MIRACLE WORKERS: OREGON TRAIL PREMIERES TUES. TBS; IDRIS ELBA WESTERN IN POST PRODUCTION; WALTER HILL WESTERN IN PRE-PRODUCTION; PLUS REPUBLIC-SET DETECTIVE NOVEL: STARDUST TRAIL!

DANIEL RADCLIFFE GOES WEST IN MIRACLE WORKERS: OREGON TRAIL!

For two seasons, former Harry Potter portrayer Daniel Radcliffe, and co-star Steven Buscemi have starred as an odd pair of angels in the series Miracle Workers.   It’s about angels that are sent down to Earth to perform miracles, and convince God not to destroy the planet. It’s based on the novel What in God’s Name, by Simon Rich.  It sure sounds to me like It’s a Wonderful Life meets The Horn Blows at Midnight, which are two of my favorite comedies. 

The first season was set in heaven.  The second season was set in Europe during Medieval times.  And happily, season three is set in the Old West, on the Oregon Trail!  Incidentally, this is Steve Buscemi’s first Western since Lonesome Dove.  The new season premieres this Tuesday, July 13^th, on TBS.  Here’s a peek!

IDRIS ELBA’S THE HARDER THEY FALL COMING TO NETFLIX THIS FALL! 

Idris Elba is a Brit, but he surely must love Westerns!  In 2017 he starred as a gunslinger in Stephen King’s futuristic Western THE TALL TOWER.  In 2020 he starred in the contemporary Western CONCRETE COWBOY.  And this fall he’ll be starring in his first historic Western, THE HARDER THEY FALL.  He plays Rufus Buck, and when his sworn enemy, Nat Love, played by Jonathan Majors, learns that Buck is getting out of jail, he pulls his old gang together to run Buck down.  Most of the characters are based on real people – in addition to Buck and Love, there’s Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz), Bill Pickett (Edi Gathegi), Cherokee Bill (LaKieth Stanfield), Jim Beckworth (R.J. Cyler), and Delroy Lindo as Bass Reeves.  When I posted about this on Facebook, I got some angry responses from readers who assumed that heroic figures like Stagecoach Mary, Bill Pickett and the great Bass Reeves are portrayed as members of Nat Love’s gang.  I don’t know if they are or they aren’t.  Here’s a peek.

Incidentally, Harder They Fall is directed by another Brit who must love the Western genre.  Jeymes Samuels, who has many film music credits, previously directed the 2013 Western, They Die By Dawn.  While, at 49 minutes, it’s short by today’s standards, that’s close to the average running-time of Western Bs of the ‘30s and ‘40s.  For some reason, I'm not being allowed to upload the link, but the whole movie is available on Youtube under its title.  

WALTER HILL TO DIRECT DEAD FOR A DOLLAR! 

There was great excitement at the Cannes Film Festival for Dead for a Dollar, a new Western in   pre-production, co-written and to be directed by Walter Hill, and to star Willem Dafoe and Cristoph Waltz!  Hill, a marvelous writer and director whose previous Westerns have included The Longriders, Geronimo, Wild Bill, and the pilot for Deadwood, has not made a Western since his excellent 2003 miniseries for AMC, Broken Trail.

Dafoe hasn’t done a Western since his uncredited role in 1980’s Heaven’s Gate, but Hill directed him in Streets of Fire.  Waltz will be making his second Western, his first being Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, and just like in Django, Waltz plays a legendary bounty hunter.  Willem Dafoe is his sworn enemy.  I gave a brief summary of the plot on Facebook:  "Waltz is hired to go to Mexico and rescue the kidnapped wife of an important industrialist," and though I gave no more details, many readers cut to the chase and said it sounds very much like a remake of Richard Brooks’ The Professionals.  The more you know of the plot, the more it does.  But Walter Hill is a great and original talent, and I am sure he will do something wonderful with it.

 

STARDUST TRAIL – by J. R. Sanders

A Book Review By Henry C. Parke

I love STARDUST TRAIL, the new mystery novel by J. R. Sanders.  It’s his first in a series featuring private detective Nate Ross, and I’m happy to say J.R. is already hard at work on the next one.  It belongs to that sub-genre, the Hollywood murder mystery, which is exceptionally hard to write.  That’s because in addition to all the already necessary skills for a mystery writer and a novelist, one must also write knowledgably about the film industry, specific studios, and particular real-life characters at a chosen moment in time.  Stuart Kaminsky, with his Toby Peters books, and Andrew Bergman, with his two Hollywood and Levine mysteries, have succeeded where most have failed.  J.R. Sanders has joined this select group, as he strides confidently into the world of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.

And, in an exhilarating change of locale, Sanders has placed Stardust Trail not at any of the seven Majors – MGM, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Universal, et al – but at Republic, the greatest of the Minors, the thrill factory where Gene Autry and Roy Rogers reined (or should that be reigned?)!  It’s where John Wayne made his name, and the Duke actually makes a guest appearance in the novel, not the Stagecoach star Wayne, but a younger star in the beloved B-Western series of films, The Three Mesquiteers. 

It’s 1938, and former L.A. cop, and current private detective Nate Ross stumbles upon a crime in progress.  When he rescues Republic’s most wooden performer (prior to Sunset Carson) from kidnapping, the power that be – studio head Herbert J. Yates – agrees that Ross is just the guy they need.  A screenwriter name Prince has gone AWOL during the production of what is meant to be Republic’s biggest Western to date, Stardust Trail.  Ross finds him alright, and is soon in a swirl of gunplay, Hollywood nightspots from the ritzy Sardi’s to the henchman-friendly Hackamore Club, fabled locales like Vasquez Rocks, Fat Jones’ Stables, various movie ranches, and Gower Gulch, where B-Western actors and riding extras hope to pick up a day’s work.  The writing is breezy and smart, and Nate Ross, and ex-cop who is hated by cops, and hates Hollywood, has considerable dimension.  The supporting characters are realistic and not overly familiar.  The plot is complex, but comprehensible, the dénouement satisfying.  Stardust Trail is available from Amazon in paper for $16.95, and for Kindle at $5.95. 

I recently had the chance to talk to J.R. about Stardust Trail.

 

Author J. R. Sanders

HENRY:

I’m a sucker for a well-written Hollywood mystery anyway, but you really had me hooked the moment that I realized the kidnap victim was Max Terhune’s ventriloquist dummy, Elmer Sneezewood,

J.R. SANDERS:

That was a lot of fun to tinker with that. Actually, it's a supposedly true story. Years ago I was touring the Autry Museum in L.A., and they had Elmer on display down in the movie and TV Western section. And there was a little placard next to it that told that back in the ‘30s, someone had stolen Elmer and sent either sent, a ransom note and supposedly the ransom was paid. $500 is the figure that sticks in my head.

HENRY:

I read your previous book, Some Gave All, about real Western lawmen. And knowing that you've been a law man and a private detective, I figured you were mainly a true crime writer. So I was surprised to see that you'd written a novel.

J.R. SANDERS:

I've never really tackled (fiction) before, other than a children's book years ago, that I don't really count as a serious fiction. But it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to do, and particularly a detective story. That's what I enjoyed reading over the years and I always thought it would be fun to take a shot at it.

HENRY:

Your detective, Nate Ross, has a very interesting background. Was he inspired by any real person?

J.R. SANDERS:

Not at all. I just wanted to do a character in the vein of the old classic Chandler, Hammet sorta detective, but go with a little harder edge and maybe a little bit more backstory.

HENRY:

Has your law enforcement and detective background been helpful in writing the book?

J.R. SANDERS:

I guess maybe, in the broad brush strokes. But really policing was so very different back in the ‘30s that I actually had to spend a lot of time looking at old law books and police manuals and things like that from the ‘30s, the California penal code from the ‘30s, just to get an idea of how different things were, both in terms of the law, in terms of police procedures, how crimes were approached.  It's a lot more sophisticated nowadays. Policemen worked a lot less with ready access to backup back in the day. So in some ways it was more hazardous. Although in some ways it’s more hazardous now: just different hazards.

HENRY:

You mentioned some already, but what writers have influenced you, whose mysteries have you enjoyed?

J.R. SANDERS:

Well, Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammet, any of the old Black Mask writers from back in the day.  Most of those names are pretty much unknown to the average reader now, but people like Lester Dent, Raoul Whitfield.  James Ellroy, he's kind of a, an industry unto himself. He's got a definite signature style and he's always interesting reading, always entertaining; I always learn something. I'm a big fan also of Michael Connelly. I'm about halfway through the Bosch books now. Not as far as I should be, but I've watched the entire Harry Bosch series. It's phenomenal. It's for my money, the best police series that's ever been made.

HENRY:

Why did he decide to set your Nate Ross mystery at Republic Pictures?

J.R. SANDERS:

Most of my writing background has been based in or around old west history because it's just always been a fascination of mine. It's always been a topic that I've studied and been interested in. So I just thought that it would be neat to sort of combine the traditional detective story with a Western story, or at least a story with Western trappings and setting it in the ‘30s, in the era of the B westerns. It just seemed like a natural to go with Republic. Republic, isn't usually dealt with in those stories. Republic was never exactly poverty row, but it wasn't MGM either. It was kind of a farm team in a lot of ways.

HENRY:

With most Hollywood behind-the-scenes stories, whether it's books or movies or TV, my main gripe is that the writers either don't care or really don't know their turf; what the studios were like, how filmmaking actually works. But your stuff is spot on. Did you do a lot of research?

J.R. SANDERS:

Well, thank you.  I did. I had to, because I'm far from an expert on any of that. I've watched the movies, but as far as the technical aspects of movie making, especially in the ‘30s, I didn't really know a whole lot going in,

HENRY:

It was a kind of a thrill reading the book and imagining myself at places like Fat Jones’ Stable, or Gower Gulch, when the Columbia Drugstore was there, and the movie ranches.  Did you actually visit any of those locales?

J.R. SANDERS:

I did.  I’ve been to Vasquez Rocks many times over the years, but made a particular visit just with this book in mind.  Not much has changed other than the freeway blasting by it. With Gower Gulch, there's nothing left. Although there is a nice little strip mall that they've actually named Gower Gulch; with sort of a Western false-front look to it.

HENRY:

I didn't know there was a Sardi's on this coast. So that was very interesting to find out that you hadn't made that up.  But how about the Hackamore Club? Is that your invention?

J.R. SANDERS:

Well, yeah, just complete fiction. I had read about a couple of honky-tonk type bars that the B-movie Cowboys frequented, but there wasn't really anything on the scale of a full-blown nightclub, but it just seemed like a neat touch that,  if there wasn't a place like that, there should have been.

HENRY:

I thought the movie within the novel, also called Stardust Trail, was just right, because it was just the sort of overreaching kind of thing that Herbert Yates would do for a while. Those overblown musical westerns, where you wanted to yell at the screen, "Enough dancing! Shoot someone!"

J.R. SANDERS:

Since it was going to be set in late ’38, I had wanted from the beginning to deal with the making of Stagecoach (1939).  But again, not wanting to get into the major studio sort of a milieu. I didn't want Stagecoach to take center stage, and deal with all those name actors. John Wayne dropping him in as sort of a peripheral character, I enjoyed it. I would not have wanted to, probably wouldn't have had the audacity, to try and make him a central character,

HENRY:

But he contributes. And it's such a nice choice to put him in there when he was a Three Mesquiteers star and on the verge of being something big. I liked that a lot.

J.R. SANDERS:

Well, thank you. I enjoyed that probably as much as anything in the book, because it was just such a different view of John Wayne than you typically get. I've seen him portrayed in fiction here and there over the years, but it's always John Wayne, the icon, and it was kind of fun to go back and deal with him at a time when he was really still Duke Morrison.

HENRY:

What's up next for Nate Ross?

J.R. SANDERS:

Actually, I'm sitting here as we speak working on the second Nate Ross novel.  In this book dealing with film piracy, chasing a gang of bootleggers who are duplicating Hollywood films and selling them over the border in Mexico. It’s called Dead Bang Fall.  And it's due out in March.

HENRY:

As a Republic fan, do you have a favorite B Western star or a series?

J.R. SANDERS:

It's in the book; The Three Mesquiteers.  John Wayne and Max Terhune, those were just such fun movies.  Fluffy and nothing you could take too seriously, but they're just a kick to watch.

HENRY:

One last question.  Where did the title Stardust Trail come from? 

J.R. SANDERS:

There was a quote I ran across in my research from (Gene Autry’s sidekick), Smiley Burnett. In his later days, he was out at one of these events, signing 8 X 10 glossies, selling them for ten bucks a pop. Somebody criticized him for that. And his response was, "You can't eat stardust."

... AND THAT'S A WRAP!

L.Q. Jones portrait by Steve Carver

from Western Portraits

Please check out the July/August 2021 issue of True West, featuring my article and interview with one of the nicest bad guys you'll ever meet, L.Q. Jones.

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright July 2021 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

SILVER SPURS HONORS GUNSMOKE’S 60TH ANNI, PLUS GUNSMOKE BOOK REVIEWS, WORD ON WESTERNS!

SILVER SPURS HONORS GUNSMOKE'S 60TH ANNIVERSARY

At about 5 pm this past Friday, September 18^th, the folks who make the Westerns and the folks who love them, began gathering at Studio City’s famed Sportsmen’s Lodge for the 18^th Annual Silver Spur Awards.  (The Sportsmen’s, which will soon close its doors, has been the location for the Awards for many years, and in fact predates the film business in Los Angeles.  In the old days, you could fish in their ponds for trout, and have them cooked for your dinner.)

While the Silver Spurs, presented by The Reel Cowboys, has always honored Western film and television in general, this year’s Awards were much more specific, celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the longest-running live action series in television history, GUNSMOKE.  Reel Cowboys President Robert Lanthier rode shotgun, but handed the reins over to Julie Ann Ream, combining the event with her Western Legends Awards.  Julie grew up around GUNSMOKE – her grandfather, Taylor ‘Cactus Mack’ McPeters, appeared in 48 episodes, and her cousin Glenn Strange was Sam the bartender at the Long Branch in 238 shows. 

I’ve done a number of red carpets, but this time was a little different for me: Julie assigned me a cameraman, and asked me to do interviews from five ‘til six as the guests arrived, for a DVD of the event.  I was very happy to do it.  After that hour, I continued doing interviews with just my recorder, and those are what you’ll read below.  You’ll have to wait to hear what Mrs. James Arness, Bruce Boxleitner, Angie Dickinson, Morgan Woodward, and Martin Kove had to say until the DVD is ready.

Mariette Hartley flanked by costumed escort, husband Jerry Sroka

When I asked Mariette Hartley which of her three GUNSMOKES was her favorite, without hesitation she said COTTER’S GIRL (1963), in which she played a wild girl found living in the trees, and in need of civilizing.   

MARIETTE HARTLEY:  COTTER’S GIRL.  The very first.  It just stretched me to the limit.  Because I was doing a play, a very heavy play, at UCLA, at the same time as I was doing GUNSMOKE.  Jim Arness never reads the (script).  He reads the page that he’s doing that day, rips it up and throws it away.  The character I played is Clarey, and Jim was very nervous about hiring somebody to actually be on the trail with him for that long a period of time.  He didn’t want Matt to be accused of, I guess, child molestation or whatever.  So he actually insisted on meeting me, reading with me, which is very unusual.  So I got the part of this character who lives in the trees and eats berries.  Ends up getting dressed up.  But I can’t walk – they have to teach me how to walk, how to eat.  And in that particular scene, the eating scene, which was so funny, I end up grabbing a steak and shoving it into my mouth.  Now Jim, having not read the scene, had no idea what was going to happen.  And when these guys, and Kitty, got together, and started laughing, that was the end of the scene.  And it took us four hours to get that scene.  I had to leave, do the play, come back in the morning, we started again, and the minute they said ‘action’ we started laughing, and we were done, just done.  That’s one of the reasons I loved it.  Also it was a wonderful script by Kathleen Hite, who writes a lot of the ones on Sirius XM.  (Note: Sirius XM plays old time radio shows.  Kathleen Hite wrote more than eighty radio scripts, including many GUNSMOKES, and 36 FORT LARAMIE episodes.)

Four-time Emmy-winner Miss Michael Learned may be best known for playing Olivia Walton, but she also appeared on GUNSMOKE.  The first time she played, as she told me, “a hooker.”  The next time, also in 1973, she played Matt’s love interest in MATT’S LOVE STORY.  She was called upon to play the same role in 1990 in the TV movie GUNSMOKE: THE LAST APACHE.   

HENRY: You had a relationship with Matt Dillon like no one else did.

MICHAEL LEARNED: Yes I did, but we don’t talk about it.  He had amnesia, so he could be forgiven.  I knew what was going on, but I didn’t know who he was.  I didn’t know about Miss Kitty.

HENRY:  Would you have cared?

MICHAEL LEARNED: (laughs) Probably not.

HENRY:  What was it like continuing a story with so many years in between?    

MICHAEL LEARNED:  It was kind of weird, to tell you the truth, because I never knew what had happened.  I didn’t know we had a daughter until (producer) John Mantley called me and said, “We’re doing a movie of the week, and you had a daughter.”  I said oh; okay.  It was a little strange, but just being with James, he’s such a calming person.  It was wonderful.  Nice to have a second chance to be with him.

L.Q. Jones and Tanner Beard

Miss Learned has been doing a lot of theatre lately.  “I just got back from doing MOTHERS AND SONS in Austin, Texas, and I’m going off in the summer to do another play in Canada.” 

Not all of the GUNSMOKE fans were old enough to have seen it in its original run.  Tanner Beard, who directed and co-starred in 6 BULLETS TO HELL was there with co-star Ken Lukey.  Their second Western together, 6 BULLETS was shot in Spain on Leone’s sets, and is probably the first Western to replace helicopter and crane shots with drones for dramatic pull-ups.  Actress Mindy Miller, all in buckskin, was eager to speak to L.Q. Jones.  Back in 1983, they starred together in the Charles B. Pierce Western SACRED GROUND. 

L.Q. Jones and Mindy Miller

L.Q. Jones is an accomplished writer and director as well as an actor.  I asked him about his thoughts on the GUNSMOKE writers.   

L.Q. JONES:  They had the best on GUNSMOKE. And you learn very quickly, you may think you can write, and you might be able to.  But can you write for GUNSMOKE?  Can you write for thirty minutes?  Can you write for an hour show?  I can’t. I have a tough time doing an hour and a half or two hours.  That’s a very special thing.  And they knew the people, and they knew their work.  Almost everything I’m in, they ask me to change (my lines) to fit me.  And I do a lot of it over the years.  But not on GUNSMOKE.  You take what they give you, hit your marks, say your words, and pick up your check.  The writers, the producers, the crew, they were so professional in what they did.

HENRY:  You did so many Westerns series at that time.  How did the atmosphere of the sets vary?

L.Q. JONES:  What do I say?  The people had become a family on GUNSMOKE.  Now I also did a lot of VIRGINIANS; and we became a family there.  I was a regular on about seven Westerns.  I’m not saying that GUNSMOKE was the only enjoyable series – I don’t mean that.  But they were the best of the best. They had great budgets.  They could afford to do the things they wanted to do.  And a lot of the other shows…  THE VIRGINIAN bear in mind, we were putting on a new western every other week.  That means you had two weeks to make an hour and a half show, which is a full motion picture.  So we had to clip a few things here and there on budgets.  We did some changes on the scripts.  Not that nobody did any changes on GUNSMOKE; they did.  But by and large you hit your marks, said your words, because what they gave you is what they wanted, and what worked.  And that’s what you’re out there to do, to please first the director, then the producer.  And I got so familiar with them that I could pretty well do it without having to ask them what to do next.  It’s hell to beat family, and I had family on two or three others.  I started out on CHEYENNE.     

HENRY:  What’s your favorite episode of GUNSMOKE

L.Q. JONES:  I know this sounds Pollyana-ish, I don’t mean to, but any show I do is my favorite at the moment.  If I didn’t, I’d have quit the business long ago.  What for me was the greatest fun, I did the first black episode of GUNSMOKE, where except for the regulars, it was all black.  And I was a terrible person.  I literally kicked dogs.  I beat kids.  I chased women, I drank, everything you could do.  They showed it on a Sunday as opposed to a Saturday.  That Monday I went to work; we lived in Camarillo.  I had about a forty-five minute trip to get to the studio.  I was driving my MG.  The top was down.  And I was booed and hissed for the entire twenty or thirty miles.    They had all seen the show the night before.  And they were throwing things and hissing and booing.  It was great fun to work under something like that.  That is my favorite, because of what happened after the fact, but I enjoyed the others as much as that. 

Then it was time for everyone to move in to the banquet hall.  I’ll have the highlights of what was said there in the next Round-up.  For my own interest, I was trying to explain the incredible longevity of the series.  It’s easy to just say ‘it was the best,’ and it was.  But why?  It’s worth noting that this past week also marked the 50^th anniversary of the premieres of both THE BIG VALLEY (112 episodes) and LAREDO (56 episodes).  In fact, yesterday, September 20^th, marked the 60^th anniversary of the first hour-long Western drama, CHEYENNE, which ran for 108 episodes.  Why did GUNSMOKE last for more than twenty years as a series, producing 635 episodes, and four TV movies?  I believe it was the writing as much as the cast, and the secret to the writing was that it began on radio.  Radio is a much more intimate, less ‘showy’ medium than film, and with no visuals, story rather than action had to carry the interest.  And the thirty-minute running time meant that the shows had to rely on character at least as much as plot, since there was simply no time to get complicated.  The first six seasons of GUNSMOKE were half hours, most based on radio episodes, and even when the time ran up to an hour, the writers had already established the lead characters, and learned that stories about people were much more compelling than stories about events.

‘GUNSMOKE – AN AMERICAN INSTITUTION’ BY BEN COSTELLO

‘THE GUNSMOKE CHRONICLES – A NEW HISTORY OF TELEVISION’S GREATEST WESTERN’ BY DAVID R. GREENLAND

TWO BOOK REVIEWS

GUNSMOKE is everywhere, from TV-LAND to ME-TV to ENCORE WESTERNS, and with the new interest peaked by the television series’ 60^th anniversary, it’s a perfect time to pick up these two fine reference books, and deepen your knowledge, and thus your enjoyment, of the greatest Western series ever to grace the small screen. 

Each book devotes hundreds of pages to episode guides, listing cast and crew and a brief synopsis of all 635 episodes, as well as the TV movies.   Ben Costello’s book is a lavish coffee-table book, with photographs, black and white as well as color, on nearly every page.  Costello’s book, clearly a labor of love done over many years, begins with a foreword by story editor Jim Byrnes, who wrote 34 episodes, and a preface by Oscar-winner and three-time GUNSMOKE guest star Jon Voight.  

Opening chapters detail the Gunsmoke story from its beginnings as a ground-breaking radio show created by John Meston and Norman Macdonnell, how western screenwriter Charles Marquis Warren would help craft it into a television series, the casting, and the real people behind the roles of Matt, Kitty, Chester, Doc, Festus, and all of the others.  Chapters are devoted to the many fine writers and directors who crafted the show.

Among the high points are interviews with the series stars, Dennis Weaver (Chester), Burt Reynolds (Quint) and Buck Taylor (Newly).  And there are two chapters of reminiscences by guest stars, including Morgan Woodward, Paul Picerni, Anthony Caruso, James Gregory, Adam West, William Windom, William Schallert, David Carradine, Loretta Swit, Earl Holliman, William Smith, Harry Carey Jr., and many more.   There are chapters about live performances by the cast, a staggering array of toys and collectibles, and even favorite recipes of the stars – I’m definitely going to try Jim Arness’ chili if I can find enough venison! 

‘GUNSMOKE CHRONICLES’ is by David R. Greenland, whose previous excellent books include BONANZA – A VIEWERS’ GUIDE TO THE TVLEGEND  and RAWHIDE – A HISTORY OF TV’S LONGEST CATTLE DRIVE. His trade paperback-sized book opens with a long chapter about the members of the GUNSMOKE acting family.  It’s followed by a look at Dodge City’s familiar faces, a season-by-season overview of the series, and a look at the GUNSMOKE movies.  Also included are lengthy interviews with actress Peggy Rea, actor Jeremy Slate, and a particularly in-depth talk with GUNSMOKE’s greatest and most frequent villain, Morgan Woodward. 

Ben Costello’s GUNSMOKE – AN AMERICAN INSTITUTION, is published by Five Star Publications, and is available from Amazon in hardcover, softcover and Kindle HERE. 

David R. Greenland’s THE GUNSMOKE CHRONICLES, published by Bear Manor Media, is available from them HERE.

LIVE EVENTS

COWBOY LUNCH @THE AUTRY  WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 23^RD

Morgan Fairchild & Patrick Swayze 

in NORTH AND SOUTH

THE REEL CIVIL WAR will be the topic of Wednesday’s WORD ON WESTERNS.  From THE BIRTH OF A NATION, to GONE WITH THE WIND to Ken Burns’ nine-part documentary and beyond, what were the best portrayals of the Civil War?

Bruce Boxleitner in GODS AND GENERALS

Confirmed guests include:  Bruce Boxleitner (GODS & GENERALS), Alex Hyde-White (G&G, IRONCLADS), Morgan Fairchild (NORTH AND SOUTH), Lee de Broux (THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE) and historian Phil Spangenberger.  The program begins at 12:45pm.  Come early to buy lunch and get a seat!  

TWENTY MULE TEAM DAYS, BORON, SAT, OCTOBER 3!

Borax fans unite!  Activities will include a parade, games, music, food, and vendor booths!  It’ll be held at the Boron Community Park.  To learn more, call 760-793-4139.

MOJAVE TRAIL DAYS, HELENDALE, SAT & SUN, OCT. 3&4

The celebration features sagebrush songstress Belinda Gail, plus Southern Caliber and the Billhilyz.  Trick-roper, whip-cracker and gun-spinner Will Roberts will perform, and there will be reenactments and other Western entertainments courtesy of the Tombstone Legends and the Sweetwater Outlaws.  Not to mention equestrian events, stagecoach rides, a kids’ zone, vendors, food, and a beer garden.  It all happens at the Helendale Community Parke.  Learn more at 760-951-0006, ext. 230, or visit http://mojaverivertraildays.com/index.html

THAT'S A WRAP!

Here's lookin' at you!

See you back here in a couple of weeks!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright September 2015 by Henry C. Parke - All Rights Reserved

TCM RED CARPET! COWBOY FEST TIX WINNER! ‘WILD BUNCH’ LUNCH AND MORE!

TCM FEST RED CARPET

The 5^th annual TCM Classic Film Festival technically began on Thursday afternoon, April 10^th, with a presentation called SONS OF GODS AND MONSTERS, at The Hollywood Museum, aka the DeMille Barn, hosted by director Joe Dante (THE HOWLING) and FX make-up master Rick Baker (AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON).  But the ‘official’ start came at 6:30 p.m., when stars walked down the red carpet outside Sid Grauman’s Chinese IMAX Theatre to see the restored presentation of the Western musical OKLAHOMA!, with female lead Shirley Jones in attendance. 

Kim Novack

The TCM Fest is like no other event I’ve ever attended.  With as many as seven venues screening movies or having live events at any given moment, it’s the cinematic equivalent of the three-ring circus – there’s so much great stuff happening that you can’t do it all, but you can do more than enough.  In addition to the Chinese Theatre, films screen at the immense Grauman’s Egyptian, and Disney’s El Capitan Theatre, with most screenings taking place in the Chinese Multiplex next door to the Chinese.  A few films were even screened poolside at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Attendees make a major commitment of money as well as time: the most expensive package costs $1599, which includes the red carpet screening, plus the VANITY FAIR after-party, and screenings and events.  The least expensive package is $249 – and I understand that all of the packages quickly sell out.  And starting last year, non-packagers could buy tickets for unfilled screenings on a stand-by basis for $20.

Margaret O'Brien, carrying 

Mickey Rooney's top-hat

As I write this, it’s  Monday, April 14^th, the day which marks the 20^th anniversary of the Turner Classic Movies channel, and I can think of no other organization or outlet which has done half as much as TCM to preserve film and bring it before the public.  

Tippi Hedron

At about 4:30 we media-types were assigned our spots along the red carpet that began in front of the Hollywood & Highland Center and ran along Hollywood Boulevard to the entrance of Grauman’s Chinese.  The guests began arriving at five.  Shirley Jones was with her irrepressible husband, comedian Marty Ingalls, who held a sign announcing ‘37 YEARS’.  After waking part of the length of the red carpet with her, Ingalls left her to do interviews while he entertained the rest of us.  When someone asked him if he was proud of his wife, he responded, “Is she here?” in mock concern, then added, “Don’t tell her you’ve seen me.  I’m with a date.”  He walked down to the end of the carpet, to a bleacher full of fans.  “Isn’t she amazing?  And she’s a hundred years old!”  Shirley Jones turned 80 last month. 

Marty Ingalls

Merrie Spaeth and Shirley Jones

Merrie Spaeth was next down the crimson walk.  In 1964 she played one of the two teenagers obsessed with Peter Sellers’ pianist character in THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT.  I asked her what Sellers was like off-camera.  “Peter Sellers was a lovely man who wanted attention.  And Tippi (Walker) and I would sit at his feet, and he would perform.  The funniest thing he would do is take Inspector Clouseau to places where he actually never went.  We thought he was wonderful, and he responded.”

Worst picture ever taken of Greg Proops

Comedian Greg Proops, probably best known for WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY?, is a very busy voice-actor in addition to his on-camera work -- and my awful picture of him may get him even more voice work!  Very knowledgeable about film, he introduced the excellent Ginger Rogers comedy BACHELOR MOTHER later that night.  “My favorite westerns?  By a long mile, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID.  I also liked DESTRY RIDES AGAIN.  And there’s a really odd Henry Fonda film called WELCOME TO HARD TIMES that I think is superb.  I also love THE CULPEPPER CATTLE COMPANY.  I like lots of westerns.  WILD BUNCH.”

Susan Lloyd

Susan Lloyd, granddaughter of silent screen great Harold Lloyd, was attending, and would present his WHY WORRY? on Friday.  She was very excited about the imminent release from Criterion of Lloyd’s THE FRESHMAN.  She’d spoken about how her father dressed in a much more ‘regular’ manner than Chaplin or Keaton, even wearing glasses.  I reminded her that he looked quite different in his earlier films, as Lonesome Luke.    “Yes he did.  And unfortunately some of the ‘Lonesome Lukes’ got destroyed in a fire at his estate.  So there aren’t a lot of Lonesome Lukes.  But Lonesome Luke – the first one was Willy Work, where he wore tight clothes and a split mustache, like Chaplin.  Lonesome Luke was a little boy, and he started putting glasses on with Lonesome Luke.  And he had to fight with (producer Hal) Roach to let him wear glasses; that’s what happened, and then the glasses stuck.  And then he put on a suit, and a regular tie, and that was it.”

“And he looked like no one else, because he looked like everyone else?”

“He looked like everyone else, and he was happy.  He could walk down the street in make-up and still look like everybody else.”

Andy Dick trying to come up with an answer

Comedian Andy Dick has never been in the running for King of the Cowboys, and seemed genuinely baffled by my question.  “Western?  That’s a stumper.  I can’t really…  Have I seen a western?  Oh: CHINATOWN!”  A friend in his entourage coached, “You might want to go with TOMBSTONE or something.”

Tiffany Vazquez

New to the red carpet was New Yorker Tiffany Vazquez, one of the twenty ‘Super Fans’ TCM selected to be guest programmers.  “Western?  I don’t know too much about westerns, so I’m going to have to go with either THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY or maybe THE SEARCHERS.”

Joe Dante

When director Joe Dante walked by, I asked, “When are you going to make a Western?”

“When they let me!  Actually I did one for Showtime, with Brian Keith (note: it’s an episode of PICTURE WINDOWS called LIGHTNING, written by GUNSMOKE’s Jim Byrnes, featuring Keith, Henry Jones, Ron Perlman and Kathleen Quinlan).  They don’t do westerns anymore.”

Bo Hopkins

Then along came Bo Hopkins, who made his screen premiere in THE WILD BUNCH.  “Mr. Hopkins, what are your favorite westerns?”

“Well, THE WILD BUNCH.  CULPEPPER CATTLE COMPANY.  Oh God, all the John Ford movies, Gary Cooper movies.”

“I liked your work in a small but very good picture called CHEYENNE WARRIOR.”

“That’s right; that was a good one.”

Lynn Stalmaster

One of the unexpected pleasures of the red carpet was to speak with legendary casting director Lynn Stalmaster, who famously cast GUNSMOKE for its first decade, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL and other Western series, and features like TOOTSIE, DELIVERENCE, MONTE WALSH, VALDEZ IS COMING, JEREMIAH JOHNSON, and all of the MAGNIFICENT 7 sequels.  Of Mickey Rooney stature, nearing 90, and bubbling with energy and enthusiasm, when I told him that I wrote the Round-up, he responded, “Oh, I’m happy to meet you, because I’ve cast so many westerns that you have seen.   The last one I did was THE COWBOYS, with John Wayne.”

“You cast all of those boys?”

“Yes, and most of them were new to film.  And Roscoe Lee Brown; there was a brilliant chemistry between him and Wayne.  And Bruce Dern.  And he created a villain that had dimension, because he was that kind of an actor.  And I cast HALLELUJAH TRAIL for (director) John Sturges. HOUR OF THE GUN, also for Sturges.  And Jon Voight (playing Curly Bill Brocius) appeared in that, and had a couple of wonderful moments; an actor of that caliber can make so much of even a brief role.”

“What do you look for when you’re casting a period picture?  Is it a different quality?”

“I like to introduce something fresh.  Much as I love the old character actors that appeared in every John Ford film, I like to try to find a unique way, that hopefully the director will accept.  So I try all kinds of things.” 

“Which directors were the best to work with?”

“Sunday we’re showing FIDDLER ON THE ROOF; Norman Jewison.  Robert Wise; we did WEST SIDE STORY.” 

Robert Osbourne

I’ll have more on the TCM Festival in next week’s Round-up!

ROB WORD’S ‘WILD BUNCH’ LUNCH WEDNESDAY AT THE AUTRY

On Wednesday, April 16^th at 12:30 p.m., Rob Word will hold his 3rd-Wednesday-of-the-month Cowboy Lunch @ the Autry, and the topic will be Sam Peckinpah’s THE WILD BUNCH.  Admission is free, although naturally you have to buy your own lunch.  After lunch, guests who will be discussing the film will include despicable bounty hunter L.Q. Jones; Bo Hopkins, whose very first movie role was Crazy Lee, and who will hopefully talk “…’til Hell freezes over or you say different!”; stuntman, horse specialist and frequent Peckinpah collaborator Gary Combs; and Gordon Dawson, who supervised costumes in WILD BUNCH, and eventually co-wrote BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA with Bloody Sam.

L.Q. Jones

To whet your appetite, here’s a clip from a recent luncheon, with Bruce Boxleitner talking about making the series HOW THE WEST WAS WON.  (You can find many more clips from these events by going to Youtube and searching ‘a Word on Westerns.’)

Bo Hopkins

SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FEST TICKET WINNER!

Longtime Henry’s Western Round-up reader Sally Gomez of Baldwin Park, California has won a pair of tickets to the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival by correctly identifying Champion as Gene Autry’s horse.  Those of you who wrote in ‘Topper’ or ‘Buttermilk’ may now hang your heads in shame.   The Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, April 26 & 27 at Melody Ranch in Santa Clarita. 

Gold panners

As there is a film currently in production at the Ranch (that’s why they’re in business, after all), some of the Western street will not be available for strolling, access to other areas has been expanded, and some venues will be in new locales – I know for instance that the OutWest Buckaroo Book Store will be in a large tent that will actually give them more room for author events than they’ve had in the past.  Good news for me, as I’ll be moderating a couple of authors’ panels.  On Saturday from 1:30 to 2, the topic is THE WEST IMAGINED, and I’ll be talking with Western novelists Edward M. Erdelac, author of COYOTE’S TRAIL; Jim Christina, author of THE DARK ANGEL; and C. Courtney Joyner, author of SHOTGUN.

Author JR Sanders

And on Sunday, from 1:30 to 2, the topic is THE WEST LIVED, and I’ll be talking to non-fiction writers Jerry Nickle, great-grandson of the Sundance Kid; JR Sanders, author of SOME GAVE ALL; and Peter Sherayko, author of TOMBSTONE – THE GUNS AND GEAR. 

Also on Saturday at 12:30, and Sunday at 2:30, I’ll be chatting with Miles Swarthout, who wrote the screenplay for THE SHOOTIST from his father Glendon Swarthout’s novel.  Miles is also involved with the upcoming movie THE HOMESMAN, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones, from a novel by Glendon Swarthout.  You can learn all about the events at the Buckaroo Book Shop by going HERE.  

You can learn all about the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival HERE .

Joey Dillon prepares to shoot an apple 

off a volunteer's head!

NEW VENUE, DATE, AND PRICE FOR TARANTINO’S ‘HATEFUL 8’ READING

As you know if you read the Round-up, Quentin Tarantino had announced on The Tonight Show that he was following up DJANGO UNCHAINED with a new Western entitled THE HATEFUL 8.  And you also know that some a-holes put the script up on-line, which so angered Tarantino that he shelved the project and sued the A-holes.  (A-hole court date is January 27, 2015.  A-holes involved are officially known as the GAWKER website.)  And you know that, as a benefit for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Tarantino decided to hold a staged reading of the script at the Museum, with tickets costing $200 a pop, for LACMA Film Club members only.  But what you perhaps did not know is that scheduling conflicts have caused a change of date and location for the reading. 

The Theatre at the Ace Hotel - formerly 

The United Artists Theatre

The new date is Saturday, April 19^th – that’s this Saturday – at 8 p.m.  The new location is downtown L.A., at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel, 929 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90015.  The new prices, depending on seat location, are $100, $125, $150 and $200.  They went on-sale on Friday to members of the LACMA Film Club, Film Independent, and New York Times Film Club.  Any unsold tickets will go on-sale to everyone else tomorrow, Wednesday, at 5 p.m.  Here’s the link to Ticketmaster: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/09004C8A982C9420

As you may have gathered, they’re kinda touchy about things leaking out, so NO cell phones will be permitted at the event.  The theatre, incidentally, was built as the United Artists Theatre in 1927, and is one of Downtown’s treasures.  Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith had just begun UNITED ARTISTS to have control over their films, and commissioned the building of the theatre.

The dramatic reading is significant, and open to wildly different interpretations.  Friends who are attending have told me they think that, with the script being shelved, this will be their only chance to witness this new Tarantino work.  Others, myself included, are hoping that the enthusiasm and excitement generated by this event will reinvigorate Tarantino’s enthusiasm, and convince him to make the movie.  We’ll have to wait and see who’s right.

HAPPY 80^TH BIRTHDAY JAMES DRURY!  INSP CELEBRATES FRIDAY WITH HIS FAVORITE ‘VIRGINIAN’ EPISODES!

James Drury, star not only of THE VIRGINIAN series, but of Sam Peckinpah’s RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, FORBIDDEN PLANET, POLLYANA, and many TV westerns -- memorably THE REBEL, RAWHIDE and THE RIFLEMAN -- will turn 80 on Friday.  To celebrate, INSP, which exclusively shows the venerable series, will air Drury’s two favorite episodes among the 249 he starred in.  In THE MOUNTAIN OF THE SUN, the Virginian tries to discourage a trio of female missionaries from going to help Yaqui Indians in Mexico, and in the process falls for one of them, played by lovely Dolores Hart.  This was Hart’s last performance before she gave up acting and became a nun.   In FELICITY’S SPRING, the Virginian and Felicity Andrews (Katherine Crawford) make wedding plans, and I’ll not say more than that.   In addition to the two 90 minute episodes, INSP will also run some never-before-seen footage to celebrate James’ birthday.  Don’t miss it!

James Drury with Clu Gulager

DEL MAR RACETRACK CAPS ‘WESTERN WEEK’ SAT. WITH ‘NIGHT OF THE HORSE’!

Del Mar’s 69^th Annual Horse Show is going on, and on Saturday night, April 19^th, Night of the Horse presents Hoofbeats Through History, which will examine the moment man first encountered the horse, and how his world was forever changed.  Anthony DeLongis, actor, stuntman, accomplished mounted shooter, knife-thower, and whip-cracker will demonstrate his remarkable warfare skills.

Peter Sherayko as Buffalo Bill

Peter Sherayko, western movie actor, historical accuracy authority, and action coordinator will don the goatee from his famous Buffalo Bill Cody one-man-show, and reenact how the cowboy tamed the west, opened territory, ranched, mined, blazed trails and brawled!

The show will also feature Clay Maier driving dressage and jumping, cavalry style.  Nancy Nunke will present the world’s only trained Przewalksi’s horse – these are the prehistoric horses seen in cave paintings!  Present-day knights in shining armor will demonstrate their jousting skills, plus there will be Charros, Roman Riders and Trick Riders!  To learn more, go HERE .

THAT’S  A WRAP!

That’s it for this week!  Have a great one, and let me know about anything in your neck of the woods that the Round-up Rounders ought to know about!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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