murders took place when a girl whose hair-color had given her the nickname Gold Dollar, saw a Mexican girl known only as Margarita, sitting on the lap of one Billy Milgreen, one of Gold Dollar’s regulars: Gold Dollar stabbed Margarita to death. 

As is common in places where death is so common, the Bird Cage Theatre is said to be haunted.  The young woman who was running the gift shop by the exit told us that the first day she worked there, someone grabbed her arm, but when she turned, there was no one there.  She ran home, and didn’t come back for several days, then decided to give it another chance.  Since then, she’s frequently felt a presence, but nothing has touched her.

(Tombstone prostitute's license -- $7.50 for one year)

Described by the New York Times in 1882 as, "...the roughest, bawdiest and most wicked night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast," it also attracted some of the top talent of its day.  Eddie Foy, Ethel Barrymore, Lotta Crabtree, Lily Langtry and Lola Montez are among the many performers reported to have trod the boards there.  It’s also said that it was the inspiration for the hugely popular song, ‘She Was Only A Bird In a Gilded Cage,’ by Arthur Lamb and Harry Von Tilzer, who cleaned up the lyrics to make it about a woman who married for money, not love, instead of the soiled dove it originally extolled. 

(View of the theatre from backstage)

I’ll be writing more about the town of Tombstone, and Tucson, soon. 

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!

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Happy Trails,

Henry

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