The Silver Screen Oasis

moirafinnie wrote:Happy Birthday to John Wayne, born 116 years ago today.

Well, given that Mr. Wayne is said to have been born in 1907 (IMDb) and we are now in 2013, that should mean he was born 106 years ago today. [I didn't think he was older than AM. . . .] Happy Birthday, Mr. Wayne.

Professional Tourist wrote:

moirafinnie wrote:Happy Birthday to John Wayne, born 116 years ago today.

Well, given that Mr. Wayne is said to have been born in 1907 (IMDb) and we are now in 2013, that should mean he was born 106 years ago today. [I didn't think he was older than AM. . . .] Happy Birthday, Mr. Wayne.

Thank you for the correction!

I've never seen "THE SEA CHASE" with John Wayne and Lana Turner. But my friend Brian has. And he's got a review about this interesting movie. Check it out:

This is not a bad movie at all. One of the great WW2 films? Maybe not. But it's respectful, thoughtful and different. John Wayne as a German? This still boggles the mind! Even in 1955, this choice took courage on the part of actor and studio. This quiet adventure by the under appreciated John Farrow (see WHERE DANGER LIVES, FIVE CAME BACK, the exceptional WAKE ISLAND) is not overly dramatic, could even use a shot of adrenaline; but it's interesting and exciting in its way. I've liked this movie since I saw it on The Early Show some fifty years ago!

MissGoddess wrote:I appreciated that, thanks CineMaven. I have always liked The Sea Chase and have always been alone in my liking of it, until now!

Thanxx for reading my friend's work, Miss G.. Brian's a great fan of classic films and appreciates a good story that doesn't insult the audience's intelligence.

...And might I add, Miss G., that your avatar of Robert Montgomery looks mighty ducky!

Report from the John Wayne festival now posted on the Ben Johnson page. http://benjohsonfanpage.shutterfly.com/festivals

Pictures!

Aissa Wayne and Maureen O'Hara symbolically breaking ground for the new museum which actually should start construction in the fall.


Birthplace president Joe Zuckschwerdt, Aissa Wayne, Maureen O'Hara and Birthplace Executive Director Brian Downes. See the guy in the back with the sunglasses and black cowboy hat? His name is Jim and he knew Ben Johnson a bit. I'm hoping to do an interview with him in the future.


Aissa Wayne talking to a guy whose name IS (he says) John T. Wayne. He's written a series of western-themed novels, the "Gaslight Boys" series. Look up John T. Wayne and "Gaslight Boys" on Amazon -- you'll find the books there. I talked to him for a while and he does look amazingly like John Wayne, including the very very blue eyes.


Main square, Winterset, with courthouse dome.


The Quiet Man poster at the Iowa Theater. Saw Rio Grande and The Wings of Eagles there, and about 1/2 hour of The Quiet Man. The Quiet Man was packed -- completely full. Everyone was utterly rapt. They were LOVING it.


The John Wayne Birthplace.


This is the Friday night Western swing dance. Maureen came with her family -- that's her grandson Conor in the cowboy hat on the right -- and she sat for individual photos with a long line of adoring fans. Afterwards she left, but then...


Conor came back with his family and he danced with daughter Baylee. I used to dance like that with my feet on daddy's feet. :) You can't see it in this photo (but you can in other photos I posted on my page) but Conor's wife Elga is taking photos of this. Soooo cute!


Pancake breakfast at the Winterset firehouse. Yum!


The Iowa Theater


Glenn Frankel, author of The Searchers: Making of an American Legend. (Make sure you read April's interview with him at directedbyjohnford.com.) This is right before he signed my copy. :)


The Saturday night benefit gala dinner. 800 people -- sold out! It was crowded. When they wheeled in Maureen in her chair, everyone jumped their feet and gave her a huge standing ovation. ;)


I managed to snap this picture of her. Most of the time all I could see was her hair. :)


The Shannon Rovers Irish Pipe Band. The Birthplace staff scheduled lots of superb entertainment -- an Irish-American soprano who sang songs from The Quiet Man (and "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" from Rio Grande), the bagpipers, and two young ladies who did Irish dance with the bagpipers. You could tell they were thrilled to death to be dancing for the one and only Maureen O'Hara.


Well, there's a lot more so please go to the webpage, http://benjohnsonfanpage.shutterfly.com/festivals and read the story (a bit more than what's here) and also look at the photos. I've put comments on quite a few of the individual photos so despite the fact that I'll never win an award for photography you might want to click through them all quickly looking for the ones with comments.

That closeup shows she's still gorgeous. Thanks Paula for the wonderful pics.

Paula, I just wanted to say thanks for posting these wonderful pictures of Maureen O'Hara and the John Wayne's Birthday Celebration as well. I just enjoyed them immensely ...

Paula, these photos are wonderful! I am so happy that you got to go. What a blessing you are to us for sharing your lovely experience!

And doesn`t she look well.

Thanks to character actor Jim Beaver (you may know him as Ellsworth from Deadwood, or Dean and Sam's father figure on Supernatural or Shelby on Justified and he is a John Wayne scholar to boot!), when Ethan Wayne found a couple of boxes of letters and an unfinished autobiography of his father, John Wayne, Jim Beaver told him that all of that should be put together in a book.

Lucky for all of us, Ethan Wayne took Jim Beaver's advice. That book has just been published!

Read it about here:

Michael Goldman’s book John Wayne: The Genuine Article opens with two prologues. The first is from Ethan Wayne, the Duke’s youngest son. The other is from President Carter, who’s long been one of the most hated political figures among the right-wing circles of which Wayne was a proud member.

If the latter author seems surprising to Wayne fans, it’s the first of many unexpected shadings that the book provides to the seemingly straightforward cowboy icon. (Upon Carter’s election, Wayne sent the new president a congratulatory telegram from the “loyal opposition” — he had sent similar missives to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson as well — and he later also supported him on the Panama Canal Treaty, breaking with his friend and fellow California Republican Ronald Reagan.)

For more: http://variety.com/2013/film/news/john- ... 200492739/

Interesting Reading Lzcutter, and I will be looking forward reading about it. I loved any book of John Wayne ... and this one is a good read. I just read the article from Variety and I enjoyed reading the excerpts of that book.

Thanks for pointing it out to all of us ...