Posts from ethanedwards in thread „WHEN did JW Meet FORD?“

  • WHEN did JW Meet FORD?

    Just checked out the the beginning of the documentary


    Directed by John Ford (1971) Peter Bogdanovich


    Duke actually states on camera, that it was on the set
    of Mother Machree, (1928)
    when Ford got him herding the geese,
    that it was this movie where he was 'kicked'
    and that it was THIS movie that was his FIRST job with Mr Ford


    Duke states:

    Quote

    So when Mr. Ford needed a goose herder for his set,
    it just fit my pistol. They had a hill made up, a fake hill for this
    set of Mother Machree and the geese, were getting down under
    the two by fours there, and they needed a fella to herd them out.
    so that was my first job with Mr Ford


    Duke went on to say

    Quote

    So you're a footballer player said Mr Ford, get down
    on my forearms and feet, and just kicked my arms from under me,
    and stuck my nose in the mud that they'd made for Mother Machree,


    and the rest is history.


    As production started in September 1926
    this would fit with all the information from the books.


    I for one cannot dispute or argue with what Duke actually said!!

  • WHEN did JW Meet FORD?

    Bill's post mentions that they met on the set of Salute,
    but this is NOT where they met!
    This movie is the first time Ford cast him as a support role/ extra,
    and the first movie that Duke spoke in, see:
    Salute (1929)
    The facts are, that they met way before then,
    on a previous set, when Duke was on the 'swing gang'
    as mentioned in all the previous posts/ quotes.


    Ford 'kicked him on the rump' on one of those sets,
    but which one? that is what we want to know!

  • WHEN did JW Meet FORD?

    From the book John Wayne:American. Pages 60 & 61


    Ralph 'Pexy' Eckles.
    Remembered several jobs they got with MGM.
    Duke doubled for Francis X. Bushman in Brown of Harvard,
    and he portrayed a spear carrying guard in Bardlelys the Magnificent.
    Eckles recalled:

    Quote

    Duke and I enjoyed such work...
    and were grateful for the pay..
    which was eight to ten dollars a day...
    good money back then...


    Football films were popular in Hollywood.

    Quote

    Nearly all the studios were making them...
    and so were coming over to USC and using students as extras.
    Duke worked as a football player in several of them


    Inj the Spring of 1926, Duke also worked that semester
    as an extra in MGM's Annie Laurie.
    Intrigued with the industry, he wrangled a screen test at MGM.


    Iron Eyes Cody, remembered meeting Duke in the spring of 1926.,


    Duke started working for Fox in the Summer of 1926,
    commencing with the Great K & A Train Robbery


    The book goes on to say Duke worked on sets
    on the swing gang, as a glorified furniture mover.
    It was on one of the sets that Ford met him,
    but it does NOT say which one,
    but that it was around June 1926.


    The book John Wayne- The Politics of Celebrity. Garry Mills.Page 68.


    Suggest the two met in 1926 or 1927.
    with the often mentioned 'kicking on the rump',
    Again though, it does not say on which set.

  • WHEN did JW Meet FORD?

    Quote from josephculliton

    I've read so many biographical sketches that say John Wayne's first job in motion pictures was as a prop man. But I heard Duke say on the set of 'Cahill' that his very first job in movies was holding up lighting reflectors during location shooting. It took a strong, athletic guy to withstand heat and wind, and keep those big reflectors steady and directional take after take.


    Joe,
    I have moved your post here
    as it may be important to thread

  • WHEN did JW Meet FORD?

    for continuity, I have copied these previous posts
    from Duke's Filmography- Discussion





    Quote from ethanedwards

    Elly, I agree!


    We all believed Duke met Ford on the Fox sets,
    from your research, it could be, that he met him on the Hamilton sets.
    However, did he indeed meet Ford, say about the time of
    The Iron Horse etc.


    Interesting stuff, all this!


  • WHEN did JW Meet FORD?

    Elly, from my research for what it's worth.
    I read in all my books that Duke was very much in college
    in and around 1924/25, and it was his meeting with Tom Mix,
    in June 1926, that Mix invited the young footballers,
    to the Fox Studios for summer jobs.!!
    There is no mention of Duke being involved
    in movie studios before this time!!


    In that's the case, how did he get involved with Lloyd Hamilton,
    if in fact this was earlier?
    Unless of course he met Hamilton later in his series of comedies,
    which would explain Careful Please in 1926.


    So Iron Horse could prove correct.
    I hope your hours of wading through this film are fruitful
    as once again you could be altering history
    and all the associated books will have to updated!!


    Yes he did herd sheep, but in which film?


    Mother Machree is the gaggle of geese, so where were the sheep