UPDATED 9/23/13 -- SEE 'SILVER SPUR AWARDS' STORY
‘REVEREND COLT’
SPAGH
James Russo in YELLOW ROCK
Some people never stop
working. Here it is, just over a week to
the Almeria Western Film Festival, and the folks behind it, the gang at Chip Baker
Films, fresh from shooting SIX BULLETS TO HELL in those great Spanish locations
and sets, are in pre-production for their next
Spaghetti Western, REVEREND COLT! James
Russo, one of the cinema’s most intimidating presences, will star as the titled
Reverend.
Russo, who appeared in
Sergio Leone’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, and just played gangster Anthony ‘Red’
Cervelli on VEGAS, is no stranger to the western form. Most recently seen in DJANGO UNCHAINED, he
was also one of the stars of YELLOW ROCK, SHOOT FIRST AND PRAY YOU LIVE, BROKEN
TRAIL, OPEN RANGE, and BAD GIRLS.
Co-producer and co-writer
Danny Garcia is very excited at the prospect of working with Russo. “James loves the genre and he not only he
worked with Sergio Leone in
ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA; he loves 'Leone type westerns' as he puts it. So
for us to work with him in Leone's turf is not only a perfect plan but also an
honor as you can imagine.” Danny tells
me they’ll be shooting in Almeria in the spring of 2014, with much the same
crew and some of the same cast as SIX BULLETS TO HELL (if you missed my
write-up on that one, go HERE.)
Russell Quinn Cummings will be directing with
a script by Garcia and Jose L. Villanueva, from an idea by Chip Baker. The rest
of the cast includes a number of actors with a history of westerns, Spaghetti
or domestic, including Cal Bartlett, whose western credits go back as far a
BONANZA and THE VIRGINIAN; Antonio Mayans of A TOWN CALLED HELL and many
others; Saturno Cerra of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST and many others; Aaron
Stielstra chilling in the recent THE SCARLET WORM; Norberto Morán of the most recent
PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN; and Peter Tahoe.
I’ll have more details shortly.
FINAL SEASON OF ‘THE GENE AUTRY SHOW’ RELEASED ON
DVD!
Article and DVD Review
With what would have been Gene Autry’s 106th
birthday exactly one week from today, it’s a perfect time to look at the
recently released last season of his delightful TV series. Among the special pleasures in season five,
all thirteen episodes are in stunning color, and filmed on beautiful locations
like Lone Pine and Pioneertown that take full advantage of the camera’s
possibilities.
Gene’s show, which ran for 91 episodes from 1950 to
1955, was a product of careful study and research. Gene spent more than two years studying the
difference between movies and television before shooting his first episode
under the Flying A Productions
banner, which he created for his television business, analyzing questions like
what is the best way to show action on a tiny, blurry screen. He concluded that his television movies would
have less long-shots, more close-ups, and more side-to-side rather than head-on
action.
Why was Gene, just back from the war, eager to get
into the new market? Here’s the answer
in Gene’s own words. “Like everyone else in show business, I had become
very much interested in the possibilities of television. And, in addition, I
had a special reason for wanting to hit the video channels. During my three and
a half years in the service, a whole new generation of children had been born.
These youngsters are still too young to attend many movies (if at all), but
they’re not too young to watch television. And in these days, cowboy fans, like
charity, begin at home.”
Gene wanted to build a pipeline of
new fans from the TV series to his films at the movie theatres. But movie exhibitors, whose
venues were disappearing with the competition of the new medium of television,
were not at all pleased when he decided to make shows directly for TV. Some even cancelled their contracts to play
his pictures, saying no one would buy a ticket to see him when they could watch
him on TV for free. To show how
different the show-biz world of the 1950s was from today, Gene correctly
countered that by-and-large, only rural areas played his movies, while only big
cities had TV stations, so his films and TV shows were serving almost completely
different markets. He further pointed
out that his new Columbia-produced
films were not getting the playdates they should, because exhibitors, to save
money, were instead booking his pre-war Republic
films, which he didn’t own (yet).
One thing that set THE GENE AUTRY SHOW apart from
its competitors was that the episodes were approached as self-contained
mini-movies. In THE ROY ROGERS SHOW, THE
LONE RANGER, or HOPALONG CASSIDY, the identities and relationships of
characters were always the same. In
Autry’s series, just like in his theatrical movies, Gene could be a lawman or a
ranch hand or a well-known entertainer, and sidekick Pat Buttram could be an
old compadre, or someone he just met. It
made for a wider variety of story possibilities. And also consistent with Gene’s features,
there is always music, and in the last season Gene’s singing is backed by the
personable and talented Cass County Boys.
And there’s plenty of fighting and riding action, a not preachy but
clear core of morality, and comedy supplied by Pat Buttram. The one exception to the last was when,
during season one, Pat was nearly killed by a prop cannon, and for the next
several episodes actors Fuzzy Knight, Alan Hale Jr. and Chill Wills took turns
donning Pat’s duds and filling in for him (you can learn more about this HERE in my review of PAT BUTTRAM, ROCKING CHAIR HUMORIST).
Here are some of the highlights of season five:
The first episode of the final season, MILLION
DOLLAR FIDDLE, centers on a character every kid can identify with. A violin prodigy with a priceless
Stradivarius, he’s every one of us who just wanted to be a kid, when our
parents made us take music or dance lessons or do our homework. And instead of the usual low-brow approach to
classical music that would have been easier, Gene, no snob, is a fan of
classical, but also thinks a kid should get to be a kid from time to time. And although he’s not used to his fullest
potential, it a kick for fans of The Three Stooges and Abbott and Costello to
see Joe ‘Stinky’ Besser as the train conductor.
It will surprise locals that STAGE TO SAN DIMAS does
not involve water parks, but a stagecoach that must get through regardless of
angry Apaches or white bandits after an actress’s diamonds, and features Myron
Healy, one of TV Western’s best sardonic outlaws.
PORTRAIT OF WHITE CLOUD has a clever plot about the
timing of hold-ups, and an itinerant portrait painter – and Chief White Cloud
is played by the original Butch Cavendish and GUNSMOKE’S Sam the bartender,
Glenn Strange. It’s written by pulp
mystery-turned prolific western movie scribe John K. Butler.
When Gene finds a village so corrupt that the
minister is forced to hold services out of town, Gene makes sure that LAW COMES
TO SCORPION, and he gets framed for murder for his trouble. This episode features lovely Lisa Montell,
ever-villainous Myron Healy, weak lawman Arthur Space, and the great perennial
drunken and/or corrupt judge, Earle Hodgins.
In THE GOLDEN CHARIOT, Pat and the boys are trying
to raise the money to build a school by taking part in a chariot race, and
heavy Harry Lauter gets to switch his western garb for charioteer duds. Radio star and Disney voice artist Junius
Matthews is the school teacher working out of a barn, Byron Foulger is the
official set to de-certify the school. Directed
with style by action pro Ray Nazarro, it’s highlighted by a pair of chariot
races through the Alabama Hills around Lone Pine, in breathtaking color.
In GUNS BELOW THE BORDER, Pat, working for brothers
Myron Healy and Keith Richards, is helping a padre bring a replacement bell to
the San Angelo Mission in Mexico, hoping to evade Mexican renegade Gregorio
(Leno-jawed Lane Bradford). American
lawman Gene and Mexican lawman Capitan Fernando take turns crossing each
other’s borders to track a shipment of guns headed for the renegades. Striking
Eugenia Paul is Fernando’s guitar-strumming daughter who is in need of a
chaperone, especially looking as nice as she does in those off-the-shoulder
tops. Fernando is played by
Jallisco-born George L. Lewis, who played the traitor Collins on TV’s THE LONE
RANGER, and would soon be famous as Guy Williams’ father on Disney’s ZORRO
series.
And three episodes in a row, SADDLE UP, RIDE
RANCHERO and THE RANGERETTE, known to fans as ‘The Flying A Trilogy,’ break the
mold by being a three-part story involving Gene’s attempts to establish a boy’s
ranch for underprivileged kids. And the
lead villain is none of than the very frightening and creepy Emile Meyer, Alan
Ladd’s nemesis from SHANE.
The final episode, DYNAMITE, features Glenn Strange,
mine cave-ins, and a man whose skill with dynamite would reveal his identity as
a wanted man.
Special features on the Season 5 DVD set include an
episode of the Melody Ranch Radio Show from 1955, a selection of Gene’s movie trailers, and a color photo
gallery.
But wait, there’s more Gene Autry home video
news! You can now buy THE GENE AUTRY
SHOW season by season – actually season three and four are in a set – or if you
want to wait until December 10th, you can buy a new 15 disk boxed
set that contains all five seasons, complete with all their special
features. And this set also includes a
bonus disk, with episodes of the four other Gene Autry produced FLYING A
series, ANNIE OAKLEY, THE RANGE RIDER, BUFFALO BILL JR., and ADVENTURES OF
CHAMPION. And if you pre-order at the
Autry website, you get it at the discount price of $70.
Also, on November 12th, the GENE AUTRY
COLLECTION #4 will be released, featuring THE OLD BARN DANCE, BLUE MONTANA
SKIES, SIERRA SUE, and COWBOY SERENADE, all pre-war Republics. Special features include Gene and Pat
discussing the films on the MELODY RANCH THEATRE series. The
pre-order price on this set is $15.50.
In addition to ordering merchandise, you can learn everything you ever
wanted to know about Gene at the GENE AUTRY OFFICIAL WEBSITE http://www.autry.com/home.php
GENE AUTRY BIRTHDAY EVENTS!
STARZ ENCORE’S WESTERN CHANNEL will celebrate Gene’s
birthday Friday, September 27th through Sunday, September 29th,
with a 42 film marathon, beginning with his first feature, TUMBLING
TUMBLEWEEDS, and ending with his last, LAST OF THE PONY RIDERS. The WESTERN CHANNEL has renewed their exclusive
contract with Gene Autry Productions through 2018!
On Saturday, September 28th, the Autry Museum
will screen a free double-feature of Gene’s movies, STARDUST ON THE SAGE and
CALL OF THE CANYON. And on Sunday,
September 29th, there will be a birthday celebration at the Autry, a
special birthday display, and from 2 to 4 pm, curator Jeffrey Richardson will
be making a presentation about the Autry’s Colt firearms collection, then
discussing and signing his new book, COLT: THE REVOLVER OF THE AMERICAN WEST.
AN INTERVIEW WITH GENE AUTRY ENTERPRISES PRESIDENT KARLA
BUHLMAN
We all know that Gene Autry was a great entertainer,
but not everyone is aware that he was a phenomenal businessman, who spotted
trends and predicted changes in the entertainment business years before others
did. He built an empire of not only
movies and TV shows, but of radio and TV stations, and baseball. Karla Buhlman is the President of Gene Autry
Enterprises, and has been with the company for over two decades. Having worked with Gene for years, and having
helped steer his company successfully since his passing, she has a unique
perspective on Gene the businessman and his approach to the then burgeoning
field of television. She was kind enough
to share her thoughts with me.
HENRY PARKE:
I know that you were not born when the TV shows were running, but do you know if William Boyd’s character Hopalong Cassidy’s
surge of popularity, after his old movies played on TV, influence Gene to go
into the new medium?
KARLA BUHLMAN:
That in particular I don’t know.
But what I can tell you is that Gene Autry was very, very savvy into how
the public consumed his product. Because
he toured extensively across the United Sates and Canada, he knew how people
were accessing his many different outlets of entertainment. Whether it was buying sheet music or going to
the movie theatres, or however. He really
understood how to reach his fans. So my
best guess is that as he toured the country, he saw the development of
television. He realized that that was a
medium he needed to be involved in. Also
remember that Gene started researching this in 1948 and ’49. Gene was also purchasing broadcast outlets in
addition to radio stations, television stations. So he saw the value of television. And he was the first motion picture star to
make the leap; to produce band new product for television, where Hoppy was
showing his old movies. Gene was
specifically making new product, and he did extensive research. They went out and they did a lot of test
shooting to see how things would be.
Look at a long shot – you’re going from a big screen to a small
screen. How are you going to use the
economy of your shots? We have some wonderful things in the Museum Archive from
Flying A Productions. These file cabinets that have little film
frames on them, of specific stock shots, that they could reuse. If you watch the shows, Gene’s pretty much
wearing the same uniform of the dungaree shirt and blue jeans. Pat’s pretty much wearing the vest and
flannel shirt. Because they could reuse
the long shots, the horse races, things like that. Gene Autry was very frugal, saying ‘I’m going
to produce this. I’m going to use my own
stock. I’m going to use my own
company. How am I going to make this
work best when we go out to these locations?’
He didn’t just kind of step into this.
He fully understood what his audience was, and then decided, ‘How am I
going to make this work for me?’
HENRY: In the early 1950s, he was starring in movies
at Columbia, he was touring, he was
doing his radio show, and starting in television. Did he ever sleep?
KARLA: You
know, it’s so funny, he would fly his own Beachcraft airplane to get to get to
different touring events, and there are some interviews I’ve recently read in
Boyd Magers’ book, GENE AUTRY WESTERNS, of one of the actresses kind of
freakin’ out because Gene would put the plane on auto-pilot and go back to
sleep! But he was so in tune to what he
was doing, and he had such good people working with him. He would do his weekly radio show, he would
have his touring schedule, forty shows in forty different places, and all this
balancing at once. Now, his movies that
were released in ’53, a lot of them were shot in ’52. And the radio shows, they were starting to
taper down for a lot of different reasons.
Because of the advent of television’s popularity. As we restore the radio shows, we see
recycled scripts. We see that was really
tailored down, where it went from being a full orchestra to an organist. So there were changes. But he was definitely using the technology of
the day to benefit him, to be in all these place. So he was using his private airplane. He was using radio and television to
cross-promote his other products. At the
end of his TV show he’d say, be sure to go see me in my latest Columbia release. And I’m sure, from the road, on his personal
appearance tours, he’d be plugging his movies and other things. He had synergy before the word was
invented.
HENRY: While his work was accessible to everyone,
his Columbia movies seemed aimed at a
more mature audience than the TV series.
KARLA: I
think you can say that. Now if you look
at movies as a whole, the American audience had changed, because of World War
II. When you compare the Republics to the Columbias, Gene still plays Gene Autry, there’s still music, comedy
and action, except the ratio is different.
The Republics had more
music. They took place at that time and
place – 1940, 1941. But now when you go
post-war, America’s a little harder. We’ve
been through a lot. We still like music,
but we don’t want as much of it because we’d rather have some more action. So there’s more hard riding. There’s more fist-fighting. In fact, I joke when I screen BLUE CANADIAN
ROCKIES that they must have had a five-minute fist-fight rule, because it seems
that every five minutes there’s a fist-fight.
The humor is a little bit different, because the humor is provided by
Pat Buttram, not Smiley Burnette. How we
want our escapism, when we go to the movies, it did change. So there is a difference between a Republic Autry and a Columbia Autry. Now with television, it’s a shorter amount of
time, thirty minutes, but it was still regarded as a film; that’s the language
they use in the documents from ’50, ’51. They would refer to these not as
television episodes but as Autry films for television. And each of these episodes has a beginning, a
middle and an end, with the exception of three films in the last season. They’re not story arced; you don’t have to
see the last six to understand the next seven.
They’re stand-alone. There are
more children in the television episodes – Johnny runs away because he wants to
be on Gene’s ranch or whatever, and that is because I think Gene understood
that the audience was his original fan, the mom or the dad, who’s now sharing
Gene with their children. So I think
they did understand that their audience was younger for TV, and the movies were
still fulfilling that original Gene Autry fan, who discovered him in the 1930s,
and now is older, but still accommodating the second generation of fans.
HENRY: When he started the series, Gene had been off
fighting the war, and hence off the screen for some time. Was he having trouble re-establishing
himself?
KARLA: What
he did when he came back was realize that he needed control of his
product. He did eight films for Republic when he came back from World
War II, and in a couple of films, it’s like Gene just walks through them. They don’t have Smiley in them. They do have the Cass County boys. He shot them real fast, and he was looking
for an exit so he could have more control of the content of what the scripts
were, and how they were shot. He comes
back and he does eight films, and then he shifts over to Columbia. And when he makes Columbia films, those are ‘A Gene Autry
Production’. He’s more financially
invested in them; he also has much more control in them. It’s not so much that I think Gene had a
problem coming back to the audience; it’s that the audience had changed. He couldn’t do the exact same formula he had
before, because it’s a more mature audience, and also a little older. And that’s why he comes out with ‘Here Comes Santa Claus.’ He’s changing
up his music a little bit because his original fans now have children. Here
Comes Santa Claus’ which was based on the Hollywood Christmas Parade. He got the inspiration for the song because
he was so popular, he and Champion were just before Santa Claus, and he would
hear the kids on the side saying, “Here comes Santa Claus! Here comes Santa Claus!” And that was the inspiration for the song. Well, seeing the monster hit with this
holiday song, Gene Autry then started to record songs for children, and then he
comes up a couple of years later with ‘
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer’ , so as his audience changed, he changed,
and found that fit. He was very very
good at that, and not being stuck in, ‘This is what my success is, this is what
I’m going to continue to constantly reproduce.’
He observed who his audience was, what their entertainment need was, and
adjusted.
HENRY: That
really is rare, to be that good an artist, and that good a business man
together.
KARLA: And
he’s right there at the dawn of this new thing of television. And remember, too, he had comic books, so
kids were picking up his comic books. He
also had a couple of chapter books, adventures books. Every aspect that you could be a Gene Autry fan;
he covered those bases and made himself accessible. And again, he grew as his audience grew. Now, when television did come about, you had
brand new kids discovering Gene because they were seeing him on TV, and not so
much in the theatre. They would have a
different affection for Gene, because it would be specifically that television
Gene. Then maybe they’d see the rodeo
and see the personal appearance tour.
Whereas the parent may be huge fans of BELLS OF CAPISTRANO or SOUTH OF
THE BORDER, which is a little different flavor of Gene Autry.
HENRY: How did movie exhibitors feel about Gene
doing television films?
KARLA: Well
the story goes that they just went ballistic.
The movie exhibitors completely panicked. How can you do this to us? You’re just destroying us! They were so panicked that Gene had gone to
an exhibitor’s conference and in person explained to them, look guys,
television is here. At the end of every
episode I’m telling them to go to the movies and see me. I am sending them back to the theatres. The movie exhibitors were hurting not just
because of Gene, but by everything else that was happening. And that’s why the theatre around this time,
the cinema, brings you 3-D sci-fi films, trying to figure, how to we bring
people back to the theatres. What can we
give them on the screen that they’re not going to get at home?
HENRY: How did Columbia
Pictures feel about Gene doing television films?
KARLA: From ’49
to ’53 is when he was with Columbia. And his television show was ’50 to ‘55. If you steadily look at those films, as he
was putting them out, Gene knew when it was time to stop making movies. The box office was changing. The genre of the singing cowboy was changing. And he could see, he himself was getting
older. And television was smarter, and
at the same time he had FLYING ‘A’ PRODUCTIONS.
He was coming out with THE RANGE RIDER and ANNIE OAKLEY, these other
programs where he’s doing more behind the scenes as a producer, instead of in front
of the camera. And I think it’s very
telling that he realized, ‘I’m done being in front of the camera. At a certain point I have had my success, and
I need to go on to the next thing.’ Which
for him was broadcasting, and then baseball.
So he made that transition.
Actors today, they’ll be some that can make that transition that
gracefully age, take on the appropriate roles.
But then there are a lot trying to hang onto that year when they were a
success. And they get the plastic surgery;
they only want to take the younger roles.
It’s a rare person who can look at themselves and say, I’m not what I
used to be, and I need to find a new way!
HENRY: In fact, when I look at the careers of all
the great Western TV stars of that era, I’m thinking of not just Gene, but William
Boyd, Clayton Moore, Roy Rogers, virtually none of them did any more
acting.
KARLA: I think it was that professionalism, knowing
the genre’s going on the wayside. And I
need to now just enjoy life differently.
It’s like Abbott and Costello had success in movies, on radio and in
television, and that kind of buddy comedy also fell by the wayside, replaced by
something else (the sitcom), and here the westerns themselves changed: you went
completely darker, you had more violence, you had just a different take on
it. People ask me all the time when it’s
going to come back. Well, I don’t think
it’s going to come back, because it’s not the time and place for it. Music and movies will still exist; it will
just be presented differently. It’s got
to assess the audience at that time, and please them. What’s going to excite them? That’s why you have something like MOULIN
ROUGE, Baz Luhrmann, who takes contemporary music, spins it, presents it a
different way, and tells a different story.
That’s music in the movies; it’s just done completely different; it’s
not the same as an M.G.M. musical. Here’s
how today’s audience wants to enjoy it.
HENRY: Was
there ever any doubt that Pat Buttram would be Gene’s sidekick in the series?
KARLA: Well Gene had, at that time, Pat Buttram on
the radio show, and there was just a super-camaraderie. And Smiley (Burnette) did do a few
appearances on Gene’s Melody Ranch Radio
Show. But once the war had ended,
Smiley was under contract with Republic,
doing films with other cowboy stars, so when Gene came back, he couldn’t get
Smiley right away. Now the last couple
of Gene Columbias, he does get
Smiley, and that worked great for the films.
But for TV, I never talked to Pat about that, but I think because of
their camaraderie, with the radio show, it just made sense to make the
transition to the TV from ’50 to ’55.
Now of course Pat was absent from several episodes because he’d had a
horrible accident on the set. And once
that TV show ended Pat had success in other television series.
HENRY: I can remember at least one episode of GREEN
ACRES where both Pat Buttram and Smiley Burnette appeared, but I don’t remember
if they had any scenes together.
KARLA: Crossover
probably because of PETTICOAT JUNCTION, because Smiley was in PETTICOAT
JUNCTION.
HENRY: I’ll always remember the first Sunset Carson
movie I ever saw. Smiley Burnette was his sidekick, but he was billed above
Sunset. Only time I ever saw credits of
‘Sidekick and Star in…”
KARLA: Oh, how funny! Smiley, Pat and Gene. I think the guys you saw, the guys you heard
on the radio, I think that was the guys in real life. And I say that because they just didn’t have
time to be anyone else. Because they
were constantly on radio, filming, out there on the road touring. I think it
would be really hard to have a double life, to be anyone other than that friendly,
personable fellow.
HENRY: Do you know what sort of budget and shooting
schedule the episodes had?
KARLA: They were very frugal in their filming. So they would film episodes that maybe had
the same actors, same kind of locations.
They might film six of them like that in a row, but they wouldn’t
broadcast them that way. They’d be
interspersed.
HENRY: Like
the way Glenn Strange keeps popping up.
KARLA: They
were very scheduled, strict, smartly laid out, filming schedules, for the economy
of the actors and the economy of the locations.
HENRY: Gene
bought Monogram Ranch in Newhall, and christened it Melody Ranch. Later he filmed THE GENE AUTRY SHOW in Pioneertown. Why did he need another western town? Were
things just too busy at Melody Ranch with all his other shows?
KARLA: I
think it was a couple of things. I think
it was location and convenience. And the
fact that he needed a place to keep his horses; it just made sense. Remember, he had stock for his rodeo. When he would tour, those were his Flying A
Ranch cattle. It was like, why pay rent
when I can utilize the place for multiple purposes?
HENRY: The 5th
and final season of THE GENE AUTRY SHOW was shot in color. It looks just beautiful, and I’m sure the
color gave it a longer life in syndication.
Gene had done two episodes in color in season one, and had announced the
show was going to be in color from then on.
Any idea why he changed his mind?
KARLA: If I
recall correctly, it’s budget. It’s
getting the labs, having access to all that.
Because when he was doing his feature films for Columbia, he really wanted to do them in color, but literally, the
line was too long at Technicolor to
make them. So that’s why his two, THE
BIG SOMBRERO and STRAWBERRY ROAN were done in Cinecolor, and so when it came to doing the TV shows, he did the
early two, and it was a matter of budget and availability.
HENRY: There
is no sense of finality to the final episode, DYNAMITE. Was Gene intending to make more shows?
KARLA: I
don’t believe he was because, again, for the series as a whole, it was not a
continuation of episodes. The series as
a whole, each episode was a self-contained adventure. Except for the three that made what the fans
call ‘The Flying A Trilogy,’ that had a story-line that held over the
three. So it wasn’t intended to have a big ‘Tadah!”
kind of (finish).
HENRY: ANNIE OAKLEY starred his frequent co-star,
Gail Davis, and continued into 1956, a year later than THE GENE AUTRY SHOW. The first, probably the only feminist western
series.
KARLA: Making
a girl the lead; making it the girl who was the smart one, and making
decisions, was really important. And I
think a lot of that comes from the fact that, again, Gene Autry was out there,
and really interacted with his fans. And
he could see that girls needed their cowboy heroes, too. And it’s funny,because when you look at Gene
Autry’s movies as a whole, the leading ladies in the Republic Pictures films are intelligent, fly planes, own printing
companies, own ranches; they’re kickin’ ass and takin’ names. Well, postwar they turn into what I call the
‘prairie princesses’. They’re in
gingham from their ankles to their neck.
And they no longer have that strong character role; they’re
school-teachers or daughters. And
they’re always in trouble and need rescuing and I think that’s a reflection of the
time. During the war the women were in
charge. They were Rosie the riveters,
they were out there, being the accountants, building ships, doing everything
when the men were off to war. Now the
men come back, and they need their jobs back.
And then women, if you look at other movies and TV shows, they’re kind
of pulled back to their place, as it were.
I always said a Republic
leading lady could take on a Columbia
leading lady, and win. I really love the
leading ladies of the ‘30s and the ‘40s because they were these strong dynamo
characters. And I would have to say that,
the ANNIE OAKLEY TV series, a lot of her heart comes from the leading ladies of
the ‘30s and ‘40s.
HENRY: I never thought of it before, but the Republic women were a lot more like
Frank Capra and Preston Sturges and Howard Hawks women.
KARLA: Oh
yes; they’re smart. And then maybe
you’ll have the goofy sidekick to the leading lady. But
when the girls in the Republic Pictures get into a pickle, it’s of their own doing. Or they’ve gotten into a way where Gene can
untangle the situation, but it’s not that they’re helpless. In the Columbia
Pictures ones, there’s a great movie, WHIRLWIND, with Gail Davis as the
lead, and as she starts off, Gene mistakes her for a man; because she’s wearing
gauchos, she’s got a fringe jacket and a dark hat. By the end of the film, she’s in a gingham
prairie dress, covered up from neck to ankle, and she’s lost some of that
spirit. And she’s become, in my eyes, a
little more helpless. But it’s ‘happy’
at the end; she’s been tamed, as it were.
Now Gene has used this ‘Taming Of The Shrew’ story-line in other films,
but it’s not the same way. And I think
that’s a really good reflection for what the early 1950s leading lady roles
were. They just didn’t hold up as
strongly as they did in the Republics. So perhaps some of that Republic-era leading lady strength showed up in ANNIE OAKLEY. And of course you have Annie Oakley herself,
the true historic character, to influence this character. Which Gail embraced and was wonderful
at. And she not only was in the TV show,
but she went on tour with Gene, as Annie Oakley, and she went to London in 1953
as Annie Oakley as well. There’s some
great photographs of that on the photo gallery from the TV episodes that come
from ’53.
HENRY: How
about THE RANGE RIDER, starring Jock Mahoney and Dick Jones?
KARLA: You
know I’ve only seen a few episodes of THE RANGE RIDER. Gene Autry sold his copyrights, his
intellectual ownership of these in 1972 because he needed the money to buy the
remaining rights to his feature films.
He wanted to put his feature films on the television stations that he
owned.
HENRY: So he
sold of RANGE RIDER and BUFFALO BILL JR. and ADVENTURES OF CHAMPION?
KARLA: Because
he wanted the rights to his feature films.
And I think he just assessed, what did he need and what could he get,
and I think that was a very good business move.
I don’t know really of movie
stars of his era who have the rights to their work. So
it’s unfortunate; you can’t see every
single Bing Crosby movie, because they’re owned by different companies. So the control of packaging them and promoting
them and doing that, it’s difficult, because you have to deal with so many
different entities. But Gene, he saw the
light. One of the favorite things I’ve
ever come across in this office was a letter from 1972, when Gene was
explaining why he was getting the rights to the motion pictures. And that was because he saw a time when
people would have these movies in their homes.
So he was talking about VHS and DVD before the concept existed.
HENRY: Well
my gosh, he was always so forward-thinking. What did Gene think of competing
western series, like HOPALONG CASSIDY, ROY ROGERS, LONE RANGER, and CISCO KID?
KARLA: I haven’t
ever run across any discussion of that.
I just know that he had a pretty high standard. If you are to compare the production values
of say, THE LONE RANGER, which was done on a soundstage, and Gene’s stuff was
done outside.
HENRY: On
beautiful locations.
KARLA: The
locations, the west, was a very important character of his television shows. It was part of that escapism people really
wanted. They want to take their thirty
minutes and enjoy a different time, a different place, and that’s what he was
giving them. That’s not to say you
couldn’t do that with a soundstage; it’s just that Gene took it to a higher
level.
HENRY: Do you
know of any Western series that he watched for enjoyment?
KARLA: No, I
don’t. I’ve been working for Gene’s
companies for twenty-five years. And I
started working directly in his office about nineteen years ago. At that time Gene had satellite systems set
up at his home, so he could catch the baseball games when the team was on the
road and he couldn’t travel. He was very
savvy, very well-versed in television of that time, so he could have access to
just about everything. I know he just
really, really enjoyed baseball; he was very much engrossed with that. So in terms of what he was watching for
recreation, we’d have to ask Mrs. Autry.
HENRY: What
should I have asked you that I didn’t know to ask?
KARLA: I
think about the importance of restoration.
It’s really, really important, and the outlet that we have taken at Gene
Autry Entertainment is to preserve the medium and present it as it was at the
time. And that’s why we’re not going to
colorize black & white. And that’s
why I’m not going to correct things like if a boom-mike shows up, something
that I could digitally erase, I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to drop out words that somebody
might think are politically incorrect. In
some of the movies there is some blackface, done for comic relief, usually with
Smiley. I’m not going to cut that
out. I need to present entertainment in
its original form to today’s audiences.
Because if you don’t see how comedy was presented back then, if you
don’t see how drama developed, if you don’t see how leading ladies were portrayed,
you’re never going to understand where our entertainment is today. And the songs are presented as they were; we
don’t sweeten them, we don’t put extra music behind them, we don’t make them
hipper, we just present it as it was so you can enjoy it in its time and
place. When I make the DVDs, I try to
create a little time machine. That’s why
I want to provide bonus material, like a radio show, or the photo gallery, so
you can see what Gene was doing at that time, or the movie trailers. This is entertainment in 1951, or this is entertainment
in 1953. And it always kills me when I
read some reviewer who just rails on a DVD boxed set. ‘Where are the commentaries? Where are the
behind-the-scenes?’ That stuff didn’t
exist, and the people involved are all dead.
You can’t ask for something that never existed. And I think when you watch one of these
story-lines in a TV show, some of them are pretty simple and pretty silly, some
of them are complex. They deal with
issues that relate today; of water rights, kids wanting to be something that
they aren’t, mistaken identities.
Different kinds of things. And
you’ll see that in some of the motion pictures.
You’ll see some of the story-lines about going and voting so you can
make a difference. Well, that stuff
holds up today. Time and time again we
see where Gene saw the truly bigger picture of his work. He may not have been the best singer. He may not have been the best actor. But he knew what his talents were, and he
knew how to reach his audience in every way.
SILVER SPUR AWARDS THIS FRIDAY NIGHT!
This one snuck up on me, and it’s not one you want
to miss! This Friday night, September 27th
is the 16th annual SILVER SPUR AWARDS at the Sportsmen’s Lodge,
12833 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City, CA 91604.
The Silver Spur, following in the tradition of the Golden Boot Awards of
yore, celebrates Western movies and television.
The evening features a delicious meal – chicken marsala, ribeye, or a
vegetarian selection – musical entertainment, and presentation of the Silver
Spur to honor some terrific talent.
As in the past, the event salutes both the Western
actor, and the stuntman that makes him look good. Among those presenting at this event will be Earl
Holliman, Mike Connors, Joely Fisher, Kyle Chandler, Bob Minor, Mickey Jones, and
Lee Diebold. Those being honored include
Connie Stevens, Jon Voight, Louis Gossett Jr., Robert Wagner, Andrew Prine,
Chuck Hicks, and Ewing “Lucky” Brown.
And Master of Ceremonies will be Tommy Cook, who was
the original ‘Little Beaver’ to Don ‘Red’ Barry in the great Republic serial,
THE ADVENTURES OF RED RYDER; he played ‘Little Beaver’ on the radio as well.
As it was last year, this year’s event is a benefit
for the MVAT, the Military and Veterans Appreciation Trust. Doors
open for the silent auction at five p.m.
Tickets are $125, but for $175 you’ll be seated in the VIP section, in
the first three rows. To purchase your
tickets, get out your plastic and call Sharon Evans at 818-352-7665. For more information, visit the official
website here: http://www.reelcowboys.org/RC_SilverSpurAwards.htm
THE
KING OF THE COWBOYS IS BROADWAY BOUND!
Marshall
Brickman, a wonderful writer and frequent Woody Allen collaborator, will write
a musical based on the life of Roy Rogers -- the last one he wrote was JERSEY
BOYS! I’ll have more details in next
week’s Round-up!
SCREENWRITER
LUCIANO VINCENZONI DIES
Just
heard from Chris Casey about the passing of the great screenwriter Luciano
Vincenzoni, who wrote FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE; THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY;
DUCK, YOU SUCKER; DEATH RIDES A HORSE, and so many others. A great talent, and
a great loss!
THAT’S A WRAP!
And that’s it for this week’s Round-up! I’d have more pictures, but I want to see the
Emmys, and BREAKING BAD, just like everyone else! Have a great week!
Happy trails,
Henry
All Original Contents Copyright September 2013 by
Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved
Fascinating read as always! What a terrific interview with Karla! Happy Birthday, Gene, and all the folks at Autry Entertainment!
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