Stars At Rodeo: The Wayne-kids

[chester7777]

Well, folks, we have suffered a terrible loss thanks to some horrible computer glitch. It seems our most recent posts have been lost. This was a pretty interesting thread, and I'm bringing it back to the top in the hopes that itdo will please re-post the information he had shared previously. My wife and I both feel that some of his ideas with respect to generating enthusiasm on the board were very good, and we'd like to re-start the discussion.

FYI, the most recent posts that have been lost are in "empty threads" at the very end of the message board (go all the way to the very last page - in this case, page 46, find a topic that you want to bring back to life, hit "Add Reply" and start posting away.

We need everybody's help!

Chester

[itdo]

Oh no, to write all THAT again? I hope you caught some of the ideas before they vanished. Just some short ones, from memory.

The question was: how can this messageboard participate in the upcoming event.

1. contact the event, find out if the board could do any good.
2. mail to all registered members. Use this mail regularly to create interest in the ongoing topics, like once a week, keep the once registered members interested.
2. link the webpage.
3. film the event, put the film here.
4. access to Wayne family: talk about what the messageboard can do, in terms of: helping the JW cancer clinic, get sponsors on the board (like a direct link to Franklin Mint)

In the meantime, I got these additional informations from Fred Landesman (he's going to be there) about the Dean Smith Celebrity Rodeo:

The rodeo was originally scheduled for the small town of Graham, but due to increased interest, it was moved to the larger (160,000 population) Abilene, Texas which is 165 west of the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. I have been told that for the two days of the rodeo (Friday and Saturday) they expect between 10 and 12,000 people a day. Also big celebrity award dinner on Thursday night at $75 a seat with lots of stars including some major names not listed in the ad.

There wasn't any response to my suggestions before the crash-down, but I certainly hope that the moderators gave it some thought, and use this opportunity again to say: I hope it doesn't sound too long-winded and arrogant, like: I'm going to tell them guys how to run this properly and make it a success, y'know. OK? To me, this sounds like a great possibility to get the word out, to attract new members, to give us the feeling that some of the time spent here is doing some good, like for the Cancer clinic.

BTW, I tried unsuccessfully to insert the ad of the event here; if someone wants to see it, send me a PM, I can mail it then.

[chester7777]

itdo,

Unfortunately, I personally missed your original post(s?) due to being out of town for a week and having limited computer access. However, from what Chester has shared with me, and some communication with Kevin via PM, it sounds like you offered some excellent ideas, and at least Kevin and Chester were interested in pursuing some of them. Thank you for restating some of your thoughts, for the benefit of some who may have missed them the first time around.

I, for one, don't consider your offerings long-winded or arrogant, but well thought and stated (Chester has already left for work and hasn't had a chance to read your most recent post, but I feel confident that I speak for him as well). I haven't had any communication with Hondo or Arthur since coming back from my trip, but knowing their enthusiasm for the board, I'm sure they have some interest in your ideas as well. Chester was wanting to brainstorm with me before responding, so that's the reason for delay on our part.

So . . . thank you SO much for helping to resurrect this topic, and I encourage everyone else to get involved.



Mrs. C

[arthurarnell]

Hi Roland,

When I read your original thread I felt like you that it was an ideal way to get some publicity I was particularly interested in your idea for a newsletter, and we were in the middle of discussing it when Bingo.

Like you I am too far away to go to Texas, although the thought of watching a real live rodeo intrigues me, but a meet and greet and a newsletter yes.

Keep posting. Now more than ever we need to get back on track.

Best Regards

Arthur.

[chester7777]

Originally posted by itdo@Aug 27 2004, 12:07 AM
BTW, I tried unsuccessfully to insert the ad of the event here; if someone wants to see it, send me a PM, I can mail it then.

[snapback]11066[/snapback]

itdo,

Thanks for your effort. My wife was able to get the link to the rodeo web site - Dean Smith Celebrity Rodeo (thank goodness she's back home ).

I went to Kevin's main web site, JWayne.com, scrolled down a little to the link for the John Wayne Cancer Institute, and found the link to the rodeo on their web site, under upcoming events.

It looks like it would be a real interesting event to attend, and possibly a great opportunity to inspire those in a position of influence to look into creating an official John Wayne museum. Also, a place to make our message board known. BTW, judging by the title of the thread, did you originally state something in a "lost" post about the Wayne family attending this event? I didn't see anything on the web site that indicated that any of them would be there.

Chester

[Kevin]

Hi itdo,

I thought you had some excellent ideas, and was going to post a reply then the crap hit the fan so to speak around here :( But I'm game for this "project" and I'm open for more ideas on how to follow through with this. We get a lot of traffic to this site, and it would be a very targeted audience for them

Maybe get some sort of affiliation with them or simply link swapping, or even open a special forum for the event??

Just throwing ideas out...

[arthurarnell]

Hi Roland, Kevin

If we're brain storming, Affiliation sounds a very sensible Idea. If that is not possible then official recognition might be usefu. Possibly a three way tie up with Tim lLlley, Us and the Wayne Family. Itdo and I both are suscribed to this board and The Trail Beyond, perhaps others do as well.

With their fathers view of the need to keep his massive fan base happy, some of that must have surely rubbed off on the family.


Regards


Arthur

[itdo]

In the ad I got, the Wayne kids Ethan and Patrick led the list of celebrities.
I think the first and best way to do something to help the event AND the board, is to contact the eventmanager and tell 'em about our stuff.

[chester7777]

[ATTACH]18]

Here is the ad that itdo sent to us, to see if we could get it on the board. With a little bit of trial and error, it worked!

You can see that itdo highlighted some of the names, and as he said above, Patrick and Ethan Wayne top the list. On the web site, you can see that Rudy Robbins will be present as well. He is the stunt man who played the character who had the famous "Do that mean what I think it do?" line in The Alamo, and subsequently had Itdo as a nickname (at least according to a story on June Parker Beck's web site about Maureen O'Hara). So, itdo, I think you should make every effort to be there, and meet your namesake. :) (Just one smiley . . . we're in hard times . . . ).

Chester

[arthurarnell]

[ATTACH]19]

Hi Mr and Mrs C and Roland

And if you need to know what Rudy Robbins looks like here is a picture.

It strange that I clicked on to Rolands picture but all I got was a little red cross. This is also what happened when I posted a picture of Maureen O'Hara and forgot to downsize it, Could there be a connection?

Regards

Arthur.

[itdo]

I had the pleasure of meeting a true gentle man in Mr. Rudy Robbins, at the Alamo Convention in Texas in 1998. He's a good singer, too!

Did you know that he was in THE GREEN BERETS as well? - and therefore one of the very few who was directed by Wayne even twice. I would love to be there.
Don't think I'm gonna make it though. But I would get great pleasure out of the chance to have "our" - if I may say so - messageboard linked in one way or another. If for no other reason, this would put us in contact with a lot more people sharing the same love which just might result in the help we need for bigger goals, such as the museum.

[itdo]

Popping this up because this fine event is getting nearer: less than a month to go. Any progress in linking this here messageboard with the people in charge of the event and the John Wayne cancer clinic? Any more brainstorming done on the idea of sending newsletters by email to each registered member of the board, keeping everybody informed on hot topics and such? Just wondering. If there's anything I can do, you holler.

[chester7777]

This year's Dean Smith Celebrity Rodeo is now history, but I am happy to report that I was able to be there! I didn't even know until Wednesday morning that I would be going.

Here's how it all came to be . . .

You remember a couple of weeks ago, the announcement was made on the message board about Fred Landesman's untimely death. Fred had been planning on being at the rodeo, selling and signing his book. I tried several trails, trying to get a phone number for his widow, to try to contact her and see if I could help out at a book table (my wife and I used to own a book store in years past, and I have manned a book table or two in my time :) ). I was finally able to get a phone number from Tim Lilley, and called and had a lengthy conversation with Sandy Landesman. Fred's death is doubly tragic because his wife is disabled from an automobile accident a few years ago, and he was her main caretaker in the evenings and on the weekends (with outside help during the week). Anyway, I told her I would see what I could do to try to get down to Texas.

My next step was to see if Chilibill would be interested in flying down to Abilene in his plane (possibly even taking Mrs. Landesman along with us; she had expressed an extreme desire to go). Unfortunately, Chilibill had to work this past weekend (as a consultant and instructor for NASA, teaching astronauts how to rebuild the turbine electrical generators while in space), so he had to leave for Florida on Wednesday. In addition, Mrs. Landesman fell Tuesday and hurt her back, so was unable to go.

So the Mrs. got to work Wednesday morning, and by lunchtime, I had reservations for flight, rental car and motel in Texas, and at 4 AM Thursday morning, she drove me to the airport. I flew into Dallas, Texas (by way of Denver, Colorado), then got into my rental car and drove the three and a half hours to Abilene.

There were dozens and dozens of celebrities telling their stories of being in the Westerns, both on TV and in the movies. Some of the more able ones were participating in the rodeo event, cutting and roping calves. The opportunity for someone to meet their childhood movie idols abounded, all the way from Clint Walker (one of the folks who impressed me very much) to Steve Kanaly (of TV's Dallas fame). I saw Roy Rogers' daughter, Cheryl Rogers Barnett, Rudy Robbins ("itdo" from The Alamo) and many more (I'll share more later, I'm kind of tired right now from the busy weekend, and just getting home a little while ago).

John Wayne's grand-daughter, Anita (Toni Wayne's daughter) was there with her husband and baby, and I also got to meet and speak to Ethan Wayne. He seemed very receptive to the flyers I had, one advertising our message board, and the other telling about the idea of a JW museum in Branson. I passed a bunch of message board flyers to a bunch of the older, retired movie stars who had been in JW's movies, some of whom indicated they were computer savvy (i.e., maybe we might see some of them around here :D ).

The only down side of the weekend was that by changing the location of the rodeo to Abilene, from Graham, they weren't able to have as wide a selection of which weekend to hold the event, and unfortunately there were three big football games at the stadium next door, on Friday night and Saturday, so the attendance at the rodeo was disappointing. Consequently, the low attendance, in combination with a less desirable book table location, resulted in low sales of Fred's book.

I will be talking to Sandy and maybe will be able to sell the book to members of our message board for her, at the $60 (plus shipping) price. We haven't figured out the details yet, but will get back to you on this.

The man from Texas, who was assisting Sandy on that end, was Les Adams (co-author of the book Shoot 'Em Ups). He was definitely one of the most knowledgeable fellows I've met, regarding our early Western movie and TV show heritage, having made over a thousand corrections to IMDb.

I was dressed up like Duke, which was a rather interesting coincidence in that another fellow was there to help Sandy also, who had the same last name as me, lives two hours away from me in California, and is a semi-professional John Wayne look-alike. We were the only two people there dressed in Wayne attire, and had a great time with the ladies wanting to have their pictures taken with us and having us sign their programs. We were walking down the corrider and Ethan Wayne looked up and saw us and said, "Oh, you guys!" which had all three of us laughing : : : . I commented, "Imitation is the highest form of flattery." He seemed like a pretty nice guy, but I would bet a lot of people are putting the pressure on him for many different things. I was happy that I wasn't asking him for anything but suggesting ways to honor his father's image.

All in all, I had a great weekend, and wished y'all could have been there!

Chester

[SXViper]

Wow Chester, sounds like you had a great time, and one you won't forget. I cannot wait to hear more. You have my envy as it would be an honor to meet the people you have mentioned. And the look on the Duke's son's face as 2 look-a-likes come walking down a corridor would have been priceless :o

[Kevin]

Bravo Chester!!!!

I look forward to hearing more....

Kevin