One of the most interesting aspects of the McCandles Texas forum on Yahoo is the almost daily article by "Sheriff" Art entitled "This Day in John Wayne History".

Here is the one for today, June 11 -

24 years ago today, American mourned!

On this date in 1979 the Crown Jewel in the treasury of American Cinema passed away. Marion Michael Morrison, known to the world as John Wayne, died on this date in Los Angeles, California, USA. The veteran of over 180 films and numerous radio and television appearance, the Duke still commands a large following of fans today [that would be us!].

In 1999 Wayne beat out all comers to be chosen, as America's all time favorite male actor for the 20th Century. Scoring this accomplishment 20 years after his death.

Shortly before his death Wayne was presented with a National Gold Medal that was authorized by an act of Congress. In the 200-year history of America, Congress had presented only 74 medals honoring individuals. The first one honored George Washington.

The Medal read: "John Wayne American". Nothing needs to be added to that statement.

With reverence and respect,
Chester

hi chester,

went and had a butchers at the site found it quite good but the bummer is i had to sign up for yahoo ;) did it no probs am going back to have another look thanks for finding this other site for us to have a squize at.


cheers smokey :)

Good evening, all!

Although the following article from McCandles Texas forum doesn't exactly correlate to today's date, it was interesting nonetheless, and I thought you'd appreciate it. The introduction also gives you a little insight into "Sheriff" Art, and how he comes upon the information he uses in his articles.

Enjoy!
Chester


As some of you know, part of how I make my living is as a researcher. I research topical information to be used by authors, speechwriters, radio personalities and politicians, to name just a few. This allows me to come into contact with a lot of information from across a wide array of topics. Whenever I come into contact with a new topic, that is contemporary with the Duke's life, I always cross reference it with the Duke to see if I can pick up some new item of interest to the group. That is how I came across this item.

The Ronald Reagan Library recently released the thousands of handwritten scripts for Reagan's radio commentary program that ran from mid 1976 until late 1979. I knew that the Duke was a major supporter of Reagan when he ran for the governor of California and I was hoping to find something from that time period. What I found was a commentary delivered by Reagan only 18 days after the Duke's death. It is very moving and gives us a great insight into what the man Marion Michael "Duke" Morrison was like.


SHOW FOR: JUNE 29, 1979 TOPIC: JOHN WAYNE

This commentary will be a few minutes of remembering a friend. You
probably think of him as a friend too.

I'll be right back.

(60 sec commercial break)

It is still difficult for me to realize that John Wayne is no longer here. He was always larger then life and very much a part of our lives. If you don't mind I'd like to share some memories with you.

I was out on the road doing the mashed potato circuit when the news came that we had lost the Duke and I was surprised to find that I was not alone in my sorrow or loss. Virtually everyone I met was saddened and wanted to talk about him. Most asked me if I had met him in person and what was he really like?

I want to share with you what the Duke was really like and what he meant to Nancy and me.

Well, the truth is Duke was just about what you saw on the screen. He stood up for what he believed was right, he placed a high premium on honor and he had a rare sensitivity. Nancy and I can bear witness to that.

There are 2 other men in Nancy's life, both alike in many ways and yet
different, they are John Wayne and Jimmy Cagney. Now I'd better explain this, although I don't think any of you had any wrong ideas.

Some years ago, before either of us knew the Duke really well, there was a time of labor trouble in Hollywood. As President of the Screen Actors Guild, I was up to my neck in it. I'd leave the house in the morning, on my way to another of the meetings that filled my day, and not return till very late that night. Nancy would be left with the trade papers & the movie columns in the newspapers. Emotions ran high and very often I'd get a pretty rough going over in most of them. Nancy hadn't developed, as she did later in Sacramento, the ability to read such attacks without getting upset.

On one particularly bad day she received a phone call right after she'd read the papers. It was John Wayne. He told her he just thought she might like to hear a friendly voice and then proceeded to tell her why she shouldn't let these stories get her down. A few minutes later she had another call, this time from Jimmy Cagney who said about the same things the Duke had said. From then on, every morning when the press was bad, she'd get those two calls.

Then there came a time when a mass meeting had been called at which
I'd have to preside. Nancy dreaded the thought of being there but wouldn't stay home. This time she received a call in the afternoon. It was Duke. He asked her if she'd feel better if he were there. The answer was "yes" of course. When it came time for me to go to the podium she was escorted to a place in the audience by Duke, dressed in a dinner jacket. He'd left a dinner party to be there.

A few years ago several of us were talking about a friend who was
terminally ill. The question arose, would you rather know or not know if you were about to die. Duke said with no hesitation that he'd want to know, and in typical Wayne fashion added, "So you could throw your Sunday punch."

Several weeks before he left us he threw his Sunday punch; he told the
doctors to use him in anyway they could to learn what they could, anything that might one day help someone else.

Then, in the last hours of his pain, he refused sedatives so he could be with his children & grandchildren.

Goodbye & God Bless You Duke.

R.R.


Reagan had nothing to gain by sharing this story with his audience. His
radio show was highly rated and very popular. He didn't need to make
points or take advantage of the "topic of the moment". He was just a man who lost a friend and wanted to share why he deeply felt the loss.

Isn't it nice to get reassurances that your opinion and beliefs about a man's character are right?

I hope you enjoyed this article. I will be posting it in our file section just in case someone should want a copy of it for their files.

I will see you along the trail,

Art

The following article, from McCandles Texas forum at Yahoo, was of particular interest to our family because, in addition to being John Wayne fans, we own over 20 Shirley Temple movies (colorized versions :P ), so were thrilled to find out that two of our favorite stars appeared in a movie together.

Offered by "Mrs." Chester, while her man is at work

Disclaimer: Some of the information that Sheriff Art offers in his article may have come from IMdB.



In 1949 John Ford was preparing to make his western masterpiece, Fort Apache (1949). All was ready, the money was lined up, the cast was set, there was only one problem. The studio had given him one condition: he had to use Shirley Temple. Ford was never a director who liked having his cast picked for him, but was determined not to let one of his films become a "Shirley Temple" film! But America's little girl had grown up and needed an adult film to help her make the next move in her career. Temple agreed to all his demands: billing below the title, limited close ups, and a decrease in salary. The only thing she asked was that he find a part in the film for her new husband, John Agar. Ford agreed and found out that he enjoyed working with Temple and Agar. He ended up adding Agar to his troop of actors known as the Ford Stock Company.


Here is today's Date in Wayne Movie History

July 2, 1934 Fox signs Shirley Temple

On this day in 1934, Fox Film Corp. strikes a new contract with child star Shirley Temple. Temple was six years old at the time. Starting at age four, Temple starred in a series of shorts spoofing current movies, called Baby Burlesks, and appeared in bit parts. Her song and dance number "Baby Take a Bow" in the 1934 movie Stand Up and Cheer brought her wide acclaim. Her new contract with Fox raised her salary from $150 a week to $1,000 a week, plus a $35,000 bonus for each film she made. The contract also paid her mother $250 a week.

Under the new contract, Temple quickly became one of the most popular actresses of the day. From 1935 to 1938, she was Hollywood's top box office draw. By 1936, she was earning $50,000 per film. Her films included Little Miss Marker (1934), The Little Colonel (1935), and Heidi (1937).

Temple made more than 40 films by the time she reached her teens. However, her box office magic wore off as she aged, and by her late teens, her career was petering out. She married actor John Agar in 1946, at age 17. The marriage ended by 1949, the same year she made her last film, A Kiss for Corliss.

She remarried in 1950, to TV executive Charles Black, and changed her name to Shirley Temple Black. Two attempts in the 1950s to launch her own TV shows failed. In the late 1960s, the former actress entered politics, running unsuccessfully for Congress. In 1968, President Nixon appointed her as U.S. representative to the United Nations. She served as ambassador to Ghana from 1974 to 1976 and later as chief of protocol for President Ford. She became ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1989 and served until 1992.


TRIVIA FOR FORT APACHE:

The Western Fort, built for this production, stood for years. It was reused in dozens of productions. It was located at the Corriganville Movie Ranch in Simi Valley, Ventura County, California. Today it is possible to visit this location as it is now administered as a City Park in Simi Valley.

This is a few days late, but I found it so interesting, I decided to share it anyway.

The following article is from the McCandles Texas forum at Yahoo. Interesting to us movie buffs, and interesting from the John Wayne standpoint as well.

Enjoy!

Chester


1939 is known as the Golden Year of old Hollywood and the class of '39 was a year that saw the birth of more stars then are in the heavens. In March of that year the world was introduced to a young actor by the name of John Wayne with the release of Stagecoach; then there were John Ford's other two releases that year Young Mr. Lincoln and Drums Along the Mohawk that proved to the world that Henry Fonda was a true force to be dealt with in the acting world. Also in the class of '39 were Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - James Stewart, Wuthering Heights - Laurence Olivier, Dark Victory - Bette Davis, Ninotchka - Greta Garbo, Of Mice and Men - Burgess Meredith, Beau Geste - Gary Cooper, Goodbye, Mr. Chips - Greer Garson, The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Charles Laughton and Gone with the Wind - Clark Gable!

One other film is counted among the class of '39 and it premiered on this date The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland.

AUGUST 15, 1939 "THE WIZARD OF OZ" PREMIERES

MGM's The Wizard of Oz opens at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Crowds thronged the theater to catch glimpses of Hedy Lamarr, Orson Welles, and other stars who attended the show.

The 101-minute-long film has remained a classic since its release. In 1956, an estimated 45 million people tuned in to watch the movie's debut on television as part of the Ford Star Jubilee. The movie spawned two sequels, including Journey Back to Oz (1974), an animated film featuring the voice of Judy Garland's daughter, Liza Minnelli, and Return to Oz (1985). A remake with an African American cast, The Wiz, starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, was released in 1978 with music arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones.

The movie is still one of America's top-selling videocassettes and was one of the first 25 films to be put on the National Film Registry, which is reserved for culturally or historically significant movies.

Stagecoach (1939)

To any true Duke fan "Stagecoach" is the Holy Grail of his films. It was the simple story of a group of people trying to get to their destination in the middle of an Indian upraising, but in the hands of John Ford it became the standard by which all Westerns would be judged. The film garnered seven Oscar Nomination winning two during that magical night that was hosted by Bob Hope.

STAGECOACH WAS NOMINATED FOR:

Best Picture: Walter Wanger

Best Director: John Ford

Best Art Direction: Alexander Toluboff

Best Cinematography, Black-and-White: Bert Glennon

Best Film Editing: Otho Lovering & Dorothy Spencer

IT WON OSCARS FOR:

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Thomas Mitchell (who beat out Harry Carey & Claude Rains)

Best Music, Scoring: Richard Hageman, W. Franke Harling, John Leipold, & Leo Shuken.


I hope you enjoyed the article.

See you along the trail,

Art

This article, also, is a few days late (actual event took place on August 14) but was so interesting I just had to post it here. In all my reading about WWII, there were things in this article I had never heard before. So . . . for your reading pleasure, a repost from the McCandles Texas forum at Yahoo -

Chester


On this date location filming is wrapped on the last War Film to be made during WWII. As the news broke that Japan had surrendered, the cast and crew of John Ford's They Were Expendable (1945) were heading back to Hollywood to finish filming the final soundstage scenes and place the film into editing. Scheduled for a release date for late in December, it would be one of the two Duke films to be released that month. They Were Expendable was released on the 20th of December and Dakota would be released on Christmas Day. The Duke had four of his films released during 1945; Back to Bataan and Flame of Barbary Coast had been released early that year.

August 14, 1945 Japan's surrender made public

On this day in 1945, an official announcement of Japan's unconditional surrender to the Allies is made public to the Japanese people. Even though Japan's War Council, urged by Emperor Hirohito, had already submitted a formal declaration of surrender to the Allies via ambassadors, on August 10, fighting continued between the Japanese and the Soviets in Manchuria and between the Japanese and the United States in the South Pacific. In fact, two days after the Council agreed to surrender, a Japanese submarine sank the Oak Hill, an American landing ship, and the Thomas F. Nickel, an American destroyer, both east of Okinawa.

In the afternoon of August 14, Japanese radio announced that an Imperial Proclamation was soon to be made, accepting the terms of unconditional surrender drawn up at the Potsdam Conference. That proclamation had already been recorded by the emperor. The news did not go over well, as more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers stormed the Imperial Palace in an attempt to find the proclamation and prevent its being transmitted to the Allies. Soldiers still loyal to Emperor Hirohito repulsed the attackers.

That evening, General Anami, the member of the War Council most adamant against surrender, committed suicide. His reason: to atone for the Japanese army's defeat, and to be spared having to hear his emperor speak the words of surrender.

I hope you enjoyed the article.

See you along the trail,

Art

bumping this as the comments may be of interest to newer members. There are a lot of great posts in the early threads.

Thanks for (bump)ing this back up. There is a lot of great info here. My only question is, and please excuse my ignorance, is that I noticed that Stagecoach was nominated for best cinematography, black and white......were there color movies in 1939?

Thanks for (bump)ing this back up. There is a lot of great info here. My only question is, and please excuse my ignorance, is that I noticed that Stagecoach was nominated for best cinematography, black and white......were there color movies in 1939?


Yeah, there was that little movie called Gone With the Wind (1939) that came out the same year.

B.T.W. the first official feature length film shot in Technicolor was called Becky Sharp (1935), although there had been several experimental shorts made before that.

Thanks for (bump)ing this back up. There is a lot of great info here. My only question is, and please excuse my ignorance, is that I noticed that Stagecoach was nominated for best cinematography, black and white......were there color movies in 1939?
Yeah, there was that little movie called Gone With the Wind (1939) that came out the same year.
And The Wizard of Oz . . . .

Stagecoach had a lot of competition that year!

Thanks for an interesting articles,Chester
Frankly speaking,it is true that there was a Japanese who thought
fighting against the U.S. that made The Stagecoach and Gone With The Wind is rash.
ofcourse i was not born at these days,but i like movies more than a war.
H.sanada

More Movies From 1939
Goodbye Mr. Chips
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
Of Mice And Men
Wuthering Heights
Destry Rides Again
Drums Along The Mohawk
Dunga Din (one Of My All Time Favs.)
Hukleberry Finn
The Four Feathers
Beau Geste
Jesse James
The Roaring Twenties
Young Mr. Lincoln
What A Great Year For Films