I don’t know about you, but it’s HOT in Nebraska! How hot is it?

It’s so hot, I went to the store for flour, sugar and eggs yesterday, and came home with a cake.

Bada boom, bada bing.

Seriously, it’s summer, and we have three birthdays to celebrate just this month. Our family has grown so much that it’s a rare month that doesn’t find us gathering for cake at least a couple of times. I love to get creative and serve brunch, with breakfast casseroles, etc. My daughter LeighAnn and I occasionally cook up Mexican Day or Soup Day. But of course, with such a large gathering, we often have the old standbys, grilled burgers and dogs, Tastees, chili, and on the holidays, good old ham and turkey.

I don’t know how I always get the same jobs at these events—but I’m trying to shake off the stereotype. My son-in-law Brad claims he’s going to have me buried with an ice cream scoop in my folded hands, so I’ll look normal. I bought him one for Christmas one year—a dandy specimen just like mine—a heavy-duty industrial strength flat scooper—but of course I am the one who wields it at their house. Last birthday there I tried to hide until the scooping was underway, but they found me.

My goodness, but those birthdays pile up, don’t they? When we moved last time, I organized photos into albums until my brain went numb. I finally stashed the rest back into boxes where they will await the next millennium. It was amazing how many of those photos were pictures of cakes. If you’re a young mom, take this as a gentle suggestion: Take ONE photo of the baby’s cake. One, got it?

I remember how exciting those first birthday cakes were. If you’re a mom of many or a grandma, you remember, too. You couldn’t get enough pictures of your baby with frosting up his nose. Wasn’t that darling? Then there were second, third, and fourth birthdays. And then the second third and fourth kids arrived and had birthdays, too—yes I have four children and I lived to tell. And then the grandchildren start arriving—or so they say.

Here is my pledge: I will never, as long as I draw breath, take another picture of a birthday cake. I mean how many cake pictures does a person need? Get them out of order, and you don’t even know whose cake it was or which year. And you know, one shot is never enough. Admit it, you take two pictures in case the first one blurs or something. Heaven forbid we wouldn’t be able to see Strawberry Shortcake or Spiderman clearly once he was only a sweet memory.

You know what I’m talking about. Just you try sorting 20 or 30 years of photos and try to get sentimental about a cake that was only so so in 1983.

And while I’m on the subject of parties, darned if I’m not the one who inevitably gets stuck opening all those toys that have been hermetically sealed and wired and clamped. Sometimes I need a screwdriver and a wire cutter to extricate them. I’m telling you, Santa could catapult those boxes out of his sleigh onto our concrete driveway and Barbie wouldn’t have a hair out of place. Her hair is sewn onto the cardboard, people. Sewn.

The packaging is three times the size of the toy inside. It takes half a roll of wrapping paper to go around a box, but once you get the twisties unwrapped and the taped peeled off and the plastic removed, you have a tiny little pile of Power Rangers and half a dozen bags of trash. And—

Have you ever lost a minuscule part and had to search through all those bags because you might have accidentally thrown it away? Or heaven forbid go out to the trashcan—I don’t know which is worse, searching through trash for Woody’s six-shooter in the summer or during the winter. Hint: the piece is never there. It’s always with Colonel Mustard in the sofa cushion.

How about you? Do most of your family traditions involve food?

This blog had nothing to do with reading, writing or watching westerns, but I do have a fun drawing this month to bring the focus back on everybody’s favorite subject (besides cake) and that would be cowboys.

Leave a comment today and I’ll drop your name into the fish bowl. I’m holding a drawing for this DVD set: COWBOYS OF THE SILVER SCREEN. Five full-length feature films:

Over the Hill Gang – Walter Brennan and Ricky Nelson

The Shooting – jack Nicholson, Warren Oates

Vengeance Valley – Burt Lancaster, Joanna Dru

Rage at Dawn – Forrest Tucker, Randolph Scott

One-eyed Jacks, Marlon Brando, Karl Malden

I’m adding a cowboy boot charm to the prize, too. Now, wouldn’t winning this set just take the cake?

How did I first become interested in Western romance?   I could answer that question in two words—but first let me give you some background.  In my growing up years, my dad subscribed to some great men’s magazines, like TRUE and SPORTS AFIELD.  They were filled with action and adventure, and I read them from cover to cover.  I even enjoyed the ads, especially the ad that showed a long line of books with titles like RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE and LIGHT OF THE WESTERN STARS and a banner that read: “GET THE ENTIRE THE ZANE GREY COLLECTION!” 

By the time I fell under Zane Grey’s spell, that author had long since ridden into life’s sunset.  But his books were still bestsellers, and our local library had an entire shelf of them.  I was in sixth grade when I started reading them.  Not sure how many I got through, but I do remember how they fired my young imagination with vistas of raw beauty and rugged characters who were bigger than life. 

Pearl Zane Grey was born in 1872 in Zanesville, Ohio,  where he grew up reading adventure stories and dime novels.  He wanted to be a writer, but his father, a dentist with a violent temper, had other ideas.  When Zane wrote his first story at fifteen, his father tore it up and beat him.   Eventually the young man bowed to his father’s wishes, became a dentist and married a girl from a wealthy family.  At night, to relieve the tedium of his day job, he wrote stories.  His first efforts were awkward, but with the help of his wife Dolly, who edited his work and most likely financed the publication of his first novel, he slowly began to find success. 

Grey had inherited his father’s turbulent nature.  He was given to spells of anger and sank into despair when his work was rejected.  Restless to a fault, he was a deplorable husband and father, often staying away for months, traveling, hunting and fishing, and spending time with mistresses, while Dolly managed the household and raised their three children.  Dolly tolerated her husband’s lifestyle as she proofed his work and handled the business end of his growing literary career.  Their letters indicate that there was genuine love and respect between them.  

Grey’s early books were about the American Revolution.  After a hunting trip to Arizona he began to write the Westerns that would make him famous.  On his wilderness trips he took photographs and wrote copious notes.  Treacherous river crossings, unpredictable beasts, bone-chilling cold, searing heat, parching thirst, bad water, irascible tempers, and heroic cooperation all became real to him.   From the beginning, vivid description was the strongest aspect of his writing.  Grey’s first Western, THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT, became a bestseller.  Two years later he produced his best known book, RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, his all-time best seller and one of the most successful Western novels ever.  After that he became a household name.  In 1918 he moved his family from Pennsylvania to California, where he started his own movie production company.  He lived there on and off until his death in 1939 at the age of 67. 

Grey became one of the first millionaire authors. He connected with millions of readers worldwide and inspired many Western writers who followed him. Zane Grey was a major force in shaping the myths of the Old West and he helped transition the written Western into other media. He was the author of over 90 books, some published posthumously and/or based on serials originally published in magazines. His total book sales exceed 40 million  From 1917–1926, Grey was in the top ten best-seller list nine times, which required sales of over 100,000 copies each time.  Even after his death, his publisher had a stockpile of manuscripts and continued to publish a new title each year until 1963. 

Another great writer, Erle Stanley Gardner, would say that Grey  “had the knack of tying his characters into the land, and the land into the story…Somehow you got the impression that the bigness of the country generated a bigness of character.” 

What sparked your early interest in the West?  Do you have a favorite author?  A favorite story or film? 

Clicking on the book icon will take you to Amazon.com.

Nothing surprised me more when I started to write, that I chose set my stories in the American frontier. Now, it wasn’t a surprise that I chose to write historicals –after all, I have a BA and MA and a second BA in History and taught US History and Western Civilization at the college level. However, I liked teaching Western Civ more than US History and my MA had specialization in Tudor and Stuart England, and the second BA in European Studies. But when it came time to write it was the frontier and the cowboy who caught my imagination. Big surprise.

Guess Fredrick Jackson Turner was right. Turner, a historian, presented his ‘frontier thesis’ in 1893 at the American Historical Association, stating that it was the westward expansion that formed the American character, making us as Ben Franklin said a new race that was rougher, simpler, more enterprising, less refined.
I think now it was the frontier aspect that drew me, as on the edge of civilization, it took a man and a woman working together to make a home. This was the basis for my first novel, Kentucky Green, when the frontier was ‘the land beyond the mountains’, the Kentucky and Ohio territory in 1794. My hero, although he’s not a cowboy, has all those cowboy characteristics.

But for most people Turner’s westward expansion brings to mind the cowboy. Which leads me right back to my old western movies.

When I was teaching, I used to have the student watch Stagecoach (1939) and discuss how the character portrayed the values of the time. If you haven’t seen the movie (shame on you!) a group of disparate individual undertake a dangerous stagecoach trip through Indian Territory. Our hero, the Ringo Kid (John Wayne, where director John Ford gave Wayne’s character the greatest screen introduction ever) is out to get the man who killed his father and brother. There is the ‘good woman’, a military wife on the way to join her husband, and the ‘bad woman’, the dancehall girl run out of town. The Confederate and the Union veteran. And of course, our hero helps save the day when the Indian attack. Here are our cowboy values of putting the good of the group before personal advantage, care and protection for those who need it. Courage in the fact of danger (the Indian attack).

Ringo also show determination to get revenge on the man who killed his family. This is often part of the ‘man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do’ philosophy of the frontier. The average man, our hero, is forced to act as the law as either the law is absent (part of the definition of frontier) or unable or unwilling to do the job that needs to be done to protect society. And, of course, after the final shoot out, our hero and his girl ride off to start a new life together. The ‘new start’ part of the frontier standing for redemption

Stagecoach is #9 on the American Film Institute’s Top Ten Westerns.

I also used to show part of Red River (1948) to my classes also. This movie is #5 on the American Film Institute’s Top Ten Westerns. In the first part (a prologue actually), our hero, Tom Dunstan (John Wayne) leaves the wagon train heading to California and the girl he’s fallen in love with to go to Texas to start his ranch, saying he’ll send for her. She fails to convince him to let her go with him, and says she’ll come.

I liked to use this to point out to my classes, who were used to instant communication, how you have to understand the times the people lived in to understand the history of what they said and did. I used to ask the men in my class, how are you going to send for her? A letter? Who would carry the letter? How would you address it? Would you go yourself? How would you find her? Then I’d ask the women in my class – how long do you wait for this guy to send for you? A year? Two years? Forever?

Perhaps part of the pull of the western is the lack of technology that sometimes seems to overwhelm and swamp the personal and individual in today’s society. People seemed more important than things in the west. Relationship were personal. Today we can spend more time with our computer that with our family.

The main part of Red River deals with the dangerous cattle drive north many years later. Here again we see the cowboy hero in several guises. Dunston (Wayne), who willing to do what no man has done, the cattle drive to try and save not only his ranch but all the surrounding ranches. Dunston willing to step up and take responsibility. He’s helped by his surrogate son, Matthew Garth (Montgomery Clift) and a cast of great secondary characters. As the cattle drive is beset with disasters, Dunston becomes more autocratic and driven to the point that Matthew rebels and takes over the herd. Matthew standing up to and against the man he loves like a father, necessary to do what right in his mind. Matt says ‘know he (Dunstan) was wrong. Sure hope I’m right.’ The story is not only one of man against nature (taming the frontier), but of Matthew (Clift) and his conflict with Dunstan (Wayne) each man doing what he thinks is right as the central theme of the film.

And, of course, there is a romance between Matt and the girl he meets, falls in love with, but must leave to complete the cattle drive. This romance between Matt and Tess (Joanne Dru) is what help lead to the final reconciliation between the men. This is a great movie with a young and beautiful Montgomery Clift and John Wayne allowed to act before all the directors wanted him to do was be John Wayne.

The Forties and Fifties were a great time for western movies, really too many to mention. But you might recall a few with Jimmy Stewart such as Winchester ’73, or The Far Country.

Randolph Scott working with directory Bud Boetticher made several good western such as The Tall T, and don’t miss Seven Men From Now if only for the final gun fight between Scott and Lee Marin as the ‘good’ bad guy.

For lots of good cowboy heroes, there is always what’s know as director John Ford’s Cavalry trilogy, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and Rio Grande.
These three, along with Stagecoach were shot in Monument Valley and the scenery is as much a character as the actors. Especially the storm She Wore a Yellow Ribbon which blew up as they were filming, and Ford kept right on filming. No special effect, just the real thing.

I think part of the allure of the cowboy is the wide open spaces and scenery that surrounds him. It was the remember clean, clear and bright mountain scenery around Durango, Colorado that made me set Colorado Silver, Colorado Gold there. My cowboy hero is an undercover officer for Wells Fargo who, of course, is determined, brave and does the best he can. And, of course, as all western heroines, the woman he falls in love with is strong, capable and makes him realize he’s a better man than he thinks he is.

Modern westerns in the old tradition are starting to turn up on television, such as Broken Trail (2007) with Robert Duvall as the older mentor and Thomas Haden Church as his nephew. And the traditional cowboy values are showcased in Open Range (2003) with Kevin Costner teaming with Robert Duvall, as two itinerate cowboy who end up taking on a corrupt sheriff and town boss – doing what needs to be done to make the community safer and revenge their friend. Also a nice little romance between Charlie (Kevin Costner) and Sue (Annette Bening).

Even the contemporary cowboy has those values. My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1991) where an estranged son and father re-connect as he finds love with an old flame.

How much better would things be today, if those cowboy values – honest, true to their word, willing to sacrifice to help those who can’t help themselves, putting the good of the community before their personal needs when necessary.

Yep, my heroes have always been cowboys. I watch the old movies any chance I get, and keep a lookout to see if they are out in DVD to replace the VHS tapes I have. My current favorite is Tall In The Saddle. Did I miss mentioning one of your favorite westerns? I know I missed some of mine. Do you watch the old movies, or do you have a favorite ‘modern’ western?

Terry Irene Blain

Escape to the past with a romantic adventure

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One lucky winner will be drawn to win their choice of COLORADO SILVER, COLORADO GOLD or KENTUCKY GREEN.

Leave a comment to get your name thrown in the hat.

   
http://www.terryblain.com/

Definition: noun

1) a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability  2) an illustrious warrior  3) a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities  4) one that shows great courage  5) the principal male character in a literary or dramatic work  6) the central figure in an event, period, or movement  7) an object of extreme admiration and devotion: idol

In a nationwide survey a few years back, Jesus Christ was the person most often listed as a hero, followed by Martin Luther King, Colin Powell, John F. Kennedy and Mother Theresa. Over half surveyed mentioned a public figure, others their fathers, mothers or other relatives and friends.

The major reasons for naming someone a hero were: Not giving up until a goal is accomplished; Doing what’s right regardless of personal consequences; Doing more than is expected; Staying level-headed in a crisis; Overcoming adversity; Changing society for the better; Willingness to risk personal safety to help others; Commanding the support and respect of others; Not expecting personal recognition.

The views of our nation have changed since September 11th.  More and more, firefighters, policemen and military men are referred to as heroes. We will all agree there were heroes aboard Flight 93 that day, men and women who foiled an additional terrorist plan.

The qualities of a hero include willingness to sacrifice, determination, loyalty, courage, dedication, intrepidity, valor, selflessness, conviction, focus, gallantry, perseverance, fortitude, bravery and integrity.

A hero isn’t always a man who sets out on a grand quest. Sometimes he’s the ordinary fellow who works an extra job to pay for his son’s college or his daughter’s wedding. Sometimes he’s a man who never raised his fists or fired a gun, but who sets a silent example of faith and a standard of honesty by the way he lives his life.

When we think of the heroes portrayed in our genre, we immediately think of John Wayne and Henry Ford, Wyatt Earp and Marshal Dillon. But there are unlikely heroes, too, such as Froto and Sam in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Clint Eastwood’s William Munny in Unforgiven. Remember Sally Field’s character in Norma Rae?  How about Erin Brockovich?  Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird tops every list of favorite movie heroes.

In talking about the heroes of our books, what qualities do some of our favorite authors think a hero needs?

Catherine Anderson says: “…one absolutely necessary quality a hero must always have is not good looks, suavity or physical strength, but incredible wonderful irresistible heart—an intangible s something that enables him not only to love deeply, but to live for love, sacrifice everything for love, and even die for love if necessary.”

Dorothy Garlock insists,” My heroes have high moral ethics and are always faithful.”

Pamela Morsi says the most important thing is “the hero’s willingness to make a commitment. All other obstacle can be overcome, but only a man who can marry and live happily ever after can be a hero in romantic fiction.”

Alexis Harrington said, “A hero doesn’t need to be perfect—I’d rather have a man with human frailties ad self-doubts. But despite his imperfections, he must have a nobility pf spirit that gives him the ability to recognize his own flaws, to see the good in others, and ultimately, to do the right thing, regardless of the cost to himself.”

Lorraine Heath mentions, “A hero should always be willing to sacrifice what he values most in order to ensure the heroine finds happiness.”

Joan Johnston likes her heroes to be “physically strong and emotionally vulnerable.”

Cheryl Reavis states, “My hero must always take care of his children. I can’t abide a man who shirks his responsibility for his child—I don’t care what the reason; and a man willing to take responsibility for a child that is not his is really a hero to me.”

The stuff heroes are made of is powerfully attractive to the woman who eventually wins his heart. Who is the perfect hero in my book? Well, the one who has all the qualities mentioned above—and looks like Hugh Jackman to boot.

Some of my favorite heroes are Rye Dalton in LaVyrle Spencer’s Twice Loved, Reed Tyler in Pam Morsi’s Courting Miss Hattie, Luke Turner in Lisa Gregory’s The Rainbow Season, Laghlan Mackenzie in the late Arnette Lamb’s Highland Rogue, Dylan Harper in Alexis Harrington’s Harper’s Bride, Charlie Cochranin Kate Hathaway’s Bad For Each Other, and Theresa Weir’s Nash Audabon in Long Night Moon – and the list just goes on an on.

Did I mention any of your favorite heroes or authors? Who are the heroes who stand out in your mind—either in real life or your favorite books?

You can’t pick up a western romance without it having some reference to the saloon. Saloons played a vital role in the western expansion. They filled a very human need. In addition to fulfilling the main role of quenching a man’s thirst, saloons were a place where cowboys could indulge in “cow talk” and where farmers and ranchers commiserated with each other about the weather/dry spells or floods. It was a place to get information on whatever subject you were needing to know about.

Saloons helped a man forget his loneliness and drown his troubles if only for a few hours. They offered entertainment, comfort, refuge, and refinement. And they were one of few places where a man could escape from his wife.

Saloons were all things to all men. And most times a cowboy didn’t  have to look far to find one.

Silverton, Colorado held the distinction of having the “worst gaming street in Colorado history.” Blair Street boasted 40 saloons and dance halls, 27 gaming saloons, and 18 houses of ill repute. And that was only one street among several in the town. With all the establishments being open 24 hours a day sin ran non-stop.

Saloons reflected the financial health and customers of a town. In wealthier places they were fancy buildings with ornate furnishings. But on the prairie, watering holes were often sod houses or tents. Usually the mining towns where gold or silver was abundant they were opulent and refined.

Either next to or behind the saloons were liveries where the customers could leave their horses while they quenched their thirst. If they didn’t plan to linger in the saloon long, there were hitching rails in front. In the book, “Saloons of the Old West” by Richard Erdoes he said, “The town’s sheriff could read brands just as easily as a modern cop reads license plates, and he would take care of the “parking problem” if he saw a horse tied to the rack overnight.”

Most saloons were built shotgun style–real long but not very wide. That was to accommodate a long bar, many of which were 50 to 60 feet in length. Saloon proprietors often competed to see who could get the longest bar. Erickson’s Saloon in Portland, Oregon was a whopping 684 feet long and probably held the record. Breen’s in San Francisco is made from Brazilian mahogany and measures 72 feet long. It’s supposedly the longest in America today. Denver’s Albany was quite impressive with its 110 ft. counter backed by a flawless mirror of matching length. And it’s a given that saloons almost always had a picture of a naked lady somewhere over the bar.

A little known fact: The typical establishment had towels hanging at certain intervals along the edge of the counter so men could wipe the foam off their beards and mustaches if they needed to.

Some saloons, the fancier ones, had a barber chair tucked into a corner with a live barber on hand to cut hair and give shaves for those who were inclined to spruce up. It saved time I guess. A cowboy could eat, drink, have his hair cut and get a shave all without leaving the saloon. Pretty amazing to have all those services combined.

Oh, and various saloons also maintained letter boxes so their steady customers could receive their mail in there.

There was no legal drinking age, but normally a bartender wouldn’t serve unless a boy’s voice had changed.

A lot of history was made inside saloons. States were named, capitals founded, political candidates announced, elections held, and trials conducted. The saloon was the place to be evidently.

American Indians were barred from saloons by law. Blacks were tolerated. But another group wasn’t welcome—military soldiers. Soldiers were resented because they policed the early West. Cowpunchers also blamed soldiers, rightly or wrongly, for giving the working girls venereal disease. But I seriously doubt that.

Do you think books and movies accurately portray saloons? Do you have a favorite saloon scene you’d like to share? Or do you have a favorite hero/heroine (books or movies) who was a saloon owner?

Will Rogers died before I was born.  I never saw any of his movies or heard his voice on the radio.  But I feel as if I knew him because he was my dad’s favorite movie star.  Dad talked about him a lot, especially on long car trips. 

Most movie cowboys were city boys with pretty faces.  Born in 1879 on the Dog Iron Ranch in Oklahoma’s Indian Territory, Will was the real thing.  Both his parents were part Cherokee (Will once quipped that his ancestors didn’t come over on the Mayflower, but they met the boat).  The youngest of eight children, Will quit school after the 10^th grade.  He was more interested in being a cowboy than in reading, writing and arithmetic.  A freed slave taught him how to use a lasso to work Texas Longhorn cattle on the family ranch.  As he grew older, Will’s roping skills were so remarkable that he was listed in the Guiness Book of Records for throwing three lassos at the same time:  One rope caught the running horse’s neck, the other would loop around the rider and the third swooped up under the horse to loop all four legs. 

After some early adventures abroad, will returned to America and went into show business as “The Cherokee Kid.”  His skills won him jobs trick roping in wild west shows and on the vaudeville stages where, soon, he started telling small jokes.  Quickly, his wisecracks and folksy observations became more prized by audiences than his expert roping.  He became known as an informed philosopher, telling the truth in simple words so that everyone could understand.  Here are some examples:  

“A fool and his money are soon elected.” 

“Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don’t have for something they don’t need.” 

“Buy land.  They ain’t making any more of the stuff.” 

“Even if you’re on the right track you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” 

“If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out?” 

And my favorite–”We will never have true civilization until we recognize the rights of others.” 

Will starred on Broadway and in 71 movies and was also a radio broadcaster.  He wrote more than 4,000 newspaper colums and six books.  Presidents, senators and kings sought his opinions.  Inside himself, Will Rogers remained a simple Oklahoma cowboy. “I never met a man I didn’t like,” was his credo of genuine love and respect for humanity and all people everywhere. He gave his own money to disaster victims and raised thousands for the Red Cross and Salvation Army.   

Will was also a devoted husband and father of four.  He married Betty Blake in 1908 after an 8 year courtship.  He would say, “When I roped her, that was the star performance of my life.”  In 1935, at the age of 55, Will took off on a flight around the world with a legendary pilot named Wiley Post.  The plane crashed in Alaska.  Both men lost their lives.  The outpouring of national grief over Will Rogers’s passing is generally regarded to be the greatest such show of national mourning since the death of Lincoln some seventy years earlier.   Will has been honored with postage stamps and monuments, including a statue in the U.S. Capitol building.  And his wise, simple words are still with us. 

Will Rogers was America’s cowboy for an earlier generation.  Who would you nominate for the title today?  Do you have a favorite Will Rogers saying? 

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As lovers of the Old West, we are truly fortunate to have another Western film release so close on the heels of “Broken Trail” and “3:10 to Yuma”.  Yay!  I’d only recently heard of the movie–right here on P & P as a matter of fact!–so you can imagine my curiosity to learn more about it.  The film is just now being shown in theaters, and I found it interesting how “Appaloosa” came about.

If you thought the story is about a horse–nope!  You’re wrong.  Appaloosa is a tiny town needing protection and justice against a local rancher who’s been roughing up the place.  The community decides to hire a couple of gunmen who are best friends to help them out by stepping in as the law.

The movie is based on the novel of the same name, written by Robert Parker.  Actor-director Ed Harris read the book while in Ireland back in 2005.  By the time he’d read 35 pages, he was so taken with the story, he had a fervent desire to both direct and act in it.  He immediately called his agent to acquire film rights, then later met with Robert Parker to discuss the project.  Not surprisingly, Parker was honored and impressed that a man of Ed Harris’ caliber wanted to adapt his book for the screen.

Every writer’s dream, eh?

From the get-go, Harris insisted on staying as close to Parker’s story line as possible, and the screenplay was written as such.  The two main characters, Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, gave the story its depth and meaning.  If you’re looking for a movie busting with special effects and non-stop action, you won’t find it in Appaloosa.  Harris falls back on the westerns we remember by using a less hurried pace and more focus on the characters.

Ed Harris admits the screenplay was a tough sell since few westerns are made these days and don’t fare as well overseas.  Today’s actors, in their 20s and 30s, never cut their eye teeth on westerns, either, as the previous generation had.  These factors, along with a mega-budget of $20 million, had production companies dragging their feet.

Eventually, however, Ed Harris wrestled financing and film distribution into place and turned his attentions to casting.  With Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch the crucial thrust of the story, Harris knew he needed a strong presence to work beside him.  He’d taken on the role of Cole–the first person he thought of for Hitch?  His ol’ buddy, Viggo Mortensen.  Viggo agreed to do the project, but his tight schedule pushed Harris’ project back until Viggo could squeeze some time in to start shooting.

Next, Harris set out to woo Renee Zellweger to play the part of Allie, a woman of questionable character and indiscretions who feels she must align herself with the most powerful man to survive.  Renee fell in love with the part and signed on.

Intense research into the period of the 1880s compelled Ed Harris to choose a villain who was less a thug but more like the thousands of immigrants pouring into this country at the time.  Jeremy Irons, a British actor, fit the image Harris created, and with that, his cast was complete.

Last October, near Austin, Texas, filming began, eventually moving to Ford Ranch outside of Santa Fe.  I found it interesting that the same set was used for Russell Crowe’s “3:10 to Yuma”, completely transformed, of course, into the town of Appaloosa.

A well-regarded cinematographer highlighted the landscape and its expansive beauty, key in giving the film a strong Western look and feel.  Both Viggo Mortensen and Renee Zellweger praise Ed Harris for keeping the film slower, simpler, to really ’see’ the characters, the landscape, and of course, Appaloosa itself.

“I just tried to cut to the chase and articulate the characters and their relationships and keep the action moving,” Harris says.  “Hopefully, it’s an entertaining adventure.”

Indeed!  I can hardly wait to see another Western on the full screen! 

How about you?  Have you seen Appaloosa yet?  Will you be going?

What kind of non-western movies do you prefer?   Do you like the high-tech special effects?  Lots of action and violence?  Or are you more into tear-jerking chick-flicks? 

I’ll add that Titanic is probably my favorite movie of all I’ve seen, but I’ve seen Wizard of Oz the most times in my life.  The biggest tear-jerker had to be Love Story with Ryan O’Neal.

What’s your favorite movie ever?

As soon as he skulked onto the screen, you knew there was bound to be trouble.  He didn’t even have to open his mouth.  That wild-eyed look said it all.  Jack Elam’s character was bad to the bone. 

The real Jack Elam made more than fifty films, from war movies to film noir to comedy.  But it’s his Westerns that fans remember.  He was never the star.  But his presence could electrify the screen.  In 1994 he was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum–an honor well earned. 

William Scott Elam was born in Arizona around 1918 (the date is uncertain because he lied about his age to get work picking cotton).  At the age of twelve, during a scuffle at a Boy Scout meeting, a pencil entered his left eye.  Not only did he lose the sight, but the blind eye kept its off-kilter look for the rest of Elam’s life. 

In the late 1940’s, Elam was working as a bookkeeper for Samuel Goldwyn Studios.  But the close work strained his one good eye.  Threatened with blindness, Elam offered to arrange financing for a movie director friend in exchange for roles in his films. 

In Elam’s early movies, his bad eye was camouflaged by make-up, lighting and camera angles.  Later, however, it was the eye—which gave him a slightly crazed look—that made Elam’s career as a character actor.  His notable westerns include Rawhide (1951), High Noon (1952), Vera Cruz (1954), The Man From Laramie (1955), Jubal (1956), Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Rio Lobo (1970).   

With few exceptions, Elam played bad guys.  But he played them straight on.  He was quoted as saying about his roles:   “In the old days, Rory Calhoun was the hero because he was the hero and I was the heavy because I was the heavy — and nobody cared what my problem was. And I didn’t either.  I robbed the bank because I wanted the money … I’ve played all kinds of weirdos but I’ve never done the quiet, sick type. I never had a problem — other than the fact I was just bad.”

From the late 1960’s on, Elam gained new fans as a comedian in such films as Support Your Local Gunfighter and The Over the Hill Gang.  He also played in several TV series.  The best-known Elam quote is the one that sums up the career of a character actor, as seen by a film director:  “1. Who’s Jack Elam?  2. Get me Jack Elam.  3. Get me a Jack Elam type. 4. Get me a young Jack Elam. 5. Who’s Jack Elam?”

Jack Elam died of heart failure on Oct. 20, 2003, but he remains my favorite bad guy.  How about you?  Who’s your favorite Western bad guy and why?

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Sorry to be late today.  Labor Day threw me off a bit, along with finishing up readiing page proofs.   For the non-writers here, page proofs is the last chance you have to fix your manuscript.   Publishers hate last minute tinkering, but I can’t seem to help myself, and so I ponder over every correction or change, wondering whether it’s worth the fight.   It almost always is.

But I digress. 

I’d already decided to blog about TV westerns.   Many of you probably don’t even know what I’m talking about.   Unfortunately they disappeared from TV screens in 1968, at least for the most part.   But prior to that, TV westerns were THE thing.  They dominated the small screens.

We still see a few on TVLand, but some have disappeared forever.   Others have are now being offered in CD and DVD formats.   I found them when searching for “Rawhide,” one of my alltime favorites, mainly because of the music.   In the search I found a treasure of old TV westerns.

At the risk of being a shill for a commercial website, I have to mention http://www.fiftiesweb.com/western.htm     I thought I had died and gone to heaven, and I’ve already dropped hints to all my relatives that I would dearly love some of its offerings for Christmas.

Basically, the TV western reigned supreme in the fifities and Sixties.   There were about 120 of them depending on what you consider a western.   One of the really nice things aboaut them, you could always tell the good guys from the bad, and none of the guns were fully automatic.

The earliest ones were most for kids.   I remember running down the street to watch Roy Rogers.   Hopalong Cassidy was a real treat.   I think I was five or six at the time, and TV was a new-fangled invention.

 In the mid-fifities, Gunsmoke began a 20-year run, and it was so successful others followed.  Some of the most popular — and my favorites — were Wagon Train and Rawhide, along with Maverick (which lives today) and Have Gun Will Travel. 

Studios realized that the western didn’t just appeal to men and “accordingly cast hunky leads, who often appeared shirtless, to please the women (and they did). No longer did the hero kiss his horse and ride off into the sunset,   Now he fot to kiss the girl too.”

By the Sixties, the offerings included great sprawling westerns such as The Virginian, High Chaparral, Big Valley and Bonanza.  

 But the world was changing.  Viet Nam spoiled the mood of the country or, according the website, perhaps “there is such a notion as too much of a good thing (Not for me).”

I think that happened to the western romance novel as well.   I first started writing them in 1983, and westerns were so successful that the market was glutted.   There simply were too many books for the audience, and everyone’s numbers faded.   Publishers started looked for the next big subgenre.

But once more I digress.   Back to my TV westerns.   Attempts to resurrect the genre failed.  Westerns are expensive to make and younger studio executives just didn’t get it.  The explanation from the website:  “They assume that we all want to watch sexy young actors and actresses who haven’t eaten yet this month, talk about nothing in their apartments.”

Which is why I don’t watch much television today.  

But I thought I would take you down memory street and mention some wellknown western series and others not so well known.   You can buy some of them at the above website.

The not so well known series:

A Man Called Shenandoah, starring Robert Horton.   Two buffalo hunters find a stranger who has been shot.  Thinking he may have a price on his head, they take him to town.  Although he is not wanted, when he comes around, he cannot remember who he is.  Calling himself Shenandoah, he wanders the west trying to find his real identity.

The Loner, starring Lloyd Bridges.   After the Civil War, a former Union Cavalry officer travels West to try to find some meaning in life, something to value.  Rod Serling wrote some of the scripts.

Iron Horse, staring Dale Robertson.   Ben Calhoun wins a railroad in a poker game.   An unfinished railroad.  So Ben has to complete the line.  Lots of action as he and his friends tame the way for the railroad.

The Road West, starring Andrew Pine.   Benjamin Pride moves his entire family from their home in Springfield, Ohio, to the Kansas Territory after the Civil War.  The stories were about the struggles of a pioneering family.

Hondo (one of my favorites), starring Ralph Taeger as Hondo Lane.   Taken from the Lous L’Amour story, this series is about a cavalry scout in the Arizona Territory.   Hondo had been a Confederate officer who came to live with the Apaches.   But his Indian bride is slain in an army massacre and now he works for the Army trying to avid further Bloodshed.

Dundee and the Culhane, staring John Mills and Sean Garrison.   Although British attorney Dundee’s offices are in Sausalito, he and his apprentice Culhane wander the west for their clients, always trying to impose rule of law in a lawless land.

And here’s a few of the better known ones.   Many of these have been preserved and are available for sale:

Rawhide: Gil Favor is the trail boss of the cattle drive from North kansas to Sedalia, Kansas.  His ramrod is a young Clint Eastwood playing Rowdy Yates.  

The Virginian, starring James Drury and Doug McClure.  The Virginian was the first of the 90-minute westerns.  The Virginian is a man coping with change and trying to live by a strict moral code

Little House on the Prairie.   Enough said.

It’s great fun to visit the sight and read about these westerns.   There’s a description of all the 120-plus series.   Just be careful,  You can get lost there.