WILLIAM SHOCKLEY CASTS ‘LONG SHADOWS’ AND TALKS ‘DR. QUINN’ REVIVAL, PLUS WESTERNS ON BROADWAY!

AN INTERVIEW WITH LONG SHADOWS DIRECTOR WILLIAM SHOCKLEY 

Long Shadows is the story of a boy, Marcus Dollar, who sees his parents murdered. He grows up with no life experience outside of an orphanage. When he’s old enough to leave, Marcus (Blaine Maye), is determined to track down the killers. He falls for Dulce (Sarah Cortez), a concert pianist tricked into a brothel. A retired gunfighter (Dermot Mulroney) reluctantly takes Marcus under his wing. The local brothel is run by Vivian Villere (Jacqueline Bisset), who is a master manipulator.

There are certain movies – think Psycho, Chinatown, The Sixth Sense, A Beautiful Mind – which contain startling 3^rd act revelations: the sort of thing that, if someone spoiled it for you, you might fling them down the nearest flight of stairs. So I won’t be saying anything about what happens late in the new Western Long Shadows. It’s the first feature directed by William Shockley, but he is not new to Westerns – he’s produced 4, cowritten 6. And you’ll know his face if you watched Dr. Quinn – Medicine Woman: for 6 seasons and 120 episodes, he played the handsome, longhaired, leering bartender Harry Lawson.  On Friday, November 7^th, while most movies, Westerns included, go straight to streaming, his Long Shadows premiered in 77 theaters in 50 cities across the country. I told him that, for all of us yet-to-be first-time-directors, his taking the helm after over 35 years of acting is inspiring.

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: Thanks. It's a blessing and a privilege and an honor, to be honest with you. I watched a bunch of directors throughout my career, and it was beautiful to get to be behind the camera for a change. So inspiring. I just absolutely loved it,

HENRY PARKE:  Did you grow up with Westerns as a kid? Did you have favorites?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY:  Maybe I watched Bonanza; That was required. I watched Gunsmoke. I was taken by Clint Eastwood with Unforgiven. And I grew up in Texas as a kid, so it's kind of like you listen to country music, and you have a toy rifle that you play with <laugh>. But really, I was fortunate enough to be on Dr. Quinn - Medicine Woman. And that's really where it sunk into my bones; six and a half years of my life on a Western. And then I did a TV movie, playing General George Armstrong Custer, Stolen Women, Captured Hearts that Lee Murray produced and Jerry London directed. And reading up on Custer, and sinking my teeth into the West, on the research level, and then co-writing a bunch of Westerns. So, I really immersed myself in the historical side of it all. And I thought, my gosh, I wish I would've known this much when I was a kid, like in high school or college, and really appreciated the history of the American West. It was a brutal time, but there was such beautiful simplicity with it. You know, your word was your bond. If you messed with a man's wife or his cow, you got shot

HENRY PARKE: <laugh>. There wasn't a debate.

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY:  There was no debating. It was a really hard-scrabble life. But with that difficulty, I have found, at least in my opinion, the beautiful simplicity of it all. It fascinates me.  I'm enamored with it.

HENRY PARKE: What was your first professional acting job?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: I was in Dallas, Texas, doing free theater. The producer of the play said, do you have an agent? I said, no. So she signed me, and about a week later, a movie came through Dallas called Robocop. My first audition, and BOOM! -- Paul Verhoeven hires me! And that was that. I got a Screen Actors Guild card, went to Los Angeles, and moved into an apartment. My second night in L.A., I walked the red carpet for Robocop!

HENRY PARKE: I thought that Dr. Quinn was your first Western, but you did a Young Riders –-

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: -- And a Paradise.

HENRY PARKE:  And after that, you were writing films like The Gundown, Ambush at Dark Creek, Hot Bath an’ a Stiff Drink.

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: Hot Bath was a fun movie to co-write and be a part of. And Ambush with Kix Brooks, and The Gundown with Peter Coyote. It's all pretty great <laugh>.

HENRY PARKE: What was the best thing about making Dr. Quinn?

Joe Lando, Jane Seymour, William

Shockley on Dr. Quinn -- Medicine Woman

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY:  The people. To this good day. I just had lunch with Jane Seymour and Joe Lando, like last week. We're still great friends. Joe and I were thick as thieves! And Jane Seymour was fantastic, and Helen Udy (who played Myra Bing) and the whole cast -- and Beth Sullivan, the creator. So my memories were just sharing such amazing time with amazing people and being blessed. I mean, a six-and-a-half-year run, it's cliché, but we were family. And, I’m happy that I met a lot of cool directors along the way. And of course, the writing was so good. I’m biased, but that was a great series.

HENRY PARKE: Dr. Quinn was a great way to introduce kids to Westerns, because it was not childish, but it was family appropriate. Most Western today, even the good ones are often so rough, you can't really take kids to them.

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY:  It's so true. It is still a generational show. People that grew up watching Dr. Quinn ended up having children, and they've introduced the show to their kids. So 30 years later, I'm still talking to fans, whether they saw it originally or whether it was ‘my mom and dad turned me onto that show.’ It still has life, still has a global presence. It had such beautiful stories. It mirrored problems of society that were written and reflected into an 1800s environment, which was pretty cool.

HENRY PARKE:  Yes, indeed. I understand that Beth Sullivan created a spinoff pilot for you, California. She certainly went all out on the cast: John Saxon, James Brolin, Eddie Albert, Edward Albert. I'm surprised it didn't click.

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: That was a darn shame. CBS decided that a spinoff of my character would be a good idea. So Beth wrote and produced a great pilot, and for whatever reason, CBS didn't pick it up. Of course, it broke my heart, because it was a great show, and great to be number one on the call sheets. But the deal was, if California went; great. If California did not go, you're still Hank Lawson on Dr. Quinn. So it was a win-win opportunity.

HENRY PARKE:  So while you were on Dr. Quinn, you started co-writing movies with one of the show’s writer/producers. How many have you written?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: I think I've probably written 12 or 13 scripts that have been made into feature films.

HENRY PARKE: Which is amazing as you know.

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: <laugh>. Yeah, <laugh>The harder you work, the luckier you get, you know what I'm saying?

HENRY PARKE: How did Long Shadows start?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: Long Shadows has been a long journey. Grainger Hines, great actor, from Hot Bath an’ a Stiff Drink, probably 13 years ago, calls me like three years ago. “I saw Common Threads (note: Shockley’s award-winning Western short). I just read this script by Shelley Reid. I think you need to direct it.” I read it. I called him. This is really good. There's a twist in here that is so unique. Let's work on it. So Grainger and Shelley and I worked on it for a year, maybe more. I showed it to my partners, they dove in with some great notes, and said, let's green light it. So we landed at old Tucson Studios, that I was very familiar with from past projects. Then it goes into casting and pre-production, production and post, and we're in theaters November 7th of this year.

HENRY PARKE: A grown son seeks revenge on the people who killed his parents. It’s classical, but it's also familiar. How would you describe what sets your film apart?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: Well, it's a story about good over evil. It's a story about redemption, love of family, a second chance at life and love. And the twist sets the story apart. I watched a bunch of European films to be inspired. French, Russian, Italian, Polish, British, because I love the landscape, the texture, the feel of those kinds of films. So in Long Shadows, and you've seen it, the costume design is so rich and beautiful. I wanted it to look like a European film, the production design. I wanted it to be textured and layered and beautiful. I didn't wanna make a dirt Western. Besides the twist in the story, I think the look, the score. I didn't want fiddles and banjos, I wanted classical music -- Tommy Fields, created a beautiful classical-inspired score. Paula Rogers’ costume designer -- just genius. So I think that sets us apart. And the acting is really darn good. I told Blaine and Sarah, the two young leads, I said, there's nowhere to hide with me guys. <laugh>, I'm an actor by trade <laugh>, so I'm gonna see it and I'm gonna smell it. And they laughed and, and they were brilliant. And then surround them with Dermot Maroney, Jacqueline Bisset, Dominic Monaghan, and Grainger Hines, Chris Mulkey, Ronnie Blevins, Mike Markoff: a bunch of really great actors, and you have a chance, you know?

HENRY PARKE: Absolutely. It's got so much more depth than you expect going in.

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: Don't check your phone, don't go to Instagram, because every word means something in the movie. If you miss a couple minutes, you're gonna be like, what happened?

HENRY PARKE: What was Jacqueline Bisset like to work with? She looks wonderful; she's a beautiful 81.

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: She's still, I mean, I had a crush on Jacqueline back in the day. Every red-blooded male had <laugh>. She was so stunning, and she still is gorgeous. She's so elegant and eloquent: she's a serious actress. She was intrigued by the story, wanted to do a Western, really liked the character, but she wanted the character fleshed out. And some of her notes really took her character to a much better place. She was very pointed and very specific and very, like I said, serious about her role, her costume, interaction with the other actors. I mean, you, you saw the movie. She's wonderful.

HENRY PARKE: She is. And what is Dermot Mulroney like to work with?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: Dermot is awesome, he's a great guy. He's been around the block, I've been around the block, so he came in knowing we were both veterans and pros.I told him what I thought about his character, and he told me what he thought about his character. He basically was already on point, the second he landed. Dermot is the kind of actor, when you say action, there's something that vibrates. And he bubbles just enough, 'cause he's a movie star. That's what Dermot did. He has that essence about him, the je ne sais quoi of it all. So he was a delight and such a sweet guy.

Dermot Mulroney coaches Blaine Maye

HENRY PARKE: Did you consider giving yourself a role?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: You know, I had a role and I cut myself out. I was the barkeeper inside the bar where Marcus encounters the man who killed his father. I just cut all my dialogue out, so I'm a featured extra <laugh>.

HENRY PARKE: I’ve never seen Blaine May or Sarah Cortez before, and their characters carry most of the story. Where'd you find them?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: Tiiu Loigu, our casting director found both of them. Blaine had a small part in a movie called Joe Bell with Mark Wahlberg. We had, you can imagine, 2000 submissions for the male lead. And Tiiu scrubbed through every one of them, boiled it down to a bunch of names, did a bunch of zooms, watched a bunch of tapes. And Blaine just, he had the essence. He's from Oklahoma. He rode a horse. His mom and dad were in the rodeo world. He's the nicest guy. He's really smart. He's good looking. He had longy hair, which was nice.

HENRY PARKE: You partial to long hair on guys? Anything to do with 6 years on Dr. Quinn?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: <laugh>, Well, I didn't watch some clean-cut guy. I wanted a guy that was a little bit shaggy looking. And Blaine did a really great audition. And then I Zoomed with him. I said, I want you to do the courtroom scene. He did it, and he was great, and so he won that job. Sarah Cortez was the same. I had actually found an actress that I really liked, another 2000 submissions for the Dulce Flores role. And I was really intent; this woman was great. And Tiiu said to me, I found Dulce. I said, we already got Dulce -- I really like this girl. And she goes, no, sit down and press play.  I pressed play, and Sarah Cortez came on and she just, she's so nuanced, so believable, so real. And I was like, oh my gosh, Sarah Cortez is Dulce. On the set, I'm sitting there with a little monitor, and I would just whisper something in Sarah's ear, like a little thought. And she would bring a whole new color to the performance. She's a fine actress. She trained at University of Houston Theater. She’s the real deal. I really hope that this is his and her star-maker moment; I think it will be.

HENRY PARKE: Since the 1980s, when you started acting, there's been such a change in the whole casting procedure. From open calls and callbacks, to self-taping, and Zoom. Has this made it harder, easier, better, worse?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: Well, I think it's easier for the actors, because they can do 50 takes until they get one right, and send in their tape. I came up the old way: you walk into a room with a bunch of people and you perform, you audition. I know how hard that is. I know the preparation it takes. And I respect that with COVID, the world changed, changed to Zooming. So I think the actors have it easier, 'cause they can keep just doing it and doing it, doing it, until they get a great one. The problem is, do they really kill it when they get on the set? Was that a hundred takes on their self-take, or are they really great? Fortunately, we didn't have that problem: we hired great actors across the board. But on my next film that I get to direct, if you live in Los Angeles, you’re gonna come into a room and we're gonna go old school. 'cause I love that. All my other films that I produced, I read with the actors. I'm right there with them. It's just a whole ‘nother dynamic, a truthful and an honest dynamic. And there's nowhere to hide.

HENRY PARKE: Obviously you came into your directorial debut a lot more prepared for a Western than most people would. Were there any surprises? Anything you didn't anticipate?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY:  I don't think so, because honestly, A.J. Raitano, the cinematographer and I are great friends for like 15 years. We worked together on many things, so he and I were just cocked and loaded. We shot-listed, storyboarded -- we both knew Old Tucson, so we knew what we were up against for exterior shots, for horse riding shots. We found the gully where the shootout takes place, and had that shaft built. When you're prepared, I mean, we knew every single setup, every single angle, every single lens prior; we were out there at four in the morning waiting for the sun to come up for some scenes. We were out there all day long seeing where the shadows were, where the sun was going. Everything was mapped out, so honestly there were no surprises. And the actors came totally prepared; the only enemy was time, time and money.

HENRY PARKE: How many days did you shoot?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY:  20 days. It was quick, considering the horse-chases and the gunplay; it was a lot. But because we were so prepared and the actors were so prepared, we were able to do it; just sheer force of will. You get out there  before sunrise, and you shoot for 12 hours, then A.J. and I scouted every weekend before and during production. Because a lot of the interior sets were being built as we went. Unless the set is built, it's kinda hard to know where your camera's gonna go. <laugh> So every Saturday and Sunday, we'd go out there when a new interior had been built out, kept preparing. A ton of work, but incredibly joyful experience.

HENRY PARKE: Any final thoughts?

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: Long Shadows, it's a beautiful movie and I hope that people go to the movie theater to watch it. Because there's nothing greater than a theatrical experience for a film. You can take your family, your kids, your grandkids. It was designed for that kind of audience. Share it that way. And so I hope people go experience it and talk about it. And we were on the Dr. Quinn topic. Part of Jane and Joe having lunch, the three of us is there's a concerted effort to bring the show back. So we're walking that road right now and trying to get the pieces aligned.

HENRY PARKE:  That'd be terrific.

WILLIAM SHOCKLEY:  That would be pretty special. So it takes a few pieces of the puzzle and certain dominoes to fall the right way, but the effort is being made on all fronts. A conversation with Beth Sullivan is coming up. I actually wrote a pilot script to bring the show back, and Beth's giving me notes. And Jim Johnson, the producer, is doing what he can on the business side, and Jane and Joe are in, if we can figure it out. So we'll see what fate holds for us.

WESTERNS ON BROADWAY 2025

When it comes to theater, 2025 was a busier year for the stage than the screen. There were two new Western-adjacent musicals on Broadway, and a revival of a Western drama. Dead Outlaw is the story of Elmer McCurdy, a minor outlaw who died in a shoot-out with police after a bungled 1911 train robbery.  His mummified corpse was displayed in traveling shows for years, then misidentified as a dummy, and finally rediscovered hanging from a noose at a Long Beach amusement pier, during the filming of a Six Million Dollar Man episode. Called “The surprisingly feel-good musical of the season,” by the New York Times, it received 7 Tony nominations and numerous Best Musical awards.

 

Floyd Collins, which would receive 6 Tony nominations, is based on the tragic story of a Kentucky spelunker who in 1925 became trapped in a cavern. Despite the media circus, and well-meant rescue attempts, he died underground. The incident inspired Billy Wilder’s enthrallingly cynical film Ace in the Hole (1951), wherein rotten reporter Kirk Douglas prolongs the man’s entrapment to keep selling papers. Without that nasty edge, the musical seems dreary and pointless; “Is That Remarkable? (The real straight poop),” performed by a chorus of cynical reporters, is the only time the show comes to life.

 

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is adapted not from the John Ford film, but its source, the Dorothy M. Johnson novella, and like Floyd Collins, suffers from not being able to borrow from the movie version. While the play benefits from the more contained story, the film is both more grand and more nuanced, and story elements, including Liberty Valance’s attack on the local newspaper editor, and the campaign for statehood, are sorely missed.  

AND THAT'S A WRAP!

Please check out the November/December 2025 issue of True West, featuring my article, Val Kilmer in His Cups, about the making of Tombstone from the point of view of costume designer Joseph Porro, and my review of the new Blu-Ray reease, Hopalong Cassidy, the Legacy Collection, Volume 1. 

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright November 2025 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

MOVIES REWRITE HISTORY AT TCM FEST! PLUS SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FEST UPDATE, WILLIAM WELLMAN FEST AT UCLA, AND MORE!

MOVIES REWRITE HISTORY AT TCM FEST!

The theme of the sixth annual TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL was “History according to Hollywood,” and a fine time was had by all who attended.  This is the third year that I’ve attended, and nowhere else do I meet so many people so enthusiastic and knowledgeable about movies.  The center of this cinematic orgy is the fabled Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, it’s next-door multiplex, and the Roosevelt Hotel across the street, but the screenings spill out to quite a few other venues. 

The fun started at 5 pm on Thursday, March 26^th, with a Red Carpet before the Chinese Theatre, leading to the premiere of the new restoration of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, with stars Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, and several portrayers of the Von Trapp kids present.  I enjoyed covering the red carpet the first two years, but could not convince myself that THE SOUND OF MUSIC was a Western.  So I skipped it in order to attend a screening of John Ford’s THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, introduced by a son of one of its stars, and a major star in his own right, Keith Carradine.  Keith Carradine began his professional acting career with MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER, and went on to play Jim Younger in THE LONG RIDERS, Buffalo Bill Cody in WILD BILL, and many others.  He created the role of Will Rogers on Broadway in THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES, and was sorely missed by DEADWOOD fans when, as Wild Bill Hickok, he drew aces and eights after only  five episodes – dumbest mistake the series’ producers could have made!   

Keith Carradine introducing THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE

He was delighted to see the theatre entirely packed.  “I cannot tell you what it does for my heart to see this many people here to see this movie – oh my gosh!  I am a huge John Ford fan, and he only made two more feature films after this, DONOVAN’S REEF and CHEYENNE AUTUMN.  I have a particular attachment to this film for a number of reasons.  It has an amazing cast, obviously, with Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne.  Lee Marvin, who was a pal ever since we did EMPEROR OF THE NORTH together – the incomparable Lee Marvin.  And in fact I just paid homage to him.  We did a concert production, the Encore series in New York, of PAINT YOUR WAGON, in which I played Ben Rumson (note: Lee Marvin’s role in the film).  Anyhow, as Orson Welles said when he was asked who his influences were, “Well, I studied the great masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford and John Ford.”  This is one of his great works, and in addition to that great cast, and my friend Lee Marvin, my father is in this film.  I can’t thank you all enough for being here to support what TCM has been doing so brilliantly now for lo these many years, burnishing, maintaining; preserving the legacy of the motion picture.  Thank goodness for them, and for what they do.  This stuff is where all the movies came from.  And to give us the opportunity to see them the way they were originally meant to be seen, in a theatre, surrounded by other people, on the big screen – it’s incomparable.  So, enjoy THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, and I’ll see you down the road.” 

Andy Devine and Woody Strode in LIBERTY VALANCE

As many times as I’d already seen LIBERTY VALANCE, I’d never seen it on a big screen before, and there are a thousand little details that are invisible on a smaller image – like how many flies were on Andy Devine!  Incidentally, Andy’s son Dennis has some fascinating details on the making of this film in his book YOUR FRIEND AND MINE, ANDY DEVINE (read my review HERE), including why it was shot in black and white – to try and hide the advanced age of Wayne and Stewart in the ‘young’ sequences.

As always, the TCM Fest is an embarrassment of riches, and you cannot possibly attend all of the events you wish.  At 9:45 pm, the Australian Western-ish film BREAKER MORANT screened, introduced by its director Bruce Beresford, whose other credits include TENDER MERCIES, BLACK ROBE, and AND STARRING PANCHO VILLA AS HIMSELF.  Fifteen minutes later, Rory Flynn, daughter of Errol Flynn, was introducing one of her dad’s classics, THE SEA HAWK. 

Peter Fonda and Keith Carradine for CLEMENTINE

Friday was the big Western day, starting at 9:30 am with Ford’s MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, featuring an introduction and audience Q & A with Peter Fonda and Keith Carradine, again sons of the stars.  At 12:30 pm, THE PROUD REBEL screened, introduced by David Ladd, who co-starred with his father Alan Ladd in the film.  At 2:30 pm, while Rory Flynn discussed her father at Club TCM, Peter Fonda was introducing another Ford classic, YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, starring Henry Fonda.  Two blocks to the east, at Sid Grauman’s other great Hollywood theatre, The Egyptian, Ann Margaret was introducing her Steve McQueen co-starrer, THE CINCINNATI KID, to a packed house – I know it was packed because I couldn’t get in!  

PINOCCHIO stars Dickie Jones and Cliff Edwards

study character sketches

I headed back to see what I could squeeze into, and entered another movie palace that they were using, the El Capitan, to see Walt Disney’s PINOCCHIO.  I was halfway through the movie before I recalled that Pinocchio was voiced by Dickie Jones, later to star in many Westerns, including Errol Flynn’s best, ROCKY MOUNTAIN, and the series THE RANGE RIDER and BUFFALO BILL JR.  He also had a small role in YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, showing in another theatre at the same time.  Jones just passed away a few months ago.  And Pinocchio’s sidekick, Jiminy Cricket, was portrayed by Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards, who sidekicked for Charles “Durango Kid” Starrett and Tim Holt. 

Another tough choice came at about 6 pm.  Legendary stunt man Terry Leonard was introducing RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, where he recreated Yakima Canutt’s famous under-the-coach whip-drag and climb-up from STAGECOACH.  Instead I attended FONDA THE ACTOR, FONDA THE MAN, with Peter discussing his father Henry with Scott Eyman, author of PRINT THE LEGEND – THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN FORD, and JOHN WAYNE – THE LIFE AND LEGEND.  Put kindly, Henry was not the best or most consistent father, but his son still had many positive memories, and shared them with startling candor; several times he had to stop when his emotions overtook him.  

Here are some of the highpoints.  The first movie he saw his father in was CHAD HANNA, made in 1940, the year Peter was born.  “I think I was five, and there was my father on-screen.  And he wasn’t in the Pacific theatre (of the war) – he’d run away with Linda Darnell to the circus!  We had home movies, but my dad was never in the home movies, because he was operating the camera.  This is the first movie I’ve seen on the big screen.  So I didn’t know about Linda Darnell.  I didn’t know about the circus.  So all these questions are building up in this little boy’s mind.  The moment I remember best is (when) Chad went into the lion’s cage to clean it out.  What Chad didn’t know, and which I could see and the rest of the audience could see – it was a small screening room at Fox – is that the lion was in the cage.  So by this time I don’t think it’s Chad, I think it’s Dad.  And my God, he’s gonna get Dad.  I got so upset I ran down to the screen yelling, ‘Daddy! Daddy!  Daddy!  The lion’s there!’  Of course they had to take me out of the theatre.”  His mother calmed him down, telling him it was not Dad, but Chad Hanna, a character in the movie.  At the time, Henry Fonda was away at war, in Naval Air Intelligence.  When he came home on leave, he went by Peter’s school to pick him up.  “I saw the family’s ’38 Buick limousine.  It opens, and out steps Chad Hanna.  I had a tremendous problem, because here was Chad with the family car, and I sure as Hell did not want to drive with someone who was so stupid that he’d get into a lion’s cage.  So I hid in a bush.  I was a skinny kid and they couldn’t get me.”  Later he gained a much better understanding of his father from watching him do theatre, particularly MR. ROBERTS, rather than in movies.    

He described his first visit to a film set.  “I actually went on the set of FORT APACHE.  I went driving on the set and it was amazing – I told this story to John Wayne, Duke, and he was amazed that I could remember the detail of the car he was driving.  It was a crème-colored Cadillac, with red leather seats, and me and my sister (Jane) sat in the back, which was a smaller seat than in front, with John Wayne driving, my dad, and Ward Bond.  This was the first time I’d gone on a set.  And it didn’t mean anything; nobody explained it.  But I remember the car, John Wayne’s lovely Cadillac, and it was beautiful – four door, convertible, top down.  Now people say, what was it like growing up as Henry Fonda’s son?  My fast remark is, did you see FORT APACHE?  Do you know who Colonel Thursday is?  Do you know what kind of a man he was?  I’m joking – but unfortunately some people think, ‘Oh, he hates his father.’  I loved my father.  I love him now.  I miss him.” 

James Stewart was a good friend of the family.  “Jimmy Stewart was my godfather, and we all called him Uncle Jimmy.  He and my father were very close friends, and before they got heavy into filming, they were flying around in airplanes.  Although politically at opposite ends, they were very tight friends.  Whenever (Dad) was off in the Pacific, Jimmy would come back from his tours in the European theatre, flying a B-17, and come and see us all.  You have to understand that in 1945, ’46, Los Angeles was very small, and the air was extraordinarily clean.  My sister and I used to climb up on the roof – it was a pretty steep roof, on a very big house, but my sister and I had a way of getting up there.  And my mother would freak out if she knew.

“ One day, it’s Christmas Eve, there’s Uncle Jimmy.  He’s at the house, having a wonderful time.  We all knew him, all loved him – he was a funny man.  We were sent up the stairs of course, because it’s Christmas Eve.  We don’t get out until they let us in the morning.  Jane’s in her room, I’m in mine, and I hear some banging around on the roof.  I went to her room, I said, ‘Santa Claus is here, I think!’ We got out the window, on the roof, and there is Santa, at the chimney, with the Santa hat, the big bag.  But on closer observation, it was Uncle Jimmy.   Ho-ho-ho-ho!  But we’re on the roof, no one else is gonna hear this, so this performance is just for us.  And that’s when I stopped believing in Santa Claus, but I kept believing in Uncle Jimmy.”   

Next Round-up I’ll have the rest of my TCM coverage, and part two of FONDA ON FONDA, including Peter’s memories of his father making ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and directing Henry in WANDA NEVADA.  

FORD’S ‘IRON HORSE’ A ROUSING SUCCESS AT THE AUTRY!

It was quite a week for John Ford!  In addition to all of his films that were screened at the TCM Fest (and I’ve only talked about half of them), Thursday night saw The Welles Fargo Theatre at The Autry packed for the silent THE IRON HORSE, presented with an original score, a combination of live and programmed music by Emmy Award-nominated composer Tom Peters. 

Composer Tom Peters

Curator Jeffrey Richardson told me, “The Autry was proud and excited to host the debut of Tom Peter's score for John Ford's THE IRON HORSE. The audience, myself included, was captivated by the kaleidoscope of sound that magnified the power and intensity of the silent classic.” Senior Manager of Programs and Public Events Ben Fitzsimmons added, “Tom Peters certainly deserved his standing ovation after almost two and a half hours of playing his new score. He took folk songs of the era and combined them with other musical inspirations to create an epic piece of music to accompany an epic movie.”  

  

Although his IRON HORSE score is not yet available to hear, to give you an idea of the work Tom Peters does with silent film, here is a sample of his score from THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI.

GENE AUTRY DISCUSSION ADDED TO SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FEST!

It’s less than two weeks until the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, on Saturday and Sunday, April 18^th & 19^th, and a new conversation has been added to my schedule at the Buckaroo Book Shop.  On Saturday at 5 pm I’ll be chatting with Karla Buhlman, President of Gene Autry Entertainment, about the legacy of America's Favorite Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry.  Karla knew Gene very well, and I’m sure she’ll have a lot to tell us.  Karla will also be joining the previously announced Saturday 2 pm panel discussion, Unsung Heroes of Film: The Hollywood Stunt Horse, where I’ll also be chatting with with Karen Rosa -Senior Consultant at the American Humane Association's Film & TV Unit, and authors Petrine Day Mitchum, Audrey Pavia, and National Cowgirl Hall of Fame Honoree Shirley Lucas Jauregui.  For a complete schedule of events at the Buckaroo Book Shop, go HERE

For the official Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival site, go HERE

WILD BILL WELLMAN HONORED AT UCLA APRIL-JUNE

One of the most independent voices in the golden years of Hollywood, William Wellman will be honored at UCLA’s Billy Wilder Theatre with a 21 film retrospective, mostly double features.  While many of the ‘social commentary’ directors of the era had a tendency to preach, Wellman entertained while exposing society’s flaws, and certainly won more converts that way.  The series, entitled WILLIAM A. WELLMAN – HOLLYWOOD REBEL opens this Friday, April 10^th, at 7:30 pm with a wonderful double-bill: A STAR IS BORN and NOTHING SACRED.  They’re both in 35mm, both in color, and both from 1937 – can you imagine any director today making two such landmark films in one year?  (Of course, two years later, Victor Fleming made GONE WITH THE WIND and THE WIZARD OF OZ – but with a lot of help!)  Starting at 6:30 pm, William Wellman Jr. will be selling and signing his book, Wild Bill Wellman: Hollywood Rebel. 

On Saturday it’s WINGS (1927), with a live piano score by Cliff Retallick.  Westerns included in the series are CALL OF THE WILD, THE OX-BOW INCIDENT, THE TRACK OF THE CAT, YELLOW SKY, THE GREAT MAN’S LADY and WESTWARD THE WOMEN.  Non-Westerns of particular note include NIGHT NURSE, THE PUBLIC ENEMY, BEAU GESTE and WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD.  You can get the complete schedule HERE.  

THAT’S A WRAP!

Happy Passover and Happy Easter!  Next Round-up I’ll have the rest of my TCM coverage, which will include more Peter Fonda, plus some interesting comments from Christopher Plummer on John Huston, Sean Connery, and the making of Kipling’s THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING; and insights from a pair of Oscar-winning special effects men about the filming of Kipling’s GUNGA DIN in Lone Pine’s Alabama Hills!

I’m sorry I don’t have any good Western Passover clips, but here are three nice Easter pieces from the folks at Gene Autry Entertainment.  Enjoy!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright April 2015 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved