‘DICK JONES – WHERE THE ACTION WAS’ REVIEWED, PLUS REMEMBERING ROBERT HORTON, PETER BROWN

Dick Jones, Gene Autry, Jock Mahoney

DICK JONES – WHERE THE ACTION WAS, by Ann Snuggs - A Book Review

I was sad when Dick Jones passed away, in the summer of 2014, not just because he was a very nice guy and a fine talent, but because, although we’d met a half-dozen times, and discussed doing it, I’d never convinced him to sit down for an interview about his remarkable career.  I was relieved to learn that Maxine Hansen, Executive Assistant to Mrs. Gene Autry, had interviewed Dick for her Western Television Oral History Project at The Autry (you can read more about that HERE ).

And now I’m delighted to learn that Dick also gave extensive interviews to author Ann Snuggs, which have resulted in the highly readable and informative book DICK JONES – WHERE THE ACTION WAS, from Bear Manor Media.  In the early days of television, in his twenties, Dick starred in a pair of TV series for producer Gene Autry, THE RANGE RIDER, and BUFFALO BILL JR.  Those series are the focus of Snuggs’ book; she’s writing another volume about his early career, and some of his later films.

Dick Jones creating the voice of Pinnochio

Texas-born Dick Jones – he was known as Dickie Jones when he was younger – was discovered by cowboy-turned-stuntman-turned-Western star Hoot Gibson, who billed the four year-old as ‘The World’s Youngest Trick-Rider and Trick Roper’.  Hoot told the kid he ‘oughta be in pitchers’, and Dickie’s mom said, “Whoopee!,” recalled Dick.  “And away we went to Hollywood.”  Dickie was busy in the movies from the mid-1930s, quickly graduating from unbilled bits in OUR GANG comedies to good roles in Republic serials like BLAKE OF SCOTLAND YARD (1936), and parts in major films like THE BLACK LEGION (WB-1936), working with Humphrey Bogart and Ann Sheridan.  But he really made a splash in 1940, as the voice of the wooden boy in Walt Disney’s PINNOCHIO.  After a stint in the Army during World War II, Jones returned to acting, and did five features with Gene Autry. 

That association with Autry led to Jones starring in his two TV series.  THE RANGE RIDER, a fictional western hero, was played by stuntman-turned-actor Jock Mahoney, and Dick played his enthusiastic young wingman Dick West.  The show lasted from 1951 until 1953, producing 78 half-hour episodes.  There were several other kid or family-aimed action Western series at the time; the GENE AUTRY SHOW, THE ROY ROGERS SHOW, THE LONE RANGER, HOPALONG CASSIDY, CISCO KID and RIN-TIN-TIN to name some of the best.  But what set RANGE RIDER apart was the action.  In addition to being likeable personalities and competent actors, Mahoney and Jones were both spectacular athletes, horsemen and stuntmen.  The stars of many of the other shows were starting to show their years, requiring a lot of make-up, and the constant use of stunt doubles.  But when other shows’ cameras would pull back to a long-shot, the RANGER RIDER’s could move in for close-ups as Jock and Dick rode, brawled, tumbled, crashed through windows, and generally destroyed the sets, gleefully producing the kind of choreographed mayhem that made life worth living to kids watching at home.     

In 1955 and 1956, Dick Jones, sans Jock Mahoney, starred as BUFFALO BILL, JR., for 42 equally action-packed episodes.   Here, in shows often built around historical characters,  Jones was the definite lead, with Nancy Gilbert as his kid sister Calamity (and no, they weren’t really supposed to be related to Cody or to Calamity Jane), both being raised by Judge Ben ‘Fair and Square’ Wiley (character actor Harry Cheshire).  

Ann Snuggs’ book details the history of both series.  She looks at not only the star casts, but Gene Autry’s Flying A Productions’ ‘stock company’ of actors – the Lee Van Cleefs and Denver Pyles – and the writers and directors, many from the B-Western world, who made their series so entertaining.  Snuggs examines both series episode by episode, but no surprise, the best parts are the insights from Jones himself, often extensive quotes, about how the shows were made, memories of particular episodes and guest stars, and his adventures with Jocko both on- and off-screen. 

It’s hilarious to learn that Jones always hated the opening trick-riding footage of him in the RANGER RIDER credits because the horse wasn’t moving fast enough – it’s sure fast enough to scare the heck out of me!  And it’s fascinating to learn some of the clever secrets behind Autry’s production approach.  For instance, they shot two episodes a week simultaneously, so any guest star would do two episodes instead of just one. 

In the 1970s, Gene Autry was in the process of acquiring the rights of all his feature films, and in order to raise the money, he made an understandable, but to my mind regrettable, decision.  He retained the rights to THE GENE AUTRY SHOW, but sold off the rights to his other series, both RANGE RIDER and BUFFALO BILL, JR., as well as THE ADVENTURES OF CHAMPION and ANNIE OAKLEY.  RANGE RIDER and BUFFALO BILL, JR. have both since lapsed into the public domain.  The good news is that episodes of both series are readily available on DVD from a number of companies; the bad news is that the condition and selection varies greatly.  The good folks at Alpha Video have several volumes of each series, each volume a 4-episode disk.  I checked out the first two volumes of each series; the quality is variable, and some have a bit of ‘hiss’ on the soundtrack, but all are perfectly watchable, and the shows are great fun.  While the mix of episodes is random, volume 1 of BBJ includes the premiere episode, FIGHT FOR GERONIMO; volume 2 includes THE DEATH OF JOHNNY RINGO, aired in the second season but believed to be the pilot that sold the show, and featuring Angie Dickinson and James Best.  You can find them HERE.

Dick Jones at the  Silver Spur Awards

The book includes an introduction by Western music legend Johnny Western, the man who wrote and sang the theme for HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL, among many others.  He credits his career to Dick Jones.  You can buy DICK JONES – WHERE THE ACTION WAS, HERE.

REMEMBERING ROBERT HORTON AND PETER BROWN

Peter Brown and John Russell in LAWMAN

It seems so wrong to lose them; they were the young ones.  On WAGON TRAIN, Robert Horton was Flint McCulloch, the young and cocky scout, the only man not intimidated by the wagon-master, portrayed by Ward Bond .  On LAWMAN, Peter Brown was Johnny McKay, the brave but insecure deputy, opposite John Russell. 

Diane Baker with Robert Horton in

THE DANGEROUS DAYS OF KIOWA JONES

Brown went on to another great Western TV success, LAREDO, first as one of a trio, then a quartet, of Texas Rangers.  Horton next starred in a series that was, in a way, a prototype for the continuing dramas of today, starring as A MAN CALLED SHENANDOAH, a man beaten so badly that he develops amnesia, and searches for his identity, and the reason for the attack.

Both men continued to make Westerns, but neither restricted themselves to the form.  Brown did many features, TV movies, and soap operas.  Horton did film and television, and a great deal of theatre.  One particularly interesting Western project Horton starred in was THE DANGEROUS DAYS OF KIOWA JONES (1966), where he played a drifting cowboy ‘guilted’ by a dying lawman into transporting a pair of killers.  A TV movie meant as a series pilot, it’s a shame it didn’t sell.

Both Horton and Brown made frequent appearances at Western film events in recent years, and seemed happy to meet their fans.  You can catch Robert Horton in WAGON TRAIN on ME-TV, and in A MAN CALLED SHENANDOAH on GET-TV.  Peter Brown’s LAREDO is also shown on GET-TV, and the Warner Archive recently released all seasons of LAWMAN.  All the shows hold up well.  Like their stars, they’ve stood the test of time.  Not a bad legacy.

THAT’S A WRAP!

Kind of a short Round-up this time out, but I hope to have more time to fill out the next one a bit more.  Check the April TRUE WEST on newsstands now.  It’s our LONESOME DOVE issue, and features my interview with the great Robert Duvall, and my rundown of all the DOVE-related events happening in Texas this spring!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

WESTERN TV ORAL HIST. PROJECT, PLUS ‘BUFFALO SOLDIERS’ REVIVAL, CROATIAN COMEDY ‘COWBOYS’!

THE WESTERN TV ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM

Maxine Hansen at the Gene Autry

Entertainment offices

Gene Autry’s legacy extends into many fields.  His hundreds of radio shows, hundreds of popular music recordings, ninety-one starring movies and nearly 100 TV episodes have few parallels in the entertainment industry.  And that’s not even counting the movies and TV series he produced, the radio stations, television stations, and the Angels baseball team he owned.  And then there is the flagship of the Autry empire, The Autry Center for Western Studies, one of the world’s finest collections of the American West. 

But now, as the man has been gone sixteen years this past week, one wonders if there is a mission for Gene Autry Entertainment beyond burnishing his legend.  Maxine Hansen, executive assistant to Mrs. Autry, and a long-time employee of the man, has created one which Gene, a ground-breaking TV producer and star, would surely have embraced.  With the cooperation and collaboration of both Gene Autry Entertainment and The Autry Center, Maxine has created the 20^th Century Television Western Oral History Program.  She has been interviewing both acting and behind-the-scenes talent from Western television’s golden age, and creating an archive that will serve researchers, and through them will benefit readers and audiences, for generations to come. This summer I had the opportunity to speak with Maxine about Gene, and her oral history program.

Her real enthusiasm for Westerns began when she was eight.  She’d panicked when she thought her parents had abandoned her – in fact her dad was just driving her mom to bingo – and when he came back, he calmed her down by putting her in his lap and watching the first episode of BONANZA together.

MAXINE: And when Michael Landon comes on, no more tears; I’m in love.  In my life, we had a lot of change; I lost my parents quite early.  We moved a lot.  And the constant was that you could always know that BONANZA would come on.  It was the knowledge that some things in life were okay.  

HENRY:  Like comfort food for the mind.

MAXINE:  Yeah!  The Ponderosa’s there; the four of them are strong.  It was good for me.

HENRY:  When was the first time you saw Gene Autry onscreen?

MAXINE:  Not until I started working for him.  Gene’s longtime friend, Johnny Grant, the Honorary Mayor of Hollywood, also worked at KTLA, and his secretary was a friend of mine.  She said, why you don’t come out and try for a job at KTLA. They interviewed me, and I got the job.  And it was basically as a receptionist, and also working for Gene’s longtime assistant Patricia Wakoski. So I came on September 1981, Jackie Autry had married Gene on July 19^th, and that is really the first time, and then I was really getting into the movies, the baseball; everything.

HENRY:  So you worked for Gene since 1981.  You must have known him very well.

MAXINE:  I did.  When I came on, I was very shy; I was thirty going on seventeen.    And Gene was very funny, trying to make me laugh; very kind, very sweet man.  His secretary unfortunately passed away in 1985.   He was looking for a new assistant.  And Mrs. Autry, Jackie, took me in the back office to talk to me, and I thought she was going fire me. (laughs)  And she said, would you like to be Gene’s assistant?  And I took the job.  And from the beginning, it was an amazing relationship.  He’d mainly come in and work with Pat (Sidekick and best friend Pat Buttram), and then when I had to take over, he had to trust me, I had to trust him.  Sometimes he’d call me and say, “Honey, I’m going to replace you with a younger woman, like maybe Brooke Shields.”  And I’d say, “Oh Gene, you know older women, we’re much better.”  And he’d just cackle and laugh.  It became that kind of a really good relationship together; he was a very funny man, a very good sense of humor.

HENRY:  Speaking of his sense of humor, everyone I’ve known who knew Gene gave me the impression that he toned down his humor for the public, that he was a much funnier man in private then in public.  Is that right?

MAXINE:  I would say so.  At public events I would go to with him, it was very interesting what would happen.  He would look for someone who was uncomfortable or maybe in trouble physically, or a child, and he would make a bee-line for them, and make them comfortable.  One-for-one, every time I saw that.  One of the last times we were together was at a baseball game.  And he was already sick; he’s not feeling that well.  And he says, “You know, so-and-so just had dental surgery, and I’m concerned about him.  Let’s give him a call and see how he’s doing.”  He had a wicked sense of humor, and in public I don’t think he portrayed it that much.  I remember, I typed a letter once, and I left out a word that left it…flavorful.  And he cackled, he got a kick out of it. 

HENRY:  Now it’s been sixteen years since Gene passed away.  How have your duties for the company changed?

MAXINE:  They’ve actually expanded.  When I started I handled his correspondence, and Mrs. Autry’s correspondence, and the files, and the fan club.  I arranged their calendar, and there was always baseball – who was going to sit upstairs with him in the suite, who was going to sit in the field seats.  It’s broadened now into bookkeeping duties.  Because although he passed away, everything continued.  We have four music companies that license his songs, he has the copyright to his films, which are being restored and released, and his TV shows.  So there’s parts of that that I handle, there’s FLYING A PICTURES, there’s a trust, there’s the estate, and it’s broadened into handling his history, too.  After he passed away, and we knew that 2007 would be his 100^th birthday, (Autry Entertainment President) Karla Buhlman brought up that we needed a definitive, no holds-barred (biography), and the name that came up was Holly George Warren, who gave Gene his last interview for The New York Times.  They got along famously, and she was the right person to do it.  She’d worked for THE ROLLING STONE, and had some books under her belt.  At that point, it became imperative to really document Gene’s history.  When I first came on, I was a receptionist.  I wasn’t thinking, preserve the history. A couple of times I sat down to ask, ‘Who is it in this picture?’  There are so many questions I didn’t ask him – I would have loved to interview him, and now I’d know what to ask.  Then, I didn’t.  So I’ve worked diligently since then to preserve their history.  And I’m talking about the hardcore history: on June 5^th, whatever year, Gene was someplace.  He made so-and-so money in royalties.  As far as his feelings, that’s what I miss, and what I didn’t want to miss with the oral history program. 

HENRY:  And the fact that you didn’t get to sit down and do the interview with Gene that you would have liked to, brings us to your new project.  

MAXINE:  Well, from 1950 to 1975 – I’ll include LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE in there – that time frame, there were remarkable television Westerns.  And the shows resonated with people so much, that I started to think of something to do to preserve it.  In 2012 I held a VIRGINIAN event that brought together the remaining members of THE VIRGINIAN cast --

HENRY:  That was that wonderful event at The Autry Museum --

MAXINE:  Yes.  And it was tremendously successful.  And I saw again what I saw with Gene; the letters that Gene would get were so emotional and so touching.  And what I saw with THE VIRGINIAN cast, and what I experienced with BONANZA, I thought, you know, it’s late, it’s way late in the chain, but I’m going to start documenting these people.  Because I know, in the fifties and sixties, when they were doing interviews, it was a different game.  The writer would put in what he wanted to put in – maybe the story was already set, it was fluffy --

HENRY:  It wasn’t real journalism; it was press releases.

MAXINE: Exactly.  And I wasn’t interested in who they dated.  I wanted to know where they came from, how they got where they were, and technically, what happened on the set.  How did they learn their lines?  I wanted to find this whole thing out so that future researchers would be able to look at this body (of information) and say, ‘Oh; I get it.’  Because these were remarkable people.  If these actors, and these people behind the scenes, these writers, producers – if this didn’t resonate with people, it wouldn’t have lasted as long as it has; it wouldn’t have the emotional impact that it does with people still.  And I wanted to preserve that.

HENRY:  And a lot of the shows from that era are still running, between INSP, ME-TV, GET-TV, AMC, ENCORE WESTERN, you get a lot of the old black & whites like WAGON TRAIN, RAWHIDE, and later shows like HIGH CHAPARRAL; a lot of the shows that were important to people in the fifties and sixties still are.  Now, what exactly are you doing to preserve these?

MAXINE:  I have a certain target of people that I want to get, and it expands.  I bring a subject  here and we do a video interview.  If not, we do a phone interview.  I have a wonderful gentleman, he’s a six or seven time Grammy nominee, he’s the one that restores all of Gene’s music with Karla.  His name is Bob Fisher, and he handles the audio and video portion of it.  And what I do, I really study my person, their background, their history.  And then I get a series of twenty to thirty questions.  I sit the person down, and ask them how it all started.  What entertainment they were interested in, what fired their imagination, how they got them started.  How they got in the business, how that led finally to a role in a Western.  How did they approach the role?  What was going on on the set, all the way to what they are doing now.  And it’s not just the actors.  I’ve gotten a couple of producers, and a couple of stunt people – and I’m getting another one, Dean Smith very shortly. 

HENRY:  He’s great!

MAXINE: He’s amazing.  I’m just trying to branch out in any way I can to get an exact picture of what was going on. 

HENRY:  As far as interview subjects, I was very sorry to hear yesterday about the death of actor Dickie Jones, whose career goes back to being the voice of PINNOCHIO in 1940.  He appeared in several Gene Autry movies, and starred in two of his Flying A TV series, BUFFALO BILL JR.  --

MAXINE: -- and THE RANGE RIDER with Jock Mahoney.

HENRY: We tried to get together for an interview several times, but it never happened.

MAXINE:  I did interview him, and I’m so glad I did. It was done some years ago – 2002, 2003 – somewhere around there, and very in-depth.  Dick was one of the most beautiful people I have ever known.  We’d actually spoken about a week ago – I’d sent him a copy of another interview we’d done somewhere along the line – and we talked, and he was doing well.  He would occasionally take me and Karla out on a lunch date for hot dogs, but we hadn’t done a hot dog date in a long time.   He was a cherished friend of Gene’s.  We have a couple of people like that, him, Johnny Western, who are our treasures.  

HENRY:  Speaking of Johnny Western (who wrote and sang HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL and many more), have you spoken to him yet?

MAXINE: (excitedly) Yes I did!  And that’s another remarkable one.  Did you know he was up for the role of Little Joe on BONANZA? 

HENRY:  No, I didn’t know he did that much acting.  I saw him on one episode of HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL.

MAXINE:  Whenever we’re at an event; he’ll play the BONANZA theme for me.  There again, a remarkable talent, and you get another aspect, which is the songwriter, plus the bonus, a person who performed with Gene in the latter part of the personal appearances. 

HENRY:  Are there other people involved in Gene’s shows that you’ve interviewed?

MAXINE:  Jimmy Hawkins. 

HENRY:  He was Tag on ANNIE OAKLEY?

MAXINE:  Right; another amazing guy.  Really, that was a very good interview; he was very very detailed.  Very fresh with his memories, and that was amazingly helpful because he could tell us about the studio, FLYING A.  He was able to share pictures with us.  And he talked about IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, too.  Then ANNIE OAKLEY, and he also did some personal appearances, and he had some wonderful stories about Gene that he shared, too.  I’m trying to get a fellow – Jimmy Hawkins turned me on to him --who was a production assistant on ANNIE OAKLEY, and also on PERRY MASON.  That’s another one I’m trying to do, to get different sides of the whole story. 

HENRY:  Of course you’re also focusing on other series.  Have you gotten anyone from BONANZA?

MAXINE:  I haven’t gotten anyone from BONANZA.  I interviewed Harry Flynn, who is a publicist for Michael Landon in the later years.  But I wanted to get that viewpoint from someone who knew Michael Landon.  I originally wanted to get Dan Blocker’s son, and Michael Landon Jr., who would have been young when their fathers did this, but I’m not sure I want to go there.  I do want to get Kent McCrea and his wife Susan (production managers on BONANZA and HIGH CHAPPARAL, producers on LITTLE HOUSE).  I am in touch with them and hopefully when their schedule permits, I’ll get them. 

HENRY:  If I could make a suggestion of someone to get.  I talked to her briefly, but I’m hoping to do more.  Did you know Mariette Hartley is the only actress to have a romance with every one of the Cartwright boys, and Pa? 

MAXINE: (startled) Mariette Hartley?

HENRY: She told me, she was romanced by everyone at the Ponderosa except Hop Sing. 

MAXINE:  That’s great!  I’m going to look that up!  I have to tell you, I’m a purist.  Anything after Pernell Roberts left…   Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, I would have loved to interview them.  I’d love to know how Pernell Roberts approached scripts.  You know, a lot of these fellows were not horsemen.  James Drury and Doug McClure were horsemen, but Gary Clarke has a wonderful story about a horse named Babe. His interview was sheer joy.   To someone who has fallen off two horses – I can really relate.  Clu Gulager was my first interview; I’d love to interview him again.  He’s a fascinating man.  You know, let me jump back a minute.  When Gene would sign autographs, we’d go through them together, and he’s say, “What do you think I should sign?  Does that look okay?”  Very caring and conscientious.  Clu, the same type of thing.  But I’ve seen him do things like, instead of ‘Liz, best wishes,’ and he’d write, ‘Dear Liz – you don’t mind if I call you that, do you?’  Each woman who came to him when the VIRGINIAN cast was here, they had these smiles on their faces.  Including me.  There’s just something about that gentleman, and there’s a lot of depth and complexity to him that, in that interview with him, I didn’t really zero in on.   Two of my other favorite interviews – Ed Spielman, who created KUNG FU and also THE YOUNG RIDERS.  And Frank Price, who produced THE VIRGINIAN, and then went on to be the head of Columbia Pictures.  I didn’t think I’d get him, but by some miracle I got him twice.  And his wife, actress Katherine Crawford, who is just the most beautiful woman you would ever want to see.  But he was fascinating, because he started in live television.  He was like two minutes late for the interview.  He comes in – “I’m sorry I’m late!”  “Don’t worry about it.”  “I get it from live television.”  He started out (as a studio reader) reading scripts from the slush pile.  And who’s in the slush pile but Rod Serling.  He talks about coming out to Hollywood, and how TV’s coming in, film’s going out, the studios are shutting down and he can’t get a job.  It’s a fascinating interview.  I asked him, you’re a writer and a producer.  You’re an artist, but you’ve got to watch the budget.  How do you work that?  How they use the dialogue; how he created a whole VIRGINIAN script when they were (over) budget, got back on budget, and it was one of the most successful episodes.  That sort of thing is priceless, and everyone is adding a little bit to the story.

HENRY:  What other behind-the-scenes people have you spoken to?

MAXINE:  Jack Lilley for one.  Four generations of his family have been in livestock, wranglers, stuntmen.  Starting with his father, his family supplied horses, wagons, all the way to present times – they supplied them for LONE RANGER and A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST.  How do you select a horse, how do you train a horse (to work on-camera)?  He has a technique.  It’s in the horse’s eyes – and he explains it in the interview.  And it’s fascinating to hear how different stunts were done.  I’m trying to catch (interviews from) different shows now.  I don’t necessarily focus on a show, one person who was on one show, but I have a list.  I try to get different aspects.  One of the interviews I did early on, not for this project, was with Alex Gordon.  Did you know him?

HENRY:  No, I didn’t, but I’m familiar with his work, of course, producing REQUIEM FOR A GUNFIGHTER and THE BOUNTY KILLER, among others.

MAXINE:  He was with Gene forever.  Started out as a fan in England, then came over here.  Gene hired him as an advance-man for his tours.  Alex kind of looked like a little Alfred Hitchcock, and every woman who came into the office fell in love with him.  I was able to interview him about how does an advance-man work?  Alex did a tour for ANNIE OAKLEY, Gail Davis.  One time he and Gene and Gail Davis were at an event.  They served oysters.  Well, Alex hates oysters, but he was afraid to let Gene know, so when nobody’s looking he slips them in his pocket.  Then Gail Davis asks him to dance, and he’s dancing with Annie Oakley with oysters dripping out of his pocket! 

HENRY:  I used to read Alex’s column, The Pit and the Pen in FANGORIA magazine.   He used to produce a lot of little movies with old-time Western stars, like Rod Cameron and Dan Duryea.  Did he talk about them?

MAXINE:  What he said was, here was someone who used to have a lot of work, and then they didn’t have work, and he would hire them.  He’d hire them for films like THE SHE CREATURE (starring Chester Morris and Tom Conway) or ATOMIC SUBMARINE (starring Dick Foran, Tom Conway and Bob Steele).  And they’d sit down and tell him things.  One time I told him I’d been watching a HOLLYWOOD MYSTERIES episode about an unsolved murder.  I said, “I just don’t get how she really died, and nobody knows.” He said, “I know, and I’ll tell you, because the guy who was her boyfriend was in my movie, and he wanted to talk about it.  It was an accident, and here’s how it happened.”  It was fascinating.  I just interviewed a guy named Lucky (Ewing Miles) Brown.  He’s up there in years, but he’s still active. This guy was in OUR GANG, he did a number of westerns, he was in SHANE as a bad guy – all these uncredited things, but he’s telling me all about how things were done. 

HENRY:  My mother-in-law was in the OUR GANG comedies.  She had no lines – she was an extra –but she did dance with Alfalfa in the OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1938.

MAXINE: That’s so cool.

HENRY:  But speaking of this underlines the importance of your project, to catch these people when we can.  When my wife and I started attending SONS OF THE DESERT events in the early 1980s, we met their producer, Hal Roach, who was celebrating his 100^th birthday.  And there were people there like Iris Adrian and Eddie Quillan, who had worked with Laurel and Hardy.  Now if you go to the events, the last surviving OUR GANG kids are the only people left.

MAXINE:  That’s exactly what I’m talking about.  I went to a Golden Boot event one time.  Gene is at one table with his wife and I’m at another, and there is an elderly man sitting there.  And he’s very nice; he’s making sure I’m eating.  And he introduces himself; he’s Nat Levine.  “I got Gene in pictures,” which of course he did. (He built and ran Mascot Pictures, which produced Gene’s first starring role, the serial THE PHANTOM EMPIRE)  I said, “I’ll go get Gene,” and he said, “No, I don’t want to disturb him.”  I have my list of ‘why didn’t I?’ mistakes, and Nat Levine was one.  Pat Buttram was another one that I wanted to get, along with Gene.  I just have so many questions for them.  But you never regret yesterday.  You have to go along and get who you can now.  And I want these people to understand why I’m doing this.  I’m not into the 1950s Photoplay Magazine; I’m not trying to do a TV Guide story.    I’m trying to preserve a segment of a genre that was very important.  And I think still is important because of the factors that were involved in Westerns.  Why do I like westerns?  It’s not just good versus bad; it’s a capsule of all the best qualities in each of us. And all the hope; and all the courage.  And you’re racing with the wind.  And you can make a difference.  Do you see what I mean? And when you have actors who can bring these qualities to the table, these are the facts that must be preserved.  Not necessarily the mistakes – we all make mistakes.  You take a Pernell Roberts.  Yeah, he should have stayed with BONANZA, or come back; it would have been wonderful.  Doesn’t matter: six years of Adam Cartwright.   You know how many people love Adam Cartwright for what he stood for?

HENRY:  And six years when they were doing about forty episodes a year.  It’s a tremendous amount of work, when today, five or six years of a series might be fifty episodes.

MAXINE:  If that.  Take Jimmy Hawkins; he had all those shows to do, and appearances with Gene, too.  And that’s the same for THE VIRGINIAN cast too, they were mostly making public appearances too.  It’s fascinating to document this.

HENRY:  Now that you are documenting this, what is the ultimate plan for this archive of material you’re producing?

MAXINE:  The archive goes into the library and archive of the Autry Nation Center Museum of the American West.  And the researchers come, for a book, for a play.  From students to newspapers to people doing movies.  So they go in, the Museum is able to say, well, here’s what we have.  You’re documenting young people in the Westerns?  Take a look at the interviews with Jimmy Hawkins, Billy Mumy.  Our interviews are usually an hour and a half to two hours or more. 

HENRY:  So you’re not trimming them down to highlights. 

MAXINE:  No.  These aren’t dressed up, they’re raw footage.  We’re just letting it roll.  But we’re taking clips, maybe ten three-minute sound bites from each of them.  And we’re making a Vimeo catalog of them.

HENRY:  Do you ever foresee a time when you’d want to place these interviews on the internet, or would you always want to keep them in a research facility.

MAXINE:  In a research facility.  If you take a person’s life out of the jurisdiction of the Museum, then you’re just making it a free-for-all, and that’s not what I wanted to do.  I wanted it very structured and very safe. 

HENRY:  Do you have a schedule in the sense that you want to do a certain number of people per year, or is it you get people when you can get them?

MAXINE:  I get people when I can get them, balanced with my other work.  I have a list of people I want to do.  Jan Shepard is somebody I want to do.  She was in a number of Westerns; she was also on live TV.  She’s told me a number of stories, and I’m just drooling to get them.  Her husband, (Ray Boyle, a.k.a. Dirk London) was in WYATT EARP, and he also spent years in the prop department – I want to get him.  I kind of have a list like that.  I’ll tell you what I really want to do.  I want to go to the Motion Picture Home, and just sit down with a group of people there, like secretaries or hair-dressers.  

HENRY:  You mean like a round-table?  That’s a great idea!

MAXINE:  I’m just going to grab Bob Fisher, and we’re going to do that.  And I want to do some crossovers (between Westerns and science fiction).  You know, Morgan Woodward did some famous STAR TREK episodes, and I talked to him about that. 

HENRY:  Morgan Woodward was the villain in the first movie I wrote, SPEEDTRAP.  We closed Nickodell’s together.  The restaurant outside the Paramount gate; we were the last two customers when they closed.

MAXINE:  I remember that place!  Another crossover I got was Billy Mumy.  He was in everything – he did a few Westerns, but I wanted to get the viewpoint of that young actor who’s done a few Westerns, and then he’s doing LOST IN SPACE and BABYLON 5. 

HENRY: And my favorite TWILIGHT ZONE: It’s a Good Life.

MAXINE: Remember, Gene Roddenberry had to sell STAR TREK as WAGON TRAIN TO THE STARS. 

HENRY:  I didn’t know that.

MAXINE:  I wanted to get the crossover from that viewpoint.  I’d love to get William Shatner too, because he was in Westerns.

HENRY:  Spaghetti Westerns, too.

MAXINE:  What is the crossover – what are the common bonds that fire people about these two genres?  Because they really catch people.  I want to get Robert Fuller, some of the other people from WAGON TRAIN.  My next is going to be Dean Smith, who’s coming out here for the next Cowboy Lunch @ The Autry.  And Dean has a book.  Mrs. Autry calls him one of the good guys, a dear friend of Gene’s, and hers.  I do want to (cover) LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, and get Melissa Gilbert.  And also…I would like to get Clint Eastwood.  Haven’t had the courage to knock on his door, but I will. 

HENRY:  Speaking of Clint Eastwood, he’s the last one I can remember left from RAWHIDE.

MAXINE:  Yes.  And there are a couple left from WAGON TRAIN.  And it’s hard, because the clock is ticking.  This project should have been started so much earlier, but then there are people like you, and people like Boyd Magers (editor of Western Clippings).  And what you are doing, and what Boyd is doing, is incredible.  It just has to be documented.  I consider you and Boyd the top tier for preserving the history.  And I’m sort of like the sidekick, coming along.  I’m speaking very candidly now; not p.r.  I’m very glad that it’s being done, and it’s kind of a relief in my world.  

HENRY:  You’re very kind.  Maxine, is there anything else I should know about your work?

MAXINE:  I do want to say something about Gene.  Gene was a remarkable individual with a remarkable life.  I am so grateful – and one of the best things that ever happened to this office is Karla Buhlman, President of Gene Autry Entertainment.  She’s a goddess.  She has the knowledge, the capability, the intelligence and the dedication to restore all of Gene’s music and films and television shows, and working the radio shows; nobody else could have done it.

HENRY:  And nobody else is showing any interest in preserving radio shows, particularly.

MAXINE:  No, and down the line it will be important.  I think Gene would be proud of all that has been accomplished.  And I urge anybody who reads your column, who is in the business and did do Westerns, to either talk to you or Boyd or me, and to preserve their scripts and their stories.  Because even though some say the day of the western is done, I don’t think so.  Never.  Because the heart, the spirit of Gene, Roy, Monte Hale, the four Cartwrights, James Drury, Doug McClure, all those guys, the spirit still goes strong, and it will always be with us.  And in a world in turmoil, I think preserving this, and letting that spirit of goodness and decency and what can be, shine through, is extremely important. 

HENRY:  Thank you.  And I’ll just throw in something I find of great interest, speaking of the world in turmoil.  From time to time, when I think of it, I’ll check online to see who is reading Henry’s Western Round-up, in what countries.  And usually the largest number is in the U.S., and then other English speaking countries, like England and Australia; we’re read in over 94 countries.  But one thing I’ve noticed over the past four or five months, right after the U.S., the country where it’s most likely to be read at any given moment, is the Ukraine.  With all that those people have going on in their lives, I guess they find the same comfort in the stories of justice and hope, and the individual, that we have.  Very big in Russia, too.  

MAXINE:  That’s amazing. 

Since we spoke, she’s interviewed actresses Donna Martell and Fay McKenzie.  In that time we’ve also lost MAVERICK star James Garner, WAGON TRAIN star Denny Miller, and director Andrew V. McLaglen, who helmed more episodes of HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL than anyone else, 96 GUNSMOKES, and many fine features, TV movies and episodes.  As Maxine says, the clock is running.  The video below is Maxine’s Mission Statement.

CROATION WESTERN COMEDY ‘KAUBOJI’ (COWBOYS) SCREENS THURS. AT AERO!

The official Croatian entry for 2015’s Academy Awards, KAUBOJI was a hit stage play in Croatia, and has been adapted for the screen by the original playwright, Sasa Anocic, and the film’s director, Tomislav Mrsic.   Set in a drab and claustrophobic industrial town, it’s the story of eight outsiders who band together to create a play based on the conventions of classic Hollywood Westerns, and how they grow to see the play as a metaphor for their own lives and aspirations. 

This is an extremely rare opportunity to see this film – on a big screen no less! – and the presentation will be followed by a live musical performance and reception!  And dress up, because prizes will be awarded for the best cowboy and cowgirl get-ups!    KAUBOJI will screen on Thursday, October 23^rd at the AERO THEATRE, 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90403.  Go HERE for more details!

Unlike the movie, this trailer doesn’t have subtitles, but at least it’ll give you a taste!

‘BUFFALO SOLDIER’ REVIVAL OPENS FRIDAY AT EL PORTAL NORTH HOLLYWOOD

Clockwise from bottom: Wasim No'mani, Kendall

Johnson, Tony Williams, Daniel Billet, 

Will Catlett

Mitch Hale’s play, which won the NAACP BEST PLAY AWARD FOR 1995, is at the El Portal from October 24^th through November 30^th.  Directed by Sara Wagner and produced by Johnny Brenner, BUFFALO SOLDIER’s subject matter is unfamiliar to many: an ‘all negro’ U.S. Cavalry Unit in the American West of the 1870s.  The plot concerns three of those soldiers and their white officer undertaking a hazardous mission in Comanche country, involving the legendary Quanah Parker. 

Playwright Hale told the Toluca Times that the idea came to him when he was acting in the Vietnam-themed play TRACERS in 1987.  “It got me thinking about the disproportionate amount of men of color in the armed services — especially in frontline duties. I knew there were black soldiers brought in to fight against the Native Americans and so I started researching. It was six years before I finally had a first draft.”

I’ll be reviewing BUFFALO SOLDIER in next week’s Round-up.  The El Portal Theatre is at 5269 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91601.  To learn more, and order tickets, call 818-508-4200, or go HERE .

THAT’S A WRAP!

I hope to run into you at BUFFALO SOLDIER or KOUBOJI!  Or doing research at The Autry!  Or all three!  Have a great week!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Content Copyright October 2014 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

COMICS & COWBOYS LUNCHEON, PLUS ‘BOUND FOR GLORY’ AT THE AUTRY!

COMICS & COWBOYS LUNCHEON AT THE AUTRY!

July 16^th’s Third-Wednesday-of-the-month Cowboy Lunch at the Autry was great fun, and an eye-opener for many who, like me, had little knowledge of the topic.  Rob Word’s theme this time was COMICS & COWBOYS, and the comics were not the side-kick kind, but the full-color sort.  The program opened with Maxine Hansen of Gene Autry Entertainment paying tribute to actor Dick Jones, who had been under personal contract to Gene, and starred in two series he produced, THE RANGE RIDER and BUFFALO BILL JR.  He was also featured in many comics.

Among the artists discussed was Everett Kinstler, now an official portrait artist to presidents and movie stars, who once drew Zane Grey and Zorro comics.

Kinstler's Zorro

Rob Word and Mark Evanier

Mark Evanier, animation writer and book author, and a guiding light of ComiCon, was a guest speaker.  He discussed working as an assistant to legendary comic artist Jack Kirby, and gave an overview of the comic business in general.  Among the things I learned: that while Dell comics put out many Western comic series, often tied to movies and TV shows – the heyday of western comics and western TV coincided – the work was actually done by an outfit called Western Publishing – the folks who do The Little Golden Books. Western comics always were published under Dell until 1962, when Western decided to do their own publishing, under the Gold Key name. 

A Jack Kirby cover

Dan Spiegle, who would become famous for his comic-book adaptations of Western TV shows, actually got a break when he didn’t get hired to draw a Bozo the Clown strip.  They told him his work was too dark and hard-edged for the clown, but some bright guy realized it would be just right for the Hopalong Cassidy strip they were starting; he drew it from 1949 until it was cancelled in 1955.  He worked on the MAVERICK and SUGARFOOT comic books, which were adapted directly from episode scripts.  He even went on-set to sketch James Garner at work, a pleasure, since Garner was such a nice guy.  An issue with some actors, though not Garner, was that actors had art approval on their drawings, and often expected to be made more attractive than they really were. 

Spiegle's Maverick

Sergio Aragones, the celebrated MAD MAGAZINE artist for more than half a century, was the next guest.  A native of Mexico, his father had worked in Mexican movies, and Sergio told about visiting the set of THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN, and watching Guy Madison trying to play scenes co-starring a ball on the end of a stick – which would later be replaced by a dinosaur. 

Sergio Aragones' Bat Lash

Sergio would soon create the Western comic BAT LASH.  With his English not so strong at the time – he jokes that it’s still not so great – he tried to tell the stories as visually as possible, with Denny O’Neil writing the words.

Sergio Aragones with a 'Bat Lash' page

Switching to European comics, actor Martin Kove told about how, during his CAGNEY & LACEY days, he almost got to star in the film version of Lieutenant Blueberry which, despite the sound of its title, was a serious and hugely popular adult Western comic-book out of France.  As so often happens, the script that was developed had nothing to do with the comic strip, and the project died in the dust. 

Martin Kove with a painting of Lieutenant Blueberry

The last guest speaker was Olympic athlete and movie stuntman Dean Smith, who was signing his autobiography, COWBOY STUNTMAN.  He credits James Garner for starting him on his 55 year career as a stuntman, and recalled being hired to double Strother Martin in the John Wayne film MCCLINTOCK, and ending up doubling Maureen O’Hara as well!

Dean Smith signing his autobiography

It was a great event, a packed house, including a number of well-known stuntmen, and western stars L.Q. Jones and Morgan Woodward.  On August 20^th, the theme of the Cowboy Lunch will be Gene’s Autry’s old headquarters, Melody Ranch.  Be there or be square!

Morgan Woodward, L.Q. Jones & Martin Kove

Looking over this article, it strikes me how often James Garner’s name came up at this event, just a couple of weeks before he died.  I’ve enjoyed his work since I was a kid, on MAVERICK, ROCKFORD, and everything else I saw him do.  There has been so much written about Garner the man and Garner the actor that I really don’t have anything to say that hasn’t been said much better by the people who actually knew and worked with him.  Tom Sellick, who early in his career worked with Garner on ROCKFORD FILES always said that no one wore their stardom better than Garner.  We’ll all miss him.

‘BOUND FOR GLORY’ AUGUST 9^TH AT THE AUTRY

As part of their ‘What is a Western?’ series, and in conjunction with their ROUTE 66 exhibition, the Autry will present ‘BOUND FOR GLORY’, starring David Carradine as folk-singer and political activist Woody Guthrie.  Directed by Hal Ashby, scripted by Robert Getchell from Guthrie’s autobiography, the film won the Best Cinematography Oscar for Haskell Wexler, and Best Musical Score for Leonard Rosenman.  The film, free with museum admission, screens in the Wells Fargo Theatre at 1:30, and will be introduced by Jeffrey Richardson, Gamble Curator of Western History, Popular Culture, and Firearms.    

I SPY – The Complete Series – A Review

The success of the James Bond films, based on the Ian Fleming novels, created a vogue for spy TV series, commencing with THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and SECRET AGENT in 1964, I SPY, THE AVENGERS (it really started in ’61 but wasn’t shown in the U.S. until ’64), the spoof GET SMART and the western version WILD WILD WEST in 1965, and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE in 1966.  They were all delightful in their time, but in my opinion, I SPY has aged better than the others, so it’s great news that Timeless Media has released the entire three-season, 82 episode run on DVD as I SPY – THE COMPLETE SERIES.    

I SPY seemed more grounded in reality than the competition.  While most of the other spy series aped the Bond films’ fondness for gimmickry – walkie-talkies hidden in pens (“Open channel D”), shoe-phones, and cameras, radios, hats and what-have-yous that converted into guns, Robert Culp as Kelly Robinson, and Bill Cosby as Alexander Scott, had guns that looked like guns, and that killed people when nothing else was going to work.  While most other shows pitted their agents against a succession of hard-to-distinguish Fu Manchu/Moriarty/Dr. No-like criminal masterminds, or a seemingly endless collection of neo-Nazi organizations, Robinson and Scott were usually up against the Soviet Union, or other recognizable and seemingly real enemies. 

And while the other shows made often obvious studio back-lots stand in for foreign countries, I SPY went all over the world for real.  Episodes were shot in Hong Kong, Japan, Turkey, Mexico and much of Latin America – and that’s just in season one!   Their cover was ingenious, and made all of the travel logical.  Kelly, a former Princeton law student, was a top-seeded tennis pro, traveling the world to play in international tournaments.  Alexander was his trainer, as well as a Rhodes Scholar.  (In a remarkable example of life imitating art, Eugene Fodor, one of the great travel-writers, would reveal that since 1936 he had been using his travel-writing as a cover for his secret work for the OSS and CIA.)

Famous for the amusing banter between the leads, the characters took themselves lightly, but their work seriously, often following orders they did not agree with or fully understand, when necessary.   One of the crucial differences between I SPY and the other espionage shows is that while the others were plot -- or ‘mission’ – driven, I SPY was largely character-driven.  Should an arrogant black American athlete who’d defected to Russia, and now wanted to come back, be helped, or was he more trouble than he was worth?  Should one of Kelly’s mentors in spying, now considered a double agent, be killed without a hearing?  Will an incompetent senior agent doom Scotty and Alexander’s mission to failure?  In one of my favorites, the agents must safeguard scientist Boris Karloff, who has created a formula of international importance, but whose ancient brain keeps drifting off to his obsession with Don Quixote.  In many ways, the series resembles an international spy version of classic ‘guys on the road’ series ROUTE 66.   

with Boris Karloff

The series was created and produced by writing partners Martin S. Fine and David Freidkin, who had worked together on series like THE VIRGINIAN and THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR.  The Executive Producer was Sheldon Leonard, who started out as an actor, his unmistakable Brooklyn accent making him famous as the Racing Tout on Jack Benny’s radio show.  He’s probably best-remembered as Nick the impatient bartender in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: “We serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast.  And we don’t need any characters around to give the joint atmosphere.”   He’d already had tremendous success as a TV producer, with comedies like MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW and GOMER PYLE, U.S.M.C., when he decided to switch to drama with I SPY.  He also shook up the industry by casting Bill Cosby – the first time an African American had ever been cast as a lead in a TV series. 

Leonard also went along on the foreign sojourns, directing much of the on-location footage: the exteriors were shot all around the globe, while the generic interiors were shot in L.A.  The tone of the series was freewheeling and hard to pigeonhole; Sheldon Leonard was EMMY-nominated for Best Director in a Drama Series in the first season, and next year the prolific Earl Bellamy (who also directed my first film, SPEEDTRAP) was nominated for Best Director in a Comedy Series. 

The show’s accolades were many.  Eartha Kitt won an EMMY for her guest performance.  Robert Culp and Bill Cosby were both nominated for Best Actor every year the series was on, and ironically, all three years, Culp lost to his best friend, Cosby.  When Culp died unexpectedly in 2010, Cosby told Greg Braxton of the L.A. Times that they were so close, they practically had their own language.  “Bob was the actor and I was the entertainer. The day after each of those awards, I went to work with a feeling of guilt and darn near embarrassment. As soon as Bob appeared at work, he would come and say, ‘How you feeling?’ I said, ‘OK.’ The next thing I knew, I had forgotten all about the Emmy.”

Culp was active behind the scenes as well.  He directed one episode, and one of the seven he wrote – more than any single author except the show’s creators – was Emmy-nominated.  The guest casts were full of big stars and familiar character actors.  Because so many shows were set in Asia, every Asian actor who was ever in a CHARLIE CHAN movie, or who would soon be in HAWAII FIVE-0 was represented.  So were much of the soon-to-be casts of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and STAR TREK. 

I know I SPY is an odd series to review in The Round-up, even though Bill Cosby starred in MAN AND BOY, and Culp had a long career in the western genre, from starring in the series TRACKDOWN, and features like HANNIE CAULDER, to his work and close friendship with Sam Peckinpah.  But sometimes you need to ‘cleanse the pallet’ with a non-Western, and I SPY – THE COMPLETE SERIES is a terrific way to do it.   

EDITH HEAD FILM SERIES STARTS AUG 8^TH AT UCLA!

Edith Head, the Hollywood costume designer with more than 400 movies to her credit, will be th subject of a retrospective of her work entitled WHAT I REALLY DO IS MAGIC: EDITH HEAD AND HOLLYWOOD COSTUME DESIGN, from August 8^th through September 27^th at The Billy Wilder Theatre.  Among the many Westerns she designed costumes for were THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN, TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, CHUKA, EL DORADO, THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER, THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL, ROUSTABOUT, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERY VALANCE, HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS, THE LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL, THE TIN STAR, GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL, all the way back to THE TEXAS RANGERS in 1936.  

While none of her Westerns are being screened, some terrific non-westerns are, including SUNSET BLVD., THE LADY EVE, SHE DONE HIM WRONG, and others, many with guest speakers.  Friday night’s opening program will feature DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID, introduced by director Carl Reiner and costume designer Deborah Nadoolman.  Learn more here: http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2014-08-08/what-i-really-do-magic-edith-head-and-hollywood-costume-design

THAT’S A WRAP!

I’m finishing the Round-up around nine tonight – three hours earlier than usual – to prepare for my big adventure of the week: acting! I’ll have a small bit in a turn-of-the-20th-century western called BOONVILLE REDEMPTION – the picture shows me in costume (my dog, Dodger, isn’t in he movie).  I’ll be playing a man whose leg gets busted in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, so go ahead and tell me to break a leg!  I’ll have much more about this movie soon in the Round-up!  

Happy Trails,

Henry

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