Richard Dreyfuss Goes West to Yellowstone City!

His thoughts on Murder at Yellowstone City, his other Westerns, American Films in General, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in Particular

By Henry C. Parke

Richard Dreyfuss, an Oscar winner for The Goodbye Girl, beloved for Jaws, American Graffiti, Close Encounters and so many more, has finally made a Western movie.  It’s about time: after all, the American history enthusiast is a Civil War reenactor.  “Why wouldn't I be? When you realize how heavy their packs were, and what they did with all that weight on them, it's astounding. We made America to build a different and better country than any other country had ever tried. I have a great deal of pride, however badly we might have done it. I call it an imperfect miracle.”

Isaiah Mustafa and Richard Dreyfuss

In Murder at Yellowstone City, a forlorn former goldrush town in Montana gets a sudden influx of hope when a man dynamites the old mine, and creates a new gold strike!  Then a freed slave (Isaiah Mustafa) arrives in town just as the gold striker turns up dead.  Gabriel Byrne is the law, Thomas Jane is the pastor, and Anna Camp is his wife. Richard Dreyfuss is the Shakespeare-quoting saloon proprietor. Produced by RLJE Films, distributed by AMC, Murder at Yellowstone City is available on AMC+, for rent or sale through Prime, and on DVD and Bluray.  “What appealed to me about the film was that it was a kind of metaphor for America,” Dreyfuss explains. “About people who had come to America, who were being given a second chance.”  It’s actually Dreyfuss’ third chance at a Western; the first two were for television.

   

Svetlana and Richard Dreyfuss on the red carpet

The Big Valley episode, Boy into Man, was a star-turn for young Dreyfuss as a boy trying to protect his younger siblings when his mother disappears.  And in addition to the Big Valley stars, his mother was Diane Ladd, and he was directed by Casablanca star Paul Henreid.  “I worked with Barbara Stanwyck, and that's no small thing: she's part of my innermost fantasy of what it's like to be a movie star. And when I got to work the first morning, she had been there since 4:00 AM, and the crew made it crystal clear to me that they were Missy's crew and they were proud of it. And they didn't want to hear any criticism of Missy. And I had seen every film she'd ever made. So my tongue cloved to the roof of my mouth for most of the time that I was on that show.”

Richard Dreyfuss, Lee Majors, Darby Hinton 

and Margot Jane on The Big Valley

“I walked in and there was Paul Henreid, and I said, ‘Oh my God, it's an honor to meet you, Mr. Henreid.’ And he then asked the question, which is always answered with the actor's oath. The question was, do you know how to ride a horse? And I said, ‘I was raised on a ranch outside of Las Vegas: of course I do!’” Actually, he grew up in Brooklyn. 

There was a scene where Dreyfuss had to drive away in a buckboard with his younger brother and sister beside him.  On the day of the shoot, Dreyfuss pulled the wrangler aside, “And I said, ‘Excuse me, how do you do it?’ And he went, ‘Oh my God, this is really hard, and you've got two little kids sitting next to you on this wagon.’  So I was terrified, and I put the two kids on the buckboard and they yelled, Action!”

Darby Hinton, the boy in the wagon, remembers, “He only had to go three or four feet, pull up, and stop.  But when they said action, he did the only thing he’d seen in the Westerns.  He yelled “Yee-haw!” and they took off!” 

Dreyfuss recalls ruefully, “And away they ran!  Cut! Cut! Cut! I was out of control,” he remembers with a laugh.  “They were afraid that I was gonna kill these kids.”  The wranglers eventually caught up with the wagon, got control of the horse, and brought them back.” Henreid was furious with me. And he said, ‘Do you know why you got this part from me?’ I said, ‘I did a good reading?’ And he said, ‘No!  It is because you said it is an honor to meet you Mr. Henreid!’”

Dreyfuss got through the show somehow, “And at the end of the show, Barbara Stanwyck came up to me and she said, "You know, you're the best actor that's ever guested on this show." And walked away. And I believed her, and I did something I'd never done before, or since. I invited my family and my friends to watch it with me. And I realized, as we all were watching, that what Barbara Stanwyck had done was to say to herself, ‘If I don't say something nice to this kid, he's gonna blow his brains out because he's such a terrible actor.’ So she said this nice thing, and I watched that performance, and I wanted to chop my tongue off. But it certainly did provoke me into being better.

“I did the first Jewish Gunsmoke.” “This Golden Land” won the Mass Media Award from The National Conference of Christians and Jews.  Hal Sitowitz’ script was nominated for a Writers Guild award for Best Episodic Drama. Dreyfuss plays a Russian-born Jewish son who is furious with his father for refusing to bring charges against the three cowboys who killed his brother. Here he gets to ride horses and fire shotguns. It felt good to play a Jewish character in a western, “in the sense that, yeah, I'm Jewish and I like being Jewish. And so it was an opportunity to kind of flaunt my being Jewish. But I didn't think it was a particularly subtle, well-written script.”

Growing up, Westerns were not Richard Dreyfuss’ primary focus. “I was a fan of movies, sound American films. What my daughter disdainfully calls ‘black and whites’. I had probably seen every movie ever made by an American studio between 1931 and ’60, I knew everything about everyone. I used to set my alarm for three o'clock in the morning and watch A Guy Named Joe with Spencer Tracy. And I would sit this close to the TV so I could keep it quiet, but my mother would inevitably wake up and come down the hall looking very much like the Wreck of the Hesperus. She would say, ‘What are you doing?’ And I would say, ‘Spencer Tracy.’ And she said, ‘I'll get some cheese.’ And we would sit there together and watch Tracy, and [Charles] Laughton movies, and wow: they do not make them the way they used to.

“You know the story about when the Germans occupied Paris? They said to the film theater owners, we’ll give you a week to play anything you want. And then the German films will come in. And every theater in Paris played Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. And at the end of the occupation, every theater in Paris again played Mr. Smith. You know why and I know why.  I once was the keynote speaker to a room of about a thousand people, and Jimmy Stewart. And I described Jimmy Stewart as a metaphor for America, that he was the perfectly innocent American before the war. And I was specific about saying, in Mr. Smith, there's this scene when he meets Claude Rain's daughter. And he's so nervous, he keeps dropping his hat. It's hysterical. And then he went to war, a very real war. His war was from the sky. And when he came back, he never made another innocent American film again. And he never made a film that blamed the Indians for everything. He was a complicated guy. At the end of that luncheon, I was on my way out, and his daughters ran up to me and said, our dad can't talk to you right now because he's crying. But he wanted you to know that he never knew that anyone had ever watched him that closely. And I thought, God, this guy's been a star since 1934. And he didn't know that people watched him that closely.”

AND THAT'S A WRAP!

I hope to see many of you good folks starting this Thursday at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood! It has the best Western representation in years, beginning at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, with the premiere of the restoration of Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo! And yes, the lovely star Angie Dickinson will be there! They'll also be showing the great noir Western Blood on the Moon, the great musical Western 7 Brides for 7 Brothers -- Russ Tamblyn will be there (!), plus the great silent Western Clash of the Wolves, plus The Wild Bunch, and Treasure of the Sierra Madre!

And the following weekend, it's the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival! It's a wonderful free event -- if you'd like to attend, go HERE for the official website. And be sure to visit the Buckaroo Book Shop at the Festival, where you can meet your favorite Western authors, and hear their presentations.  Click the  Rendezvous with a Writer Facebook Page link to get the details!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright April 2023 by Henry C. Parke. All Rights Reserved

  

NEW CHARLES LUMMIS DOC., ‘6 BULLETS’ FILM & GAME RELEASE, PLUS ‘UNDERGROUND’ FINALE, MEL GIBSON’S ‘BARBARY COAST’, AND MORE!

MUST-SEE TV -- CHARLES LUMMIS DOCUMENTARY AIRS ON KCET TUESDAY!

On Tuesday, May 10^th, at 9 pm, the California arts documentary series ARTBOUND returns to KCET with CHARLES LUMMIS: REIMAGINING THE AMERICAN WEST.  While not a name on the tip of many tongues today, Lummis’ contributions to the history of the Southwest United States, particularly Los Angeles, would be hard to overstate.  On Saturday, a panel featuring many of interviewees in the film discussed Lummis and the documentary at the first museum in Los Angeles, which Lummis built, The Southwest Museum, surrounded by one of the world’s finest collections of American Indian art and artifacts, which Lummis collected.

Lummis watches over producer Juan Devis' shoulder

Charles Fletcher Lummis, born in Massachusetts in 1859, grew up at a time of individualists.  He was classmate of Theodore Roosevelt at Harvard, but dropped out, wrote for a Cincinnati newspaper, but quit when he got a better offer – working for the Los Angeles Times.  He proposed that he walk to L.A. from Cincinnati, and became a media sensation from the newspaper columns he posted en route.  His contact with American Indians along the way would greatly influence the rest of his life. 

Lummis' granddaughter, poet Suzanne Lummis

After 143 days afoot, he arrived and was made city editor of Times.  It was 1885, which was, as Lummis’ granddaughter pointed out, the year that RAMONA-author and Indian rights activist Helen Hunt Jackson died.  It was a passing of the torch.  Los Angeles was in a time of transition – it had a population of only 12,000 when Lummis arrived – and he saw, with concern, that as the numbers quickly swelled, the history of the Indian and Mexican and Spanish people who had lived there before the Anglos was disappearing.  While a sincere and enthusiastic booster for Los Angeles, he did not want to see a homogenized city, and used his skills as an anthropologist, writer, poet, and photographer to both preserve the rapidly fading past, and make a convincing argument that this past should be incorporated in the city’s future.  Neither a paralyzing stroke – he healed, nor blindness – it proved temporary, could slow him down.  I highly recommend this documentary, and hope it will soon be available for viewing outside of L.A.

‘6 BULLETS TO HELL’ MOVIE AND VIDEO GAME PREMIERE TUESDAY!

In a very clever bit of synergy and cross-promotion, Tuesday, May 10^th marks the release of both 6 BULLETS TO HELL the movie on iTunes, and 6 BULLETS TO HELL the video game.  The film stars Tanner Beard, Crispian Belfrage and Russell Cummings, and Round-up readers have been following 6 BULLETS since it rolled camera in 2013, and as I said in my review – read it HERE – 6 BULLETS is a new Spaghetti Western filmed in the holy ground of Almeria, Spain, and masterfully captures the spirit of the originals.  Here’s the trailer from the movie.

CHECK OUT MY MOTHER’S DAY COLUMN AT INSP

I had the pleasure of writing a guest Mother’s Day column for the INSP-TV blog, honoring actress Barbara Stanwyck, and one of her most famous characters, Victoria Barkley from THE BIG VALLEY.  It gave me the opportunity of interviewing her co-star from TROOPER HOOK, Earl Holliman, and Kate Edelman, whose father, Louis Edelman, co-created and produced THE BIG VALLEY, who both shared their memories of ‘Missy’ with me.  You can read it (and I wish you would) HERE.

‘UNDERGROUND’ SEASON ONE ENDS WED. WITH A MARATHON

If you, like me, were late to discover WGN’s series about slaves escaping through the Underground Railroad, you can catch up starting Wednesday, May 11^th at 10 a.m. (check your local times).  As I reported in the last Round-up, UNDERGROUND has been picked up for a second season.  

MEL GIBSON, KURT RUSSELL, KATE HUDSON TO STAR IN WESTERN SERIES ‘BARBARY COAST’!

Mel Gibson will be co-writing and directing as well as starring with Kurt Russell and Kate Hudson in BARBARY COAST, based on the history book of the same title by Herbert Asbury, whose GANGS OF NEW YORK was filmed by Martin Scorcese.  The story of the wicked early days of San Francisco during the Gold Rush of 1849, it will be produced by the Mark Gordon Company , who currently produce QUANTICO, CRIMINAL MINDS and GREY’S ANATOMY. 

While the beautiful and talented Hudson is a newcomer to the genre, her co-stars are not.  Mel Gibson played the lovable scoundrel MAVERICK (1994), the Revolutionary War hero in THE PATRIOT (2000), and even voiced John Smith in Disney’s animated POCAHONTAS (1995).  Kurt Russell is a Western icon ever since playing Wyatt Earp in TOMBSTONE (1993), has recently starred in both HATEFUL 8 (2015) and BONE TOMAHAWK (2015), but hasn’t done a Western series since he co-starred with Tim Matheson in THE QUEST (1976).

CELEBRATE JOHN WAYNE’S BIRTHDAY WED. MAY 18 AT THE AUTRY!

Rob Word’s Word On Westerns will salute the Duke with a gathering of friends and family, including son Patrick Wayne, granddaughter Anita Wayne LaCava Swift, and co-stars Robert Carradine (THE COWBOYS), Paul Koslo (ROOSTER COGBURN), and author and historian Chris Enns.  These one-of-a-kind events have been so packed of late that there have been some wise changes made.  It will begin at eleven – not noon – and at the Wells Fargo Theatre.  The program will begin with a performance by Will Ryan and the Saguaro Sisters, and eventually everyone will segue across the courtyard to the Autry Crossroads Café for lunch.  Doors open at 10:30 a.m. – don’t be late!

DOUG FAIRBANKS IS ‘WILD AND WOOLLY’ SAT. MAY 21 AT THE EGYPTIAN!

Douglas Fairbanks stars in this delightful comedy from nearly a century ago, as a sophisticated New Yorker who wants to experience the Wild West – and boy, does he!  It was written by Anita Loos, the first brilliant screenwriter, and her husband John Emerson.  Loos started her career  young – some say as young as 12 – when, hanging out in her father’s nickelodeon theatre, she wrote a scenario and sent it to the name and address on a film can in the projection booth – to D.W. Griffith at Biograph Pictures.  (Forgive my digression, but back in the 1970s, Anita Loos became a good friend of my mother’s, and although I only met her briefly, it was a thrill – and I can remember every word she told me about a nightmarish dinner party with Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.) The film is directed by Emerson, and the cinematographer is Victor Fleming, who in 1939 would direct both GONE WITH THE WIND and THE WIZARD OF OZ!  Presented with a live piano accompaniment by the Cliff Retallick, this is part of the Egyptian Theatre’s long running Retroformat series, showcasing long-unavailable silent films shown in 8mm or 16mm.  Learn more HERE. 

THAT’S A WRAP!

Coming soon to the Round-up I’ll have coverage of my visit to the set of IMPULSION, the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, the TCM Festival, and a bunch of great interviews I haven’t had a chance to transcribe.   Have a great week or two!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Material Copyright May 2016 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved 

‘RIFLEMAN’ SEASON ONE REVIEW, PLUS ‘HIGH NOON’ WEST AMERICANA AUCTION!

‘THE RIFLEMAN’ -- SEASON ONE DVD REVIEW

For the first time ever, Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions has issued the complete first season of THE RIFLEMAN in one forty-episode set.  It’s a beauty!  Not only will it bring back great memories, this RIFLEMAN collection is a perfect introduction to the western genre for kids.  Jules Levy, Arthur Gardner and Arnold Laven met during the Second World War, while serving under Warner Brothers Studio President Jack L. Warner, and future President Ronald Reagan, in the Army Air Force Motion Picture Unit at Hal Roach Studios.  They decided to form a production company together when the war was over, and had success with their first movie, an eerie film noir, WITHOUT WARNING! (1952).  The triumvirate worked democratically – when decisions had to be made, they took a vote, and two out of three votes won.  

It worked very well.  While all three men produced, Arnold Laven excelled in directing, helming many movies and hundreds of TV episodes.  While Levy-Gardner-Laven has a long and successful history of producing TV series and feature films – GERONIMO, SAM WHISKEY and KANSAS CITY BOMBER among the latter – they are undoubtedly best remembered for their two exceptional Western series, THE BIG VALLEY and THE RIFLEMAN.

It’s often pointed out that in the late 1950s, there were over thirty western TV series in prime time, and it’s not by chance that today, only a very few of those are still seen regularly, even fewer among the black and white shows: GUNSMOKE, WAGON TRAIN, RAWHIDE and THE RIFLEMAN.  These shows have stood the test of time, and RIFLEMAN is unique in the group, in the sense that a viewer will, over the years, get to appreciate it as two different shows – seeing it first through the eyes of a child, then through the eyes of a parent.   The degree of reality in both the son’s and the father’s world was more than unusual; it was unprecedented.  Chuck Connors, as a widowed ‘Pa’, Lucas McCain, was seen as powerful, wise, and unshakably independent; but even he couldn’t always triumph when the cards were stacked against him, even if, in the long run, good won out over evil.  In the series opener, THE SHARPSHOOTER, Johnny Crawford, as son Mark, is completely unaware of the covert threats made against himself, even as most kids would be while watching the show; but it chills the blood of a father to watch it, understanding how helpless Lucas is.

It scares me every time Lucas looks at me like that!

THE RIFLEMAN pilot premiered on ZANE GREY THEATER, the Western anthology series produced and hosted by Dick Powell, which also served as the birthplace of JOHNNY RINGO, THE WESTERNER, BLACK SADDLE, TRACKDOWN, WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE, and in a sense, THE REBEL (Dick Powell ordered a pilot of THE REBEL, but when Mark Goodson and Bill Todman offered producer Andrew Fenady a full season commitment, gentlemanly Powell let the project go).  The first season of THE RIFLEMAN itself spawned another series, LAW OF THE PLAINSMAN, starring Michael Ansara as Sam Buckhart, a Harvard-educated Apache working as a Deputy Marshal.  Ansara plays that role in episodes #21 and #37 of RIFLEMAN.

This set begins with the original, Arnold Laven-directed, Dick Powell-introduced version of the show from ZANE GREY, and is followed by the ‘official’ RIFLEMAN version.  Watch them both in sequence and you’ll see the subtle differences.  Most of the footage is the same, but some of the scenes with Lucas and Mark have been re-shot.  In the story, Lucas and Mark, looking for a ranch to buy, find one near North Fork.  A shooting contest is about to be held, and if Lucas can win, he’ll have a sizable down-payment on the ranch.  His main competition is a barely-wet-behind-the-ears professional shooter, callow and cocky but likable, played with startling depth by a very young Dennis Hopper.  Either man could win; but the money behind Hopper is Leif Erickson, who wins all competitions he enters, at all costs.    

It’s a terrific show, both as a stand-alone episode, and in introducing the series.  Sam Peckinpah wrote it, and one can’t help guessing that his involvement in the first season, especially the early shows, had a profound effect on the path the series would take.  He also wrote the second episode, HOME RANCH, where Lucas must stand against a rich land-owner and his thug cowboys who want Lucas’ new ranch for his own cattle grazing.  Sam went on to write and direct four more episodes, three of them in the first season, and THE MARSHALL, episode #5, is of particular interest.  Not only does it introduce the Paul Fix character of Marshal Micah Torrance; it is in many ways a first draft of Peckinpah’s RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY.   It features Abby Dalton in what would become the Mariette Hartley role of the lonely girl impressed and seduced by a suave stranger, with James Drury as that stranger in both TV show and movie.  R.G. Armstrong here plays the girl’s uncle and guardian, and in the movie he will play her father.  And Warren Oates plays Drury’s no-account saddle-mate on the episode, and his no-account brother in the movie. 

Not that Peckinpah was the only standout talent in the writing end of the series.  Episode #3, END OF A YOUNG GUN, was penned by playwright Frank D. Gilroy, who would win the Pulitzer Prize for THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES.  The show guest-stars the very young and effective Michael Landon as a wounded outlaw.  Gilroy, incidentally, wrote many Western TV episodes, and has never lost his enthusiasm for the genre.  In the late ‘80s I had the pleasure of editing test scenes for a western he wrote and was to direct, THE CHALLENGE.  Sadly, the project never went beyond the test stage.

The guest casts are full of surprises.  In addition to those I’ve already mentioned, a small sampling of the fine performers you’ll see include Sidney Blackmer, GILDA-villainGeorge McCready, Cesare Danova, Robert Vaughn, Claude Akins, John Carradine, Katy Jurado, Machael Pate, and dozens more.  Among the other excellent directors are Jerry Hopper and Joseph H. Lewis.

THE RIFLEMAN set is attractively packaged and comes on eight disks, and the image quality is stunningly crisp, with a wide range of grays.  In addition to an episode-by-episode booklet, the set includes some very enjoyable and informative special features, starting with a welcome by Arthur Gardner, who will turn 104 this June!  Along with the ZANE GREY pilot are original promos for the series, featuring Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford, and David Niven, who was one of Dick Powell’s partners in Four Star Productions.  And each of the episodes on disk #1 are introduced by Lucas McCain himself, the late, great Chuck Connors! 

The final disk includes two photo galleries, one of episode scenes, and one of behind-the-scenes activity.  Best of all, there is an interview with Arthur Gardner, actually an excerpt from his career interview for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.   

You can order season one of THE RIFLEMAN at the new official website HERE, or at  http://www.therifleman.net/.  There you will also find plenty of information about the series and the people who made it.  In addition to the DVD set, you can also buy art prints, a calendar, mugs, and Arthur Gardner’s autobiography, THE BADGER KID.  There are five seasons and 168 episodes of THE RIFLEMAN.  I can’t wait for the other 128!

HIGH NOON WESTERN AMERICANA AUCTION – JAN. 25 IN MESA, ARIZONA

Roy and Dale scripts and kid's books

The folks from HIGH NOON scour the country all year for this event, and as always, what they come up with is truly remarkable.  They have beautiful American Indian work of all kinds; saddles, bits, bridles, spurs, silver and leatherwork from Edward Bohlin and all of the other great practitioners – they even have Bohlin’s own saddle; graphic art by Frederick Remington, Will James, James Boren and many others.  And there are items from the real West, the fabled west, and that netherworld in between.

WellsFargo items

Arness' Matt Dillon .45 

Among item of particular interest are scripts, badges and boots once the property of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, lots 1-4 (each est. $400-1000).  A beautiful gold and silver-trimmed Bohlin briefcase that was the property of J. R. Ewing-portrayer Larry Hagman, lot 8 ($7000-11,000).  Lot #52 is several items relating to Wells Fargo (est $1500-2000).  Among the art is a picture of a donkey, entitled ‘A Reluctant Packer’ by James Boren, lot #149 (est. $700-900).  There are several Montie Montana items, including a photo of Montie lassoing President Eisenhower , and the rope it was done with, lot #178 (est. $10,000-15,000). 

Tom Mix chaps

Then there are the top star pieces: Tom Mix’s chaps (#237 est. $12000-16000), James Arness’ Colt from GUNSMOKE (#179, est. $8000-10000), and John Wayne’s saddle from THE SHOOTIST (#235 est. $5000-7500).  To learn more, order a catalog, or see the entire catalog on-line, and place your bids, visit www.highnoon.com

Larry Hagman's Bohlan briefcase

NEXT SATURDAY’S ‘WHEN CALLS THE HEART’ -- A TELLING SILENCE

Episode three of the Hallmark Chanel  series, directed by Michael Landon Jr., based on Janette Oke’s novel pits a pair of preachers against each other: the salaried mining-company minister (Adrian Hough as Rev. Anderson) versus a mine-disaster widow who holds Sunday-school services in a meadow (Chelah Horsdel as Cat Montgomery).  And the shrinking flock of the reverend may reflect something more sinister than it first appears.  After all, the reason Elizabeth (Erin Krakow) is teaching school in a saloon is because the Rev. Anderson’s church, where classes used to be held, burned to the ground the night of the mining disaster.  Constable Jack (Dan Lissing), looks into the possibility of arson, and spots a clue the Pinkertons overlooked.  At the same time, Elizabeth tries to help a little girl (Mamie Laverock) who was struck mute when her father died in the mine disaster. 

‘FIREBALL’ SIGNING AT SANTA MONICA FLYING MUSEUM!

On Thursday night I attended the inaugural book-signing for Robert Matzen’s FIREBALL: CAROLE LOMBARD & THE MYSTERY OF FLIGHT 3, held on the 72^nd anniversary, and noting during the presentation, the very minute that DC-3 carrying the actress, just back from a bond rally, and twenty-one other innocent people, crashed into a mountain outside of Las Vegas, killing everyone aboard.  It’s a fascinating story, never before told with this much clarity and original research, and I’ll be reviewing it soon in the Round-up. 

WIN TICKETS TO SEE ENNIO MORRICONE!

The great maestro of cinema music will be presenting two concerts, his first in the United States, to celebrate his 85^th birthday!  If you’re near New York City or Los Angeles, enter to win a pair of tickets, and admission to a rehearsal as well!  Go HERE to enter! 

TREASURES FROM THE ‘ALL-AMERICAN COLLECTOR SHOW’

Saturday I dropped into the twice-a-year All-American Collector Show at the Glendale Civic Auditorium.  It’s a great place for antique toys, advertising, movie memorabilia, paper collectibles – you name it.  There’s a dealer who always has hundreds – maybe thousands – of these Swedish candy-cards to sort through.  They were hugely popular with kids from the ‘40s through the ‘70s, and along with a lot of pop music and cartoon items, there are lots of movie and TV items – Western and mainstream.  Here’re two of the 1” x 2” cards I picked up – pretty nice for 50 cents apiece.  The next show will be in August. 

THAT’S A WRAP!

That’s it for this week!  Don’t forget that Monday night is the start of KLONDIKE on the Discovery Channel.  Have a great week!

Happy trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright January 2014 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

DOUG BUTTS ON HOW INSP CORRALLED COWBOYS

 

James Drury, Clu Gulager, Doug Butts

I first met Doug Butts, Senior Vice President of Programming for the INSP Network on Saturday, September 22^nd, at the Autry.  It was a day celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of the TV series THE VIRGINIAN, and eight regulars from the series were in attendance (you can see my four-part coverage of the event here: Part 1 ,Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 )

In addition to the anniversary itself, attendees were celebrating the fact that THE VIRGINIAN had returned to television that very day, on INSP.  I’d become aware of the network a year or so before, when they brought THE BIG VALLEY, long unseen, back to the airwaves, and just recently they had done the same with another rarely played and excellent Western series, THE HIGH CHAPARRAL.  

In fact, INSP’s Saddle Up Saturday is the finest block of Western programming on basic cable today, featuring the three series mentioned, as well as BONANZA.  I wanted to learn more about the network, and the man who’d so improved my weekends.

HENRY: What was your first job?

DOUG:  Well, I worked with my father.  He was a Pastor for fifty years, but he also did home renovation, and painting, building decks and that kind of thing.  From the age of thirteen I worked with him.  My very first job, now that I think about it, is I delivered a newspaper that they don’t even publish anymore, called GRIT. 

H: I remember ads in the back of comics saying, “Boys, sell Grit!”

DOUG: I started delivering Grit when I was ten years old.   That was fun.  And then I became a photographer, and that’s how I got into the TV business.  I went to work at a local TV station, WJJS, Channel 16 in Greenville, South Carolina as a still photographer.     And I found out that I had a pretty good eye for television.  We did a lot of live TV, which really helped me out a lot. 

H: Were you covering news stories?

DOUG: They didn’t have a huge budget, so they were looking for ways that they could create commercials, without buying expensive television equipment.  A friend that worked there recommended me, so I went to work there, and I would take slides.  I would go to a jewelry story, or an appliance store, take photos of their specials for that week, model them with lighting, take them back to the TV station and edit together a commercial.   I wrote the copy and I usually did the voice-over work as well.  I just kind of jumped in – it was a small local TV station, and they needed people who could do things, and didn’t cost a whole lot of money.  I tell people now, who are getting into the business, that’s probably a good place to start.  Find a local cable operator who does football games or something like that, and they’ll be giving you all kinds of responsibility, and you’ll learn the business that way, from a production side.  It’s a good way to start.  It’s hard to get into television.  Everyone you talk to, they will give you a different career path. 

H: If you’d gone into a field unrelated to entertainment, do you know what IT would have been?

DOUG: I wanted to be a draftsman.  I wanted to be an architect.  And actually, after I got into television, it became a real passion for me, designing sets.  I have designed several sets here for this network, and some of them are still being used. 

H: I understand INSP has been around for 20 years, but it’s had a low profile until now. Why the change?

DOUG: So many people in our society find themselves facing dark moments with feelings of loneliness and defeat. There is so much in life to be thankful for. We want to turn on their light. So our brand has changed and we are all about the celebration of life, family and the need to rely on our creator and one another.

H: What brought you to INSP?

DOUG: My wife and I were living in Dallas, Texas in 1994. I was working as a freelance Director/Producer. We wanted to get back closer to family so I was hired by INSP to direct a live event from Disney World. After that, they offered me a position. I’ve been with them ever since. It’s been an incredible ride and very rewarding to be a part of this organization.

H: What were your favorite Western TV shows and movies growing up?

DOUG: As for TV I remember watching WAGON TRAIN, RAWHIDE, BONANZA, GUNSMOKE, THE BIG VALLEY, ALIAS SMITH AND JONES, THE HIGH CHAPARRAL, THE VIRGINIAN, THE WILD WILD WEST, and I even liked KUNG FU.  As for movies, I still love those old westerns like SHENANDOAH, WINCHESTER  73 or THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE  with Jimmy Stewart, SHANE with Alan Ladd. Any western movie that John Ford directed or John Wayne starred in. RIO BRAVO is one of my favorites. Of course you have to mention Clint Eastwood’s collections. There are so many to mention. I loved watching westerns with my dad.

H: I first heard about INSP when you brought THE BIG VALLEY, long off the air,back. Recently you’ve brought back the long unseen HIGH CHAPARRAL and THE VIRGINIAN. Is bringing classic western shows back a big part of your plan?

DOUG: Yes. So far we have a great line up of westerns and plan to continue offering this brand of programming. So far our viewers love it.

H: What do you look for when selecting a show, western or otherwise?

DOUG: The goal of INSP is to deliver safe, family-friendly entertainment. The family and community connection is such an important part of our daily lives. It is refreshing and rejuvenating to know that you belong. Our programming highlights these connections with moving stories of hope and struggle, like The High Chaparral, Bonanza and The Big Valley. Barbara Stanwyck’s character is one who loves family and community. She will risk all for family and stand up for her friends and neighbors at all costs. She is an individual of great character, integrity and warmth. But also one capable of chasing off the bad guys with a Winchester. You can certainly say the same about Ben Cartwright. We look for period dramas which focus on telling the story of the family unit. Stories that express loyalty, devotion and commitment. We feature period pieces like THE WALTONS and LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE that take you to a different time and place. Helping you to escape the regular routine. We are blessed to be a part of this great country. We want our programming to be an enjoyable experience that highlights these connections. The westerns help us highlight good versus evil. Faith, family and American life is great. Let’s celebrate life - together.

H: What is the idea behind SADDLE-UP SATURDAY?

DOUG: Saddle Up Saturday was created to be a place to sit back and just binge view on westerns, (and it’s) proving to be a viewers’ favorite. As you mentioned we feature a great line up of some of the most popular TV western dramas in cable: The Virginian, The Big Valley and The High Chaparral are exclusive to INSP. We also feature Bonanza, and DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN. We will also occasionally feature some of your favorite classic western movies in our Saturday primetime line up in 2013.

H: How is INSP different from other family-friendly channels like Hallmark or Me-TV?

DOUG: We’ve tried to create a network that viewers can trust. We call this “lunge-free TV.” People can relax any time of day because we respect them, and select programs that will be welcome visitors in the home. We try to foster a spirit of community. As we listen to viewers, we know that millions are hungry for a simpler, less cluttered lifestyle, and a time when families were close and heritage was celebrated. Throughout our schedule you’ll see everything from Westerns and contemporary dramas to situation comedies. But all programs stay true to timeless values consistent with our Judeo-Christian heritage. And we constantly look for programs with positive role models and stories that both entertain and inspire.

 

Ruta Lee, Doug Butts, Gary Clarke

 

H: Are we likely to see more movies, western or otherwise, on INSP?

DOUG: Yes. We will continue to feature western classics and ‘open range’ movies with wide open spaces on both Saturday and Sunday nights.

H: Have you considered original programming?

DOUG: We are putting plans together to start developing original content in the very near future. Stay tuned!

H: What are your long-range plans for INSP?

DOUG: To continue offering quality values-based, family-friendly entertainment. INSP is a great place to land for wonderful and safe family programming. Viewers who watch INSP are very loyal and we’re finding that they tune us in and leave us on for long lengths of time. INSP is a great alternative for inspiring entertainment with heart for family.

Incidentally, INSP is already doing some original production, one and two minute interstitials under the title MOMENTS.  They are thoughtful and thought-provoking.  Their most recent, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, was featured on THE VIEW, on the Friday before Veterans Day, introduced by Whoopi Goldberg.  You can see this, and many other films from INSP’s Moments Initiative HERE. 

 

HISTORY CHANNEL RE-TEAMS ‘HATFIELDS & MCCOYS’ PRODUCER & SCRIBE

 

TEXAS RISING is the tentative title for a six-hour miniseries about the creation of the Texas Rangers, North America’s oldest law enforcement body.  It will tell the story of the organization’s start following a call-to-arms by Stephen Austin in 1823, and deal with its role during the Civil War.  It’s being developed at the History Channel, with Hatfield exec producer Leslie Greif again holding the reins.  Ted Mann, who co-wrote the Hatfield mini, and was a writer and producer on DEADWOOD, will script.  Ratings powerhouse Hatfield was nominated for sixteen Emmys, and won five: Outstanding Actor Kevin Cosnter, Outstanding Supporting Actor Tom Berenger, Outstanding Make-up Francesca Tampieri and Mario Michisanti, Outstanding Single-Camera Editing Don Cassidy, and Outstanding Sound Mixing Christian T. Cooke, Stanomir Dragos, and Brad Zoern.

 

ERNEST BORGNINE’S LAST MOVIE, ‘MAN WHO SHOOK THE HAND…’ OPENS DECEMBER 7

 

Back in July of 2011, when I asked Ernest Borgnine, Oscar winner for MARTY, and unforgettable in THE WILD BUNCH, when he was going to do another Western, he laughed, “I'm doing one right now! It's called THE MAN WHO SHOOK THE HAND OF VINCENTE FERNANDEZ. It's a Western, but it takes place in a nursing home.”

In it, Borgnine plays Rex, a bitter and neglected old man wasting away in a Latino-staffed nursing home.  But his life takes a turn when they learn that he once shook hands with an idolized Mexican celebrity.  The film also features Barry Corbin, Robert Morse and Larry Minnetti.  I’m curious if it’s significant that the movie opens on Pearl Harbor Day.  Though perhaps best known for MCHALE’S NAVY, he served in our Navy in World War II, and ironically played a homicidal sergeant in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, in which Pearl Harbor is an important factor. 

 

DID YOU KNOW IT’S NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH?

 

A few days ago I was watching television, and a commercial came on, talking about American Indian culture, and mentioning that this month, November, is officially Native American Heritage Month.  I was startled, because here the month is nearly over, and it’s the first I’ve heard of it!  Granted, it’s an odd choice giving them the month with Thanksgiving, which some Indians celebrate and others consider a day of mourning.  As a schoolteacher, I can assure you that when it’s Black History Month (February), Hispanic Culture Month (Sept. 15 – Oct. 15), you hear about it in the schools!  Columbus Day is a huge day for Italian Americans, and St. Patrick’s Day is a huge one for Irish Americans.  It’s always all over television.  But the Indians get nothing!  Not even a public service announcement!  The ad I saw wasn’t a PSA, it was a commercial paid for by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.  If you’d like to see their short film, and several others they’ve made, go here: http://www.sanmanuel-nsn.gov/ 

 

 

FREE GENE AUTRY DOUBLE FEATURE SAT. DEC. 1 AT THE AUTRY

At noon the Autry will show a free double bill of Autry hits, PRAIRIE MOON (Republic 1938), and THE COWBOY AND THE INDIANS (Columbia 1949). The latter features Gene singing HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS, and co stars Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels just before they were teamed as The Long Ranger and Tonto!Doors open 7:30 pm Event begins at 8:00 pm
FREE

Christmas is tied up with traditions and OutWest is starting a new one! Come for an evening of Christmas Tales and Music like you've never heard before-creepy as only Western Fictioneers members can write them. We'll be reading aloud "heart stopping yuletide tales" from this newly published collection and enjoy live music in the same, vein...Cowboy Creepy, Mysterious and Horrific.

Participants include contributing author C. Courtney Joyner, musicians Mike Gaglio, John Bergstrom and Gency Brown, Readers Carol Rock, Jim Christina, and Bobbi Jean Bell.

CREEPY COWBOY CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION IN NEWHALL!

 

On Saturday, December 1^st at 8 p.m., you’re invited to OutWest, 24265 Main Street, Newhall, California 91321 for Rendezvous With A Writer, An Evening of Live Readings and Music Featuring Stories from "Six-Guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas.”  Author C. Courtney Joyner will be there to read and sign, and music will be provided by Mike Gaglio, John Bergstrom and Gency Brown.  For more info call: 661-255-7087.

Doors open 7:30 pm Event begins at 8:00 pm
FREE

Christmas is tied up with traditions and OutWest is starting a new one! Come for an evening of Christmas Tales and Music like you've never heard before- creepy as only Western Fictioneers members can write them. We'll be reading aloud "heart stopping yuletide tales" from this newly published collection and enjoy live music in the same, vein...Cowboy Creepy, Mysterious and Horrific.

Participants include contributing author C. Courtney Joyner, musicians Mike Gaglio, John Bergstrom and Gency Brown, Readers Carol Rock, Jim Christina, and Bobbi J

 

TCM FANATIC - WESTERN NOW ONLINE!

And speaking of TCM (okay, nobody was), have I mentioned that the segment I was interviewed for is now viewable here?






 

THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

Built by cowboy actor, singer, baseball and TV entrepreneur 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 permanent 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 Hollywoodwestern, 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.



WELLSFARGO 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.


WESTERN ALL OVER THE DIAL


INSP’s SADDLE-UP SATURDAY features a block of rarely-seen classics THE VIRGINIAN and HIGH CHAPARRAL, along with BONANZA and THE BIG VALLEY. On weekdays they’re showing LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, BIG VALLEY, HIGH CHAPARRAL and DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN.


ME-TV’s Saturday line-up includes BRANDED, THE REBEL and THE GUNS OF WILL SONNETT. On weekdays it’s DANIEL BOONE, GUNSMOKE, BONANZA, BIG VALLEY, WILD WILD WEST, and THE RIFLEMAN.


RFD-TV, the channel whose president bought Trigger and Bullet at auction, have a special love for Roy Rogers. They show an episode of The Roy Rogers Show on Sunday mornings, a Roy Rogers movie on Tuesday mornings, and repeat them during the week.


WHT-TV has a weekday afternoon line-up that’s perfect for kids, featuring LASSIE, THE ROY ROGERS SHOW and THE LONE RANGER.


TV-LAND angered viewers by dropping GUNSMOKE, but now it’s back every weekday, along with BONANZA.

That’s it for another Round-up! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!  No one came up with any  Thanksgiving-themed Westerns.  It's not too late!  Have a great week!

 

Happy Trails,

 

Henry

 

All Original Contents Copyright November 2012 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved