On This Day

Hi

On this day 2nd December

35 years ago Swing Out Sweet Land was shown it had 39.3 rating and a 58% share in Variety. Number One in the ratings it was watched by 77,000,000 people.

29 years ago John Wayne was in Hoag General for corrective surgery on his prostrate gland.

83 years ago the actor Leo Gordon was born. He was famous for his work in Hondo and for the mud slide scene in McLintock. Also a writer.

111 years ago the producer Wingate Smith was born.

138 years ago the British actor Alec B Francis was born he was in His Private Secretary.

22 years ago the actress Fifi D'Orsay died she starred in The Life of Jimmy Dolan.

Regards

Arthur

Hi Kieth

I have that article in Wildest Westerns I collect the series. They come out ever year around about this time, and are quite reasonably priced. So far they have issued six with Duke on the cover of the first issue. Other covers include Gene Autry, Michael Landon, James Stewart and Rhonda Fleming. I have also read an article about Leo Gordon in Trail Dust, an American magazine that I used to subscribe to but seems to be defunct now, which is a pity because it contained a lot of useful information and good pictures.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 3rd December:-

46 years ago I Married A Woman was released in Sweden

65 years ago Melinda Wayne was born.

6 years ago the actor John Archer was born, his real name was Ralph Bowman and his wild staring eyes made him ideal for horror pictures but he did appear in other films and turned up with John Wayne in Overland Stage Raiders.

13 years ago the stuntman John Epper died aged 86. He had appeared in How The West Was Won and also in North To Alaska. His sons followed him into the stuntgame and I think even a third generation is still active making films.

40 years ago Henry Fonda married Shirley.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day December 4th (it was quite a busy one)

26 years ago a 7' tall statue of John Wayne carved by sculptor Brett Livingstone-Strong was unveiled. The statue showing Wayne's face minus much of his left side was carved from a 100 ton sandstone boulder that had been recovered near some Malibu homes. It was then sold to Thomas J Murphy (chief executive officer of tom Hopkins International). After a monumental amount of publicity, it was later donated to Lubbock Christian University. It was also the subject of a legal battle between Murphy and the Inland Revenue where it was quoted 'as having recieved more publicity than any other unique sculpture other than the Statue of Liberty'.

10 years ago the actor, producer, writer Robert Parrish died 79, he had appeared in Four Sons.

88 years ago the actress Movita was born. born as Movita Castaneda in Nogales Arizona she was at one time married to Marlon Brando. She appeared in Fort Apache.

94 years ago the actress Dorothy Ward was born she was in Words and Music.

116 years ago Buck Jones was born. Known as a cowboy actor he was in Ride Em Cowboy.

34 years ago the actor Al Ferguson died aged 83 a veteran screen actor he appeared in over 280 pictures from the early days of the screen and among his many films were Reap the Wild Wind and he Desert Trail.

37 years ago the director Archie Mayo died aged 77 among his films was The Life of Jimmy Dolan.

55 years ago the writer James Kevin McGuinnes died from a heart attack. A prolific writer, he wrote Rio Grande, The Black Watch, Salute and Men Without Women.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 5th December

46 years ago location work on the Horse Soldiers was completed.

34 years ago The American West of John Ford was shown on CBS TV.

99 years ago the director of In Harms Way Otto Preminger was born.

101 years ago the actor Harold Huber was born he was in the 1941 picture A Man Betrayed.

62 years ago George Montgomery married Diana Shore. As George Letz he appeared in The Night Riders and Pals of the Saddle.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this Day 6th December:

76 years ago Words and Music was released in the United Kingdom.

82 years ago Hugh Farr was born he was a member of The Sons of the Pioneers.

105 years ago Agnes Moorehead was born apart from playing Samanthas mother in Bewitched she also appeared in The Conqueror.

5 years ago John Wayne's daughter Toni died aged 64.

40 years ago the Cinematographer Reggie Lanning died, he was the director of photography on Sands of Iwo Jima and Reap the Wild Wind.

43 years ago Sean Connery married Diane Cilento.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 7th December:-

60 years ago They Were Expendable was released in the United States.

90 years ago Eli Wallach of How The West Was Won and The good The Bad and the Ugly, and Leigh Brackett the writer of El Dorado and Hatari were both born.

99 years ago William "Wee Willie" Harris was born. Standing about six foot six with a bald head and a moustach he played the lamb in Reap the Wild Wind.
Harris also played albeit indavertantly a cameo in an incident involving Cecil B DeMille and Victor Mature.
When making Samson and Delialha Hedy Lammar had to put a whip around Mature. To show him that it wouldn't hurt Harris was told to demonstrate on Lammar which he duly did. Despite not leaving a mark Mature insisted on a stand in.
Disgusted De Mille said Vic I have known people to be afraid of heights, I have known people to be afraid of animals and I have known people who were afraid of water, but you are the only person I have met who is yellow through and through.

90 years ago Jack Pennick was born. One of Ford's favourites he was in many pictures with Duke.

Regards

Arthur

Hi,

On this day 8th December:

64 years ago The Shepherd of the Hills was released in the UK

56 years ago Tall in the Saddle was released in West Germany.

82 years ago Dewey Martin was born. One of Howard Hawks favourite actors, his career was relatively brief but he was in The Longest Day.

22 years ago the actor Slim Pickens died, a real life cowboy in his younger days, my best memory is of him riding the bomb in Dr Strangelove. He also featured in The Cowboys,

Regards

Arthur

Hi

Yes you are both right he appeared in both pictures.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 9th December:-

89 years ago Kirk Douglas was born, appearing with Duke in In Harms Way, Cast A Giant Shadow and the War Wagon, he also played Van Gogh in Lust for Life, which Duke thought was a mistake, as it showed Douglas as being a weak man. Kirk explained that he was an actor and that is what actors did.
Happy Birthday Kirk.

96 years ago Douglas Fairbanks jnr was born he appeared in The Life of Jimmy Dolan.

101 years ago Robert Livingstone was born. the original Stoney Brooke in the Three Mesquiteers he also appeared in Brown of Harvard.

129 years ago the actor Bereton Churchill was born, heavilly built he was the blustering Gatewood in Stagecoach.

33 years ago Louella Parsons died. One of the two most famous reporters on Hollywood life she along with Heda Hopper was the subject of the film "Malice in Hollywood", and although she didn't get to act with Duke in any of his films she appeared as herelf in Without Reservations and interviewed him on radio a number of times.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 10th December

72 years ago Somewhere in Sonora was released in Finland

41 years ago The agnificent Showman (Circus World) was released in West Germany.

87 years ago tha acrot Hal Baylor was born. Also known as Hal Fieberling he appeared in Sands of Iwo Jima and Big Jim McLain.

91 years ago the actress Dorothy Lamour was born. Know as the third member of the Trilogy with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in the Road films she appeared in Donvan's Reef.

32 years ago The actor Earle Foxe died aged 81, One of John Fords players he appeared in Four Sons and Hangman's House.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 11th December:-

97 years ago the actress Sally Eilers was born she appeared in Central Airport.

78 years ago the film Annie Laurie was released in Finland.

28 years ago John Wayne attended the Hollywood Womans Press Club. Whilst there he presented an award to Jane Fonda. The award read:
"I'm surprised to see you standing to the right of me"

61 years ago the actress Lynda Day George was born. Known as Lynda Day she appeared in Chisum, and adopted the name Lynda Day George after marrying her husband Christopher, who was also in Chisum.

74 years ago the actor Richard Devon was born. He played Estoban in the Comancheros.

122 years ago Victor McLaglen was born one of eight children to an English Bishop he joined the army to fight in the Boer War but was discovered to be under aged, but was in the army long enough to become the Regimental Boxing Champion. Later in the First World War he served in Mesapotamia and was the last Provost Marshal of Bagdhad.

21 years ago the writer George waggner died aged 90 he wrote five pictures that John Wayne appeared in including The Fighting Kentuckian and Operation Pacific.

55 years ago the actor Dewey Robinson died aged 52. In pictures from 1931 he appeared in 246 films among which were Lady For A Night and Three Faces West.

Regards

Arthur