JOHN WAYNE AUCTION NETS $5.4 MILLION!

(1948 Mexican Tourist Card)

The John Wayne Estate Auction, held by Wayne’s family on Thursday and Friday, October 6^th and 7^th, largely for the benefit of the John Wayne Cancer Foundation, brought in $5,375,322.  The 745 lots comprised costumes, props, posters, and awards related to his film career, as well as clothes, books, furniture and other mementoes of the Duke’s private life.

(hat from LIBERTY VALANCE)

Bidders packed the auction-room at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel on Thursday, but more bidders were at home, around the world, following the auction live at the Heritage Auctions website, and bidding online and over the phone.  The last 135 lots, auctioned on Friday, were for internet bidding only.  If you’ve never watched an auction live online, it’s a fascinating thing to see.

(UNDEFEATED vest and Batjac crates)

In recent weeks the auction had been previewed in Dallas, Texas, and New York City, and finally at the Hyatt in Century City.  I attended the preview a couple of days before the auction, and talked to Margaret Barrett of Heritage Auctions.  Among the wide array items, there were many scripts from Duke’s movies set to go under the hammer, and I asked her if there were many notations in them.  “Some have annotations, some don’t.  Most of then have pages that have been folded over.  His habit seemed to be that after the scene was shot he would fold the page over.  If you look, for example, at the script for THE HORSE SOLDIERS, that was script he took to the set every day, and all of the pages have been folded over.  That’s a heavily-used working script.  Then we have other scripts, like WEDNESDAY MORNING, and that was probably a file script, and he didn’t take it to the set.” 

(Scripts from THE SEARCHERS, RIO BRAVO and THE ALAMO)

Some items were big – trunks and cowboy-hat lockers and a pair of message tables.  Others were pocket-sized – drivers licenses and Playboy Club keys.  There was a stack of more than a hundred personal calling cards, engraved with ‘John Wayne’ on the front, and autographed “Good Luck, John Wayne,” on the back.  The Duke used to carry a pocketful with him, for when people on the street asked him for an autograph. 

(Signed calling cards for fans)

The script for STAGECOACH sold for $11,950; THE SEARCHERS for $41,825; and RIO BRAVO for $20,315.  A 1948 Mexican Tourist card brought $$8,962.50.  His 1933 marriage certificate, joining him to Josephine Alicia Saenz, when his name was still Marion Mitchell Morrison, sold for $10,157.50.  An interesting John Ford item was included.  Elliot Nugent had written a magazine article claiming that Henry Fonda was Ford’s favorite actor.  Ford scrawled across the magazine, “Nugent is a liar!  My favorite actor is Fred Kennedy.”  Ford’s signature is actually witnessed by his brother, Pat Ford.  It sold for just under $1,200.

 

(neckerchiefs)

(LIBERTY VALANCE shirt)

(Boots fron UNDEFEATED)

(TRUE GRIT hat and patch)

The biggest single price for an item was Wayne’s GREEN BERET, from the movie of the same title, which sold for a whopping $179,250.  Among other wardrobe items, a pair of pants from THE ALAMO sold for $7,170; a shirt from THE COMANCHEROS, MCCLINTOCK! and EL DORADO sold for $5,975; the blue bib shirt from THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE brought $44,812.50 and his VALANCE  hat sold for $41,825; a cavalry hat from THE UNDEFEATED, THE HORSE SOLDIERS, CIRCUS WORLD and RIO LOBO sold for $35,850; his Nudie-made ROOSTER COGBURN hat sold for $77,675; a collection of colored neckerchiefs fetched $10,755.  There were hats from costars as well.  Hoot Gibson’s Union kepi from THE HORSE SOLDIERS cost $5,975; Ward Bond’s hat from HONDO sold for $6,572.50. 

The finest piece of art in the collection, the portrait of Wayne by the great John Decker, sold, oddly enough, for exactly the same price as a saddle from the 1960s: $71,700.  To see complete details on the action, visit the Heritage Auction website HERE.

SILVER SPUR AWARDS THIS FRIDAY! 

On Friday, October 14^th, the 14h Annual Silver Spur Awards will be presented by the Reel Cowboys, at Sportsman’s Lodge, 12825 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, 91604.  The event, which is to benefit the Autry National Center, will posthumously honor Gene, and will also honor attendees, actors James Drury (THE VIRGINIAN) and Fay McKenzie, a frequent co-star with Gene Autry, as well as Tex Ritter, Ken Maynard and Randolph Scott.  Also to be honored is stuntman Ted White, who has taken the hits and falls for John Wayne, Clark Gable, Richard Boone, Fess Parker and Lee Marvin among others.   Writer A.J. Fenady, who created and produced THE REBEL, BRANDED, the HONDO TV series and the John Wayne movie CHISUM, will also be honored, as will Andre and Renaud Veluzat, who operate the Veluzat Movie Ranch, formerly Melody Ranch. 

Among those presenting awards will be Western actors Ann Rutherford (Gene Autry’s co-star and Scarlet O’Hara’s kid sister), L.Q. Jones (THE WILD BUNCH, GUNSMOKE and many more), Dick Jones (BUFFALO BILL JR. and many more); producers A.C. Lyles and Rob Word; and stuntman Joe Moio.  The program will be emceed by Sam Neely and the legendary singer Johnny Western.

With the end of the Golden Boot Award following its 25^th Anniversary in 2007, The Silver Spur has become the preeminent Western movie award.   Like the Silver Spur, the Golden Boot Awards were often held at the Sportsman’s Lodge, the favorite hangout of the man who thought of the Golden Boot in the first place, Autry sidekick Pat Buttram.  In the old days, their creek used to be stocked with trout, and Howard Hughes used to take dates there to catch their dinners. 

The tickets are $125 for general seating, and $175 for V.I.P. seating.  For reservations, or more information, call 1-800-337-SPUR!   To learn more about the Reel Cowboys organization, go HERE. 

‘YELLOW ROCK’ TO OPEN ‘RED NATION FILM FESTIVAL’!

The 8^th Annual Red Nation Film Festival, subtitled ‘The Authentic Voice of American Indian & Indigenous Cinema’, will open on November 1^st with YELLOW ROCK, the new Western starring Michael Biehn, James Russo, Lenore Andriel, Michael Spears and Eddie Spears.  Regular Rounders (Round-up readers) have been following the progress of YELLOW ROCK, directed by Nick Vallenlonga and written by Andriel and Steve Doucette, since it first rolled camera about a year ago, and we’re very proud the festival has honored the filmmakers in this way.

The Festival runs from Tuesday, November 1^st through Tuesday, November 8^th, at several venues in Los Angeles, and we’ll have more details next week.  But to find out more right now, and to order tickets, go HERE. 

FIRST PEEK AT R.I.P.D.

(Jeff Bridges with Kevin Bacon)

(Jeff Bridges with Ryan Reynolds)

 

The newest pseudo-western based on a comic book, R.I.P.D., aiming for a June 2013 release, is the story of a recently murdered cop, Ryan Reynolds, who joins the Rest in Peace Department, a police agency made up of undead cops, to track the man who killed him.  He’s assisted (here comes the Western part) by Jeff Bridges as a deceased old-west lawman.  The film, directed by Robert Schwentke, also stars Kevin Bacon.  Here’re the first pictures to be leaked.

‘NATIONAL DAY OF THE COWBOY’ FUNDRAISER: 

HATS OFF TO COWBOYS!

On Saturday, October 22nd, the National Day of the Cowboy organization will hold a ‘Hats Off To Cowboys’ benefit to continue the work of making the Day of the Cowboy a reality nationally.  The event will take place in Black Canyon City, Arizona, at the Rock Springs Café.  Festivities include a traditional cowboy dinner (no, not just beans), country music, moonlight dancing, an auction, a raffle and more – there’ll even be a free raffle ticket to everyone who attends wearing a cowboy hat!  It’s only $20 per person!  For more information, visit the official site HERE.  

TCM FANATIC - WESTERN NOW ONLINE!And speaking of TCM, have I mentioned that the segment I was interviewed for is now viewable here?




THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

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

HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM

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

WELLS FARGO HISTORY MUSEUM

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


FREE WESTERNS ON YOUR COMPUTER AT HULU

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

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

BONANZA, GUNSMOKE and BIG VALLEY

Every weekday, TV LAND airs a three-hour block of BONANZA episodes from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They 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.  INSP is showing THE BIG VALLEY every weekday at noon, one p.m. and nine p.m., and Saturdays at 6 p.m..  They'll soon be adding DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN to the mix.

NEED YOUR BLACK & WHITE TV FIX?

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

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

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

That's it for this week, pardners.  Next week I'll have the story of my recent visit to Tombstone, just in time to tell you about Tombstone Helldorado Days, plus the upcoming SPERDVAC radio convention, featuring an reenacment of an episode of the James Stewart series, THE SIX-SHOOTER!

Happy Trails!

Henry

All Original Content Copyright October 2011 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

JOHN WAYNE AUCTION OCT. 6 & 7

(Wayne portrait by John Decker)

On Thursday and Friday, October 6^th and 7^th, on behalf of John Wayne’s family, Heritage Auctions will bring down the hammer on 744 lots from the Duke’s estate.  The auction will take place at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, in Century City, the development built atop the bull-dozed backlot of 20^th Century Fox, the studio where Wayne made THE BIG TRAIL(1930), THE BARBARIAN AND THE GEISHA (1958), NORTH TO ALASKA (1960), THE COMANCHEROS (1961), THE LONGEST DAY (1962), THE UNDEFEATED (1969) and RIO LOBO (1970). 

Among the items featured are wardrobe pieces, some much-used, like a shirt from THE COMANCHEROS, MCCLINTOCK! and EL DORADO; a cavalry hat from THE UNDEFEATED, THE HORSE SOLDIERS, CIRCUS WORLD and RIO LOBO; a wonderful portrait of Wayne by the great John Decker; several awful portraits of Wayne, presumably by fans; a vast array of trophies and plaques; scripts from STAGECOACH, THE SEARCHERS, RIO BRAVO, THE SHOOTIST and many more; personal letters from stars and politicians; cufflinks, watches, and more belts and belt buckles than you can imagine.  The viewing days are Monday through Wednesday, October 3^rd through 5^th.  For more information, visit the Heritage Auction site HERE .

MORE 'DUKE' NEWS!

The Jules Verne Festival is looking for volunteers for their JOHN WAYNE TRIBUTE at Arclight Hollywood/Cinerama Dome on Thurs., Nov 10th.  The Jules Verne Festival is the eclectic outfit that ran the WILD BUNCH 40^th ANNIVERSARY event a couple of years ago, and more recently a tribute to Steve McQueen.  If you’re interested in volunteering, go to contact@julesverne.org.

BONANZACON 2011

From Friday, September 16^th through Monday, September 19^th, BONANZA fans from around the nation and around the world converged at the Marriott Hotel in Burbank for BONANZACON2011.  The event, ramrod-ed by Cheryl Whitman Dubuque, was a gathering not just of fans, but of those who were involved with the making of the series, some from the very beginning.

The events varied from the festive – visits to stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, location visits, a Warner Brothers Studio tour, a country fair; to the somber – visits to Michael Landon’s and Lorne Greene’s gravesites, series creator David Dortort’s tombstone unveiling.  

On Friday night, just before a panel discussion that included the lovely Mariette Hartley, BONANZA villains Morgan Woodward, Gregory Walcott and Michael Dante, Dave  Blocker (Dan’s son), actor Richard Hatch (Lorne’s costar on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA), writer Tony Lawrence, producer Susan McCray and firearms expert Allan Frisch, I got to talk to several of the guests, including Morgan Woodward, who was celebrating his 86^th birthday at the event.  I asked Morgan why BONANZA is such an important series.

(Morgan Woodward)

MORGAN:  Well, it’s important to me because David Dortort was one of my very best friends, and a mentor of mine.  I worked with him on RESTLESS GUN (1957), with John Payne.  I was signed to WYATT EARP, with Hugh O’Brien, when BONANZA started.  And David called MCA to see if they might let me out of my contract, to do Hoss.  At that time I was six foot three and weighed 225.  But he made the right choice by choosing Dan Blocker.  Dan was a very, very close friend of mine – we’re fellow Texans – and we knew each other long before BONANZA came along.  I was very happy to see Dan get a series, because I was already working on WYATT EARP, and MCA wouldn’t let me go anyway, and why would I want to leave one series and go to another? I’m working!  That was one reason BONANZA was so important to me.  But also I liked the color; I liked all the guys that worked on the show.

HENRY:  Of your eight BONANZA episodes, which was your favorite?

MORGAN: I believe it’s called OLD FRIENDS.  I was always interested in doing that one because it was about Lorne and me, primarily. 

HENRY: Was Lorne Greene a lot like Ben Cartwright?

MORGAN: Yeah, I think so.  Lorne was pretty formal, he was from radio, you know.  Lorne was a nice guy, always a gentleman, and we got along great. 

Actor Michael Dante, whose dark good looks made him a natural for ethnic roles of all sorts, played Crazy Horse in the CUSTER TV series.  He believes BONANZA is important, “…because it was family.  What I loved about it is all the moral themes which we need in our country now because, as you know, we’re a very polarized country at the moment.”  Although he appeared in a single episode of the series, his connection goes back to before the pilot was even shot. 

MICHAEL DANTE: I came very close to being the third son.  It was the character that Pernell Roberts played.  He had a different name then; they changed it to Adam.  But me and Michael Landon looked a little bit too much alike.  And I was much taller, though we were both handsome young men.  But I came very close to doing it.  It’s interesting, after I did a BONANZA, I was taking off my wardrobe when the assistant director came and said, “Mr. Dortort wants to see you right away.  Don’t leave the lot without him seeing you.”  So I went to see him, and he said, “Michael, you did a great job in THE BRASS BOX – love what you did.  We’d like you to do a series for us; HIGH CHAPARRAL.”  I said, “Who’s the character?  What’s he like?”  “It’s a Mexican.  He’s named Manalito.”  I said, “David, I played the Mexican character, Miguel Ortega, in THE BRASS BOX, but versatility is my salvation in the business.  I can do a lot of different characters, and I don’t want to pigeonhole myself, get typecast as a Latin-type actor.  That I know would destroy my career.  I’m grateful that you asked me, but I can’t do it.”  I did just one BONANZA, just THE BRASS BOX, with Ramon Navarro, who was a big star – he was the original BEN HUR.  And we had a nice camaraderie, he played my uncle in the piece, and we worked well together – he was a very good actor, very professional.

(Mariette Hartley and Michael Dante)

Actress Mariette Hartley still looks as fresh and beautiful as she did when Sam Peckinpah discovered her.  I told her that I always think of her with the title-card, “And introducing Mariette Hartley,” in RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY.

MARIETTE HARTLEY: I have such feelings about that; my father was sitting next to me, when that came up in the showing.

Her father died soon after that, so it was very important to her that her father saw the beginning of her career success, seated beside her.  I asked her how many episodes of BONANZA she starred in.

MARIETTE: (with a laugh) Four; I went through the whole family, one brother at a time.  And then I dated Ben.

HENRY: That’s got to be something of a record.  Which was your favorite episode?

MARIETTE: I think the one I did Dan, THE IRON BUTTERFLY, mostly because he was such a terrific actor. But also because he thought it was special.  Because he didn’t get a lot of romantic parts, and it meant a lot to him.  And then of course, he passed away a year after that.  I loved doing that one, but I liked doing all of them. 

(Rick Drown)

Rick Drown is a little guy, but I wouldn’t mess with him, because easy-going as he seems, he’s all muscle.  Rick was stunt-double for Mitch Vogel, who played Jamie Cartwright in the later seasons.  I asked Rick how he liked doing stunt work.

RICK DROWN:  I love it; I’ve been doing it for a long time. 

HENRY: What kind of stunts did you do doubling for Mitch?

RICK: I did horse falls, I did saddle falls, little fights, got thrown around, beat up -- anything with horses, I drove wagons.  All the stunts they needed. 

HENRY: How long were you on BONANZA?

RICK: Three and a half or maybe four and a half seasons – Mitch would remember.  When they moved from Paramount to Warners. 

HENRY: Did you double for anyone else on the show?

RICK:  Yeah, I doubled for women they had on there.  I doubled for other kids.  Whenever they had anyone my size, I doubled them. 

HENRY: Outside of BONANZA, who have you doubled for?

RICK: I doubled for Dudley Moore.  I doubled him for nineteen years, starting in 10 (1979).  I did the fall down the hill.  I doubled Danny DeVito for eighteen years.  Then I worked on MCMILLAN AND WIFE and I doubled Martha Raye for a whole season.

HENRY: Are you still working?

RICK: Oh yeah, I just finished a couple of months working on SPIDERMAN 4.  Doing stunts, cars, explosions, things like that. 

I had to stop asking questions then, because the panel discussion was about to begin.  I’ve been to a lot of panel Q&As lately, and this was the most smartly run I’ve ever seen, because all of the questions had to be submitted in writing.  This avoided the frequently seen problem of late, where a questioner will get a hold of the microphone and clamp onto it like Patty LaBelle, never giving up the floor.  (The worst case I saw of this was at the Nixon Library, when Gore Vidal was supposed to introduce George McGovern at a book signing.  Gore would not give up the mic or the stage, and by the time McGovern finally got to speak, his Q&A consisted of one question before he had to start signing books, so they could close the place on time.)

There were many revelations at the panel discussion.  Among them, Morgan Woodward’s secret weapon as a screen villain: he never blinks on camera!  Dan Blocker had his schedule arranged so he only had to work in the early part of the week, because after his fame became a problem, he moved himself and his family to Sweden, where he attracted less attention.  Michael Dante’s favorite role was the title character in WINTERHAWK.

The next Bonanza Round-up is planned for June of 2014 in Carson City, Nevada.  To learn more, visit their Facebook page HERE.

NBC ORDERS YET ANOTHER WESTERN PILOT!

According to The AV CLUBB and Deadline: Hollywood, actor Sean Hayes will star in a‘dramedy’ about a “young, eccentric east-coast doctor” who moves out west and pits his intellect against the rubes and their pistols. Sound a bit like the premise of HANGTOWN? Incidentally, Hayes, so well-remembered on WILL AND GRACE, did a great job playing Jerry Lewis in the MARTIN AND LEWIS TV movie, and will soon be seen as Larry in THE THREE STOOGES.

 

COSTNER BAILS ON 'DJANGO UNCHAINED'!

According to Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood, Kevin Costner, who'd signed to play the sadistic fight trainer at Candyland, the plantation/brothel at the center of Quentin Tarantino's Western, is exiting. It's described as a combination of "personal and schedule reasons." The shoot would tie him up for two months with a fairly small role. At the same time, he's playing Pa Kent in the SUPERMAN reboot, and starring in and co-producing the HATFIELDS AND MCCOYS mini for History Channel. No word yet on who'll replace him.

SURPRISE WESTERN REVELATIONS

For several months I’ve been working as a creative consultant on a documentary called THANK YOU VERY LARGE, about three of the great, and unfairly forgotten, comics of early television, George Gobel, Martha Raye and Imogene Coca. We’ve just finished a week of interviews with comedians and writers, among them Norman Lear, Carl Reiner, Carol Channing, Jack Carter, Fred Willard and Alan Young. Among the surprises, Fred Willard revealed that he came to Hollywoodnot to be a comic, but a cowboy actor. He did manage to do one episode of PISTOLS AND PETTICOATS.

(Alan Young and me)

Alan Young had revealed in his autobiography, MR. ED AND ME AND MORE, that the voice of Mr. Ed was provided by Republic Western star and curmudgeon Alan ‘Rocky’ Lane. Young confirmed that he was not an easy man to work with. “Just awful! He was his own worst enemy. After the first season they tried to replace him, but no one could reproduce that voice. He was mad because he didn’t have his own parking space. They gave him a raise, and then it was okay.” Alan also said the former Red Ryder star was a great horseman, and taught him a lot about riding. After MR. ED ended, Alan was up for the lead in a Western movie with a mystery plot. But he lost the part when a producer objected to him as a detective: “The audience will figure the horses will just tell him everything!”

BIG VALLEY INSP UPDATE

I’ve been catching episodes of THE BIG VALLEY on INSP since they started running the series on Monday.  I absolutely did not remember there was a fourth son, Eugene Barkely (Charles Briles), who they ditched after eight episodes.  I remember when the series came on in 1965, I was eleven, and excited to hear the word ‘bastard’ used on television.  So I was startled this time when, in the pilot, I heard this exchange between Nick and Heath: “Just who are you?”  “I’m Heath, Tom Barkley’s ______ son!”  Yeah, INSP cut out the bastard!  Sorry, eleven-year-olds of today!  But otherwise the show is great, and Linda Evans is so beautiful it’s unnerving.

‘BLACKTHORN’ CONTEST WINNERS

A pair of Brooklyn-based writers, and their spouses, were the beneficiaries of our ‘BLACKTHORN/BUTCH CASSIDY CONTEST’, and attended the New York City premiere this past Thursday night.  Contestants were asked to submit the names of three actors who played Butch, and what they played him in.  No big surprise, Paul Newman is best remembered, closely followed by Tom Berenger in BUTCH AND SUNDANCE: THE EARLY DAYS.  I was surprised that no one said William Holden, whose character in THE WILD BUNCH was named Pike Bishop, but was based on Butch.  The first actor to play Butch, according to IMDB, was Slim Whitaker in DEADWOOD PASS (1938).

Until Paul Newman redefined the role into a leading-man, the majority of actors who played the famous outlaw were among the best of Western character actors.  Among them were Charles Bronson in an episode of TALES OF WELLS FARGO (1958); Neville Brand in two movies, THE THREE OUTLAWS (1956) and BADMAN’S COUNTRY (1958); Arthur Hunnicutt in CAT BALLOU (1965); Joe Sawyer twice in episodes of STORIES OF THE CENTURY (1954) and FRONTIER DOCTOR (1958); Walter Sande in DAKOTA LIL (1950); John Doucette in THE TEXAS RANGERS (1951); Gene Evans in WYOMING RENEGADES (1954); Harry Lauter in an episode of BUFFALO BILL JR. (1955); Steve Brodie in an episode of BRONCO (1961); and John Crawford in RETURN OF THE GUNFIGHTER (1967).

Post-Newman, Spaghetti Western star Hunt Powers (Jack Betts) played Butch in A FISTFUL OF DEATH (1971); there was Jarion Monroe in THE DREAM CHASER (1982); Scott Paulin in THE GAMBLER V: PLAYING FOR KEEPS (1994); John Pyper-Ferguson in an episode of MENTORS (2002); David Clayton Rogers in THE LEGEND OF BUTCH AND SUNDANCE (2006); and finally Brian Wimmer in OUTLAW TRAIL: THE TREASURE OF BUTCH CASSIDY (2006).  I’m not counting the cartoon show about a rock band called BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KIDS.  Oh, what the heck, Chip Hand in that thing.

TCM FANATIC - WESTERN NOW ONLINE!And speaking of TCM, have I mentioned that the segment I was interviewed for is now viewable here?

THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

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

HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM

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

WELLS FARGO HISTORY MUSEUM

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


FREE WESTERNS ON YOUR COMPUTER AT HULU

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

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

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 DANIEL BOONE at 1:00 p.m., and two episodes of THE RIFLEMAN from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.. On Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. it's THE RIFLEMAN again, followed at 2:30 by BAT MASTERSON. And unlike many stations in the re-run business, they run the shows in the original airing order. There's an afternoon movie on weekdays at noon, often a western, and they show western films on the weekend, but the schedule is sporadic. 

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

And RFD-TV is currently showing THE ROY ROGERS SHOW several times a week, and a Roy feature as well -- check your local listings.

That's all for this week, folks.  Next week I hope to have a pair of movie reviews, and a story about my recent visit to Tombstone, Arizona!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

WIN TICKETS TO 'BLACKTHORN' PREMIERE!

THE ROUND-UP’S FIRST CONTEST: HOW YOU CAN ATTEND THE NEW YORK CITY PREMIERE OF ‘BLACKTHORN’!

On Thursday, September 29^th, at 7:00 p.m., four lucky New York-area Rounders – that is, readers of Henry’s Western Round-up -- will attend the premiere of BLACKTHORN, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures!  It will be at the Cinema 2, at 1001 3^rd Avenue, between 59^th and 60^th Streets, and star Sam Shepard and director Mateo Gill are also slated to attend.   

A pair of tickets will be awarded to each of the first two entries which correctly name three shows in which Butch Cassidy is a character – movies, TV movies and TV episodes are all acceptable – and the actor who portrayed him.  And you can’t count Sam Shephard in BLACKTHORN as one of them! 

E-mail your entry, including your name, e-mail address, zip code and telephone number to cassidycontest@gmail.com.  If you’re not in the New York area, and cannot attend, but want to show how knowledgeable you are, you can also e-mail your answer, but please include JUST SHOWING OFF in the subject line.  Winners will be contacted by e-mail, and winners’ names will be announced in next week’s Round-up.  Good luck!  

SAM SHEPARD ACTS ‘BUTCH’ IN BLACKTHORN

We all hate to lose our heroes.  That’s why there are people desperate to believe that James Dean didn’t die in that crash, and it wasn’t really Elvis in that coffin, and someone other than John Dillinger was gunned down outside of the Chicago Biograph.  So it’s no surprise that someone would want to tell a story where Butch Cassidy wasn’t shot to pieces with the Sundance Kid in that little town in Bolivia in 1908.  (And if you consider that a spoiler, this may not be the blog for you.)

BLACKTHORN suggests that, while Sundance may be gone, Butch (Sam Shepard) , circa 1927, is alive and well, breeding horses in Bolivia, and living quietly under the name of James Blackthorn.  He’s a weathered, sun-burnished older man now, cheerfully intimate with his housekeeper, Yana (Peruvian actress Magaly Solier), but she’s not the love of his life.  That woman is gone, died recently of tuberculosis back in the States.  And that leaves her son, who is Butch’s nephew… or something…alone.  Butch decides it’s time to pull up stakes, get back over the border, to meet his kin while he’s still able.

Making his way towards the States, he has an unexpected and fateful encounter with Eduardo Apocada (Eduardo Noriega), an embezzling bookkeeper on the run from his mining-mogul boss, and Cassidy eventually concludes that they have no alternative but to work together, to put their hands on the kind of money both men need.  But though Eduardo does develop a degree of hero-worship, this movie does not descend into the predictable plot that you think you see coming – this is no generic ‘buddy’ movie.  There is humor here, and irony, but underlying it all is the knowledge that these men are being relentlessly pursued by a posse that is decidedly devoid of humor.  They are also pursued by Mackinley (Stephen Rea), an investigator who feels his life and career were largely ruined by his failure to capture Butch and Sundance decades before.

Throughout the film, flashbacks remind Butch of his younger days, when he and Sundance and Etta Place rode together, the filmmakers drawing parallels and contrasts between the two different periods in his life.  It’s a tough balancing act here, because the film clearly does not want to be ‘just a sequel’ to BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, and yet it assumes knowledge of the earlier film.  So relationships change in unexpected ways that propel much of Butch’s actions in the 1920s story.  Etta Place (Dominique McElligot, soon to be seen in AMC’s HELL ON WHEELS) is a much more proactive member of the Hole-In-The-Wall gang than previously portrayed.   There is no physical resemblance between this movie’s Sundance (Irish-born Padraic Delaney) and Robert Redford; in fact, the young Cassidy (Denmark-born Nicolak Coster-Waldau) resembles a young Redford more than he does a young Paul Newman. 

Playwright-turned-actor (and sometime rodeo rider) Sam Shepard’s long string of credits includes quite a few Westerns and neo-Westerns: THUNDERHEART, STREETS OF LAREDO, PURGATORY, ALL THE PRETTY HORSES, BANDIDAS, and THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, where he plays another celebrated outlaw, Frank James.  But he first gained attention onscreen back in 1978, as the doomed farmer in Terrence Malick’s achingly beautiful DAYS OF HEAVEN, and BLACKTHORN’s Bolivia may be the most striking background he’s worked in front of since then.  Bolivia has rarely been seen on film, and from lush forests to barren salt flats to Aztec-looking villages, J.A. Ruiz Anchía’s photography is a revelation.  The costume design by Clara Bilbao and art direction by Juan Pedro De Gaspar let you know that you not in a Mexican village, but in a different culture with uniquely beautiful and colorful designs to the clothes and the homes.

Director Mateo Gil, best known as a screenwriter (OPEN YOUR EYES, THE SEA INSIDE) and screenwriter Miguel Barros have told a story that mixes adventure and melancholy, sentiment, philosophy and action.  The men live in a beautiful but hard world, and Butch’s recognition of that hardness, his own view of the degrees of right and wrong, are central to the story.  The action and gunplay is sufficient but not overblown.  In fact, the grim efficiency of it, as portrayed by the filmmakers and exercised by the shooters, is much unnerving than the excesses of a lot of action films – and saying anything more on that score would be a spoiler indeed.

My only criticism would be the filmmakers’ apparent eagerness to leave plot scenes and get to the next character scene: our leads don’t try hard enough to catch the runaway horse, or put more distance between themselves and their pursuers after a lucky escape, because the story-tellers want to get to the emotional drama.

Sam Shepard started his career as too good-looking for a playwright, and his face has taken on added character with the years; he’s playing a man of his own age, and it suits him.  He plays Cassidy with an understated and direct honesty.  Cassidy’s not a ‘nice guy’ but he’s a decent man with a sense of honor and fairness, in a way that echoes William Holden’s version of the character in THE WILD BUNCH more than the cheerier Paul Newman take. 

Produced by Andrés Santana and Ibon Cormenzana, BLACKTHORN is well made and well-worth seeing.

You can view the trailer on YouTube HERE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4SgoLvj6FQ

BLACKTHORN opens theatrically on October 7^th. 

BOOK REVIEW:  AND…ACTION!

And…Action! is the story of a fascination with the Western film as seen through the eyes of four people: a kid who grew up on the edge of the film business, an aspiring teenage actor, a TV and movie costumer, and a screenwriter.  The odd thing is, they’re all the same man, Stephen Lodge.

Stephen was eight years old in 1951, and like most American boys of the time, he and his kid brother Bobby were obsessed with Westerns -- the B kind and the TV variety.  But unlike the rest of us, he was in a position to do something about it that went far beyond wearing his cap-gun rig and watching the tube.  Not only did he live in the San Fernando Valley, where so many of the movies were made, his Aunt Bette was a secretary at Monogram Studios, and his Uncle George was a script supervisor for Gene Autry’s Flying A Productions! 

(Steve and Bobby with Johnny Mack Brown)

So Stephen begged and bugged his mom until she finally broke down and got his Aunt and Uncle to arrange a visit to a set.  The first time it was the Iverson Movie Ranch, for a Johnny Mack Brown film, and from that moment on, the kid was hooked.   Soon mom was driving the kids to Corriganville to watch the GENE AUTRY SHOW being filmed, where they met Gene, Pat Buttram and Ray ‘Crash’ Corrigan; the family vacationed at Big Bear Lake, where a small movie town was the location for the WILD BILL HICKOCK series.  Best of all, Stephen’s mom broke all the rules, and always brought a camera to the set: the book is full of snapshots and 8mm frame blow-ups of the boys and all the stars they met.

(Gail Davis shooting ANNIE OAKLEY at Melody Ranch)

And Stephen could be a pretty conniving little cuss: he pretended to have started a Jimmy Hawkins fan club to get into Melody Ranch, where THE ANNIE OAKLEY SHOW was being filmed – Hawkins played Annie’s kid brother, Tagg.  Over the next few years he had the chance to visit Pioneertown, Bell Movie Ranch, Spahn Movie Ranch (yeah, the one the Manson Family moved in on).  As teenagers, he and his friends even got kicked off the set of BAT MASTERSON, although Gene Barry turned out to be such a nice guy that he shared his lunch with the outcasts. 

Though written by an adult, the stories are told from the perspective of the little kid who lived them, which is so much of their charm, although the adult world peeks in occasionally: Dickie Jones, BUFFALO BILL JR., is unhappy with negotiations with Flying A, and after he does his scenes, drives away like a bat out of Hell.  Another time, the family leaves Iverson Ranch, disappointed that a Roy Rogers shoot has been cancelled, only to learn the reason: one of the Rogers children had suddenly died.

(Filming THE ROY ROGERS SHOW)

Stephen pursued an acting career for a time, appearing in TV shows like FURY, THE FARMER’S DAUGHTER, DR. KILDARE and MY THREE SONS, and features like DINO with Sal Mineo.  At age sixteen Stephen spent a summer working as an actor/stuntman at Corriganville, and gives a fascinating and nostalgic description of that summer job most of us would have killed for. (Although maybe not on the day Ken Maynard showed up drunk and belligerent!) 

But his long-term film and TV career was as a costumer, starting in 1963 with THE FUGITIVE, followed by the short-lived John Mills Western series, DUNDEE AND THE CULHANE, which took him to Flagstaff, Apache Junction and Old Tucson Studios in Arizona.  He worked on many series over the years, and even those like the sitcom CAMP RUNAMUCK, which would seem to have no western tie-in, often did.  RUNAMUCK was shot at the Columbia Ranch in Burbank, where Gary Cooper faced down the villains of HIGH NOON.  The RUNAMUCK location was soon the home for another of Stephen’s series, HERE COME THE BRIDES.  No wonder Stephen considers the Columbia Ranch his ‘home’ studio. 

Over the years he worked at all of the studios and ranches, and his passion for them is palpable.  He has plenty to say about which were great, like Republic; which were ridiculously small, like Allied Artists (once Monogram, then a PBS station and now a studio for the Church of Scientology); which were chopped down to nothing, re-dressed until they were unrecognizable, or nearly burned to the ground.  He worked on Western comedies like THE DUTCHESS AND THE DIRTWATER FOX, TV series like THE DEPUTIES (which introduced Don Johnson), TV movies like THE SUNDANCE WOMAN, and has insights into them all.  He worked for Quinn Martin and worked around Andrew Fenady (THE REBEL), and tried desperately to work for Sam Peckinpah.  He hung out at the last of the great Western Cowboy Saloons, the Backstage Bar, right outside the Republic gate.  Now it’s a sushi bar.

And then there was another career, as a screenwriter.  With Steve Ihnat, an actor he met as a guest star on DUNDEE, he co-wrote the rodeo comedy THE HONKERS (1972), starring James Coburn and Slim Pickens.   But aside from co-writing KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS (1977), it was a long time between writing gigs.  When he got RIO DIABLO made in 1993, starring Kenny Rogers and Naomi Judd, it was after more than a decade of trying. 

Now retired from costuming, and writing fulltime, he and his wife have moved to Rancho Mirage, not far from one of his favorites haunts, Pioneertown.  When I spoke to him about AND…ACTION! recently, he told me he hadn’t set out to write a book.  “I wrote every individual story when I felt like writing one.  They were stories that I wanted to share with people, and I’d send them to all my friends.  And finally I decided that maybe I ought to put them all together into one big compilation of stories.”

HENRY: What was your favorite experience as a kid visiting a set?

STEPHEN:  I would have to say it was Johnny Mack Brown at the Iverson Western Town.  (WHISTLING HILLS, 1951) The fact that Jimmy Ellison was there, too.  And I was not even aware of who Noel Neil was until much later.

H: Well, she hadn’t done the SUPERMAN series at that point.  What was your favorite encounter on a set, with a star, when you were a kid?

(Steve with Andy Devine)

S:  I think probably the coolest guy was Andy Devine.  He was nice to my brother and me; let us sit in a chair with him, offered to buy us a Coke.  Pat Brady was just great – he really entertained me. 

H:  You visited pretty much all of the ranches.  As a kid, did you have a favorite?

S: Corriganvile.  And I ended up working there.  That was kind of a dream.  I was sixteen years old, believe it or not, with a .45 tied to my side, out there every weekend.

H: What was Crash like to work for?

S: A very pleasant man.  I mostly worked for a guy named Charley Aldrich, who ran the street shows.  Crash was there every weekend, and had pictures taken with kids, on his horse, and all.  He wanted to do movies in the middle of the week, during the summer, for the people, when there were no movie companies out there.   He had an old script for a Billy the Kid show, an old 16mm camera, and a sound system.  He cast me as Billy the Kid, so I’d go out there every day, and put make-up on – we had a small number of people pretending to be the crew.  We started with film in the camera – and I’d love to get my hands on it, and I think Tommy Corrigan’s got it someplace.  We shot two weeks or so, and I rode Flash, his horse, and he let me borrow his gun for the whole thing.  That went on until September, when I had to leave abruptly, because I got a real job in Hollywood, doing a pilot for a show called THE WRANGLER.  It was the first videotaped Western ever – they shot it out of a truck, with three cameras.  Jesse Wayne was the other stuntman.  They did the pilot right on the KTLA backlot.  He and I had a fistfight, he knocked me down some stairs.  I turned around, pulled my gun and shot him, and he fell off a balcony.  And that was the pilot.  They wanted to see what it would look like on videotape.  Actually, they made (the series) with Jason Evers.  It went for a summer replacement. 

H: You acted on shows like FURY.

S: That was basically a silent bit.  But I did shows like MY THREE SONS, and DR. KILDARE.  And not too many more. 

H: What was it like, after spending so much time on sets, behind the camera, to suddenly be in front of them?

S:  (laughs) It’s a little more scary being in front of them. 

H: You have a lot to say about Pioneertown. 

S: I grew up near Pioneertown.  We were up here in the 1950s, when Pioneertown was in pristine shape.  We never saw Gene Autry shooting here, but he was shooting up here at the same time.  The Red Dog Saloon was open for business, the bowling alley was open for business, the restaurant was open for business – it’s not anymore, but that’s the way it was.  It was kind of nice in the old days.  I haven’t been there lately, but I’ll be going up there this week.  There’s a friend from out of town that I’m going to take up there.  

H: What was your first show as a costumer? 

S: My first was a commercial at Columbia, and then I did two or three days on THE LUCY SHOW, then I got a quick call to replace the set man on THE FUGITIVE, and I stayed there for the next two seasons. 

H: That was a show that was always on the road.

S: We had a lot of fun with that.  It was like being in the Army. 

H: As a costumer, are Westerns more fun than non-period things?

S: Oh, for me it is.  A lot more fun, because that’s what I always wanted to do: whether I was a cowboy or a costumer really didn’t matter. 

H: Is it very different being an in-town costumer, versus being off to the Painted Desert or Old Tucson?

S:  Well, when you’re on location you get a lot more freedom.  So does the director; so do the actors.  You get too far out, and someone will make a phone call.  I enjoyed the locations more than the at-home stuff. 

(Steve at Old Tucson)

H: Do you have any particular memories of Old Tucson?

S: Yeah, that it was awful hot.  I always ended up there in July, and it was in the monsoon season.  It would rain all night, and bake you during the day.  The other little town that Old Tucson owns, I don’t know what they call it now.  They used to call it Harmony.

H: Now they call it Mescal.

S: That’s it.  They used that in TOM HORN, and I was out there on GUNSMOKE.  That was a nice little town.  Looked like it was out in the middle of nowhere, but it was actually not that far off the road.

H: You worked on one of my favorite quirky Western series of the late 1960s, HERE COME THE BRIDES. 

S: Oh yes!  I’m still in touch with a lot of the fans – the middle-aged women.  I was on that for half of the first season, and the last season.  (We shot that at) Columbia Ranch.  And sometimes we’d go up into the mountains of Burbank, or behind Glendale, and we’d go up to Franklin Canyon.  We had a ‘green set’ on the stage, and we had a lagoon set, right close to the town set. 

H: What’s a ‘green set’?

S: That’s where there’s trees and rocks and it looks like outdoors, but it’s really on a stage.  Like WAGON TRAIN, whatever was set up was set up on a green set.  That was a fun show to work on.  A lot of good people to work with, not only in front of the camera, but behind the camera. 

H: In 1972 you went from costumer to screenwriter with THE HONKERS. 

S: (laughs) But didn’t stay too long.  The money runs out and you go back to rag-pickin’ again.  I got three more (movies made) than most.

H:  How did THE HONKERS come about?

S: I’d gotten to know Steve Ihnat, we’d done about four, five shows together, and we’d always talk.  He’d just finished making this little movie he’d shoot on the weekends I said I’d just written a screenplay, called HONCHO, with Dave Cass, who was my writing partner at the time.  I let him read it, and he came back and said, ‘Do you want to write a rodeo script with me?’  I’d go to his place every weekend, write everything down, and during the week I’d put everything into a screenplay format, and come back.  We worked on it four weeks.  Then we went to a rodeo, to see if we got it right, to get the color, to get the announcer’s way of saying everything.  His agent told him to write a script and he could get him a deal directing it, too.  They got us a deal immediately with Filmways, for Martin Ransohoff, but Marty passed on it.  You’ve got to remember when this was, and we were talking about shooting in real locations, in real houses, and he was talking about building sets in the stage.  He passed, and that was a big disappointment. They went to Levy-Gardner-Laven (producers of THE RIFLEMAN and THE BIG VALLEY), and they set up a deal.  And before I knew it we were in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and before you knew it, it was over.  A year later it was the premiere, and a week after that, Ihnat died. 

H: Any particular memories of James Coburn or Slim Pickens on that?

S: Slim Pickens is probably my favorite guy I ever worked with.  And he drove his Mustang like he rode that bomb in DR. STRANGELOVE.  A crazy sonofabitch, I’ll tell you.  All cowboy. 

H: He started out as a rodeo clown.  You can’t get much more dangerous than that.

S: No, and in THE HONKERS he fought the bull a little bit. 

H: You continued as a costumer and a writer – KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS is a notable success.

S: (laughs) They didn’t pay me too much for that; it was a success for everyone else.  But it’s a good credit to have, because it became a ‘midnight classic.’

H:  You didn’t write another western movie until 1993’s RIO DIABLO. 

S:  Actually we wrote that in 1975, and it was optioned a few times here and there – we probably made more off the option money than on the sale.  We made some pretty good money on it when CBS picked it up, but that was way later. 

(Steve with Dickie Jones on the BUFFALO BILL JR. set)

(Steve with Dick Jones recently at Lone Pine)

H: Was that a cathartic experience, to get it made so many years after you wrote it?

S: Yeah, and it’s also a very disappointing thing when they start cutting big chunks out of it.  There was a lot more with Kansas, that was Stacy Keach Jr.’s part.  We had a big scene where they drop bodies off of the stagecoach, and that’s when you first meet Kansas.

H: Are you still writing screenplays?

S: Yes I am, still trying to sell ‘em.  (The one I’m working on) is called SHADOWS OF EAGLES; it’s one of my novels that I turned into a screenplay.  It takes place in Texas during World War II.  I wanted to do a play on THE GREAT ESCAPE, but I wanted to do it in Monument Valley.  One time I’m driving down to Terlingua,  Texas with a friend of mine, and we go through a little town called Marfa, that’s where they shot GIANT, and he says, “Right over there is where the old German prison camp used to be.”  And I did a double-take.  So in my story it’s the furthest prison camp from the east coast, and a very important prisoner gets put in there, he’s a Blue Max guy from the First World War. So he’s an older guy, and now he’s been captured, and the Germans decide if they can break him out it’ll be good for moral.  So they send in some guys who break him out, and maybe fifteen or twenty other Nazis.  And the Army doesn’t have enough men to run the prison and chase escapees.  So the Texas Rangers offer to do that, and it ends up with Texas Rangers with six-guns and Winchester rifles on horseback, against Germans with automatic weapons and quad trucks.  And it’s a big chase across Texas’ Big Bend.  I have a guy who’s publishing it as an e-book. 

If you’d like to purchase AND…ACTION!, or any of Stephen Lodge’s other books, or look at his remarkable collection of on-set photos, visit his website HERE.

INSP PREMIERES ‘BIG VALLEY’ MONDAY

The classic 1960s Western series THE BIG VALLEY will begin airing on INSP on Monday, September 26^th.  They’ll show two episodes each weekday and one on Saturdays – check your local listings for times.

CELEBRATE GENE AUTRY’S BIRTHDAY AT HIS MUSEUM!

On Thursday, September 29^th, the Autry will celebrate Gene’s birthday by screening fully restored and uncut episodes of THE GENE AUTRY SHOW from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.

And on Saturday, October first, see a free double-feature of Gene’s movies starting at 11:30 a.m.; THE SAGEBRUSH TROUBADOUR (Republic1935) and BLUE CANADIAN ROCKIES (Columbia1952).

EDDIE BRANDT’S VIDEO PARKING LOT SALE SATURDAY!

On Saturday, October 1^st, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Eddie Brandt’s Saturday Matinee, inarguably the world’s greatest video store for Western fans, will have their first parking-lot sale in years.  There will be THOUSANDS of VHS tapes, including HUNDREDS of Westerns, on sale for $1 or $2.  Additionally there will be DVDs for $5 or less, movie posters for $2, CDs for $3, LOOK magazines for $5, LPs for $2, plus books, laserdiscs, sheet music and T-shirts!  Eddie’s is at 5006 Vineland Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91601.  818-506-4242.

TCM FANATIC - WESTERN NOW ONLINE!And speaking of TCM, have I mentioned that the segment I was interviewed for is now viewable here?





THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

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

HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM

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

WELLS FARGO HISTORY MUSEUM

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


FREE WESTERNS ON YOUR COMPUTER AT HULU

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

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

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 DANIEL BOONE at 1:00 p.m., and two episodes of THE RIFLEMAN from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.. On Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. it's THE RIFLEMAN again, followed at 2:30 by BAT MASTERSON. And unlike many stations in the re-run business, they run the shows in the original airing order. There's an afternoon movie on weekdays at noon, often a western, and they show western films on the weekend, but the schedule is sporadic. 

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

And RFD-TV is currently showing THE ROY ROGERS SHOW several times a week, and a Roy feature as well -- check your local listings.

That's all for this week's Round-up!  I'm working on a documentary all this week, but hopefully I'll have my article on the Bonanzacon ready for next week's Round-up!  Have a great week, and be sure to enter our Butch Cassidy contest, even if it's just to show off!

Much obliged,

Henry

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