THE WESTERN FAN’S GUIDE TO THE TCM FEST, PLUS SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FEST, ALL-STAR WORD-ON-WESTERNS, MEMBERS NIGHT AND ‘UNION PACIFIC’ AT THE AUTRY!

THE WESTERN FAN’S GUIDE TO THE TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL!

The 10^th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival arrives in Hollywood this Thursday, April 11^th, for four days and nights of wonderful movies seen as they should be, on big screens, introduced by knowledgeable and often famous guests, and attended by folks who love movies - and know as much about them - as you and I do.   This year’s theme is Follow Your Heart – Love At The Movies, and there are films for all interests.  I’ll have a link below to connect you to the entire schedule, but for this report I’m focusing on Westerns and attendees of Western interest.  You can’t see everything, because so many films are screened simultaneously, so it’s wise to plan ahead, and make sure you give yourself enough time to get from theatre to theatre. Rather than skip movies to eat meals, I often carry a briefcase full of Smuckers Uncrustables.

TICKETS: The various festival passes, which run from $2,149 down to a paltry $299, are all sold out. But, individual passes are available for most movies on a first-come, first-served basis, for twenty buck a pop, with the Sunday evening screening of Gone With The Wind for $30.  Lots of movies do fill up, so your advised to get to movies at least a half-hour early.

VENUES: The vast majority of films are screened at the Chinese complex, either the historic Chinese Theatre IMAX or the Chinese 6 Theatres Multiplex, on Hollywood Blvd., near Highland. Some films are shown a few blocks East on Hollywood Blvd., at the equally historic Egyptian Theatre. You may need to drive to films at Arclight Cinema’s Cinerama Dome on Sunset Blvd. A few movies are screened poolside at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, across the street from the Chinese Theatres.  A new venue added this year is the American Legion Theatre at Post 43, chartered in 1919 by World War I film-industry veterans, and now with a stunningly renovated theatre. It’s about a fifteen-minute walk from the Hollywood Roosevelt, and click HERE to get more details.

THURSDAY NIGHT begins with an invitation-only, Chinese IMAX Theatre 6:30 pm premiere, of a restoration of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (not a Western), whic director Rob Reiner and stars Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal (of CITY SLICKERS) will attend.

At 7:30 pm, Poolside at the Hollywood Roosevelt, the original OCEAN’S 11 will screen, preceded by a discussion with lovely Angie Dickinson (RIO BRAVO, among others).

At 8 pm at the Legion Theatre at Post 43, SERGEANT YORK will be presented, with a discussion beforehand with two of Sgt. York’s sons!

FRIDAY MORNING at 10:30 am, in the forecourt of the fabled Chinese Theatre, Billy Crystal will follow the long Hollywood tradition of placing his handprints and footprints in cement!

At 12 noon at the Legion Theatre at Post 43, there’s WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT REPUBLIC SERIALS? It’s a program of shorts hosted by Andrea Kalas, Paramount Pictures Archivist – Paramount now owns the Republic library.

At 9:30 pm, in Chinese Multiplex #1, WINCHESTER ’73! The premiere of a new restoration, done with the input of Martin Scorcese and Steven Speilberg, the brilliantly dark Anthony Mann Western starring James Stewart will be introduced by author Jeremy Arnold.

Do it Jimmy! Dan Duryea's got it coming to him!

SATURDAY MORNING, at 9:45 am, THE LITTLE COLONEL, starring Shirley Temple, Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, and Lionel Barrymore, plays at the Legion Theatre at Post 43, introduced by film critic Tara McNamara.

At 2:45 pm at the Legion Theatre at Post 43, a double-feature of rarely seen Tom Mix Westerns, THE GREAT K&A TRAIN ROBBERY, and OUTLAWS OF RED RIVER, will be introduced by N.Y. Museum of Modern Art Film Curator Anne Morra. The films will be presented  with a live musical score by famed Silent Film Organist Ben Model.

At 6:30 pm at the Chinese Theatre IMAX, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID will be introduced by composer Burt Bacharach, who won Oscars for both the Original Score, and Best Song, “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.”

At 9:45 pm at the Chinese Multiplex #1, Director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell will present ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK.

SUNDAY morning, April 14^th, at 11:30 am at the Legion Theatre at Post 43, the Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball comedy YOURS, MINE AND OURS will be presented with stars Tracy Nelson, frequent TV Western guest star Kevin Burkett, BONANZA’s Jamie Cartwright, Mitch Vogel, and film historian Leonard Maltin.

At 2:30 pm at the Chinese Multiplex #1, Don Seigal’s and Ernest Hemingway’s THE KILLERS will screen. Star Angie Dickinson will speak before the film, which co-stars Western stalwarts Lee Marvin, Clu Gulager, John Cassavetes and, in his final screen role before moving on to another demanding job, Academy Award Winner Ronald Reagan.

Finally, at 4:30 pm at the Chinese Theatre IMAX, there’s GONE WITH THE WIND.  Hope to see you there! You can get details on all of the films programs, and all of the guests HERE.

THE SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FESTIVAL SAT & SUN, APRIL 13^TH & 14^TH!

Held at silent-movie cowboy legend William S. Hart’s own ranch in Newhall, now the William S. Hart Park, this annual FREE event gives real and wanna-be cowpokes an opportunity to immerse themselves in a world of western fun and entertainment.

While most of the action occurs on the weekend, there are activities leading up, and on Thursday, April 11^th,  at 5 pm, on Main Street in Old Town Newhall, three new inductees will be added to the Western Walk of Stars: TV’s THE VIRGINIAN, James Drury; LARAMIE and WAGON TRAIN star Robert Fuller; and posthumously, Western character actor – generally a villain – Dan White.  Everyone is welcome!

Me and Bobbi Jean Bell

At Hart Park, on Saturday from 10 am to 7 pm, Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm, visitors can roam the park and hear 22 different Western music acts perform throughout both days, including Krystyn Harris, John Bergstrom, Almeda Bradshaw, Shannon Rae and 100 Proof, The Hanson Family, and Sourdough Slim. Also, be dazzled by gun-spinning virtuoso Joey Dillon and rope twirling maestro Dave Thornbury!

Joey Dillon double-spinning!

You can also visit the Buckaroo Book Shop and meet your favorite Western authors, visit a Native American lodge, and shop for Western clothing and accessories. You can tour the Hart Mansion, and test your skills at archery, tomahawk throwing, mechanical bull-riding, gold panning and more.

And when it comes to food many fans come year after year just for the Cowboy Peach Cobbler, but there’s also barbecue, soul food, Thai food, sausage – you name it! There’s a special parking area, and shuttle buses to take you to the venue. For details, click HERE.

STARS TO PACK ‘WORD ON WESTERNS’ LOOK AT OVERLOOKED WESTERNS!

On Tuesday, April 16^th, Western historian and raconteur Rob Word will present his free bi-monthly Western film program at The Autry’s Wells Fargo Theatre. The program is dedicated to the late, great character actor Morgan Woodward. The topic is Overlooked Westerns, and the stars who plan to discuss their movies are Keith Carradine, Tim Matheson, Donna Mills and Dennis Quaid. Rob always does well with his guests, but I can’t remember when he had so much firepower in one program.

Doors open at 10:30 am, and the program is from 11 am to 1 pm, after which most folks mosey across the courtyard for lunch at the Autry’s Crossroads West Café.  Don’t miss it!

‘UNION PACIFIC’ SATURDAY APRIL 13^TH AT THE AUTRY

A beautiful 35mm print of Cecil B. DeMille’s UNION PACIFIC will screen at the Autry’s Wells Fargo Theatre at 1:30 pm, as part of their long-running What is a Western? series.  The film, from a novel by STAGECOACH author Ernest Haycox, stars Joel McCrea, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston and Akim Tamiroff. It will be introduced by James D’Arc, film historian and author of When Hollywood Came to Town: The History of Movie Making in Utah. Admission is free with Museum admission.

MEMBERS’ NIGHT AT THE AUTRY – SATURDAY, APRIL 20^th!

The Autry celebrates its loyal members (and up to four guests) with a great evening of fun, starting at 5 pm with games on the plaza, and an in-gallery scavenger hunt. Dinner is available for purchase from Crossroads West Cafe (member discount applies!) There will be free popcorn, snacks, lemonade, and soft drinks, complimentary beer and wine.

And at 6:30 pm, there will be a special live performance by the delightful Bob Baker MarionetteTheater, followed by a screening of Gene Autry’s 1941 classic, BACK IN THE SADDLE!

EXTENDED VERSION OF ‘MAJOR DUNDEE’ APRIL 26 & 27 AT THE NEW BEVERLY!

Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 pm, an extended version of Sam Peckinpah’s heavily re-edited classic, MAJOR DUNDEE will be screened.  It stars Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Jim Hutton and James Coburn.

…AND THAT’S A WRAP!

Me and Morgan Woodward, who starred 

in my first film, SPEEDTRAP!

Sorry the Round-up appears so erratically; I’ve been up to my ears writing for True West Magazine! The current issue features my interview with Kevin Costner (notice my name on the cover for the first time!), and a look at the wonderful YouTube series THE FORSAKEN WESTERNS.  More good stuff coming soon! Happy Easter and Passover!

Henry

All Original Content Copyright April 2019 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

BEST OF THE WEST 1898-1938 FROM NAT. FILM PRES. FOUNDATION!

TREASURES 5 – THE WEST, 1898-1938 – Video Review

Cavalry & Indians at Little Big Horn

The wonderful, dedicated folks at the National Film Preservation Foundation, who brought you LOST & FOUND – AMERICAN TREASURES FROM THE NEW ZEALAND FILM ARCHIVES (if you missed my review, HERE is the link . ) have outdone themselves for Western fans, and just in time for Christmas. 

TREASURES 5 – THE WEST, a three disk set, plus a 110 page book, runs for more than ten hours, and contains forty films, from one-minute newsreel clips to several full-length features.  From slapstick to melodrama, from documentary to real drama, they offer a kaleidoscopic view of the American West from a vast range of perspectives.  Additionally, each film has an optional audio commentary, from experts in Western history, filmmaking, and film preservation.  It’s wonderfully entertaining, highly informative, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. 

Nearly every important film company of the era is represented – Biograph, Selig, Nestor, Kalem, Essanay, Vitagraph, Thomas Ince, Famous Players – Lasky (later Paramount).  The stars featured include Tom Mix, Clara Bow, Richard Dix, Bronco Billy Anderson and Mabel Normand.  The directors include D.W. Griffith, Victor Fleming, Gregory La Cava, Mack Sennett and W. S. Van Dyke.  The story sources include authors Bret Harte and Sinclair Lewis. 

Among the unexpected delights are every-day events filmmakers recorded nearly a century ago. HOW THE COWBOY MAKES HIS LARIAT (1917), though only three minutes, shows the entire process, starting with culling the hair from his horse’s tail; it’s probably the only in-depth recording of the all-but-lost process ever made.  LIFE ON THE CIRCLE RANCH (1912), presents typical daily ranch work convincingly.  But wait until you watch it again with the commentary, and realize how much of it was staged for the camera, and all of the rules of ranching that were broken in the process!

from OVER SILENT PATHS

On D. W. Griffith’s very first trip to make films out west, in 1910, he filmed OVER SILENT PATHS: A STORY OF THE AMERICAN DESERT.  Starring Marion Leonard and Dell Henderson, the barren desert also stars; it was an unusual film locale at such a time, when most Westerns were shot in and around lush East-coast forests.  Marion and her prospector father W. Chrystie Miller are a set to pack it in and go to civilization, when her father gets robbed and killed by unsuccessful prospector Henderson.  When she, desperate, meets up with Henderson, she has no idea he killed her father.  Can you see the romance coming?  Shot by the great Billy Bitzer, using the then-ruined and abandoned San Fernando Mission as a location, it’s as emotionally affecting as you expect with Griffith.  And fast?  It was shot in two days the first week in April, and released in May.  And the previous week he’d shot RAMONA, with Mary Pickford, at the ranch where Helen Hunt Jackson had set her story.

from THE TOURISTS

TOURISTS (1912) was also shot by the Biograph Company, by a small ‘B’ unit following the bigger Griffith unit.  Slight but fast and amusing, this one’s directed by Mack Sennett shortly before he left Biograph to start his Keystone company.  Shot entirely in the Santa Fe Train Station in Albuquerque, using the exteriors of Fred Harvey’s (as in THE HARVEY GIRL) Indian Building, and clearly improvised, it stars Mabel Normand as a tourist who gets in trouble with local Indians when she and her friends miss their train, and the chief takes a liking to Mabel.  And going against the not-yet-established Hollywood tradition, many Indians are played by Indians.  Speaking of Fred Harvey, also included is the 1926 film THE INDIAN DETOUR, a how-to film as well as a travelogue, featuring the wonders of ancient New Mexico as seen from modern Harvey trains and buses.  This film helped Harvey introduce and popularize the concept of cultural tourism.

Some sponsored films are more subtle than others.  SUNSHINE GATHERERS (1921), in often stunning color, shows and tells the story of Father Serra bringing Christianity to the beautiful new world of California.  Only gradually do we realize that the ultimate master plan is to make the riches of California available to the world through Del Monte canned fruit.  I felt positively noble eating my canned peaches while watching this with breakfast! 

Many of the fictional films make great use of their exotic locations.  A prime example is THE SERGEANT: TOLD IN THE YOSEMITE VALLEY (1910).  Part of the great treasure-trove of American films discovered in the New Zealand Film Archive, SERGEANT is a Selig-Polyscope film, starring one of the screen’s first great leading men Hobart Bosworth as the title character, trying to rescue his kidnapped  beloved.  Taking full advantage of Yosemite’s remarkable features, the film’s inter-titles both advance the story, and identify where each sequence is shot.  Similarly, SALOMY JANE, A STORY OF THE DAYS OF ’49, PRODUCED IN THE CALIFORNIA REDWOODS (1914), opens with the title gal emerging from a cut in a redwood.  Made by the once-thriving California Motion Picture Corporation of Northern California, it’s the only one of their films known to survive. 

Clara Bow

Among the more unexpected pleasures of this set are a pair of sophisticated comedy features with western settings, MANTRAP (1926), starring Clara Bow, directed by Victor Fleming and lensed by James Wong Howe; and WOMANHANDLED (1925), starring Richard Dix and Esther Ralston, and directed by Gregory La Cava.   When New Yorkers Dix and Ralston meet, she tells him she’s tired of prissy city-men – metrosexuals before the term was coined – and Dix sets out to become the westerner she wants.  Not only does he remodel himself to please her, finding the West she longs for to be gone, his does his best to recreate it.  In MANTRAP, big-city manicurist Clara Bow marries backwoodsman Ernest Torrence, but devoted as they are she soon becomes bored with his life, and falls for his unlikely friend, big-city divorce lawyer Percy Marmont.  It’s set in Canada, but shot around Lake Arrowhead.  And Clara Bow is an absolute delight, playing a woman so independent and naughty and lacking in guilt that she could only exist in Hollywood in the pre-Code days.

BRONCO BILLY AND THE SCHOOLMISTRESS

In fact, one notable feature of many of these westerns is that the women are so plucky and strong.  In BRONCO BILLY AND THE SCHOOLMISTRESS (1912), Billy’s romantic pursuit of the new teacher puts him at odds with every other man in town.  His judgment is so clouded that he nearly gets himself killed – and guess rescues the cowboy hero?  In the similar LEGAL ADVICE (1916), Tom Mix, who wrote, directed and starred in the film, tries to get himself into legal trouble in order to make time with the new lady lawyer!

THE BETTER MAN

Of course, it’s not all hijinks and hilarity.   In THE BETTER MAN (1912), a Vitagraph film shot in Santa Monica, the heroine and her sick child are alone as the worthless husband goes off to drink and gamble.  An Mexican outlaw with a price on his head comes to the house to get food, and is about to make his escape when the plight of the mother and child touches his heart, and he goes out seeking the doctor, not guessing that the erring husband is looking for the outlaw, and a quick reward.

LADY OF THE DUGOUT - Al & Frank Jennings 

question a lawman

Made six years later, the feature THE LADY OF THE DUGOUT (1918) has a similar plot to THE BETTER MAN, but with a remarkable twist: some of the actors are playing themselves!  Ten years earlier, former U.S. Marshal Bill Tilghman, whom, with fellow Marshals Chris Madsen and Heck Thomas rode for Judge Parker, and were known as The Three Guardsmen, decided to make a western movie.  Called THE BANK ROBBERY (not a part of this set), it starred himself, Heck Thomas, Quanah Parker, and bank and train robber Al Jennings.  Jennings found he loved the movie business, at least in part because he could rewrite his own history.  His film BEATING BACK (1904), which is considered lost, set the pattern for films about outlaw do-gooders. 

Al robs the bank

Produced and co-written by Jennings, and starring himself and his brother Frank, and Corinne Grant, LADY OF THE DUGOUT is directed by the great W.S. ‘One-take-Woody’ Van Dyke, and is one of the greatest treasures of this collection.  The plot is much like that of BETTER MAN; a pair of outlaws robs a bank, and when they run short of food, they come upon a woman living in a dugout house on the prairie, she and her child starving as they wait for worthless dad to come home with some food.  The outlaws are so moved that they get provisions and bring them back, endangering themselves.  Director Van Dyke, who would go on to direct TARZAN OF THE APES, the THIN MAN MOVIES, and so many more, is a wonderful visual storyteller, and his use of reflections and night-for-night photography is memorable.  But it’s his collaboration with Jennings that shows off the startling authenticity of the criminal behavior.  There’s a chilling naturalness to a gunman’s stance while shooting away; removing a bullet from a shoulder room is shown unflinchingly by the camera, born indifferently by the wounded man.  Incidentally, the little starving boy grew up to be Ben Alexander, Jack Webb’s first DRAGNET partner.

Lawman in the dust, Al & Frank

make their getaway

Of course, Jennings spins the story his own way.  The criminals are so noble, and the law so venal that when a train is reported robbed, it’s assumed that the sheriff is behind the crime.  Poor real lawman Bill Tilghman must have concluded that he’d created a monster, and he produced and starred in PASSING OF THE OKLAHOMA OUTLAW (1915) as a response to the glorification of the bad guy.  Though not complete, it’s a satisfying chunk of film detailing the apprehension of many of the Oklahoma Territory’s most infamous bandits, and the lawmen are in many cases played by the very men who did the deed: again Bill Tilghman and Heck Thomas, as well as Arkansas Tom Jones.

The travelogues are stunning, some going as far back as 1898, and featuring railroads, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Hot Springs, Arizona.  Among the remarkable finds is an 8 minutes segment from the feature-length FROM THE GOLDEN WEST, an amateur film made by an unknown Easterner for club screenings.  It’s ‘L.A. as seen from a blimp’ footage is delightful.

Soundstages seen from a blimp in

THE GOLDEN WEST

Newsreel clips are included, some celebrating the American Indian, others patronizing him, and one sequence features 7^th Cavalrymen and Lakota and Cheyenne warriors ‘burying the hatchet’ at The Little Big Horn fifty years to the day after the event. 

In DESCHUTES DRIFTWOOD (1918) we get a travelogue of Oregon trains and waterways from the point-of-view of a hobo who’s been sprung from jail to do the honors.  Eighteen years later, in a Hearst newsreel, we see THE PROMISED LAND BARRED TO HOBOES (1936), showing roadblocks set up in California to keep the unemployed out.   

Made during the Mexican Revolution, MEXICAN FILIBUSTERS (1911) is a romantic tale about gun-smuggling.  AMMUNITION SMUGGLING ON THE MEXICAN BORDER (1914), is also about gun-smuggling, but stars a sheriff re-enacting his own kidnapping and his deputy’s murder, just weeks after it had actually happened. 

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power produced ROMANCE OF WATER (1931), about getting water from the Owens Valley.  It’s followed by a Hearst newsreel clip, A NEW MIRACLE IN THE DESERT (1935), and no matter how loudly you turn up the sound on these two, you can still hear John Huston and Jack Nicholson talking in the back of your head.

I know that I’ve just brushed the surface of this terrific collection – I haven’t even mentioned a great Thomas H. Ince feature, THE LAST OF THE LINE, but hopefully I’ve given you a sense of the wonders to be found in this set.  And I should mention that each of the forty films has an original music score.  I heartily recommend it as a gift for anyone on your list with a love of Western movies or Western history, or American history in general.  At more than ten hours – twice that with the commentary – this is not a set to be consumed at a sitting, but to be savored over days or weeks or months.  Then again, if you’re a binge watcher, have at it!

Although it lists for $59, you can buy it from Amazon for $32 HERE. 

THAT’S A WRAP! 

I apologize again, for the Round-up being several days late again.  I’m still getting over this bug I’ve had for nearly two weeks.  I’m very touched by all the get-well wishes I’ve received.  I don’t want to give the impression that something serious is wrong – it’s just an upper respiratory infection; not even the real flu!

Anyway, I’d better get well soon, as I’ve got a bunch of book and movie reviews coming up, and some very cool giveaways just in time for Christmas! 

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

‘LONE RANGER’ UP FOR BIDS AND ON DVDS!

BRIAN LEBEL’S OLD WEST SHOW & AUCTION

From Friday through Sunday, June 21^st through the 24^th, Denver, Colorado will draw collectors of Western art, artifacts and memorabilia from around the globe for Brian Lebel’s 24TH ANNUAL OLD WEST SHOW & AUCTION.  While the three-day event features a marketplace with over 200 antique and collectible dealers, the centerpiece is Saturday’s auction, where 337 lots will be sold, comprising an astonishing collection of Western items.  

They say that timing is everything, and what could be better timing for the daughter of Clayton Moore, TV’s THE LONE RANGER, to part with some of her mementoes on the eve of the release of the new LONE RANGER movie?   Says Clayton’s only child, Dawn Moore, “He always said that when he was gone I should keep whatever pieces have particular meaning to me, with the rest to be enjoyed by whoever would appreciate them.” 

Cigar store Indian

 

I was on Hollywood Boulevard in 1987 when Clayton Moore got his star on the Walk of Fame, and among the fans present were MCGYVER star Richard Dean Anderson, for whom he was a role model.  When Moore wrote his autobiography, I WAS THAT MASKED MAN, and I stood on line at a book signing, along with my wife, and Tex Ritter’s son, attorney Tom Ritter, and we were all struck by how many LAPD officers, and CHP officers, helmets in hand, were waiting for autographs.  Dawn says that even now, thirteen years after her father’s death, she still receives his fan mail, mostly from baby-boomers who are now police officers, firefighters and teachers.  “These were the young viewers who decided to become protectors in some capacity because of my father’s role on television.  Talk about paying it forward – it’s very powerful stuff.”  Among the Clayton Moore Lone Ranger clothing items up for bids are a Nudie’s Stetson, a Bohlin Buscadero Lone Ranger double holster gun rig, four pairs of boots, a Nudie’s Lone Ranger costume, a Manuel Lone Ranger costume, shirts, pants, and a red neckerchief. Among personal items are a Winchester presentation rifle, gold records, posters, toys, toupees, and a silver bullet that comes with a signed picture of Clayton Moore and Richard Nixon. 

Pistol and papers of Wyoming Sheriff Nottage

 

And speaking of TV heroes, let’s give equal time to TV heroines.  Gail Davis starred in ANNIE OAKLEY in the 1950s, and now her daughter Terrie is selling some of her personal affects.  There are movie posters, toys, magazines, books, and playing cards – all emblazoned with Davis’ image as the woman who, in the star’s own words, “…had to deal with the same ruthless characters--rustlers and killers--that the cowboys dealt with. And she did it without ever killing a one of them.”  There’s a beautiful red Nudie costume as well, but I bet I know what item the women who grew up on the show would give their eye-teeth for: a Nudie-made miniature Annie Oakley costume that little Terrie Davis wore when mother and daughter made public appearances together.  And because Annie Oakley was, after all, a real person, there is also a signed cabinet card of the original ‘Little Sure-Shot’ offered for bid.

If you’re in the market for a hat, there are two Tom Mix Stetsons, Robert Mitchum’s sombrero from THE WONDERFUL COUNTRY (the hat is believed to be pre-Mexican Revolution), and a Stetson that belonged to Robert “Believe it of Not!” Ripley.  There is a wide range of art, both cowboy and Indian-made, and the usual mind-blowing selection of bits and spurs, saddles and sidearms, and some fascinating documents.  There’s a large collection of Tom Mix papers, calling cards and letters from Buffalo Bill Cody, Frederic Remington, and Pat Garrett’s life insurance policy (don't know if they paid off).  From Dodge City there’s a collection of documents carried by City Sheriff Ham Bell.  From Tombstone a collection of documents includes a $1.50 receipt to Wyatt Earp for removing a dead dog, a photograph of Bat’s brother Ed Masterson, and a petition directed to Sheriff John Behan, relating to a writ of Habeas Corpus for Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.  There’s a collection of letters from famous people to the last survivor of the James gang.  There’s even a full-size, working Concord stage-coach!  If you’d like to learn more, get a catalog, or find out how to get to Denver pronto, go HERE.  http://www.denveroldwest.com/owshow.html

 

‘LONE RANGER’ – NEW DVD RELEASES REVIEWED

With the greatly anticipated LONE RANGER movie on the not-too-distant horizon, it’s no surprise that the original LONE RANGER TV series is being made available for those whose appetite will be whetted for more of the masked rider of the plains and his faithful Indian companion.  DreamWorks Classics has released a complete set that includes all 221 episodes on 30 DVDs, as well as two features films, a radio show, a complete episode guide, reproduction of a comic-book, and all manner of extras.  This deluxe edition will run you $199; but if you’d like to get your toes wet before you dive in headfirst, you’ll be glad to know that they’re also putting out three surprisingly inexpensive sampler disks, each featuring eight episodes, and each retailing for a paltry $6.99! Titled HI-YO SILVER, AWAY!; KEMO SABE; and WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN?, they’re a great way to relive your own childhood, or to introduce the shows to your children or grandchildren. 

 

The BIG set!

The LONE RANGER first appeared on Detroit radio station WXYZ in early 1933, and when it went off the air in 1954, it had produced around 3,000 episodes starring Brace Beemer as the Lone Ranger, and Shakespearean actor John Todd as Tonto.  Starting in 1949, the first eight years of the TV show were produced by the man who created the radio series, George W. Trendle (though many claim that head-writer Fran Striker was the true creator of the Masked Man as well as his direct descendant, The Green Hornet). 

 

Brace Beemer at the microphone

 

Although Brace Beemer was perfect on radio, a younger and more fit man was needed on-screen, and Clayton Moore was perfect.  A busy but undistinguished actor with an unusually distinctive voice, his portrayal came alive when the mask went on, and he made an indelible impression as the Lone Ranger.  Jay Silverheels, a Mohawk, played Tonto, and although his dialogue was written to make it clear that English was his second language, his characterization was subtle and memorable.  And they didn’t soft-pedal the racial elements; until they learned better, many white folk started the episodes addressing Tonto as “Indian,” as though he didn’t have a name.     

Coming with a tremendous backlog of already-produced half-hour stories, the shows at first relied heavily on adapting radio scripts, which caused them to be rather stiff and stilted.  In early episodes, actor Gerald Mohr, who spoke those well-remembered words from the opening – “…Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear!  From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse Silver!  The Lone Ranger Rides again!” – voiced much un-needed and distracting narration that was carried over from radio, but soon, growing used to the new visual medium, they cut back noticeably on the exposition.  The production values are high in the early shows, with plenty of location work, and a bit of stock footage thrown in.  Later on the series became famous for cutting corners.  Dick Jones who guested on the LONE RANGER, recalled that the camera was mounted on a tripod in the back of a truck at all times, so they could change set-ups that much quicker.  There was also extensive shooting on ‘green sets,’ fake exteriors that were convincing on tiny old TV screens of the day, but are jarringly phony-looking today.

Overall, the shows hold up remarkably well, due in great degree to the iconic performances by Moore and Silverheels, clever – if occasionally nutty – plotting, and a subtle but ever-present moral core: good people, tempted to do bad, could be saved, and even killers who had irreparably crossed the line, could be redeemed through self-sacrifice.  Although nothing you’d notice as a kid wrapped up in a story, the Lone Ranger never shot to kill – he was always shooting guns out of villains’ hands.

In 1954, oil-man Jack Wrather bought the rights to the LONE RANGER from Trendle for the staggering sum of $3,000,000.  He produced two feature films, and audiences for the first time got to see the Lone Ranger in glorious color, in THE LONE RANGER (1956), costarring Rather’s wife and the screen’s ‘Nancy Drew,’ Bonita Granville; and THE LONE RANGER AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD (1958).  The final season of the series was shot in color, and the budgets boosted to a then-phenomenal $25,000 per episode, many shot in scenic Kanab, Utah, and perhaps to take advantage of their colorful attire, those episodes usually focus on the Ranger’s dealings with Indians.  Wrather also hoped to make the series appeal to an older audience as well, and the one noticeable change is that the Lone Ranger is a tad less stoic and more slyly humorous in his patter with Tonto.  Many of the color episodes are directed by the prolific and talented Earl Bellamy, who helmed many movies, and more than 1,600 TV episodes, more than any other director.  (He also was a friend, and directed the first movie I wrote, SPEEDTRAP.)  One surprise in the color shows is that some forward-looking person decided, back in 1949, to shoot the show’s opening in color – it’s the exact same footage they’d been showing in black & white for years, only now we could see that the Ranger’s outfit was blue, and his kerchief red.

The three individual collections

The quality of image in the new DVD releases, HI-YO SILVER, AWAY!; KEMO SABE; and WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN?, is stunning, absolutely pristine.  The black & white prints are crisp and sharp, with rich blacks and a wide range of greys that display the often beautiful cinematography.  The color episodes are rich in hue and beauty, whether showing sets, wardrobe, or remarkable desert locations.  As far as I can tell, they’ve been unedited. 

The episodes on each disk are in chronological order, but on two of the three collections – and this is my only serious criticism – the selection seems completely random: there is no apparent attempt to order or group the shows.  This is most noticeable with HI-YO SILVER, AWAY!  The first episode, THE LONE RANGER FIGHTS ON, is actually the 2^nd episode of the series, and the middle section of a three-part telling of the outlaw ambush of a group of Texas Rangers which leaves only one alive, hence the lone ranger.  So we come into the story in the middle, see Walter Sande as a lawman and Glenn Strange (Sam of GUNSMOKE) as Butch Cavendish, and the story ends with a cliffhanger, and a rarely seen cereal plug.  Then we are told to be sure to return for the next episode, but the next episode is not #3, but #43, OUTLAWS OF THE PLAINS.  This is followed by MR. TROUBLE from season 2, which is followed by three episodes from season 3 which star not Clayton Moore, but John Hart as the Lone Ranger!  After two seasons of playing the lead, Clayton Moore tried for more money, and was promptly fired, replaced by Hart for 52 episodes.  Hart was a good actor, but Trendle and company had to admit that, even with the mask, audiences could tell the difference; they renegotiated, and Clayton Moore returned, and played Lone Ranger for the rest of the run.  Incidentally, John Hart, who would go on to star as Hawkeye in HAWKEYE AND THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS series, told interviewer Sunset Carson that he didn’t blame Moore for holding out for more money; Hart was paid less per episode for playing the Lone Ranger than for any other acting job he ever had!  But Even without Moore, these episodes are worth seeing.  THE BROWN PONY stars Lee Van Cleef as an escaped convict who holds the evidence to free and innocent man.  Next is THE OLD COWBOY, followed by THE MIDNIGHT RIDER, starring Darryl Hickman playing, ironically, a caped and masked Zorro-like character.  Then Clayton Moore is back for TRAPPED, episode #178, followed by the 9^th color episode, QUARTER-HORSE WAR, filmed in gorgeous Kanab, Utah, featuring a big budget, a lot of action, and guest-starring fine Western villain Harry Lauter.

 

The KEMO SABE collection starts with TROUBLE FOR TONTO from season 1, then THE FUGITIVE, ENFIELD RIFLE and THE TELL-TALE BULLET from season 4.  TELL-TALE features excellent villain Anthony Caruso, and a pre-Chester Dennis Weaver.  FRAMED FOR MURDER stars the still handsome and active James Best (this weekend he was performing his one-man-show at the Memphis Film Festival).  The last three episodes, COURAGE OF TONTO, MISSION FOR TONTO and THE BANKER’S SON are all in color, so if you’re trying to interest a young kid in the Lone Ranger, this would be the set to start with: if you can get them hooked with the color shows, they’ll be willing to watch the black & white ones after.  (Over the years I’ve introduced thousands of L.A. school kids to Laurel & Hardy, but the trick was to show them the colorized ones first; most kids simply won’t watch anything black & white).  Incidentally, COURAGE OF TONTO guest-stars former screen ‘Red Ryder’ Jim Bannon.

The WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN? collection does have a theme, about identity, and features stories about masks, people impersonating the Lone Ranger but, best of all, features several episodes where Moore gets to shed his mask and don outrageous disguises.  The first episode is THE MASKED RIDER, episode #14 from the first season.  The next one, GOLD TRAIN, episode #27, features a pre-STAR TREK DeForrest Kelly; and little Billy Bletcher, a Mack Sennett comic who voiced The Big Bad Wolf and Peg-Leg Pete for Disney.  From Season 2, BAD MEDICINE features primo Western villain Dick Curtis, and Clayton Moore made up as a hysterical Italian farmer.  THE HOODED MEN from season two continues the disguise theme, and guest-stars Walter Sande.  From Season 4, TWO FOR JUAN RINGO guest stars Lyle Talbot, and features Moore disguised as a Mexican bandito; WANTED: THE LONE RANGER guest stars Jesse White, and both Moore and Silverheels dress up as circus clowns.  The last two episodes are color, from the final season.  THE RETURN OF DON PEDRO O’SULLIVAN features Moore as a red-headed, red-bearded Irishman, and best of all, in OUTLAWS IN GREASEPAINT, the Lone Ranger plays Othello!  GREASEPAINT, incidentally, is the very last episode of the series, although there is no sense of finality, as when it was shot, yet another season was being planned. 

Moore and Silverheels would play their iconic characters in commercials for GENO’S PIZZA ROLLS and AQUA VELVA aftershave, but producer Jack Wrather alienated fans when, after announcing production of THE  LEGEND OF THE LONE RANGER (1981), he forbade Clayton Moore from dressing as the Lone Ranger, or wearing the mask.  Despite direction by the great cinematographer Bill Fraker, and a cast that included Jason Robards as President Grant, Christopher Lloyd as Butch Cavendish and Richard Farnsworth as Wild Bill Hickock (and perhaps as a slap-in-the-face to Clayton Moore, featuring John Hart in a cameo), it also featured first-time (and last-time) actor Klinton Spilsbury as the Lone Ranger.  It bombed, and combined with the previous year’s financial disaster HEAVEN’S GATE, dealt the cause of Western filmmaking a decade-long setback.  (Worth noting, Tonto was played by fellow first-time actor Michael Horse, who has gone on to a very respectable and successful acting career in and out of Westerns.)

If you like THE LONE RANGER, you’ll love this set of bargain-priced DVDs from Dreamworks Classics.  And if you don’t, why have you read this far?

A LOOK AT ‘LONE RANGER’ BOOTCAMP

 

GATEWAY SADDLES UP WINNERS FOR ANNUAL COWBOY ROUND-UP

Here’s a very interesting article from the Columbus Dispatch by Terry Mikesell, about the terrific annual Western Festival at the Gateway Film Center in Columbus, Ohio.  And no, I’m not adding all those compliments just because I was interviewed for the piece.  But it helps.  Read it HERE.

And if you can get to Columbus, and want details on the festival, go HERE.

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO ALL YOU DADS!

Here’s the picture my daughter posted of us on the Round-up Facebook page, wishing me a happy Father’s Day.  I hope all of you other dads out there had as great a day as I did, and are as proud of your kids as I am.

Happy Trails,

Henry

 

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