‘BRISCO COUNTY JR.’ HANDS ARE CRAFTING NEW TV WESTERNS

Back in December I was relieved to report that HELL ON WHEELS, whose 3^rd season was put on hold until a qualified show-runner could be found, was now merrily chugging down the track under the able hands of exec producer and show-runner John Wirth, who has previously performed similar duties on PICKET FENCES, FALLEN SKIES, TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, and several other series. Most heartening of all, back in 1993 he was a writer and producer on THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY JR.  It was one of the few memorable Western efforts of the 1990s, which featured a wonderful line-up of genre-beloved guest stars, in addition to Bruce Campbell in the title role.   

This week I reported on the Round-up Facebook page that according to Deadline: Hollywood, NBC had ordered a Western pilot entitled ‘6^TH GUN’.  Based on the Oni Press graphic novel, it’s another supernatural Western, this one about six mythical, mystical guns.  It’s scripted by Ryan Condal, whose HERCULES: THE THRACIAN WARS, to star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, is in pre-production.  Producer is Carlton Cuse, who has two others shows coming up: BATES MOTEL for A&E and the FX pilot The Strain, in collaboration with Guillermo Del Toro.  I was contacted by Round-up reader Col. Kurtz, who informed me that Cuse had produced LOST, and was also one of the creators of THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY JR.  In fact, Cuse created the show with Jeffrey Boam, wrote fourteen episodes and exec produced all 27 episodes.   Nice to have two shows to look forward to!  I hope we see Bruce Campbell turn up in both!

S.A.G. AWARDS HONORS WESTERNS

Tonight’s Screen Actors Guild Awards recognized some of the very fine work done this year by actors in Western or Western-ish stories.  Kevin Costner won Best Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries for his portrayal of Devil Anse Hatfield in HATFIELDS & MCCOYS.  Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor in a Motion Picture for his portrayal of the sixteenth President in LINCOLN.   Tommy Lee Jones won for Best Supporting Actor in a motion picture for his portrayal of Thaddeus Stevens in LINCOLN.

‘CODY!’ DETAILS THE LIFE OF HERO IN ONE-MAN SHOW

There are few icons of the Old West more controversial that William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody.  The Pony Express rider, Indian fighter, buffalo hunter, scout and showman has been worshiped and reviled since he first gained fame.  Playwright and historian Eric Sorg has crafted a historically accurate single-character play that reveals many aspects of Cody’s life, some of them eye-opening and amusing, but not all of them attractive, and some quite tragic. 

The real Buffalo Bill Cody

If there is one role Peter Sherayko was born to play, it’s Buffalo Bill Cody, and Peter covers the range of Cody’s moods, from the cheerfully cocky, to arrogant, wistful, and heartbroken.  The details of how buffalo were hunted, the encounters with unfriendly Indians, the story of how Cody came to be the subject of dime novels, are revealing and entertaining.  The details of his personal life are humanizing.  The downward personal and financial spiral of Cody’s life was, to me, unexpected and moving.  This is not a whitewashing of Cody, nor is it a hatchet job.  He talks easily of the best way to kill Indians, and later, his friendship with them.   And he talks much about his relationships with other legends of the west, notably Bill Hickock, as well Ned Buntline, Sitting Bull and Yellow hand.  Amusingly, he talks about one of Cody’s stage co-stars in his first theatrical appearance, Texas Jack Vermillion, whom Sherayko portrayed in the movie TOMBSTONE.

Peter Sherayko in TOMBSTONE

Sherayko has performed the play in Nebraska; Ohio; Pennsylvania; New York; Texas; in Sheridan and Cody, Wyoming; at the Autry; and at the Karl May Festival in Germany.  This filmed performance was done on a stage splendidly decorated with historical artifacts, without an audience.  Shot largely in a medium shot, there are a very few cutaways to a high-angle shot, and hardly any editing; it’s nearly a one-take, unbroken performance.  Faded in from time to time is historical footage of Cody himself performing in his Wild West Show.  The original stage production was directed by Ted Lange.  This filmed version is directed by Josh Seat, with music by Jon Butcher.  It’s available for $20 dollars from Peter’s company, CARAVAN WEST, HERE. 

WHY IT’S ‘ROUND-UP LITE’ TONIGHT

If the Round-up seems a bit briefer than usual today, I’ve got a good excuse.  Fellow screenwriter and western historian C. Courtney Joyner and I spent the day doing audio commentary for the Blu-Ray release of THE GRAND DUEL, the Lee Van Cleef spaghetti western from 1972, which BLUE UNDERGROUND is releasing.  It was a lot of fun, but it takes a lot of preparation.  They’ve done a beautiful restoration on it – I’ll have more information as the release date nears.

Until then, Happy Trails!

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright January 2013 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

  

SPEILBERG’S ‘LINCOLN’ A GRAND OLD PORTRAIT

Steven Speilberg has directed so many wonderful films over his long and still-thriving career that it is daunting to try and pick the best; but LINCOLN is clearly one of his finest and most completely realized films.  At a time when all too many movies insult the audiences’ intelligence with the simplicity of their stories, LINCOLN compliments the audiences’ intelligence, assuming that they will be able to follow a very complex and compelling political plot.  And it never shies away from the uncomfortable to discuss, but necessary to understand, differences in the many sides of the political battle.  We see the clear division not only between those who were for slavery and those who were against it, but also those who thought all men were created equal, and those who thought that thought all men should have equal rights, but were not equals at all.

 

Not a biography of our 16^th president, LINCOLN is the story of the race to pass the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, why it became a race to ratify before the Confederacy could surrender, and the wonderfully wicked backroom scheming and negotiating that pulled it off.  It’s also the story of a President we already thought we knew, but with many unfamiliar facets to his personality.  He was a man who felt great despair, but who also had a strong sense of humor, and loved to tell jokes.  He was a man who was trapped in a marriage with a woman he respected but did not love, and who he had threatened to put in a madhouse.  He was a man who turned to this same woman to interpret his dreams, in hopes that they might foretell the future.  He was a man who should have sounded like Raymond Massey or Royal Dano, but whose voice was actually several octaves higher.

The performances by a large ensemble cast are uniformly excellent.  Abraham Lincoln is portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis, and will surely be our image of Lincoln for decades to come.  Sally Field campaigned relentlessly for the part of Mary Todd Lincoln, and it is among the finest performances of her career.  Other standout performances include Jackie Earle Haley as Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens; Tommy Lee Jones as abolitionist Senator Thaddeus Stevens; Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Lincoln’s desperate-to-enlist son; and James Spader as W.N. Bilbo, who uses every trick in the book to try to get Lincoln the votes he needs.

 

The script is Tony Kushner, who wrote ANGELS IN AMERICA, and scripted Speilberg’s previous MUNICH.  It is based in part on the book TEAM OF RIVALS: THE POLITICAL GENIUS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  The cinematography by Speilberg’s frequent collaborator Janusz Kaminski, is evocative without calling attention to itself.  The production design by Rick Carter, costumes by Joanna Johnston, and make-up and hair by a team of over forty combine to bring the viewer into a Washington, D.C. of the 1860s that seems unquestionable genuine.  I would not recommend LINCOLN for young children – the brutality of war is something they should be spared, and the details of the political fight would be beyond their understanding.  But it is a movie that should be seen by all adults and teenagers – and the latter will learn from it far more about the Civil War, and the workings of government, then they ever will by studying their dumbed-down and politically correct textbooks.  Incidentally, LINCOLN was budgeted at $65,000,000.  ABRAHAM LINCOLN, VAMPIRE HUNTER, was originally budgeted at $85,000,000 (now they say it’s $69,000,000).  To be fair, I haven't yet seen VAMPIRE HUNTER, but I think I can predict which will have a longer shelf life.   

 

3:10 TO YUMA ADDED TO NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY

 

 

 

The original 1957 version of ‘3:10 TO YUMA’, directed by Delmer Daves, from a story by Elmore Leonard and screenplay by Halsted Welles, is one of twenty-five films selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry, a major honour.  The film stars Van Heflin and Glenn Ford in two of the finest performances of their exceptional careers, with Ford playing very against type as the ruthless but charming outlaw whom farmer Heflin must safely deliver to a train, and the law. Other films so recognized, of particular interest to Western fans, include CHRISTMAS STORY (1983), directed by Bob Clark, from Jean Shepherd’s novel, IN GOD WE TRUST, ALL OTHERS PAY CASH, and scripted by Shep, with Clark and Leigh Brown.  It’s the story of a boy, Peter Billingsley, growing up in Depression Era-Indiana, and his obsession with getting a Red Ryder BB-Gun for Christmas.   The 1914 version of UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s world-changing novel, stars Sam Lucas as the title character, and was the first feature film ever to star a black actor. 

 

 

FRANCO NERO MAY RETURN IN 'DJANGO LIVES'!

 

 

 

The near-frantic anticipation for Quentin Tarantino's DJANGO UNCHAINED has created tremendous interest in Spaghetti Westerns throughout the film industry.  One of the many hopeful results is that Franco Nero, the original Django, who makes an appearance in the Tarantino film, may soon star once again as Django in DJANGO LIVES!  

 

Mike Malloy and Eric Zaldivar, producers of 2011's THE SCARLET WORM, have a letter of interest from Nero, for their plot about an older Django living in Los Angeles in 1915, and working as a technical advisor on Western movies, something several lawmen like Wyatt Earp, and outlaws like Al Jennings, actually did.   

 

I'll be seeing and reviewing SCARLET WORM soon.  I've heard very positive buzz about the film, whose cast includes Spaghetti Western stalwarts like Dan Van Husen, Brett Halsey, and Mike Forest, and was stunned when Malloy told me they made the movie for $7500!  I'll have more details soon!

 

 

TCM FANATIC - WESTERN NOW ONLINE!

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






 

THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

Built by cowboy actor, singer, baseball and TV entrepreneur Gene Autry, and designed by the Disney Imagineering team, the Autry is a world-class museum housing a fascinating collection of items related to the fact, fiction, film, history and art of the American West. In addition to their permanent galleries (to which new items are frequently added), they have temporary shows. The Autry has many special programs every week -- sometimes several in a day. To check their daily calendar, CLICK HERE. And they always have gold panning for kids every weekend. For directions, hours, admission prices, and all other information, CLICK HERE.



HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM

Across the street from the Hollywood Bowl, this building, once the headquarters of Lasky-Famous Players (later Paramount Pictures) was the original DeMille Barn, where Cecil B. DeMille made the first Hollywoodwestern, The Squaw Man. They have a permanent display of movie props, documents and other items related to early, especially silent, film production. They also have occasional special programs. 2100 Highland Ave., L.A. CA 323-874-2276. Thursday – Sunday 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. $5 for adults, $3 for senior, $1 for children.



WELLSFARGO HISTORY MUSEUM

This small but entertaining museum gives a detailed history of Wells Fargo when the name suggested stage-coaches rather than ATMS. There’s a historically accurate reproduction of an agent’s office, an original Concord Coach, and other historical displays. Open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Admission is free. 213-253-7166. 333 S. Grand Street, L.A. CA.


WESTERN ALL OVER THE DIAL


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


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


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


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


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


Well, it's 12:36 a.m., and officially Christmas Eve as I type this. I've got a ton of good stuff stockpiled for the next several Round-ups!  In addition to my previously mentioned interviews with HIGH CHAPARRAL star Henry Darrow, and writer/actor/director Tom Jane, this week I interviewed George Schenck.  Not only is George a writer and Executive Producer on NCIS,  he started out writing Westerns, and has wonderful stories about writing movies for Clint Walker, Lee Van Cleef, Warren Oates, and scripting the first episode of THE WILD WILD WEST!  Stay tuned.  

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and Santa brings you everything you want the most, like that Red Ryder BB Gun (Don't shoot your eye out!). 

Happy Trails,

 

Henry

 

All Original Contents Copyright December 2012 by Henry C. Parke  - All Rights Reserved

 

'VIRGINIAN' ROUND 3; JARROD BARKELY HOLDING HIS OWN!

On Saturday, September 22^nd, The Autry and INSP marked the 50^th anniversary of the ground-breaking television series THE VIRGINIAN with a day-long event, and by returning the series to the airwaves.  (To read part one of my coverage, go HERE   To read part two, go HERE . ) One of the highpoints of the Virginian 50^th Anniversary Celebration was the panel discussion, featuring all eight VIRGINIAN cast attendees, moderated by Boyd Magers.  Boyd is best known as the author and publisher, for over nineteen years, of WESTERN CLIPPINGS MAGAZINE, and maintains the WESTERN CLIPPINGS WEBSITE (HERE), which can be searched for any western-related topic. 

The Wells Fargo Theatre at The Autry was completely packed, and thunderous applause greeted each member of the panel as they were introduced: Diane Roter (Jennifer Sommers), Randy Boone  (Randy Benton),  Sara Lane (Elizabeth Grainger),  Gary Clarke (Steve Hill), Roberta Shore (Betsy Garth), Don Quine (Stacey Grainger), Clu Gulager (Sheriff Emmett Ryker), and the Virginian himself, James Drury.  Boyd’s first question was to Gary Clarke. 

BOYD:  What did being on THE VIRGINIAN, and being part of this reunion, fifty years later, mean to you?

GARY: Getting THE VIRGINIAN was a hoot, a huge, huge step forward in the career.  I remember we would talk about it on the set.  We hope people like it, we hope it’s going to be good, that we’re contributing something.  And now, fifty years later, when we show up at a convention like this, and hundreds of fans come up and say how much they enjoy the show, and how much their children and grandchildren are enjoying the show…that’s what it means to me.

BOYD:  Clu, what did it mean to you?  Plus, I know you have a few words to say about Gene Autry, too.

 

Clu Gulager and Gary Clarke

CLU: When you’re in the public eye, people ask you a lot of questions.  And the question most people ask me is, what’s with your name?  Clu?  Well, that’s my name, I’m an Indian, a Cherokee Indian.  In my day, most Indian babies were named the first thing their mother sees after the child is born.  They tell me that when I was born my mother looked out the window and saw a red bird flying, and the Cherokee name for the red bird is ‘clu.’   So they call me Clu.  I’m always glad she didn’t look out and see an out-house. 

Gene Autry came to my home town, Muskogee, Oklahoma, when I was a kid.  And he brought Smiley Burnette with him.  He sang and danced and told stories, and I believed him.  And Smiley bulged out his eyes, and talked like a bull-frog sometimes.  And he could play any musical instrument you put in front of him.  And I believed him.  So when I came out of the Marine Corps, I became an actor, because I believed Gene Autry, and I believed Smiley Burnette.  And what is an actor if it is not someone who has the ability to make us believe?   Gene was a mess on a horse, when he started his pictures at Republic for Herb Yates, and later on for Columbia.   Herb Yates smelled money, but he said, ‘This singing cowboy lacks virility.’  So he hired a guy that I knew, named Yakima Canutt – a lot of people felt he was the greatest stuntman that ever lived.  So was Davy Sharpe.  Herb had Yak take Gene behind the barn and teach him about horses. (aside to Gary Clarke)  Like they should have taught you.   They had to teach him how to sit a horse; how to mount a horse; how to dismount a horse; how to fight; how to throw a punch; how to receive a punch.  And one thing he taught Gene, and very few people can do this even to this day: how to mount a horse from the back.  You run up to the horse’s butt, you spring up, you put your hands on their flanks, you pull yourself up, jump into the saddle, and just ride like Hell.  And Gene could do that.   Gene, who was from Oklahoma, actually became a very good horseman.   But (with a grin), not as good as me.  I’m a cowboy from Oklahoma.  And I used to ride the fences.  When the weather was below freezing, my hands would turn grey, and sometimes my fingers would turn black.  But when I saw a hole in that damned fence, I got off my pony, cut that wire, and foxed that hole.  And I’ve got to tell you, not one white face (steer) got out of any of those pastures on my watch.  Not one.  And that’s the thing I’m most proud of in my life.  That and my two children, John and Tom. 

BOYD: Roberta, I think Diane and Sara owe an awful lot to you; because if you hadn’t gotten married, they probably wouldn’t have been on the show. 

ROBERTA: (laughs)  I hadn’t thought about that!  I just want to say how fun it is to be with Clu!  This is the first thing he has ever done with us, and oh my gosh…  When I left the show I was under a seven year contract.  After I left I was put on two or three years of suspension.  And when I left, they honestly didn’t believe I would leave, so they didn’t write me out of the script.  And when they realized I was leaving the did bring me back, and married me off to handsome Glenn Corbett. 

BOYD: Jim, you’re all here except for one particular person, who is missing.  I’d like you to pay tribute to him.

JAMES:  I don’t know how I can start that.  Doug McClure was a man who would ride the rivers with you. He had my back for nine years, and I had his.  And there was never a day or a moment when he wasn’t dedicated to the task at hand.   He couldn’t walk into a room without everyone breaking out into a great big smile.  If they didn’t know him, they knew him pretty soon.  He was a great man, a great actor, and a great friend.  And he would be so happy if he could be with us.  Because the resurgence of the show – they were showing the episodes on Encore for a couple of years, and now the Inspiration Channel, just starting today, as a matter of fact, a three year run of the show.  He would be so pleased and so proud and so much in the middle of it.  I really don’t know how we get along without Doug – it’s damned hard.  I loved him; that’s all I can say.

 

James Drury, Roberta Shore, Clu Gulager, Gary Clarke

BOYD:  Diane, you were actually underage when you came to work on THE VIRGINIAN.

DIANE:  (melodramatically) Yes: I was underage. But I looked older.  And I never told Clu that.  Or Gary.  But I wouldn’t have to have told you anyway, because you’re such a gentleman.  What is the expression – a gentleman and a clown?  

BOYD:  Were the other guys on the show protective of you?

DIANE:  Everyone on the show was just so nice; it’s like having big brothers.  And it’s still like family.  And Jim is my go-to wisdom man.  And every time I call him it’s, ‘No, it’s okay.  Sure I can talk.  I’m going about 65, 70 on the freeway.’ 

JAMES: She always gets nervous when I’m driving.  I never get nervous when I’m driving.  

BOYD:  Randy, when did you realize you wanted to be a singer and an actor?

RANDY:  My last year of high school I was at a summer camp, and I was doing some waterskiing.  I got a funny feeling from this one ski, and it was a parasite that got into my toe.  Now our school was crazy about football, an I wanted to get my school letter in football, because you can’t get a girl if you can’t get a letter.  And the doctor said if I get the parasite cut out of my foot before early practice, then I couldn’t run for a while.  But he had some pills he could mix with water, soak my foot in, and that would poison it, and I could still practice.  Six hours a day he wanted me to do it.  I had a friend from camp who would play Kingston Trio songs on his guitar.  And I’d tied a couple of coffee cans together as bongos, and played along with him.  So he’d sit with me, with my foot in the poison, and play the guitar.  I don’t think I would have learned to play the guitar if I didn’t have to sit still all that time. 

 

Randy Boone, Diane Roter

BOYD:  Sara, you’re a horsewoman.  Did that come from your father?  I don’t know if everyone’s aware that your father was an actor named Rusty Lane. 

SARA:  If my father not been an actor, he probably should have been a vet.  He loved animals; he took care of animals.  When I was ten years old we lived in a place where I could have a horse; everyone in the neighborhood had a corral.  And I got a horse that was right on his way to the glue factory.  His saddle sores were so bad that you couldn’t put a saddle on him anymore.  So we got this horse home, and I didn’t know how to ride.  I got a bridle on her, and the first time I rode her, I rode her into the house.  It was a sort of rustic house, but momma was not too happy, so that’s the last time we did that.  But I really learned to ride on a backyard horse. 

BOYD:  Did you ever get to work with your dad?

SARA:  Yes; it seems to me we did a VIRGINIAN together, when I was still on the show, but I’m not sure.  He came with me every day to the set.  I started also underage, as a minor, and had to have a chaperone with me, in addition to a welfare worker/teacher.  And Dad came every day; and he had a certain way of learning lines.  And he taught me.  He was from the theatre, and boy was he strict: you didn’t mess around.  You knew your lines, you got there on time.  So even though I didn’t get to work with him on camera very much, I sure did work with him a lot.  He did 500 live TV shows in New York in five years.  He moved out here when TV moved out here, and he had to be in every western at least once.

BOYD:  Don, one person who often gets overlooked in the producer.  Don, what are your memories of Frank Price?

DON:  Frank Price was a very talented man.  He was responsible for starting THE VIRGINIAN.  He got it going, and they brought him back in the fifth season.  Things had sort of fallen down in the fourth season, when they replaced Lee J. Cobb with John Dehner. 

 

Don Quine, Sara Lane

CLU:  Frank Price was my best friend at that time.  He worked for a subsidiary of Columbia, which I considered Gene Autry’s home.  And these subsidiary companies, like Screen Gems for Columbia, were interested in properties and material and stories for television.  So Frank found a property that he liked.  He said, ‘I like this book, THE VIRGINIAN.’  This was a long time before the big show came.  Looking for a half-hour subject, free and clear, meaning it was unencumbered.  For some reason Owen Wister, the writer’s, family had given up the rights to it.  He said I’ve got to have a guy to play the Virginian who’s warm.  He has to come into people’s living rooms every week.  And he found a guy who seemed like he was perfect, to Frank.  He had a square jaw like Charlton Heston.  He had a baritone voice like Orson Welles.  He could act, he could ride, he had a good personality.  It was James Drury.  (big applause)  Now I’m coming to the bad part. (laughs)  He hired James, and James did a helluvah job, and it failed.  He couldn’t sell it.  So skip to Universal a few years later, and that was the home of the grey fox, Lew Wasserman.  That was his empire.  And Frank Stanton of NBC called Lew and said, ‘We’ve got a problem.  Our big show fell out.’   So Lew called Frank Price, who worked for him as a writer-producer.  Genius in film creativity in my view.  He said, ‘Frank we have to come up with something for Wednesday nights, for NBC.  I think I have the solution.  Let’s do a movie.  Every Wednesday night, let’s put a movie on in that slot.’  Frank said, ‘That’s a good idea.  We’ve got a lot of good pictures we’ve made over the years – ’    ‘No, that’s not what I meant.  I want us to MAKE a full length motion-picture to show each week, on that vacant slot on NBC on Wednesday night.’  And then Frank had a long silence.  He sh*t his britches.  Then he said, ‘Okay.’  Lew said, ‘I want you to make a format.  I want you to come up with something that will be viable for us.  I don’t care what subject you pick.  I want to know how long it’ll take, hoe much money it’ll take.’  Frank went outside, got to work, and fell in love with this long form.  He said, ‘This is something else, that damned genius Lew Wasserman came up with.  I think I’m going to use THE VIRGINIAN again.’

Well, he did.  And he made kind of a prototype of Gene Autry’s films.  Five days at Republic to shoot a film, twelve days at Columbia: I’ll put it in the middle.  We’ll do it in eight days.  And he took the format into Lew, and Lew said, ‘That’s terrific.’  And Frank Stanton, President of NBC, ‘That’s terrific.  Let’s go with it.’  So they had to find a cast.  Lew said, ‘I’ll leave it up to you.’  And he put together the damndest cast you’d ever seen.  He got James Drury again – there’s no one better; he can do everything.  Then he had to have someone to match his acting prowess.   He’d just done RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY for Sam Peckinpah, with Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea, and almost buried the other actors, he’s that good.  So they got Lee J. Cobb, considered the second or third best actor in the nation.  And he hated television.  He hated the concept of THE VIRGINIAN – he hated everything about it.  He hated everything we did out here in Hollywood.  And he signed on.  And the show needed someone to help this guy, good as he was.  So they found a volleyball player from Hawaii, who had made a little splash in Hollywood, Doug McClure.   He could smile, he could ride a horse better than me – and I’m not chopped liver.  He could do anything with a horse.  He was the Smiley Burnett to James Drury.  He was the Pat Buttram.   They hired probably the handsomest young actor in town at that time (indicating Gary Clarke).  They hired a cast second to none, and all through THE VIRGINIAN they kept adding people like this great actor Quine;  Sara Lane.  In a bonnet she looked more like a pioneer woman than anyone I’d ever seen except this girl (indicating Roberta Shore).  She became beloved as the epitome of the pioneer woman in the west.  And I will never forget her work; it was so pure.  Randy was so natural in his acting, I never knew when he was acting; he was like Will Rogers.  He’d go up there and mumble, and I’d say, ‘What did you say?’  ‘I gave you my first line in the script.’ That natural; that good.  That’s called film acting.  He was brilliant in front of the camera.  He could sing.  That’s the kind of quality they started with.  I wasn’t in it for two years; they wouldn’t have succeeded had I been there.  It was an amazing amalgamation of great acting talent.  Frank brought this together, and I will never ever forget Frank’s work.  And I wish he’d call me up some time.

Next week I’ll have part 4 of THE VIRGINIAN 50^th Anniversary Celebration, featuring the rest of the panel discussion highlights, and my interview with INSP Senior Vice President of Programming Doug Butts.  My thanks to Melissa Prince for the panel photographs! 

JARROD IS STAYING IN ‘THE BIG VALLEY’

As detailed in the September 9^th Round-up (see it HERE) , the feature film of THE BIG VALLEY, partially in the can, has met some serious roadblocks, but as producer Kate Edelman Johnson, daughter of co-creator Louis Edelman put it to me, “I desperately want to see this film made.”  A side issue was that the character of Jarrod, played by Richard Long in the series, had disappeared from IMDB and other on-line listings, leading to speculation that his character has been dropped from the story.  Kate assures me this is not the case.  “Jarrod was being played by Stephen Moyer and, subject to his availability I'd still love him in that part.”  Moyer is going into his 6^th season as the male lead in the hugely popular vampire saga TRUE BLOOD. 

 

GOOD NEWS DELAYS ‘DEAD MEN’ WEB SERIES

If you read my September 16^th Round-up (and if you didn’t, you get another chance HERE ) you learned from my interview with director Royston Innes that the new Western web-series DEAD MEN was about to premiere on-line on Wednesday, September 26^th.  Only it didn’t.  Which may have led you to wonder what went wrong.  The fact is, it isn’t online because something went right. 

Royston tells me they have a producer attached, are talking to distributors, and won’t make a move until they hear all offers and consider all options.  While DEAD MEN may go on-line eventually, it may very well get expanded into a feature.  Stay tuned!

 

VIRGINIAN’S DON QUINE ADDS ANOTHER WESTERN TO HIS RESUME’

In part one of my coverage of the VIRGINIAN 50^TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION (see it HERE) , Don Quine, who played Stacy Grainger in THE VIRGINIAN, confirmed to me that his only other western acting role was a single episode of RAWHIDE.  After reading the article, Don emailed me: “About an hour ago I was going through some old photos and came across one that had me in a cowboy outfit where I was a member of an outlaw gang in the ‘Foley’ episode of 20th Fox's LANCER TV series.  So I was in three, not two, westerns.” 

 

Don't strain your eyes -- Don Quine

is not in this shot.

 

For those who might not remember, LANCER was a solid series that ran for two seasons, from 1968 to 1970.  It starred Andrew Duggan as the patriarch Murdoch Lancer, with his two sons by different mothers, James Stacy as Johnny Madrid Lancer, Wayne Maunder as Scott Lancer, Elizabeth Baur as Teresa O’Brien, and RAWHIDE’S Paul Brinegar as Hop Sing – I mean as Jelly Hoskins.   

DISNEY PLAYS ‘HIDE AND SEEK’ WITH LONE RANGER TRAILER
 

 

Those who watched JAY LENO on Tuesday night were treated not only to an interview with Armie Hammer, who plays the Lone Ranger to Johnny Depp’s Tonto, but the first-ever airing of the LONE RANGER trailer.  I linked it up to the Round-up Facebook page on Wednesday morning, got a lot of comments, then got the word that Disney had yanked it off of Youtube!  Well, the good news is, it’s back!  Enjoy (unless they yank it again!)

 
IMPATIENT FOR JOHNNY DEPP?  ENJOY JAY SILVERHEELS!
 

 

As Gore Verbinski’s take on the Masked Man chugs its way towards its July 3^rd 2013 release, you can renew your relationship with everyone’s favorite “…faithful Indian companion Tonto,” by catching THE LONE RANGER weekdays on WHT-TV, at 1:30 p.m. Western time. 

 

NEWEST ‘LINCOLN’ TRAILER UNVEILED
 

Here's the re-cut LINCOLN trailer, with a bunch of 1960s stock footage thrown in. I have great respect for Steven Speilberg, and for Daniel Day Lewis, but I have grave doubts about the voice he's using. It seems incredibly weak, especially in the opening narration. I thought Bill Oberst Jr.'s voice was much more effective in ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES, especially delivering the Gettysburg Address. Let me know what you think!

ALMERIA FILM FESTIVAL FEATURES ROUND-UP FAVORITES
 

 

This coming weekend, October 10^th, 11^th and 12^th, the festival, taking place in Almeria, Spain, home of the Spaghetti Western, will focus on several films long followed and championed by the Round-up Rounders: YELLOW ROCK  (review HERE , on-the-set visit HERE), GOOD FOR NOTHING (review HERE) , LEGEND OF HELL’S GATE  ( review HERE , interview with writer/director HERE ), HEATHENS AND THIEVES (interview with director HERE , review HERE ) , and GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE – THE MEASURE OF A MAN (Luke Perry interview HERE. ).

And that's all for this week's Round-up!  Can you believe that tonight's HELL ON WHEELS was the finale for season two?  Thank goodness I'm four episodes behind, so with my DVR I'll still have something new and western to watch for a few more weeks.  There is much talk about this being a new 'golden age' of TV writing, and I think it's true.  But one reason is that seasons for cable series are ten episodes long -- a far cry from when producers were expected to crank out 39 or more episodes per season.  So don't dis the old-timers -- everyone could do better work if they had four times as long to do it!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright October 2012 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

  

BATTLE OF THE BEARDS – Five Abraham Lincoln Portrayals Are On The Way!

Many folks surfing the internet this week have seen a shot of Academy Award winner Daniel Day Lewis having lunch wearing his Great Emancipator beard.  He’s currently working for Stephen Speilberg in LINCOLN, a film which will tell the story of how our 16^th President steered the Union to its victory over the Confederacy. 

(Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln at lunch)

In addition to Lewis, who won Oscars for MY LEFT FOOT and THERE WILL BE BLOOD, his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, will be played by Sally Field, who won Oscars for NORMA RAE and PLACES IN THE HEART.  Their son, Robert Todd Lincoln, will be played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, soon to be seen in the sci-fier LOOPER and Quentin Tarantino’s DJANGO UNCHAINED.  The cast also features Tommy Lee Jones as Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, David Strathairn as Secretary of State Seward, Jared Harris as U.S. Grant, Jackie Earle Haley as Confederate VP Alexander Stephens, as well as James Spader, Hal Holbrook, and a host of others.

It’s based on the book TEAM OF RIVALS: THE GENIUS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN by Doris Kearns Goodwin, the nationally known historian and former aid to President Lyndon Johnson.  The other three writers, credited with the screenplay, are Tony Kushner – Oscar nominated for MUNICH and Emmy winner for ANGELS IN AMERICA, John Logan – Oscar nominated for THE AVIATOR and GLADIATOR, and Paul Webb, who has no previous professional credits.   

As revealed in last week’s Round-up (go HERE if you missed it), SONY Television is producing a miniseries entitled TO APPOMATTOX, starring Stephen Lang, who played Ike Clanton in TOMBSTONE and Gen. Pickett in GETTYSBURG, as Lincoln.

(Stephen Lang)

While Speilberg’s LINCOLN is currently in production, and APPOMATTOX is aiming at a 2013 TV release, another, less scholarly biography of Honest Abe is closer on the horizon.  On June 22, 2012 Benjamin Walker, of FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, will star in ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER.  The film is being produced by Tim Burton and directed by Timur Bekmambetov.  The Lincoln make-up is the work of three-time Oscar winner Greg Cannom. 

(Benjamin Walker as Lincoln)

These are not small projects – the Speilberg LINCOLN is budgeted at around $100 million, and the President-with-a-wooden-stake version is not far behind at $70 million.  When, in an earlier Round-up, I quoted a Paramount insider who opined that VAMPIRE HUNTER was a movie that should be made, but by Asylum Pictures, for $350,000, I heard from Asylum honcho David Latt: “Hey Henry! Thanks for the suggestion...and you'll be happy (sad?) to know that ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES is already   in the works. Ours will cost less than $70 million. Promise.” I’m waiting to hear back from him how the project is progressing.

And because I am something of a completeist, also coming soon is FDR: AMERICAN BADDASS, in which HERCULES star Kevin Sorbo will play Lincoln opposite Barry Bostwick’s Roosevelt.  I know I’ll be hearing from historical nit-pickers about the fact that the presidents may never have met, since FDR was born seventeen years after Lincoln’s assassination.

My personal disappointment is that, with all the interest in Lincoln, no one is filming the best Lincoln-related – actually assassination-related – book of the last several years, MANHUNT – THE 12 DAY CHASE FOR LINCOLN’S KILLER by James L. Swanson.  Once optioned by Robert Redford, but dropped when he decided to do the interesting but unsatisfying THE CONSPIRATOR instead, it would make one helluvah movie, even without monsters.

DVD REVIEWS

FINDERS KEEPERS CLASSICS is a great place to get hard-to-find movies and TV shows.  Their pricing is very straight-forward: all single disks and many 2-disk sets are $7 each, larger sets are more, and shipping is a flat $6 no matter how big the order.  They just sent me a crate full of interesting westerns from the ‘30s and ‘40s, and I’m reviewing a pair of them today.  Their site is HERE .  Incidentally, Finders Keepers Classics is the work of Martin Grams, an excellent writer and film and radio historian, and author of more than twenty books.  Here is a link to an article he wrote about HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, one of the very few shows to start on television and move to radio: MARTIN GRAMS. 

DVD REVIEW -- LAWLESS BREED

As a long-time fan of SKY KING, I was eager to take a look at LAWLESS BREED (1946), starring Kirby Grant, with Fuzzy Knight as his sidekick, Tumbleweed.  While Republic and Monogram and PRC Westerns are easy to come by, B westerns from the majors are rarely seen, and this was the last of seven that Grant did for Universal before moving on to Monogram for his Canadian Mountie series.


At first, I was dubious.  It looked like Universal, knowing it was the last of the series, had decided not to spend a dime on it: the opening scene in a sheriff’s office, where Kirby and Fuzzy try to talk themselves out of a murder charge, is static – Kirby tells his story as a way to introduce endless clips of stock footage, and I started to wonder if they’d ever leave the office.  But once they do, the story -- and the new footage -- takes off.  And you have two innocent victims of blind justice, a gang of serial bank-robbers, a good girl who happens to be the sheriff’s daughter (Jane Adams), a bad girl who happens to be a saucy French saloon chanteuse (Claudia Drake), and delightfully broad character actor Dick Curtis playing brothers, one a stodgy banker who is murdered, and the other a sea captain -- with a parrot -- trying to catch his brother’s killer!  There’s also insurance fraud, grave-robbing, and our heroes tricked into taking on a murder contract with a gun loaded with blanks – not to mention several songs, all in under 54 minutes! 

Kirby is all charm when he’s flirting with the ladies or cajoling the Sheriff, but there’s a grimness to his demeanor when things are bad that’s startlingly convincing.  On the other hand, I was surprised to find what a pleasant singing voice he had, when he and Fuzzy take turns vocalizing in the slammer.  LAWLESS BREED is an often exciting and amusing Western, and John Ford favorite Hank Worden is effective in a small role as a deputy who’s out of his depth when things go awry. 

The print it’s taken from is pretty scratched, and splicey in a few spots, but the contrast is very good, giving you a wide range of grays.  There were a few scenes that I thought were too dark, but when I rewound, turned off the lights and watched again, I saw they were fine.  They were just shot to be seen in a darkened theatre.  Because this movie was from a time before all movies were shot with the knowledge that they’d eventually be shown on television – the reason most movies from the mid-sixties on are a succession of flat-lit close-ups. 

DVD REVIEW – CHEROKEE STRIP

Richard Dix and Victor Jory face off in CHEROKEE STRIP (1940), an 86 minute B+ production from Harry ‘Pop’ Sherman, released by Paramount.  Dix, as Dave Morell, has come as the new Federal Marshal to the town of Goliath, gateway to the Cherokee Strip, once the property of the Cherokee Indian Nation, and about to be opened to white settlers.  But he has a hidden agenda: he’s the head of the Morell Clan, which has been feuding for years with the Barrett Clan, led by Coy Barrett, played by Victor Jory.  The two men have actually signed a formal truce, but neither trusts the other farther than they can spit. 

Jory is now a successful and respectable banker, but that’s just a front to run his clan’s stage-robbing and cattle-rustling activity.  And into the mix comes Senator Cross (Charles Trowbridge) and his daughter and son, Florence Rice and William Henry, who are working as federal census takers, the natural allies of Federal Marshal Dix, even before he becomes sweet on Florence Rice. 

CHEROKEE STRIP is an exciting and smart story, and much of the fun is watching the cat-and-mouse game Dix and Jory play, always polite, but always ready to cut the other to pieces if a fair opportunity arises.  The stagecoach trip they take together is a classic of deadly one-ups-man-ship.  

Producer Sherman, who made his first fortune distributing BIRTH OF A NATION, was a savvy businessman and a gifted Western filmmaker.  He’s the man who bought ‘Hopalong Cassidy’, and cast William Boyd.  Beloved by his crews, who called him ‘Pop,’ Sherman infused his low-budget films with high production values, beautiful locations, top technical credits, and a loyal stock company of actors that made his films many cuts above the average with a similar budget.

Unlike so many stars of his time, iron-jawed Dix had successfully made the transition from silent to talking pictures, and had his greatest success in 1931’s CIMARRON, the first Western to win a Best Picture Oscar (the next wasn’t until Eastwood’s UNFORGIVEN in 1992), and for which he was nominated for Best Actor.  Though no longer a top box-office star, his career continued on successfully in the 1940s, and he arguably did his most interesting acting in that period, as the lead in Columbia’s THE WHISTLER series, and as the ‘kindly’ sea captain in Val Lewton’s GHOST SHIP. 

Victor Jory, fresh from his villainous triumph as Tara’s overseer in the previous year’s GONE WITH THE WIND, the former Coast Guard boxing and wrestling champ would have a busy career until 1980.  Also in the cast is Andy Clyde, as an assistant to Dix, but not the traditional sidekick he would later become that same year, when Pop Sherman would cast him as California Carlson, a role he would play in HOPALONG CASSIDY movies, TV and radio episodes for a dozen years.  Among the other stand-out tough guys in the cast were Sherman stock-company actors like Tom Tyler, Morris Ankrum, and Hal Taliaffero, and George E. Stone who, as he did in CIMARRON, plays an obviously Jewish character, someone rarely seen in the traditionally ‘white-bread’ Westerns.

It’s written by Western specialists Norman Houston and Bernard McConville, and directed by Lesley Selander, who directed exactly half of the films Pop Sherman produced – 36 out of 72.  Selander’s work was many cuts above what was done in most B or A westerns, not just in terms of action, but in direction of actors, and creativity – 21 post-World War II Tim Holt Westerns he directed at RKO are among the best B-westerns ever made.  

TV WESTERNS ALL OVER THE DIAL!

More and more, classic TV Westerns are available all over the TV universe, but they tend to be on small networks that are easy to miss. Of course, ENCORE WESTERNS is the best continuous source of such programming, and has been for years. It’s not in my current satellite package, which is why I often forget to mention it, but currently they run CHEYENNE, MAVERICK, LAWMAN, THE VIRGINIAN, WAGON TRAIN, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, GUNSMOKE, BRET MAVERICK, CIMMARON STRIP, and HOW THE WEST WAS WON. (I’d get it in a minute, if I didn’t have to buy a huge package of STARZ and ENCORE channels just to get the one!)

But there are several new, or at least new-to-me, channels showing sagebrush fare. GEB, which stands for Golden Eagle Broadcasting, is largely a religious-programming cable outlet that runs at least one Western on Saturdays – the ones I’ve caught have been public domain Roy Rogers and John Wayne pictures – and sometimes have weekday afternoon movies as well.

For those of you who watch TV with an antenna, there are at least a couple of channels that exist between the standard numbers – largely unavailable on cable or satellite systems – that provide Western fare. ANTENNA TV is currently running RIN TIN TIN, CIRCUS BOY, HERE COME THE BRIDES, and IRON HORSE.

Another ‘in between’ outfit, ME-TV, which stands for Memorable Entertainment TV, runs a wide collection: BIG VALLEY, BONANZA, BRANDED, DANIEL BOONE, GUNS OF WILL SONNETT, GUNSMOKE, MARSHALL DILLON (the renamed black and white GUNSMOKE), RAWHIDE, THE RIFLEMAN, and WILD WILD WEST. Some of these channels are hard to track down, but if they show what you’ve been missing, it’s worth the search. 

TCM FANATIC - WESTERN NOW ONLINE!

That's right, the segment I was interviewed for is now viewable here:

THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

Built by cowboy actor, singer, baseball and TV entrepeneur Gene Autry, and designed by the Disney Imagineering team, the Autry is a world-class museum housing a fascinating collection of items related to the fact, fiction, film, history and art of the American West. In addition to their permenant galleries (to which new items are frequently added), they have temporary shows. The Autry has many special programs every week -- sometimes several in a day. To check their daily calendar, CLICK HERE. And they always have gold panning for kids every weekend. For directions, hours, admission prices, and all other information, CLICK HERE.

HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM

Across the street from the Hollywood Bowl, this building, once the headquarters of Lasky-Famous Players (later Paramount Pictures) was the original DeMille Barn, where Cecil B. DeMille made the first Hollywood western, The Squaw Man. They have a permanent display of movie props, documents and other items related to early, especially silent, film production. They also have occasional special programs. 2100 Highland Ave., L.A. CA 323-874-2276. Thursday – Sunday 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. $5 for adults, $3 for senior, $1 for children.

WELLS FARGO HISTORY MUSEUM

This small but entertaining museum gives a detailed history of Wells Fargo when the name suggested stage-coaches rather than ATMS. There’s a historically accurate reproduction of an agent’s office, an original Concord Coach, and other historical displays. Open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Admission is free. 213-253-7166. 333 S. Grand Street, L.A. CA.


FREE WESTERNS ON YOUR COMPUTER AT HULU

A staggering number of western TV episodes and movies are available, entirely free, for viewing on your computer at HULU. You do have to sit through the commercials, but that seems like a small price to pay. The series available -- often several entire seasons to choose from -- include THE RIFLEMAN, THE CISCO KID, THE LONE RANGER, BAT MASTERSON, THE BIG VALLEY, ALIAS SMITH AND JONES, and one I missed from 2003 called PEACEMAKERS starring Tom Berenger. Because they are linked up with the TV LAND website, you can also see BONANZA and GUNSMOKE episodes, but only the ones that are running on the network that week.

The features include a dozen Zane Grey adaptations, and many or most of the others are public domain features. To visit HULU on their western page, CLICK HERE.

BONANZA and BIG VALLEY

Every weekday, TV LAND airs a three-hour block of BONANZA episodes from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They've stopped running GUNSMOKE.  INSP is showing THE BIG VALLEY every weekday at noon, one p.m. and nine p.m., and Saturdays at 6 p.m., and have just added DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN to their schedule.

NEED YOUR BLACK & WHITE TV FIX?

Check out your cable system for WHT, which stands for World Harvest Television. It's a religious network that runs a lot of good western programming. Your times may vary, depending on where you live, but weekdays in Los Angeles they run DANIEL BOONE at 1:00 p.m., and two episodes of THE RIFLEMAN from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.. On Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. it's THE RIFLEMAN again, followed at 2:30 by BAT MASTERSON. And unlike many stations in the re-run business, they run the shows in the original airing order. There's an afternoon movie on weekdays at noon, often a western, and they show western films on the weekend, but the schedule is sporadic. 

AMC has been airing a block of THE RIFLEMAN episodes early Saturday mornings, usually followed by Western features.

And RFD-TV is currently showing THE ROY ROGERS SHOW at 9:30 Sunday morning, repeated several times a week, and a Roy feature as well -- check your local listings.

That's a wrap for today -- I was hoping to include a story on Tombstone's Boot Hill, but that will have to wait until the next Round-up.

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright December 2011 by Henry C. Parke - All Rights Reserved