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

Dick Jones, Gene Autry, Jock Mahoney

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

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

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

Dick Jones creating the voice of Pinnochio

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dick Jones at the  Silver Spur Awards

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

REMEMBERING ROBERT HORTON AND PETER BROWN

Peter Brown and John Russell in LAWMAN

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

Diane Baker with Robert Horton in

THE DANGEROUS DAYS OF KIOWA JONES

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

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

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

THAT’S A WRAP!

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

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

GENE AUTRY VOL-8 REVIEWED, PLUS ‘KNOTT’S PRESERVED’ AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PLUS ‘KISS OF DEATH’ - MY NEW INSP BLOG!

GENE AUTRY COLLECTION # 8 REVIEWED!

I’ve always loved the song Ghost Riders in the Sky, as well as the movie-within-a-movieof Gene Autry singing it, so I was very excited to receive GENE AUTRY COLLECTION #8, which features the movie RIDERS IN THE SKY (1947), plus TRAIL TO SAN ANTONE (1947), RIDERS OF THE WHISTLING PINES (1949), and SAGINAW TRAIL (1953). 

A mix of Republic and Columbia titles, the first three are directed by Republic action specialist John English.  TRAIL TO SAN ANTONE is a modern-day western utilizing Gene’s career as a flier.  He’s out to help crippled and discouraged jockey Johnny Duncan (Robin in Columbia’s 1949 BATMAN serial) get the confidence to get back in the saddle.  He’s helped by lovely horse-breeder and pilot Peggy Stewart, Republic’s serial queen.  The comedy is provided by Sterling Holloway, and the film makes wonderful use of the Lone Pine, Alabama Hills locations, from the land and the air.  More dark in tone, RIDERS OF THE WHISTLING PINES finds Gene framed for an accidental killing – it’s actually murder, done to keep a lumber infestation under wraps.  It features one of the great Hollywood villains, Douglas Dumbrille, and keep your eyes open for Clayton Moore as ‘Henchman Pete’, the same year he would don his mask and gain fame as The Long Ranger.  RIDERS IN THE SKY weaves a myth about those saddled spirits, and skillfully mixes noir and supernatural elements into the western form.  Pat Buttram is along, plus Gloria Henry, Robert Livingston, gangster specialist Ben Weldon, a very young Alan Hale Jr.  Most notable is Tom London, in perhaps his finest role (out of 600+) as an intimidated crime witness who sees the Riders in the Sky.  Finally, SAGINAW TRAIL reunites Gene with his original sidekick, Smiley Burnette, and tells an earlier story than most, set among Indians and fur-traders in 1827.  Gene was concurrently starring in his TV series, and this would be his second to last feature, and includes his only sword fight!

As with all the previous volumes, this delightful addition joins each feature with Gene and Pat Buttram’s introduction from The Nashville Network’s Melody Ranch Theater, an episode of the Melody Ranch Radio Show, photos & posters, and notes by film historian Alex Gordon.  You can order GENE AUTRY COLLECTION 8 from Shout! Factory HERE.

And here’s that wonderful ‘Ghost Riders In The Sky’ number I told you about: 

AN INTERVIEW WITH ‘KNOTT’S PRESERVED’ CO-AUTHOR J. ERIC LYNXWILER

Last week I reviewed the excellent KNOTT’S PRESERVED, Christopher Merritt’s and J. Eric Lynxwiler’s fascinating history of Knott’s Berry Farm.  If you missed that review, HERE is the link. 

I had the pleasure of interviewing Lynxwiler, over the phone, while he was at Knott’s, so although I couldn't put it on the page, I could hear the train whistle in the background from time to time to set the mood. 

HENRY: KNOTT’S PRESERVED is a remarkably detailed history of Walter Knott and his farm and fruit stand that gradually became a world-class theme park.  Obviously a tremendous amount of time and work and research went into the book.  What made you want to write it?  And how long did it take?

ERIC: I have to give a lot of credit to my co-author, Chris Merritt – it was his passion that began it, and that goes back to his time as an Imagineer for Disney.  He had the opportunity to go to Knott’s Berry Farm and dig through their archives, with a computer and a scanner.  He wound up scanning a lot of their historic documents, historic photographs, blue-prints and water-colors for attractions and Ghost Town, going back to the ‘40s and ‘50s.  Because of that beginning, he started interviewing some of Knott’s Berry Farm’s old-timers, and Walter and Cordelia Knott’s children, with the hope of actually putting together a book sometime in the future. With that as a basis, he started putting the book together, and I was on the sidelines for many years, pushing him and encouraging him.  The big reason that I got involved is because Chris was called away to work at Universal Studios Singapore.  So he moved his family across the Pacific Ocean, and my publisher called me in to help with rewrites and editing while Chris was away.  It took Chris maybe nineteen to twenty years from start to finish, and I was only involved in the last two or three.

HENRY:  It’s fascinating, the connections, the idea that someone working for Disney Imagineering, going to Knott’s, who was a competitor, and then working for Universal.    

ERIC:  In the 1950s, Knott’s and Disney were great neighbors.  But as the companies lost their patriarchs, it became more corporate and more divided.  And there was a wall between the two companies, Disney and Knott’s.  I think that there’s a lot of borrowing going on, across the entire global theme park industry.  I’ve said it before: Knott’s Berry Farm was a great basis for Disneyland; Disneyland’s learned a lot from Knott’s Berry Farm.  Knott’s has been around for 95 years, and of course, Disney and other companies would just borrow from what Knott’s has learned and tried out.  But that’s a whole different topic.

Sailors & friend visiting Knott's in 1953

HENRY:  You said that your co-writer, Mr. Merritt, had been going through the archives of Knott’s Berry Farm.  Is that currently housed at Knott’s, or someplace else, where it can be accessed?

ERIC:  I wish it were true.  The archive that Chris accessed so long ago was thrown away.  Knott’s Berry Farm’s new corporate owners didn’t know what they had, and they trashed it.  Some of it did go to the Orange County Archives, and a chunk of it does remain at Knott’s Berry Farm, they do have some files of historic resources.

HENRY:  So some of what is in the book only exists there?

ERIC:   What Chris recorded, may be the only image of that item in existence.  They may have been completely destroyed.

HENRY:  I’d hate to tell you how many times I’ve heard the same story at movie studios, where all that remains is what people salvaged from dumpsters.  People use ‘amusement park’ and ‘theme park’ as interchangeable terms, but Knott’s is truly a park with a theme.  What is that theme, and how did it start?

ERIC:  Knott’s Berry Farm claims to be America’s first theme park.  That initial theme was something of the Wild West.  It was Walter Knott’s mother, who came across the western mountains in a covered wagon.  What she went through was never forgotten by him, and he cherished and celebrated America’s western history: the fun of it, the highs of it, the lows of it, and the disappearance of it as we entered the 20^th Century. 

HENRY: Am I correct in saying that Knott’s Berry Farm, as an amusement park/theme park, grew out of a way to keep people in line to eat Cordelia’s fried chicken dinner?

ERIC:  That’s absolutely true.  We wouldn’t have Knott’s Berry Farm if it weren’t for Cordelia’s chicken dinner.  Walter Knott brought the boysenberry to the table.  People came here to buy berries, but they stuck around for the chicken dinner.  There were crowds waiting hours and hours and hours for a chicken dinner; and you can only entertain them with berry fields for so long.  He had to find ways to entertain these people, and keep them from wandering through his farm.  So he basically said, if it amuses me, I’m going to do it, because maybe it will amuse someone else.  He wound up building things like a replica of George Washington’s fireplace.  His son Russell had a collection of phosphorescent rocks that glowed under black-light, and he put them on display.  As the story goes, he went out to the Mojave Desert, where he found the last active volcano in California.  And he picked up that volcano, and moved it to Knott’s Berry Farm, where it remained active.  He found western bits of ephemera like wagon wheels and logging wheels, and he bought wagons from people and put them on display.  He had his own livery –

HENRY:  Now I have to stop you here, just a second.  I understand you can find a wagon wheel, or a wagon, and transport them anywhere you want.  But you can’t transport an active volcano, and keep it active.

ERIC: Well….Walter did.  (laughs)  I have to admit that there is a dividing line, but this is something that I find very interesting about Knott’s Berry Farm.  Walter Knott did celebrate the American West.  He did celebrate history, and truth.  But if you’re talking about cowboys and the West, there is also the tall tales and legends that go with them.  And that is something I admire about him.  Because sure, that volcano that he moved here wasn’t a real one.  But it just sort of goes along with the bizzareness of the place.  One of my favorite characters is the Catawampus, which has been a part of Knott’s since the late 1930s.  The Catawampus is basically a ‘wood-imal’, it is a wooden tree-branch creature that Walter Knott stuck some ram-horns on top of, put him in a small corral, with a sign saying, ‘As soon as this Catawampus dies the species will be extinct.’  It was just a tiny little amusement that went along with that wacky volcano, that made people smile, because people knew it was ridiculous, but it was a part of our ‘cowboy truths’.

HENRY:  Is that Catawampus still there?

last of the Catawampus

ERIC:  We no longer have the volcano, but the Catawampus is still there.  He actually has his own Facebook page.  Beyond that, Walter Knott also gave us ‘Ghost Town’.  It began in 1940, and finished in 1941 for the public.  And that Ghost Town is the same one that we have today – it’s just grown like Topsy, as Steve Knott said.  It was a very organic growth.  It started out with just one small street, Main Street.  Made up of one historic structure, and pieces of other historic structures that were assembled by Walter and his artistic designer, Paul Swartz, to resemble a small western town.

HENRY:  Then it’s not true that Walter Knott bought Calico Ghost Town and moved it to Anaheim, as I’ve always heard?

ERIC: (laughs) That’s a horrible statement, and I cringe every time I hear it!  That’s one of the biggest myths about Knott’s Berry Farm.  Walter Knott did buy Calico Ghost Town – he actually worked there years and years prior.  And eventually he became rich, and bought it, and began to restore it with his theme-park ideal in mind.  But he never moved a single structure from Calico to Knott’s.  They still have a strong tie to Knott’s, but the Knott family gave up Calico a long time ago.  Ghost Town as we know it here at Knott’s, does have a few historic structures, but all in all, it’s replica’s, with parts that got saved from barns and houses around southern California, and out in the desert.  He used windows with rippled glass inside of them, and he used square-peg nails in order to make the most authentic ghost town possible.  And because he used new framing with old wood on top, many people think it’s an authentic, historic ghost town.

HENRY: How old were you when you first visited Knott’s?

ERIC:  I’ve been coming to Knott’s Berry Farm as long as I can remember.  My family is a Southern California family.  And as I say, Disneyland belongs to tourists; Knott’s Berry Farm belongs to every Southern California family.  Some of my earliest memories are from Knott’s. 

HENRY:  What were your favorite things at Knott’s when you were a little kid?

ERIC:  I have great memories of Knott’s Beary Tales. I remember riding the stagecoach when I was little.  It was very scary for me, because it was high up, and I was afraid I’d fall off of the stagecoach – because there’s only one place to ride when you’re on a stagecoach, and that’s on top – you don’t get inside.

HENRY: I always rode inside – is that a mistake?

ERIC:  Ahh—you’ve got to get on top.  It’s a better experience on top – it’s very cramped and uncomfortable in there.  And the Corkscrew was my first roller-coaster.  They had a ‘loop-trainer’ for the kids, where you could actually get in and test out riding upside down before you got on the coaster.  As you know, I’m a huge fan of neon, and I work at the Museum of Neon Art.  And some of my first memories of neon are from Knott’s Berry Farm, from the Roaring Twenties section. 

HENRY:  Am I correct that the Roaring Twenties section, which is now gone, wasn’t part of the original Knott’s?

ERIC:  Definitely.  At first the Ghost Town and the farm were completely wide open; there was never a fence around it.  And it was free to the public; anyone could go in and enjoy Knott’s Berry Farm.  That actually became a problem in the late 1960s, when hippies were taking over.  There were a bunch of hippies that were living on the property at night, breaking into buildings and wreaking havoc.  Because of the hippies, they had to put a fence around the property and start charging admission.  All the other theme parks were already doing that, but Knott’s had always been free.  To charge admission was a big, difficult step for them to take.  They did it, charged one dollar admission, but they had to give the public something more.  They couldn’t just be a ghost town; they had to increase their entertainment offering.  They had to add a new themed land, Fiesta Village, in order to make people feel that that one dollar admission charge was worth the price.   And in the 1960s, Walter and Cordelia were handing over the running of the park to their children. 

HENRY:  I understand you worked at the Knott’s shooting gallery while you were in college.

ERIC:  Yeah, the shooting gallery was my favorite.  I did all sorts of jobs for the game department, I worked every game, but the shooting gallery was my favorite. And they put me there because I was geeky enough that I wound up maintaining the gallery while I was working.  So on downtime, when there was nobody playing, I would sweep and dust and wash the plastic flowers and change the light-bulbs, because I really did give a damn about this place.   I miss the shooting gallery – it was ripped out years ago.

HENRY:  Was this the sort of shooting gallery with .22s?     

ERIC:  No.  It was a rifle-shot, but it was not a pellet.  It was a breakthrough actually.  They claimed it was the world’s first electronic shooting gallery.  Instead of shooting projectiles, you would shoot beams of light at targets.  And when the beam of light hit a target, it would cause a reaction.  That was a big deal.  It was run by a man named Carlo Gianetti.  It was dimensional, not just a bunch of flat animals. 

HENRY:  Did you have any contact with members of the Knott family?

ERIC:   I was too shy to say hello, but I would see the Knott children walking around occasionally.  The family was involved in day-to-day operations, and they would walk the park.  They would have meetings with the departments.  I saw Knott’s as historic back when I worked there.  What I really remember about working at the farm was it was homey back them; and even today, it’s much more corporate now, but it still feels like a home to me.  I don’t know if you know this, but Walter and Cordelia Knott did live here on the property until the days that they died.    

HENRY: There’s such a clear interest in American history, and western history, at Knott’s.  Was this something Walter Knott simply saw as entertaining, or was sharing this more of a mission?

ERIC:  I think that Walter Knott’s wanted to make sure that he was preserving this piece of American history that was rapidly disappearing.  He even bought a train, a working train from Colorado, and had it shipped to Knott’s Berry Farm.  Because trains were disappearing, and he wanted to make sure that a child could ride on a train and have that experience.  He was trying to educate the American public to what the Wild West once was.

HENRY:  Walter Knott started out as a farmer and a businessman, and somehow became an artist and an entertainment entrepreneur.  What kind of man was he?

ERIC:  A very humble man.  And I could say the same thing about his wife.  They were farmers with high school education.  And they worked so hard.  There was not a morning when they didn’t wake up before dawn to plow a field and pluck a chicken.  The whole family was trained to work the same way, to work their butts off, and they achieved what he called The American Dream.

HENRY:  Where did Walter Knott gather the elements of his ghost town from?

ERIC:  When Walter Knott was building Main Street, the first street at Ghost Town, he only had one historic building, and that was the blacksmith shop.  He bought it from a neighboring farm, and moved it lock stock and barrel to Main Street; it dates to the 1800s, and it’s still functioning today.  He bought a church from the city of Downey, and that became his own subsidized church, where the Knott family went to worship on Sundays, and anyone was welcome to worship there.  He also bought a Downey Post Office, a Redcar station from the city of Stanton, a barn that Jim Jeffries used to work out of in Burbank – it was going to be demolished until he bought it.  There’s even an old school-house he bought at auction from Kansas. 

HENRY:  A couple of summers ago my wife and I visited Tombstone, Arizona, and the famous Birdcage Theatre.  When we show pictures to friends, we often throw in a picture outside of the Knott’s facade of the Birdcage, and no one ever knows the difference.

ERIC:  That crack’s me up, and it’s absolutely true.  That was something that Paul von Klieben had planned – he wanted to do a replica of the Birdcage Theatre, in order to have an indoor performing space at Knott’s.  But World War II postponed that idea for a while.  That façade is a true adobe brick façade.  But they only had enough money to do the exterior, so they just pitched a tent behind the exterior.  And at this point (the interior) is never going to happen.  That tent is now historic as it is.

HENRY:  I know that Walter Knott wanted to be true to Gold Rush history; I love the fact that he was so true to it that he included that which people entertaining families would always leave out, which is the house of ill repute.

ERIC:  (laughs) Yes, before Walter Knott ever built a schoolhouse, he built a whorehouse! And as religious and as prudish as the man was, it blows me away.  And it’s still there.  Goldie’s whorehouse is built right on Main Street.  It’s got an interior you can look in – you can view the women of the night on the first floor.  There are two women upstairs under a red light, looking for johns.  There’s even a leg hanging out one of the side windows, that will occasionally kick.  Knott’s Berry Farm must be the only theme park in the entire world that has a gun shop, a knife shop, a functioning church and a whorehouse.  I resent that people don’t take the time to learn and explore Ghost Town more.  Because it has so many beautiful details; simple and elegant surprises.  For example, there’s Sad-Eyed Joe, Orange County’s longest incarcerated criminal.  He’ still behind Main Street in his jail cell, and he talks to people.  And if you know how to work Sad-Eyed Joe properly, you can walk up to him and he’ll know your name.  There’s a person buried in Boot Hill who’s still alive under the ground.  If you stand over Hiram McTavish’s grave, and feel his heart beating, you’re going to have good luck today.  

HENRY:  Now, Sad-Eyed Joe was the work of a man who became a much-respected humorous western artist, Andy Anderson.

Artist Andy Anderson & Sad-Eyed Joe

ERIC: Andy Anderson was a caricaturist at Knott’s Berry Farm.  I believe he was one of the cowboys who entertained the crowds before there was a Ghost Town.  And he was a carver – he would sit and whittle, and sell his carvings to the visitors.  In order to populate Ghost Town, fill in the empty facades, he created all of these little vignettes, and characters within them.  So when you peeked into the assay office, you would see an assayer, and he’d be standing there with his weights, and you could hear a little mumble from a speaker – maybe he’d be talking to you. And this cartoonish, hand-carved character, if you used your imagination, would come to life before your eyes, and there’d be this character ‘living’ in Ghost Town. Right next door to the assay office is Hop Wing Lee, the Chinese laundry.  And this little Chinese guy with one hand on an iron would just stand at his ironing board and iron all day, with an animated arm.  And you could hear him singing western songs in Chinese.  Sadly, that’s gone; someone actually complained, and said it’s racist for him to sing western songs in Chinese, so they turned off the soundtrack.  There’s all these little characters and peek-ins that Andy Anderson created.  These are things that you can walk right by, and completely ignore.  And I think too many people do that today; they walk from roller-coaster to roller-coaster, and they don’t take the time to really explore these adorable, free, unpublicized details that make Knott’s Berry Farm so much fun. 

Hop Wing Lee silently ironing

I hope to be revisiting Knott’s soon, and I’ll be seeing it with new eyes.  I expect to spend a lot less time on the thrill-rides, and a lot more checking out the historic Ghost Town.  And I still expect to spend a couple of hours in line for Cordelia’s chicken.  You can order KNOTT’S PRESERVED here: http://www.angelcitypress.com/products/knot

COEN BROTHERS’ ‘TRUE GRIT’ SATURDAY AT THE AUTRY!

January’s ‘What is a Western?’ screening was the 1969 TRUE GRIT, and this Saturday, February 14^th at 1:30 p.m. it will be the 2010 version.  I’m a big fan of both films, and even though I’ve got ‘em both on disc, I relish the chance to see this one on a bog screen, in 35mm.  Starring Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld (who just did her second Westerns, THE HOMESMAN), Matt Damon (who previously did GERONIMO, THE GOOD OLD BOYS and ALL THE PRETTY HORSES), and Josh Brolin, who cut his teeth as Bill Hickok on THE YOUNG RIDERS, it was nominated for ten Oscars.  TRUE GRIT will be introduced with a discussion led by Jeffrey Richardson, curator of Popular Culture and of the Gamble Firearms Collection. 

‘KISS OF DEATH’ – MY INSP VALENTINE’S DAY BLOG

The good folks at INSP asked me to write another guest blog for them, and I chose as my topic the ‘Kiss of Death’ – not the Mafia one, but the one a girl would get from a Cartwright son, guaranteeing something bad would happen to her before the end of the BONANZA episode (or THE BIG VALLEY, or THE HIGH CHAPARRAL, or THE VIRGINIAN).  And they’re running it for Valentine’s Day.  Appropriate, no?  HERE is the link.  Please leave a comment if you like it!

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

Laura Ingalls Wilder

There were a few big birthdays this week.  Author Laura Ingalls Wilder was born 148 years ago.   My sister read the LITTLE HOUSE books as a kid, but I wouldn’t: the Garth Williams  covers, with kids in bonnets, holding dollies, were way too girly for me.  I didn’t start reading them until I was in my thirties – then I devoured them.  I even got to like the illustration.  They’re the most beautifully written memoirs of growing up in the old west and the new frontier that I have ever read.  They’re so wonderfully detailed, capturing moments of American transition unpreserved by other writers, that you can see their influence not only in the series that bears the LITTLE HOUSE name, but in HELL ON WHEELS and elsewhere.  It’s like Jimmy Stewart said to Peter Bogdanovich, about “giving people... little, tiny pieces of time... that they never forget.”  Laura Ingalls Wilder gives you hundreds of those pieces of time in each book.  When you can, read them all.   And read them to your kids. 

Jock Mahoney

Also, this weekend marked the birthdays of two fine actors, both fine athletes, who both excelled in westerns, and in portraying Tarzan, Jock Mahoney and Buster Crabber.  As a gifted horseman and stuntman, Mahoney’s gifts were well-known.  But few remember that Crabbe was an Olympic swimmer.  In the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam he won bronze in the 1500 meter freestyle.  In Los Angeles, in the 1932 Olympics, he won gold in the 400 meter freestyle, setting a new world record.  I don’t know how much longer it’s running, but the Movie & Music Network posted a free Buster Crabbe western for at least the weekend, BILLY THE KID TRAPPED.  HERE is the link.  http://www.movieandmusicnetwork.com/content/movieoftheday

Buster Crabbe

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF DUNCAN RENALDO!

After I ran my review of THE CISCO KID radio shows (CLICK HERE if you missed it), I received a nice e-mail from Harlan Zink of Radio Archives. Modesty forbids my quoting his compliments, but he added… “One correction: the original Cisco series, starring Jackson Beck in the title role along with Louis Sorin as Pancho, originated out of WOR New York and was aired live for about a year. The subsequent series, from which our CD sets were taken, was produced by the Frederick Ziv Company out of Cincinnati, Ohio but was recorded in Hollywood.”

(Photos: top left, Warner Baxter, top right, Cesar Romero, below, Duncan Renaldo as Cisco at Monogram, Gilbert Roland, Duncan with producer Philip Krasne, Duncan with Marcia Mae Jones, Leo Carrillo and Duncan)

Actor Duncan Renaldo, the man almost everyone thinks of at the mention of The Cisco Kid, had one of the most amazing roller-coaster careers of any actor in Hollywood. After making a big impression in THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY (1929), he was cast as ‘Peru,’ the young friend of Harry Carey in MGM’S TRADER HORN (1931), which was the first talking-picture shot on location in Africa, directed by W.S. “One-take-Woody” Van Dyke. Duncan and the female lead, lovely Edwina Booth, attended the premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. He was lucky he got to attend, because he’d been arrested a few days earlier.

Duncan and Edwina both were married when they left for Africa, but both were quickly divorced shortly after their return. Actually Edwina managed to have her marriage annulled on the grounds that she was under-age when she married in 1927 – a good trick, considering that she was young, but only underage if you go by the fake studio biography that claims she was born in 1909, not 1904.

In September 1930, Suzette Renaldo, now divorced from Duncan for six months, filed a $50,000 alienation of affection suit against Edwina. Duncan countered by threatening to have ex-wife Suzette declared mentally unfit to be custodial parent to their four-year-old son. Then Suzette played her trump card: she informed U.S. Emigration that Duncan had entered the U.S. illegally.

Suzette’s case against Edwina went nowhere: there was no proof against her. The sanity hearing against Suzette would be funny if it were not so tragic: she claimed under oath that Duncan was a member of a Chinese gang, and that his grey fedora possessed occult powers. And sadly, Duncan, as he would later admit, was guilty as charged. Orphaned at an early age, he had no memory of his parents or where he was born, but he believed it was Spain or Romania. A merchant marine (I’ve been unable to find out from what country) from the age of 13, the ship he was on burned in the Baltimore harbor in 1921. He simply stayed here. To make matters worse, he falsely testified that he was born in Camden, New Jersey, and was additionally charged with making false statements to obtain a passport. He was sent to prison.

According to Philip Kranse, producer of all the non-Fox Cisco Kid films and the TV series, Duncan credited his salvation to an unnamed U. S. Prosecutor. Poking through files out of idle curiosity, the prosecutor stumbled upon the case, and saw a great miscarriage of justice. He went to bat for Duncan, and his pleas eventually reached First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Duncan was freed after eighteen months, and instead of being deported to God knows where, F.D.R. declared him an American citizen by Presidential Proclamation!

Now a free man, Duncan went to the studios looking for work, and found it: as a janitor. But he started picking up bits and supporting roles in mostly poverty row pictures, and at least one at MGM. The real turning point came when Herbert J. Yates, President of Republic Pictures, heard about his situation, and placed him under contract. Renaldo called Yates, “The man who saved my life!” Soon he was playing ever-larger roles in Republic Serials, Red Ryder films, and co-starring in Three Mesquiteers Westerns.

The role of the Cisco Kid came to Duncan Renaldo in the midst of World War II. 20th Century Fox had made three ‘A’s with Warner Baxter in the role, and six ‘B’s with Cesar Romero, the last in 1941. Though popular in many quarters, the Romeros were not that popular amongst fans of traditional Westerns, because too much time was spent on romance that could be better spent shooting and fighting. But the objections in Mexico were far greater – they despised the films, finding the general portrayal of Mexicans insulting, and complaining that Romero dressed more like a ballet-dancer than a caballero. Incredibly, in the midst of World War II, these films, and the idea of making more of them, had actually strained international relations at a time when it was crucial for The United States, Mexico, and the nations of Central and South America be united in their fight against fascism.

Philip Krasne had obtained the rights to Cisco Kid from 20th, and sent Duncan, who had signed on as an associate producer, to Mexico, to meet with the Inter-American Relationship Committee. According to Duncan, after days of fruitless discussion, he’d been inspired: he wanted to base Cisco and Pancho on Cervantes’ DON QUIXOTE, and Sancho Panza – ‘Pancho’ actually be a combination of syllables from that name. The idea was that, rather then being bandits out for themselves, they were out to good-naturedly right wrongs – while not being crazy like Quixote. Duncan pitched this idea to the group, and they bought it. This was not the first Duncan had been involved in writing stories – under the names Duncan Renault and Renault Duncan he had scripted several Western films.

Krasne set up the Cisco Kid films at Monogram, signed Martin Garralaga to portray Pancho, and made three Ciscos with Duncan in 1945. And here, the story gets a bit more mysterious. In 1946, the fine actor Gilbert Roland took over the role of Cisco for the next six movies. Then in 1948, Duncan Renaldo returned to the role, as Krasne moved the series from Monogram to United Artists, and added Leo Carrillo as Pancho. So, why did Duncan Renaldo suddenly leave the role he’d fought so hard for? Nobody’s saying. But if you can lay your hands on a VHS double bill from RKO, DON AMIGO (a.k.a THE GIRL FROM SAN LORENZO) and STAGE TO CHINO, a George O’Brian western, the films are preceded by Duncan Renaldo’s narrated telling of the history of the Cisco Kid films. After describing his dealings with the Inter-American Relationship Committee, he says, “During the war I was busy working for the government, so Gilbert Roland played in five (actually six) pictures for Monogram.” What work for the government? Considering he’d had to bow out of starring in a half dozen movies, after all the trouble he’d been through with them, it must have been something important, but I can find no reference to that work anywhere. If you know anything about what government work Duncan Renaldo was doing, PLEASE put it in a comment or e-mail me!

If you want to hear Duncan in his own words, DON AMIGO/STAGE TO CHINO double-bill is available for rent in VHS at Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee. Eddie’s is the unofficial film and TV archive that all the studios rely on. They’re at 5006 Vineland Ave., North Hollywood, CA 91601. 818-506-4242. They’re open Tuesday through Friday, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
If you'd like to read more about the Cisco Kid or Duncan Renaldo you can visit the excellent site THE OLD CORRAL at B-WESTERNS.COM, CLICK HERE. And if you'd like to read the O. Henry story that started it all, CLICK HERE.

DVD REVIEW – CLASSIC TV WESTERNS

If you want to see GUNSMOKE or BONANZA, you haven’t got a problem. They’re shown every day on TV-Land and other channels. Other popular Western series like HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL and THE VIRGINIAN are available on DVD. But most Western series are a lot harder to locate, especially those in dreaded black and white. SHOKUS VIDEO, long a purveyor of quirky fare, especially television from the 1950s, has a series of ‘sampler’ western DVDs entitled CLASSIC TV WESTERNS which will, depending on when your childhood happened, either bring back fond memories, or introduce you to some of the best of children’s television – from when children’s television involved a lot of riding and fighting and shooting bad guys.

Volume I features episodes from four different series, and two of them, THE RANGE RIDER (1951) and BUFFALO BILL, JR. (1955), come from Gene Autry’s FLYING ‘A’ stable. Range Rider stars Jock (here credited as ‘Jack’) Mahoney as the title character, and Dickie Jones as his youthful sidekick Dick West. Jock, who had graduated from stunt-doubling Gene, John Wayne and Errol Flynn (and being the romantic interest in Three Stooges shorts) plays a much revered cowboy detective. After 78 episodes Jock would leave and become first YANCY DERRINGER, then one the of the screen’s most athletic Tarzans. Dickie, 23 when the series started, but small, and playing younger, had been the voice of PINOCCIO, and was an accomplished trick-rider and athletic stuntman. One of the real pleasures of watching Jock and Dickie in action is that the camera is up close because no one had to double either of them, and their riding and fighting are a joy to behold. This particular episode, about the fight to keep a freight contract, features crotchety Raymond Hatton, whose screen credits started in 1909, and ended with 1971’s IN COLD BLOOD, plus villains Kenne Duncan (the tough) and Jim Bannon (the suave) – the last of Hollywood’s Red Ryders. It’s directed by John English, who, with William Witney, directed the finest of Republic Serials – he definitely makes the show MOVE.
In BUFFALO BILL JR., Dickie has become Dick Jones, turned 27, but still convincingly plays the teen older brother of a girl named Calamity (Nancy Gilbert), both of them watched over by kindly-but-gruff Judge Ben ‘Fair-And-Square’ Wiley (Harry Cheshire). This episode features a re-telling of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and stars Walter Reed as Wyatt Earp and James Griffith as Doc Holliday. Directed by action whiz Ray Nazarro, Dick is more athletic than ever, doing running mounts, fighting and endlessly diving through windows!
THE GABBY HAYES SHOW (1951), is an interesting novelty of early TV. Opening with impressive footage of everyone’s favorite toothless sagebrush raconteur riding through the desert, Gabby is next seen sitting on a porch, telling a tall tale directly to camera. He then introduces a story about a town that doesn’t have a bank – and suddenly we are smack in the middle of a movie starring Buster Crabbe, Al St. John and Kermit Maynard! Each episode of The Gabby Hayes Show would take a feature-length PRC Western and cut it down to about 22 minutes, ending with Gabby summing up the plot and telling another tall tale. Although obviously truncated, here you can at least follow the plot of the movie-within-a-movie -- which was not always the case with this series. Although, in preserving the plot, they’ve let a lot of action go by the wayside. When characters say, “Don’t you ever hold up the stage-coach with me on it – you might have shot me!” or “Thank you for saving me from that run-away horse,” you wish you’d seen those scenes.
Finally, Bill Williams stars in THE ADVENTURES OF KIT CARSON (1951) with Don Diamond as his Pancho-like sidekick, El Toro (best remembered as Crazy Cat on F-TROOP). To the best of my knowledge, this series had nothing to do with the actual historical Kit Carson, but Williams is a solid actor, with a Hoppy-like smile, and good with the action. This story involves the challenge of keeping an outlaw in custody in a town without a jail-cell.

CLASSIC TV WESTERNS III will really bring back the memories, as it contains not only four shows, but all of the original commercials – if you’re trying to introduce young kids to early TV, they usually get a big kick out of the ads.
First up in another KIT CARSON (1952), this one featuring guest star John Dehner, radio’s Paladin, and a very popular western guest star. The Pepsi ads feature a bunch of well-dressed, pop-guzzling teens being regaled with Western lore by frequent movie sidekick William Fawcett. Next up is THE ROY ROGERS SHOW (1954), with all of the Post Cereal ads, and featuring Roy, Dale, Pat Brady, Bullet and Trigger, and their attempts to saved an innocent man who’s been framed. For my money, Roy will always be the King of the Cowboys, and his show tops them all. THE CISCO KID (1952) stars Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo as Cisco and Pancho, and their attempts to help a New York cop save a woman from being swindled out of her property. Although CISCO was one of the first series to be shot in color, this is a black and white TV print, from the days before TV could in fact show color, but it has its Weber Bread ads, and even a neat PSA with Cisco and Pancho at the end! Finally, WYATT EARP (1955) rounds out the set, and is the only show not specifically aimed at kids – although it features the kid-friendly story of Earp, played by Hugh O’Brien, getting roped into judging a beautiful baby contest. And the guest star is Touch Connors, who later became Mike Connors, the star of MANNIX.

Shokus Video offers two other CLASSIC TV WESTERN volumes, for $14.95 each, as well as volumes of THE CISCO KID, BUFFALO BILL JR., THE GABBY HAYES SHOW, and several volumes each of ANNIE OAKLEY and ROY ROGERS. CLICK HERE to go to their western page. They also offer a wide variety of mystery and comedy shows, and their SHOKUS INTERNET RADIO -- CLICK HERE -- is a 24 hour mix of music, comedy and interview programs: my favorite is Stu Shostak’s daily interview show from 4 to 6 p.m.

SCREENINGS

IDA LUPINO FEST AT MOMA

From August 26th through September 20th, under the title ‘MOTHER DIRECTS’, the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City, will present a large variety of films either starring or written by or directed by that unique talent, Ida Lupino. Although there appears to be only one Western in the bunch, LUST FOR GOLD (1949) showing Friday August 27th ay 4:30, and again Saturday September 4th at 5 p.m., there are a slew of noirs that are well worth seeing. LUST stars Lupino and Glenn Ford, was directed by S. Sylan Simon from the Ted Sherdeman, Richard English screenplay from Barry Storm’s novel. For more information, CLICK HERE.

3D FESTIVAL AT FILM FORUM, NEW YORK CITY

Jumping on the 3D bandwagon, the Film Forum is having a two week festival of many rarely seen films in 3D, and a surprising number of Westerns are included!

WEDNESDAY 8/25 INFERNO (1953) Directed by Roy Ward Baker, and starring Robert Ryan as a millionaire dumped in the desert by his scheming wife and her lover. And as an added attraction...you know Harold Lloyd as a great comedy pioneer, but did you know he also pioneered 3D photography? Mostly of women sans clothing! Between showings of INFERNO, a selection of Harold Lloyd's 3D nude slides will be shown! I wish I was in New York right now!
THURSDAY 8/26 SANGAREE (1953) directed by Edward Ludwig, set in post- Revolutionary Georgia, starring Fernando Lamas as a doctor during a plague outbreak, and Arlene Dahl is the beautiful heiress. New 35mm 3-D print courtesy Academy Film Archive. Color; Approx. 94 minutes, plus 10-minute intermission. 5:30, 9:45, AND ARLENE DAHL WILL ATTEND, AND PARTICIPATE IN A Q&A FOLLOWING THE 5:30 SHOW!

And coming in September, during the Film Forum William Castle retrospective, a 3D Western and a 3D Eastern: Friday & Saturday, 9/3 and 9/4 JESSE JAMES VS. THE DALTONS
(1954) Brett King believes he’s the son of the notorious bandit, and hooks up with the Daltons to try and learn the truth. But 3-D’d sexpot Barbara Lawrence is raison d’être enough for this Castle oater. Color; Approx. 65 minutes. 6:30 ONLY

Sunday & Monday 9/5 and 9/6 FORT TI (1953) Rare French and Indian War Eastern, with colonial George Montgomery teaming up with the Redcoats as they go toe-to-toe against those Frenchies at Fort Ticonderoga. Color; Approx. 75 minutes. 6:30 ONLY


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.

AROUND LOS ANGELES

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. Currently they have THE ART OF NATIVE AMERICAN BASKETRY: A LIVING TRADITION, through November 7th. I've seen the show three times, and am continually astonished at the beauty and variety of the work of the various tribes. 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.

ON TV

TV LAND - BONANZA and GUNSMOKE

Every weekday, TV LAND airs a three-hour block of BONANZA episodes from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They run a GUNSMOKE Monday through Thursday at 10:00 a.m., and on Friday they show two, from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m.. They're not currently running either series on weekends, but that could change at any time.

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 THE LONE RANGER at 1:30 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.


I'll have some more stuff tonight or tomorrow, and coming soon, interviews with Earl Holliman and Ty Hardin! But for now, Adios!

All Contents Copyright August 2010 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved