John Ford

I'm pretty sure that I won't be licking John Ford's backside.

We deal in lead, friend.

Never fear Gorch... all the stamps now come with adhesive backing!

What will they think of next, Paula?
Was that invented after George's fiance died from licking envelopes on "Seinfeld"?

We deal in lead, friend.

Modern technology -- it's a wonderful thing! At least when it comes to stamp backings.

(I confess I have never watched an episode of Seinfeld.)

Another portrait of John Ford, from the brush of the great Mort Drucker.

Hey, hey, Paula -you've never seen Seinfeld yet you know who Mort Drucker is? Did your parents work for Mad Magazine?

We deal in lead, friend.

Mad Magazine? Loved it as a young boy. A bit off topic, but here's Mort's interpretation of Rooster Cogburn from Mad Magazine's spoof, True Fat.



That's a very well done drawng of John Ford he did. (getting back on topic)

Mort Drucker was a genius caricaturist. He had an amazing talent for accurate likenesses while also picking up on the essential essence of whoever he was spoofing.

Anyway, that Ford pic I posted is from Mad Magazine's parody of Cheynne Autumn -- which Mad called Cheyenne Awful. In fact, I just scanned in and posted "Cheyenne Awful" to my Ben Johnson webpage, so if anyone wants to have a look, it's at http://benjohnsonscreencap.shutterfly.com. Warning! It does a real number on Cheyenne Autumn. It's hilarious -- but it takes no prisoners. To my great disappointment, however, the only cast members who somehow escaped the great Drucker's pen were Ben and Harry Carey Jr. They are not in the parody.

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Hey, hey, Paula -you've never seen Seinfeld yet you know who Mort Drucker is? Did your parents work for Mad Magazine?

Gorch, I grew up reading Mad Magazine! It made me the woman I am today. <huge grin>

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In fact, I just scanned in and posted "Cheyenne Awful" to my Ben Johnson webpage, so if anyone wants to have a look, it's at http://benjohnsonscreencap.shutterfly.com.

I'd love to see this, but the link no longer works. Any chance of your reposting it? Thanks.

Oops, there was a typo in the link. Sorry about that.

The "Cheyenne Awful" comic is no longer on my website's front page but it's in the Memorabilia section. So go here:

http://benjohnsonscreencaps.shutterfly.com/memorabilia

And then scroll down to the album section till you find it. Look for the album entitled "Mad Magazine September 1965."

To get the big versions of the scans, you'll have to sign into Shutterfly (it's free, it just takes a moment to sign up) and then you can download the big size scans.

P.S. Do check out the front page though... all the latest goodies are posted there. http://benjohnsonscreencaps.shutterfly.com

More John Ford goodness!

First of all, if you haven't checked out my pal April Lane's fabulous new website for John Ford, "Directed by John Ford," go there posthaste. Here's the link: http://directedbyjohnford.com/

Also, Moira Finnie, a wonderful blogger on film (who also writes for the Movie Morlocks blog at the TCM webpage), interviews April at her blog Skeins of Thought. This is a great discussion about Ford, so I also advise you all to go there a.s.a.p.;) The link: http://moirasthread.blogspot.c…rd-conversation-with.html

Enjoy!

Thanks for posting these links.
More distractions to while away the time I should be working ... on something.

Richard

I saw Wagon Master at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC last week -- they had three screenings of a 35mm print and I went to two of them. Sadly, MoMA's print has seen better days. It is afflicted with lots of black vertical lines and other print damage, and apparently the print also has a lot of splices, resulting in occasional jumps in the soundtrack. At one point it skipped over a couple of lines of dialogue, completely obliterating one of the funnier lines in the script. (There was a simultaneous, spontaneous -- and very audible -- ARRGGGH! of frustration from myself and the three ladies who had joined me for the second viewing of the film.)

That said, it still was fabulous seeing Wagon Master on the big screen in 35mm. ALL kinds of detail jumped out that simply is not observable (or audible) watching this on DVD or on a TV broadcast, and I came away feeling as if I'd had an entirely new experience with this movie and that I could see so much more in it than before (and I have always loved it and believed it to be a great film).

I love my DVDs but they still don't come close to 35mm on a big screen.

More Ford news -- there is going to be a John Ford symposium in Ireland. "The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) in association with the John Ford Estate and the Irish Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, has created JOHN FORD IRELAND, an annual symposium dedicated to the legacy and continuing influence of John Ford on generations of audiences and film makers."

The first symposium will take place in Dublin in June 2012. Clint Eastwood has already been awarded the very first John Ford Award, which will be presented annually by the symposium.

How I'd love to go but a trip to Ireland alas is way beyond my budget. Maybe some other year.

Lots more information about the symposium at http://www.directedbyjohnford.…honor-all-things-fordian/