DEPP STILL TALKIN’ TONTO

Johnny Depp, soon to be seen – actually heard -- in the animated pseudo-western Rango, is talking again about Jerry Bruckheimer’s many-years-in-the-planning remake of The Lone Ranger, in which Depp will play Tonto. The Disney film is planned for a 2012 release, and it’s coming from the same team that brought you the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise: director Gore Verbinski, and writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio.

Depp told Entertainment Weekly, “I think it’s going to be good, when we have a chance to put it up on its feet. What we’ve got so far screenplay-wise is really great, really funny.” Depp, who is part Cherokee, adds, “I always felt Native Americans were badly portrayed in Hollywood films over the decades. It’s a real opportunity for me to give a salute to them. Tonto was a sidekick in all the Lone Ranger series. [This film] is a very different approach to that partnership. And a funny one I think.”

Says producer Bruckheimer (from an earlier interview) about the screenplay, “They’re creating something that has a true-to-the-western feel, but adding other additional elements like we did in Pirates so it won’t be just a straight-ahead western.” Hopefully the recent Green Hornet debacle (not to mention Jonah Hex) will deter them going too far afield from the beloved Fran Striker stories. Incidentally, few moviegoers of today are aware that Striker created both The Green Hornet and The Lone Ranger, and that the Hornet character, Britt Reid, is the great nephew of John Reid, the Lone Ranger. If you’d like to read an in-depth chronology of the masked Reid family – and who wouldn’t – go here: http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Reid.htm

Incidentally, no definitive word yet on who will play Tonto’s faithful masked companion.

(Photos top to bottom: artist rendering of Johnny Depp as Tonto, George Clooney as Lone Ranger; title card from Wanted:Dead or Alive; Trigger and Bullet pose with kids; posters from the movies whose names are on them; two more Indian Chiefs from the Allen & Ginter cigarette insert card series)

MEMORIES OF MCQUEEN: DEAD OR ALIVE

The excellent Steve McQueen western series Wanted: Dead or Alive is available on home video – I got seasons one and two in a package at Target for under twenty dollars -- and if you shop around you can get a set with the final season as well. If you’d like to know what making the series, and working with McQueen, was like, click HERE http://www.caucus.org/archives/10win_cowboy.html to read Cowboy by Norman S. Powell, from the Caucus Journal. Powell started as 2nd Assistant Director on Wanted, and graduated to production manager and eventually producer, working on, among many others, The Westerner, The Big Valley, several Gunsmoke TV movies, and was recently Emmy-nominated for producing ‘24’.

PIONEERS OF TELEVISON FOLLOW-UP

If you haven’t had a chance to catch the Western segment of Pioneers of Television on PBS, check your listings, because it’ll probably be shown again, and it’s well-worth catching. Focusing on just a few series rather than trying to tell the whole story of TV Westerns in one hour, you’ll learn a lot about Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Big Valley and Daniel Boone from an impressive array of actor interviews. Either they’ve been working on this project for a long time, or they have many sources for their interviews, because several of their subjects – Robert Culp, Fess Parker – have passed away, and a few, like Buddy Ebsen, have been gone quite some time. A PBS website HERE http://www.pbs.org/opb/pioneersoftelevision/pioneering-programs/westerns/ has several interview clips, and to my surprise, most or all of them are outtakes from the show. So if you want to hear William Shatner tell how Timothy Carey tried to strangle him on camera in Gunsmoke, you’ll have to go there. Incidentally, I’ve also watched the sci-fi episode of this series, and it was equally entertaining. The upcoming episodes, a new one every Tuesday, will examine crime stories, kiddie tv, late night shows, sitcoms, variety shows and game shows.

TRIGGER AND BULLET AT THE CATTLE INDUSTRY ANNUAL CONVENTION IN DENVER

If you’re going to be in Denver from February 2nd to the 5th, stop at the RFD-TV booth and have your picture taken with Trigger and Bullet! And on the 2nd through the 4th, Dusty Rogers and the High Riders will be performing at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

SCREENINGS

IN NEW YORK

THE FILM FORUM – FRITZ LANG IN HOLLYWOOD

On Wednesday, February 2nd, as part of their Fritz Lang In Hollywood series, the Film Forum will present a double bill of The Return of Frank James (1940), with Henry Fonda as Frank, John Carradine as dirty little coward Bob Ford, and Gene Tierney; and Western Union (1941) from the Zane Grey tale, starring Robert Young, Randolph Scott and John Carradine – both with brand spankin’ new 35 MM prints!

On Sunday and Monday, February 6th and 7th, they’ll present Clash By Night (1952), starring Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan and Marilyn Monroe, and Rancho Notorious (1952), starring Marlene Detreich, Arthur Kennedy and Mel Ferrer.

IN LOS ANGELES

GENE AUTRY DOUBLE FEATURE SATURDAY FEB. 5TH AT THE AUTRY

Starting at noon, the Autry will screen Shooting High (1940), costarring Jane Withers, Jack Carson and Charles “Ming The Merciless” Middleton; and Sioux City Sue (1946), costarring Sterling “Winnie the Pooh” Holloway. It’s scheduled to be screened in the tiny Imagination Gallery’s Western Legacy Theater, but last time they had such a big turnout that they had to move it to the Wells Fargo Theatre. And on Saturday February 12th they’ll be showing The Searchers – and the Magnificent Seven is coming in April!

AND ON THE TUBE

On Saturday, February 5th , RFD-TV will show Roy Rogers in UNDER CALIFORNIA STARS (1948), with direction by action whiz William Whitney and script by the excellent Sloan Nibley. The plot involves the theft of Trigger (!), and costars Jane Frazee, young Michael Chapin, not-so-young Andy Devine, and the singers by which all other western groups are measured, Bob Nolan and the Sons Of The Pioneers.

WESTERN EVENTS ON THE HORIZON

FEB. 18TH-21ST – WHISKEY FLAT DAYS IN KERNVILLE

Events include a parade, rodeo, frog-jumping contest, food, music and melodramas. For more info, call 760-376-2629, or visit kernvillechamber.org.


FEB. 19TH-20TH – CIVIL WAR WEEKEND AT CALICO GHOST TOWN

Events include Civil War reenactments, authentic encampments, drills, music, living history displays, period fashion shows, and a reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. To learn more, call 800-86-CALICO (862-2542) or visit calicotown.com.

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.

TV LAND - BONANZA and GUNSMOKE

Every weekday, TV LAND airs a three-hour block of BONANZA episodes from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They run a GUNSMOKE Monday through Thursday at 10:00 a.m., and on Friday they show two, from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m.. They're not currently running either series on weekends, but that could change at any time.

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.

It's almost eleven Monday night, and I've still got to outline about a dozen episodes for the first season of my proposed series, so I'd better get at it -- I'll post some pictures to go along with the above on Tuesday.

Have a great week!

Adios,

Henry

All Contents Copyright January 31st, 2011 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

RIFLEMAN GUNS GO UNDER THE HAMMER AT ‘HIGH NOON’

Thanks to Julie Ann Ream for letting me know that on Saturday, January 29th, items from the estate of actor Chuck Connors, including one of his famous ‘Rifleman’ rifles, will be auctioned by High Noon Auctions in Mesa, Arizona. Jeff Connors, Chuck’s son, who spoke at the Republic 75th Anniversary celebration (click HERE to read what he had to say), will be attending. The auction will also feature items from the estate of Western collector Art Miller, and costumes by the great Western designer Nudie. There will also be many American Indian items. Previews will begin Thursday, January 27th, at 3:00 p.m.. The auction will begin Saturday at 5 p.m., at the Phoenix Marriott Mesa, 200 N. Centennial Way, Mesa, Arizona 85201. The auction is part of the High Noon Western Americana Weekend, which includes an antique show on Saturday and Sunday at the Mesa Convention Center, 263 N. Center Street, Mesa, Arizona 85201. For more information, call the High Noon offices at (310) 202-9010.

PBS DOCUMENTARY ‘TELEVISION PIONEERS – WESTERNS’ PREMIERES TUESDAY, JANUARY 25th

The 2nd of a four-part series, the documentary will focus on the TV Western. It features interviews with Fess Parker and Rosey Grier about breaking down racial barriers on Daniel Boone; Linda Evans’ memories of stunt-work on The Big Valley; James Garner on Maverick; and Leonard Nimoy’s and William Shatner’s experiences guesting on Gunsmoke. It’s supposed to run at 8:00 p.m., but check your local listing to be sure. The first episode of the series, about Science Fiction, aired last Tuesday, but will run again in some areas. The next two Tuesdays will focus on crime dramas and local kids’ TV shows. (I would have missed this series completely – thanks to Tom Dubensky for filling me in)

(photos top to bottom: Jeff Connors with his dad's rifle; page from the auction catalog; Corriganville sign; stunt-kid Marc Wanamaker at Corriganville; Indian Chiefs)

‘LOCATION FILMING IN LOS ANGELES’ BOOK SIGNING AT LARRY EDMUNDS BOOKSHOP – THURSDAY JAN. 27TH

The newest of the beautifully illustrated regional history books from Arcadia Publishing, ‘Location Filming In Los Angeles’, will be celebrated with a signing on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., by the book’s three authors, Marc Wanamaker, Kari Bible and Harry Medved. The address is 6644 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, CA 90028. 323-463-3273. Medved is a well-known author and PR specialist, Bible is the creator of the absolutely indispensible film-in-L.A.-website FilmRadar.com, and Wanamaker owns the premiere Hollywood image collection, Bison Archives.

A Chat with Archivist and Stunt-Kid Marc Wanamaker

When I phoned Marc for a little more info on the book, I had no idea how deep his Western-movie roots went. “I was a stunt kid for two years at Corriganville. My father was a doctor, and some of his patients were Col. Tim McCoy, who I met, and Ray ‘Crash’ Corrigan, and I met him and his son Tom Corrigan, and I’ve known him in recent years.”

Cowboy star Ray ‘Crash’ Corrigan had built the Western-movie town of Corriganville over the years by renting the land to studios and keeping the western structures they’d built on it. It had for years been one of Hollywood’s busiest movie-ranches, but things were slowing down by the end of the 1940s. “In 1949 or ’50, there were less rentals of the property, and to keep the property going, he needed to get some more money coming in. Somebody said he should open it to the public, and charge people to come in and look around. And it was a very good idea. He opened it only on Sundays. The people came – we’re talking maybe five or ten thousand people. The parking lots were full. They added more exhibits; they built more buildings onto the western town. They added stores – they made it into one of the first theme parks, before Disneyland.

“Ray said to my father, you’ve got to come out – bring your kid out. So my father brought me out there probably in 1954 for the first time, when I was seven, dressed as a cowboy. They had this stunt show; the robbing of the bank was the usual scenario. People would be in the street, then the gunfire started, and immediately people ran away, because it was a little too scary, a little too real. So Ray would cordon off people away from the bank and say, ‘We’re going to have a little program now,’ instead of doing it spontaneously. Well, I was I was nine or ten years old, always there, in my cowboy outfit, and Ray thought, wouldn’t it be funny if I would confront the robbers as they came out of the bank, holding a gun on them until the marshal got there. So we tried it, and the people laughed their heads off – that a little kid was holding a gun on these guys. And I did that for two years, almost every Sunday. And Ray’s son did it, and some other friends of Ray’s son did it. So we considered ourselves stunt kids. It was great fun, and I’m so glad my father took some pictures of it, because now I can look back on it.”

The book is large enough to have high-quality pictures, but small enough to be carried around when you're doing a walking tour, trying to find locations. I asked Marc which were the busiest locations for Western filming in the old days. “Bronson Canyon’s number one. Then the Providencia Ranch -- that’s where the Squaw Man was filmed, and the Nestor Westerns. Nestor came in 1911, built the first studio in Hollywood, and made the first westerns in Hollywood. And they shot most of them in Providencia Ranch, which later became known as Lasky Ranch, which became Forest Lawn Cemetery.” Of course, some of Squaw Man was also filmed at the DeMille Barn, which now sits across from the Hollywood Bowl. “The Barn was (in Hollywood) at Selma and Vine, on the southeast corner. They filmed the English scenes there, and some western scenes. All the rest was done in the San Fernando Valley, and in Hemet. They built the train station in Roscoe, California, which is now Sun Valley. Douglas Fairbanks did the Mark of Zorro in Sun Valley as well, right by Tuxford Street and San Fernando Road. It was all gravel pits, a gravel mining area then.

“Another important location was the San Fernando Mission; a lot of stuff was shot right around the Mission. D.W. Griffith did a Custer film near there. Charge of the Light Brigade – that’s Lasky Mesa, the Hidden Hills area today. That was the Ahmanson Ranch, just purchased by the Santa Monica Conservancy. So that’s open land now, and protected, thank goodness.”

Of course, at one time every studio had their own ranch for westerns and other outdoor pictures. Marc is the official historian and tour guide for the Paramount Ranch in Agoura. But I was amazed to learn that there had been a major Western movie-town ten minutes from my home. “The RKO Ranch was at Louise and Burbank Boulevard, in Encino. The Cimarron street was built there in 1931, which was a major western town if you remember the film. It became the nucleus of the ranch, and later they built other buildings, residential neighborhoods, and in 1939 they built the Paris sets and Notre Dame for the Charles Laughton version (of Hunchback of Notre Dame). When Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra came there to do It’s a Wonderful Life, they remodeled the Cimarron Street to be Bedford Falls. In 1953 Howard Hughes owned RKO, and he liquidated the ranch – he didn’t need it anymore. He dismantled it, and the Hertz family, who’d purchased the Paramount Ranch, purchased pieces of the RKO Ranch and brought them to the Paramount Ranch. The current western town at the Paramount Ranch was the RKO western town. The Hertzs were a family that came from back east that always wanted to own and run a movie ranch. So when the National Park Service purchased it (Paramount Ranch), I was the one who did the historic report on it. We contacted the Hertz family, and they came out for the dedication. They were very proud to know that their little ranch was going to be saved.” To learn more, come to the book signing.

TEX RITTER AND BUFFALO BILL

After writing about Tex Ritter’s birthday last week, I was in the mood to see one of his films, and got out Trouble In Texas (1937), one of his Grand National pictures, that I’d picked up in a Public Domain package at my supermarket. Directed by Bob Steele’s dad, R. N. Bradbury, and written by oater specialist Robert Emmett Tansey, it’s a nice actioner featuring lovely Rita Hayworth, Glenn Strange, Charles King, and Yakima Canutt, who alternates doubling for Tex and beating him up. There’s some particularly wild stunt work even for Canutt – a fist-fight on top of a runaway team of horses pulling a stagecoach! But what is usually the most boring part of a programmer, the stock footage, turned out to be a high-point. Tex plays a rodeo cowboy, and there are two too-long rodeo sequences featuring badly matched edits from the newsreel stuff to our stars. But also featured are several minutes of what is clearly Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and much better-quality footage than I have ever seen elsewhere!

SCREENINGS

UNFORGIVEN AT BAY THEATRE – SEAL BEACH – JAN. 24,27

Clint Eastwood’s classic will be showing on Monday and Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. The theatre has been near the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway since 1947. The address is 340 Main Street, Seal Beach, CA, 90740. (562) 431-9988.

JOHN WAYNE DOUBLE-BILL AT THE AERO JAN. 27TH

The Aero Cinemateque will screen The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Red River on Thursday, Jan. 27th, starting at 7:30 p.m. They’re located at 1328 Montana Avenue at 14th St. in Santa Monica. In February they’ll be showing Gone With The Wind; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly; Once Upon a Time in the West; and Once Upon a Time in America!

ROY ROGERS IS ‘JESSE JAMES AT BAY’ ON RFD-TV

This week’s offering from 1941 is directed by Joe Kane, and features a clearly fictional but highly entertaining spin on the Jesse James legend, and Roy gets a double role. Also starring Gabby Hayes and Sally Payne, the cast includes the greatest of all Republic villains, Roy Barcroft, Hal Taliaffero, the adorable Gale Storm, Billy Benedict, and as the town drunk, one of the original Keystone Kops, Chester Conklin.

WESTERN EVENTS ON THE HORIZON

FEB. 18TH-21ST – WHISKEY FLAT DAYS IN KERNVILLE

Events include a parade, rodeo, frog-jumping contest, food, music and melodramas. For more info, call 760-376-2629, or visit kernvillechamber.org.


FEB. 19TH-20TH – CIVIL WAR WEEKEND AT CALICO GHOST TOWN

Events include Civil War reenactments, authentic encampments, drills, music, living history displays, period fashion shows, and a reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. To learn more, call 800-86-CALICO (862-2542) or visit calicotown.com.

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.

TV LAND - BONANZA and GUNSMOKE

Every weekday, TV LAND airs a three-hour block of BONANZA episodes from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They run a GUNSMOKE Monday through Thursday at 10:00 a.m., and on Friday they show two, from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m.. They're not currently running either series on weekends, but that could change at any time.

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.

I need to get this stuff up now, so tomorrow I'll add info on next Saturday's Roy Rogers picture, and whatever else comes up!

Happy Trails!

Henry

Copyright January 2011 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

HISTORY LIVES AT LOS ENCINOS

Yesterday, just as they do every third Sunday of the month (except in December), the folks at Los Encinos State Historic Park, in Encino, have a Living History Day. A January day with the temperature in the mid 80s seemed like a perfect time to drop by. At the corner of Balboa and Ventura Boulevards, the park’s pond is fed by a natural spring which has attracted settlers for thousands of years.

My first stop was the blacksmith shop. As Dennis Palmer forges tools in the fire, Gary Staneke explains the role of the blacksmith in the 1870s. “No matter what job you had, before the Industrial Revolution, you would have to come to the blacksmith to have your tools made. The blacksmith shop is the repair-place for the entire ranch and surrounding area. Half my day is taking care of the horses. We make the horse shoes here. Every six weeks we have to take the horse shoes off, trim the hoof, put the old horse-shoe back on – it’s got another six weeks of life to it – or make a new horse shoe. The other half of the day, we repair everything.” He gestures towards the ‘main street’ of the San Fernando Valley, Ventura Boulevard, but refers to it by its original name: “We’ve got the El Camino Real going right by here. All of the wagons, the carriages, the ox-carts. If they need repair, they come here.” He shows an ancient ‘L-bracket’ that came off of a carriage. “I don’t have these in stock – I have nothing in stock – but we have iron in stock. Here there’s a weld where they took one piece of iron, cut it, overlapped it, melted it together as an ‘L’, punched the holes, forged the rivets, put it back onto the wagon, and they were off and running. They made the wheels as well.” On display and for sale were newly-minted tin soldiers and Civil War round bullets and Minie’ balls.

“This building was built by the Garnier brothers, who came here as shepherds. They had a few thousand sheep, and they would sheer them for the wool. And they did very, very well – this place was astoundingly rich in the 1870s. But in the 1880s, unfortunately, the bottom dropped out of the wool market. Because when people saw how much money there was in it, next thing you know, everyone’s raising sheep in South America. You’d sell your wool in the city -- in Southern California (at that time), when you said you were going to the city, that meant San Francisco. Los Angeles – mud streets, highest murder rate per capita for any city in the entire U.S. – that was not a place you wanted to go shopping, do business. You’d go to San Francisco – they had paddle-wheelers going up twice a week. Garnier went on a Friday, talked to the Eastern buyers, didn’t quite like the price, thought he’d try again Monday. Saturday the telegram arrived: ‘Buy no more wool. We’re done.’ It took him a year to sell that wool for a third of what he’d been offered on Friday. It was a disaster.”

Just outside the blacksmith’s shop Nita Staneke was demonstrating outdoor cooking, making apple fritters. “By the 1870s, a lot of people had indoor ranges – they weren’t just cooking over an open hearth. This is more like a chuck-wagon would use.”

The De la Ossa Adobe, the long building facing the pond, is normally just open at 2:00 p.m. for guided tours on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, was open, and full of historical displays of the many families and Indian tribes who owned the buildings and land over the centuries. In the 1880s the building passed into the hands of one Simon Gless, and a beautifully reserved wedding gown on display was worn by a bride to whom, I am told, actress Sharon Gless is a direct descendant.

In 1993, a great deal of money and labor were spent rebuilding and preserving Los Encinos, and on this very date – January 17th – in 1994, just after the Park’s reopening, Los Angeles was hit with a devastating earthquake, which shuttered the buildings in the Park for several years. In the process of re-rebuilding, it was found that, beneath the layers of plain paint, the main dining room once had handsome faux marble walls (see the picture to the left). The family could have well-afforded the real thing, but the adobe walls could not support the weight of marble, so it was painted on.

Just outside the Adobe I met Jennifer Dandurand, Park Ranger and Park Interpretive Specialist, “…so I basically do all of the education aspects of the park, as well as take care of the buildings, the odd jobs, and I take care of the ducks. We have these Living History events every third Sunday of the month, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. It’s a small even, but very family-oriented. I’d like to do some kind of special event this calendar year – we’ll see what the budget allows. I really want to do a sheep-shearing. Our biggest concern is fencing – our corral is not big enough.”

Though the Living History event is only once a month, the Park is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. With numerous picnic tables, it’s a great place to bring your lunch. And bring a few quarters, too, to buy seed and feed the ducks and geese. To learn more, and see their extensive historic photo archives, visit their website here: http://los-encinos.org/.

TEX RITTER’S BIRTHDAY JANUARY 12TH

Anybody who knows anything about Westerns knows Tex Ritter sang the theme from High Noon (1952), ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ but many are not aware that Ritter, in addition to a hugely successful career in country music, was a Western movie star in his own right, with 72 screen credits. Born in Panola County, Texas, in 1905, Ritter was already a fan of Western music when he appeared on stage in Green Grow The Lilacs, the play that was the basis of Oklahoma. Starting in 1936, singing cowboy Tex and his horse, White Flash, starred in 32 B-westerns Grand National and Monogram, numbering among his co-stars the lovely Rita Cansino before she became Rita Hayworth. In 1938 he met beautiful leading lady Dorothy Fay, with whom he made four films, before they married and she retired from the screen. In the early 1940s he moved to Columbia Pictures to star in a series with Wild Bill Elliot. When Elliot moved to Republic, Tex moved to Universal, to co-star with Johnny Mack Brown and Fuzzy Knight. Tex’s last studio switch was to PRC, where he made eight pictures with Dave O’Brien. I had the privilege of meeting Tex and Dorothy at my sister’s law school graduation – she and their son Tom were in the same class at Vanderbilt University - and they were both charming people and proud parents. If you’d like to see a Tex Ritter western, there are six available on imdb HERE: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0728811/videogallery
If you’d like to hear him sing ‘Do Not Forsake Me’ while you watch the opening of High Noon, click HERE : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKLvKZ6nIiA

NPR'S WESTERN STARTER KIT

Apparently, some folks at National Public Radio are astonished that the Coen Brothers' True Grit has taken in $100,000,000 and is still going strong, because they didn't think anyone like Westerns. They turned to NPR film critic Bob Mondello to list five great westerns, as a sort of starter-kit to introduce the form to the underprivileged. I think it's a great idea, and he made some great choices: Shane (1953), The Searchers (1956), The Wild Bunch (1969), Blazing Saddles (1974) and Unforgiven(1992). Would you send me a comment with your five top choices? And you can hear the NPR story by going to this LINK. http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/01/13/132905247/git-along-little-dogies-a-western-starter-kit. Incidentally, they have tons of comments on the site, some terriffic suggestions, as well as a few movies whose negatives ought to be burned, if you ask me (which you didn't).

WESTERN EVENTS ON THE HORIZON

FEB. 18TH-21ST – WHISKEY FLAT DAYS IN KERNVILLE

Events include a parade, rodeo, frog-jumping contest, food, music and melodramas. For more info, call 760-376-2629, or visit kernvillechamber.org.


FEB. 19TH-20TH – CIVIL WAR WEEKEND AT CALICO GHOST TOWN

Events include Civil War reenactments, authentic encampments, drills, music, living history displays, period fashion shows, and a reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. To learn more, call 800-86-CALICO (862-2542) or visit calicotown.com.

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.

TV LAND - BONANZA and GUNSMOKE

Every weekday, TV LAND airs a three-hour block of BONANZA episodes from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They run a GUNSMOKE Monday through Thursday at 10:00 a.m., and on Friday they show two, from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m.. They're not currently running either series on weekends, but that could change at any time.

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.



Once again, I'm under the (six)gun, timewise, so I expect I'll have a few updates as the week progresses. Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Henry

Copyright January 2010 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

BRONCHO BILLY RIDES AGAIN!

(Updated 1/15/2011 -- See Los Encinos Living History)
(Updated 1/13/2011 -- See Autry Free on Martin Luther King Day)
Gilbert M. Anderson, aka Broncho Billy Anderson, was the very first movie cowboy hero – he’s in the first movie with a plot, Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery. Essanay Films, the company Charlie Chaplin tramped over to when he left Mack Sennett, was actually the phonetic spelling of the three founder’s initials, S-N-A, and the A was for Anderson. On Saturday, January 15th, 7:30 p.m. at Hollywood Heritage, aka The DeMille Barn, film historian David Kiehn of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum will host a program of movies and slides, examining Broncho Billy Anderson’s search for the right location to build his movie studio, tracing his travels from 1908 to 1913. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Broncho Billy western on a big screen – I can’t wait! Visit The Hollywood Heritage Museum at http://www.hollywoodheritage.org/ to learn more.

(pictures, top to bottom: a Broncho Billy titlecard, Buster Keaton in The General, a Clyde Bruckman titlecard, True Grit poster, Carl Sandburg on the cover of TIME, Tom Mix button, George Reeves and Fred Crane in a GWTW make-up test shot, Vivien Leigh with Butterfly McQueen from GWTW, two more Indian Chiefs)

KEATON AND BRUCKMAN’S ‘THE GENERAL’ AT THE CINEFAMILY/SILENT MOVIE

On Wednesday, January 12th at 8 p.m., the Cinefamily Theatre, which was built in Hollywood in the 1940s as The Silent Movie – and still is on Silent Wednesdays – presents what is not only one of Keaton’s finest comedies, but also, perplexingly enough, the finest silent film about the Civil War, The General (1927). The film is co-directed by Keaton and one of the great unsung comedy geniuses of film, Clyde Bruckman. (This part is about Comedies, not Westerns, but I think it’s important: Bruckman wrote and/or directed for Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, W.C. Fields, Abbott and Costello, and The Three Stooges among many others. One day, Harold Lloyd saw a comedy Bruckman had written, where he reused gags he’d created for a Harold Lloyd silent decades before. Lloyd sued him for $1,700,000, and destroyed his career, although he would return to writing, cranking out Columbia shorts, and Amos and Andy TV episodes. On January 4th, 1955, he went into the oldest restaurant in Hollywood, Musso & Frank’s, ordered and ate a meal he couldn’t pay for, went into the men’s room and, using a .45 automatic he’d borrowed from Buster Keaton under false pretenses, killed himself.) Visit Cinefamily here, http://www.cinefamily.org/, to learn more.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 16TH LOS ENCINOS LIVING HISTORY DAY

On this day, and the third Sunday of every month, Los Encinos State Historic Park, located at 16756 Moorpark St. in Encino,91436, has a Living History Day. From one to three p.m. enjoy music, period crafts,a blacksmith, docents in 1870s attire, tours of the historic buildings, and traditional children’s games.

AUTRY FREE ON MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

Normally the Autry Museum isn’t open on Mondays, but on Monday, January 17th, Martin Luther King Day, it’s not just open, it’s FREE!

Also at the Autry this weekend, On Saturday, January 15th, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., a free lecture, part of the American Indian Lecture Series will be presented. It’s entitled American Indian Technology, the speaker is Paul Apodaca, Ph.D. (Navajo/Mixton), who will discuss technological developments of American Indians across two continents as well as how American Indian resources allowed the Industrial and Scientific Ages to change the world as we know it.

And on Sunday, January 16th, it’s Family Sunday at the Autry. The third Sunday of every month will be a full day of family-oriented events, and this week’s theme is Family Histories. Here’s what they say about it: Every Family Sunday will feature a special Western-focused craft activity, storytime, live music from the Western Music Association, gold panning, hands-on history tours with museum docents, and opportunities to explore all the Autry’s galleries.
11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. Gold Rush!
11:30 a.m. StoryTime, featuring books by Kimberly Weinberger, Sonia Levitin and Allen Say. Books featured in Story Time will be available at the museum store for 10% off.
11:30a.m., 1:00p.m., & 3:00p.m. Docent-Led Tours
Noon–3:00 p.m. Third Sunday Jam With the Western Music Association
1:00 p.m. Hands-On Family Tour of Community Gallery
1:30 p.m.-4:00 p.m. Craft Activity: Family History Lap Book. Learning about family histories is a fascinating journey back in time. Explore our Community Stories kits with museum teachers, and create your own family history lap book.

ROY ROGERS ON RFD-TV

This Saturday, January 15th, the feature will be Sheriff of Tombstone (1941), starring Roy, and featuring Gabby Hayes as a judge, for a change. This is another directed by the great Joe Kane, and scripted by that prolific writer of Republic oaters, Olive Cooper, from the story by James Webb.

CONFIRMED: TRUE GRIT (1969) IN REDBOX, AND PORTIS’ VIEWS

I’d mentioned last week that True Grit (1969) was supposed to be available at Redbox, but I hadn’t found a copy yet. I have since tracked one down at the Redbox outside my local supermarket, and the special features included a return to the original locations, some information on author Charles Portis, and brief interviews with co-stars Kim Darby, Jeremy Slate and Glen Campbell. Can’t beat it for a buck!

And speaking of how close the original movie sticks to the novel, here’s what Portis has to say in a letter to a historian at Fort Smith. “Yes, the screenplay stayed pretty close to the book. I noticed that the movie director, Henry Hathaway, used the book itself, with the pages much underlined, when he was setting up scenes. I also noticed that some of the actors had trouble speaking the (intentionally) stiff dialogue. I didn’t write the screenplay. It was sent to me and I made a few changes, not many. I did write the last scene, in the graveyard, which didn’t appear in the book or the script.”

What did he think of Hathaway and Wayne? “Hathaway was a gruff old bird, quite hard on the actors. He and John Wayne had one blazing row while I was there. Strong, loud words. The whole thing is coming to an end right here, I thought. Ten minutes later they were back at work. Such flare-ups were normal, I was told, in this tense and edgy business.”

“Wayne was a bigger man than I expected. We, the cynical public, are led by rumor to believe that movie stars will be dwarfish, disappointing little fellows in the flesh, but Wayne was no let-down. He was actually bigger than his image on the screen, both in stature and presence. One icy morning, very early, before sunrise, we were having breakfast in a motel café, before making the long drive up into the mountains for the day’s shooting. A tourist, a middle-aged woman, startled to see John Wayne sitting across the room, came over (against her husband’s obvious wishes) to speak. Wayne rose to greet her. She went into a long, incoherent story about her son having been in the same college fraternity (Sigma Chi, I think) as Wayne. He stood there, not fidgeting and just hearing her out, but actively listening, and chatting with her in an easy way, as his fried eggs congealed on the plate. I took this to be no more than his nature. A gentleman at four o’clock on a cold morning is indeed a gentleman.”

The lady who wrote the screenplay, Marguerite Roberts, started out as a secretary at 20th Century Fox, then became a contract writer at MGM, scripting films like Ziegfeld Girl (1941) and Dragon Seed (1944), for Katherine Hepburn. But what she relished was writing roles for tough men. “I was weaned on stories about gunfighters and their doings, and I know all the lingo too. My grandfather came West as far as Colorado by covered wagon. He was a sheriff in the state’s wildest days.”

There was some doubt as to whether John Wayne would accept her as the screen writer; both she and her husband, writer John Sanford, had been blacklisted for being communists who refused to name names. But it’s said that one reading of her script was all it took to convince the Duke.

And happily, this weekend, like the last, is a box-office battle between the new TRUE GRIT and LITTLE FOKKERS, and GRIT is winning!

BIRTHDAYS OF NOTE

Thursday, January 6th was the birthday of poet and Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg (1878), cowboy hero Tom Mix (1880), and George Reeves (1914), who began his screen career as a Tarleton twin in Gone with the Wind (1939), and appeared in five Hopalong Cassidy movies before becoming The Man of Steel. And speaking of GWTW, Saturday, January 8th, is the birthday of Butterfly McQueen (1911), who played Prissy, the slave you love to hate.

WESTERN EVENTS ON THE HORIZON

FEB. 18TH-21ST – WHISKEY FLAT DAYS IN KERNVILLE

Events include a parade, rodeo, frog-jumping contest, food, music and melodramas. For more info, call 760-376-2629, or visit kernvillechamber.org.


FEB. 19TH-20TH – CIVIL WAR WEEKEND AT CALICO GHOST TOWN

Events include Civil War reenactments, authentic encampments, drills, music, living history displays, period fashion shows, and a reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. To learn more, call 800-86-CALICO (862-2542) or visit calicotown.com.

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.

TV LAND - BONANZA and GUNSMOKE

Every weekday, TV LAND airs a three-hour block of BONANZA episodes from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They run a GUNSMOKE Monday through Thursday at 10:00 a.m., and on Friday they show two, from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m.. They're not currently running either series on weekends, but that could change at any time.

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.

That’s about it for this week – between transcribing a 3 hour interview with actor Earl Holliman, and trying to have a Western pilot script in a presentable form for my agent to go out with on Monday, I’m surprised I found this much to tell you about. Have a great week!

Henry

Copyright January 2011 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

WILLIAM BONNEY LOSES PAROLE BID!

While in California, outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger continues a long national tradition of disgracing himself by chopping up murderers’ sentences, New Mexico’s outgoing Gov. Bill Richardson broke with tradition and refused to pardon a killer who’s been dead since July 14, 1881. Henry McCarty, alias William H. Bonney, alias Billy The Kid, was the subject of a campaign by his descendants to have his legal slate wiped clean, a move vigorously opposed by the descendants of both Sheriff Pat Garrett, who killed him, and then New Mexico Territorial Governor Lew Wallace.

Governor Wallace was a fascinating man, a Union General who was part of military commissions who tried and convicted the Lincoln Assassination conspirators, and the court-martial of Henry Wirz, commandant of the infamous Andersonville prison camp. He was Governor of New Mexico from 1878 to 1881, U. S. Minister to the Ottoman Empire from 1881 to 1885, and still managed to find time to author the best-selling novel Ben Hur.

The case for a pardon of Billy came from an alleged deal between the Governor and the bandit, wherein the Kid would testify against his co-conspirators in the Lincoln County War, and in return, Billy would be let off "scot free with a pardon in [his] pocket for all [his] misdeeds." But no proof of this deal’s existence could be found, in spite of the fact that they exchanged numerous letters, and Wallace, in arranging a meeting, did write, “I have authority to exempt you from prosecution if you will testify to what you know.” On December 31, 2010, Richardson rejected the pardon request, citing a "lack of conclusiveness and the historical ambiguity" over Wallace's actions. “I could not rewrite history.”

While we may never know the truth about any secret deals between a ruthless killer and a heroic governor, what we know positively is that Billy the Kid turned rat against his pals in the Lincoln County War to get clemency. Call me old fashioned, but I’d say that’s reason enough to shoot him. What do you think?

(Photos - Gov. Lew Wallace, Charles Portis and John Wayne on TRUE GRIT set)

HENRY’S WESTERN ROUND-UP PASSES 10,000 HITS!

On Sunday night I checked my totals and found that in the less than a year that this site has been in existence, we have had more than 10,000 visits! Thanks to all of you – it’s nice to know I’m not muttering to myself like Gabby Hayes (actually he was usually talking to his mule).

TRUE GRIT TAKES $86 MILLION

The Coen brother’s remake has taken in $86,670,382 since its December 22nd opening, easily making back its $35,000,000 budget, placing it in #2 position, following only Little Fockers, which cost, unbelievably, $100,000,000 to perpetrate. I was personally delighted with True Grit. I thought Roger Deakin’s camerawork was beautiful, the art direction, set and costume design were first rate, and casting and performances were terrific. The Coen’s direction was fine, and in their script they wisely followed the Portis novel closely in both plot and dialogue.

My only complaint is purely about public relations. I’m sick of people remaking a great movie, which the John Wayne/Henry Hathaway clearly is, and spouting a bunch of nonsense about how the original movie was so-so because it didn’t follow the novel, but the new one will follow it much more closely and be much better. Aside from Hailee Steinfeld, who is much closer to the age of Mattie Ross in the book than Kim Darby was, both films stick so closely to the novel that you could watch them, alternating reels from each version, and have no trouble following the story. Please let me know what you thought of either or both films.

It was just pointed out to me that two of the film’s stars, Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin, both played Wild Bill Hickok, the former in Wild Bill, and the latter in the series Young Guns. Barry Pepper is exceptional as Lucky Ned Pepper.

Incidentally, if you want to compare the new version to the original, Redbox informs me that the 1969 version is in many of its boxes. I couldn’t find it at the two I tried, but maybe they were just rented. And if you’d like to watch it on your computer, it’s available for rent from Amazon VOD (video on demand).

INCIDENTALLY…

The fact that everyone speaks so respectfully of author Charles Portis, combined with not seeing any interviews with him, led me to assume that he was the late Charles Portis. But happily, he is alive and well, 77 and living in Arkansas. He’s been described as reclusive, but according to friends, as a former journalist himself, he has the same low opinion of the press that Mattie Ross did. “The paper editors are great ones for reaping where they have not sewn. Another game they have is to send reporters out to talk to you and get your stories for free. I know the young reporters are not paid well, and I would not mind helping those boys out with a few of their ‘scoops’ if they could ever get anything right.”

NEW YEAR’S DAY DOUBLE BILL AT THE AUTRY

To anyone who attended the Gene Autry double-feature on New Years Day I (a) hope you enjoyed it and (b) apologize if you got there late: every bulletin I received said the showings would begin at 2 p.m., but when I arrived at 1:30 p.m., I found they’d switched it to noon.
And here’s the really interesting part of the event: they’d announced that the screening would be in the Imagination Gallery’s Western Legacy Theatre. For those of you who’ve toured the Autry, that’s the last stop, the little walk-through screening room where a pair of short documentaries narrated by Eli Wallach are shown. There are enough benches for, perhaps, twenty people. As the lady at the museum entrance told me, they didn’t expect much of a turn-out, and thought seating for twenty would be more than sufficient. But when the seats filled long before the movie began, they started sending people around to bring benches from the other galleries. When those became packed, they started worrying about safe occupancy levels, and moved the event to where it should have been in the first place, the large Wells Fargo Theatre. I missed all of Tumbling Tumbleweeds (1935), but saw most of the Last Round-Up (1947), and was struck by the high quality of the image. I was wondering if they had a 16mm or 35mm print, and was amazed to learn that it was a DVD! On February 1st the double feature will be Shooting High (1940) and Sioux City Sue (1946), and I’ll double check on when and where they’ll be screened.

AND A HISTORICAL GENE AUTRY NOTE

On January 7th, 1940, Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch premiered on CBS radio, and continued for sixteen years, except for 1942-1945, when Gene was in the Army Air Corps.

RFD’S ROY ROGERS LINE-UP

There’s be one more airing of In Old Cheyenne (1941) on Thursday (check your local times, featuring Roy as a newspaper reporter investigating outlaw Arapaho Brown (Gabby Hayes), but things are not as they seem… On Saturday, January 8th it’s Young Bill Hickok (1940), also directed by Joe Kane, also co-starring Gabby Hayes and Hal Taliaferro and Sally Payne, and if you look quick, Iron Eyes Cody and Spade Cooley.

LONE RANGER REDUX

In last week’s entry I noted the passing of Fred Foy, the great radio and TV announcer of The Lone Ranger. For the past week, there’s been much discussion on Old Tim Radio websites whether, with Foy’s passing, there were any cast members left from the radio show. Brace Beemer, The Lone Ranger, died in 1965, and John Todd, Tonto, died in 1957. It turns out that some of the kid actors are still around, and one of them was disc jockey Casey Kasem, who played various child characters. Also, 60 MINUTES regular Mike Wallace played roles and announced the show on at least one occasion.

HI-YO SILVER - AWAY!

Also thanks to a tip from and OTR website, here’s a link to a wonderful clip, from the David Letterman Show, with comedian Jay Thomas telling about appearing at an auto showroom event with Lone Ranger Clayton Moore. GO HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhB4kDwZu7M


Happy Trails!

Henry

All contents copyright January 2011 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved