Ben Johnson

[knitwit45]

I know this is either the 3rd or 4th time I've posted this, but our own Jacks, who started this thread in the first place, made the most lovely tribute video, and on Ben's birthday....I think we can stand to see it again, don't you? sigh..... And Jacks, I just posted this for you on the FaceBook page...prepare to be famous!!!!

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[pvitari]

I can never watch that video enough. Thank you JackFavell for making it and thank you Knitwit for posting it here!

But... what Facebook page?

[JackFavell]

Oh, Lordy! If I'[m going to be famous, I'll have to get my hair done!

Thanks Nan, and Paula! I don't know if my little piece can compete with some of the other videos, but I'm just happy if someone sees it and becomes a fan of Ben.

That photo from One Eyed Jacks is WONDERFUL! Oh my gosh, "be gentle now"! That horse is just another fan, I am sure he was drawn to Ben just as we all are - to his own sweet nature.

Happy Birthday, Ben! You were and are a treasure!

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[knitwit45]

http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... OK#p105574

Paula, the one Moira announced last week...you must have missed it???

[pvitari]

Did not see that announcement. Thanks for the link.

Love all the videos! ;)

Just a reminder that you can get a copy of Third Cowboy From the Right from Video Editing Services in Lexington, Kentucky. They can burn you a DVD if you call them at 1-859-255-9049. The cost is $15 plus tax and shipping for a total of $21.20. (Maybe it's gone up in price a bit since I got my copy a few years back.)

[pvitari]

Several places on Facebook and the web also noted Ben's birthday so yesterday was a nice Ben-filled day. :)

Back to Pawhuska for a few more days. Today the topic is a wonderful book called Pawhuska Kids' Stuff by Stephen Joe Payne, who grew up there in the 1940s and 50s. The book is a collection of his essays about his boyhood in town (he was into motorbikes and movies, not horses and roping) and also towards the end of a book, some very touching essays on fatherhood and the son he lost to diabetes. I couldn't put this book down -- I loved Payne's writing, which is very clear and straightforward, but also extremely evocative of time and place. Payne never met Ben, though he saw him from a distance. However, his mother knew Ben and the book includes a short but very enjoyable anecdote about Payne's mom meeting Ben in the Cowboy Hall of Fame -- another example of Ben how always kept his down-home folks ways.

Seriously... I loved this book. ;)

[pvitari]

All the fun is in Pawhuska this weekend with the annual Cattleman's Convention. A big outdoor dance, lots of food, a working dog demonstration, and lots of rodeoing -- including this year's Ben Johnson (Sr.) Memorial Steer Roping, which always takes place on Father's Day. The steering roping event was started in 1956 in honor of Ben Johnson, Sr., who had died in 1952. Ben Sr. was a much beloved, respected and larger than life Osage County cowboy -- multiple times winner of the world roping championship, foreman for more than 20 years of the Chapman-Barnard Ranch, a lover of gambling, square-dancing, laughing, friendship, and the ladies.

Ben Jr. would travel to Pawhuska every year to compete in the event honoring his dad, unless his filming commitments conflicted.

Here is a poster for this year's Ben Johnson Memorial Steer Roping, and also a blurb and an ad for the 1960 event from the June 1960 issue of Hoof and Horns magazine. I've started a new album on my webpage which also has a couple of flyers from past steer ropings.

[pvitari]

Since it's Father's Day, here's an undated vintage postcard of Ben Johnson Sr. steer roping in Cheyenne, Wyoming. (I have the actual postcard -- another item from ebay.) :) Unfortunately you can't really see Ben Sr.'s face, but you can admire his form as he's about to throw the rope. :)



This is actually larger than the postcard itself, which is about 3 1/4 x 5 1/4.

You'll notice the name "Doubleday" in parentheses. Ralph R. Doubleday was a very famous rodeo photographer from the first half of the 20th century. You can read his bio at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum website:

http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/res ... fault.aspx

I really recommend reading it -- he had a fascinating life. He photographed Yakima Canutt in 1912! I found this paragraph to be of particular interest because of today's scan:

While many of his images were sold to magazines and the press, Doubleday's primary and substantial income came from photographic postcards which he wholesaled by the millions. According to historians Frank N. Samponaro and Paul J. Vanderwood, "A national craze for postcards made the first decade and a half of the twentieth century the golden age of picture postcards. By 1910 Americans were mailing nearly a billion postcards annually. In an era when not many people traveled very far from home and few small-town newspapers carried news photographs, buying a postcard depicting an event of local, national, or even international interest for oneself or to send to a friend was extremely common."

[JackFavell]

Paula! That's a fantastic picture of the ever elusive Ben Sr.! He must have been going really fast at this point, judging from the horse's feet and his forward leaning position. He looks almost nonchalant, as if this was the easiest thing in the world to do. He seems to have been a man everyone including Ben wanted to emulate. The immediate words that enter my mind when thinking about Ben Sr. are "no fear".

Maybe now would be a good time to go back and post the first picture I ever posted in this thread - which is also a Doubleday postcard. Here we get a little better look at Ben Sr.'s face:

[pvitari]

I remember that postcard from the very first post here. Thanks, JackFavell!

The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum has a huge photo archive which includes a couple more Doubleday postcards of Ben Sr. plus lots of photos of Ben Jr., including a lot of Ben Jr. competing at rodeos (not photographed by Doubleday; a lot of the Ben Jr. photos were taken by Greg Bern). One of these days I'm going to order some of those photos for myself. ;) Here's the link for anyone who wants to take a look: http://imagedb.nationalcowboymuseum.org ... /opac.aspx

Here's a pic of Ben Sr. with two of his children -- Helen and Ben Jr. Photo is from the early '50s. Most people who knew the two Bens called Ben Jr. "Son," though I've been told that Ben Jr. was called "Francis" by some relatives when he was a boy. "Francis" was his legal first name (it was also Ben Sr.'s legal first name).



This is a photo of a photo of Ben Sr. (on the left) and another man, taken at the restored Chapman-Barnard ranch bunkhouse at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve last year. UPDATE (June 19): the man on the right is the ranch's co-owner, H.G. Barnard.



I didn't do anything for Mother's Day but I will next year!

[pvitari]

I just added screencaps from Ben's two scenes in the 1977 Muhammad Ali biopic, The Greatest. Ben plays Hollis, a composite character who represented the various wealthy men who backed Ali's move to professional boxing after his Olympic win. Ali played himself in the movie, except for the early scenes as a boy and teenager. As a teen, he's played by Chip McAllister, who I thought was utterfly adorable but whose career never went much of anywhere. Instead, he and his wife started their own business. They were very successful, then suffered various financial reverses but apparently are back on track. Also, they won The Amazing Race back in...2004? Sometime around there.

Hollis is one of those people who probably thinks he's a wonderful guy, but even though he hopes to make money off the young Cassius Clay by buying a stake in his career -- he won't eat at a restaurant with him. That look on Ben's face at the end is his telling Cassius Clay "not to make waves," i.e., even though you walked into this "whites only" restaurant and my foolish daughter who doesn't know better invited you sit down and have something to eat -- you have to leave.

Here are some screencaps.

I believe that's Dina Merrill in the middle


You are NOT supposed to wear shoes LIGHTER than the shade of your suit!








Restaurant: "whites only." Hollis (Ben) is there with his daughter and wife and another couple, one of whom is played by David Huddleston. In walks teenage Olympic boxing champ Cassius Clay, who had noticed that Hollis' car was parked in the restaurant's lot. This scene has a number of reaction shots from the other guests who are shocked that a black person who isn't wait staff dare walk in there and start talking to people dining there.


Hollis and company try to defuse the situation a little with some small talk...


But when the daughter dares to think of Cassius as just another person and asks him if he wants something to eat...Hollis and his wife are disturbed but don't mention the breach of "polite society."


The waiter -- he is featured in a shot twice and has no dialogue but his face says so much.








Chip McAllister as the teenage Cassius Clay. He was just adorable. His first acting job!


This kid just won't leave!


Management conveys a message.


The boom is about to be lowered.






He gets the message. "We want to make money from your boxing but you're not good enough to eat with us."




The sweet teenage daughter, embarrassed all around.

[pvitari]

Here's an interview with Ben by Jack Norrell in the March 1983 (issue #9) edition of Western Favorites magazine. There were a LOT of magazines covering westerns back then -- I suspect they're all long gone/migrated to the internet. Every single magazine I wrote for in the 1990s is gone. Some of them still have web pages, but their web presence is just a shadow of their print incarnation.

Ya know, pace Ben, I really don't think that The Town That Dreaded Sundown is good family viewing, unless your family is a teenage boy who loves slasher flicks -- and nowadays, as slasher flicks go, it's pretty tame.Though still not something I'd pick out for the little ones. I really wonder how much "rewriting" Charles Pierce let Ben do. ;) As for Soggy Bottom U.S.A., there is enough low humor in it to keep the kids young enough to still love bathroom jokes giggling, though there are also adult matters in it that I think all go straight over their heads or at least not be fully comprehended.

Also, this is not the first time I've seen Ben say that Wild Bill Elliott wasn't much of a rider, which has always confused me, because according to every bio I've ever read, Elliott rode from childhood. From B-westerns.com:

"He was born Gordon Nance, on a ranch in Pattonsburg, Missouri, on Oct. 16, 1903, according to John Leonard's definitive book on his films, appropriately titled Wild Bill Elliott. Nance grew up around horses, riding his first one at age five. His father was commissioner at the Kansas City stockyards, where young Nance saw many actual cowboys riding and roping. By age sixteen, he won first place among those cowboys in the American Royal Horse and Livestock Show."

[pvitari]

A publicity picture for the TV movie Bonanza: The Return, which aired Nov. 28, 1993.

Left to right: Richard Roundtree, Emily Warfield, Ben Johnson, Alistair MacDougall, Brian Leckner, Michael Landon, Jr.

[JackFavell]

That's a sweet article, Paula. I would love to have asked Ben who his favorite western stars were, and favorite movie riders.

[pvitari]

I would love to have asked Ben who his favorite western stars were, and favorite movie riders.

That's on my very long list of questions for the interview with Ben that will never happen. *pause for self-pitying sniffle*

TV alert! If you get the Hallmark Movie High Def Channel -- they are going to air Ben's Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Reckless Rockhound" on June 28 at 12 noon EST. This is not yet on DVD and I've never seen it so I am very anxious for June 28 to arrive. :) I predict that it will be on DVD in a year or so. They've been releasing the Perry Mason episodes in half-season box sets fairly regularly and the 7th season, vol. 1 will be released this summer. So I wouldn't be surprised if season 8, vol. 1 (which would have this episode) showed up next summer.

Here's the episode description from the IMDB (doesn't spoil the identity of the murderer):

Carl Bascomb returns to Burgess, California after several years absence. Prior to his departure, he had closed down the Burgess mine, putting many of the locals out of work. Bascomb had become a partner in the mine but claimed to have found irregularities in the books. Today, the mine is still being operated on a small scale by Reba Burgess, widow of the man who founded the business. With the help of two long-time employees, Kelly and Reelin' Pete, she's kept the place going thanks to a kindly banker, Mr. Malone, and loans using a million dollars worth of diamonds as collateral. Bascomb was viewed as a crook by many and frequently visited the bank leading employee Mr. Kinder, to wonder just what he's up to. When Bascomb is found murdered at the mine, Reba Burgess is arrested and Perry Mason defends her in court.

****
The great noir icon Audrey Totter plays Reba Burgess -- Ben had worked with her two years previously in a Route 66 episode, and Elisa Cook, Jr. is "Reelin' Pete" (love that name!) Ben is Kelly. Any bets that Ben is the killer? :)

And now here's a publicity picture from Bonanza: Under Attack. Yes, that's Leonard Nimoy next to Ben. Boy, I sure love seeing him (Ben) with Star Trek actors! Like William Shatner in that Gunsmoke episode, "Quaker Girl." ;)