Happy Halloween, Or Introducing My Daughter As Madeline Kahn As Eunice Burns.

Here’s wishing you all a safe and happy Halloween. And while you’re here, I want to show off my daughter’s costume.

Her all-time favorite movie is Peter Bogdanovich’s What’s Up, Doc? (1972). A great choice (where’d she get her exquisite taste in movies?). Anyway, for Halloween, she decided to be Madeline Kahn as Eunice Burns (Presley above, Madeline below). And yes, the plaid bag has igneous rocks in it.

To tie this to 50s Westerns, let’s see — ever read Bogdanovich’s terrific books on John Ford and Allan Dwan?

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Screening(s): A Weekend Of Wayne.

The Cary, a newly-renovated theater in downtown Cary (naturally), North Carolina, has put together a weekend of John Wayne pictures, which includes many of his best. If anybody’s planning on going to some of these, let me know.

All of a sudden, I’m kinda glad I live here.

The Searchers (1956)
Thursday, November 6, 7 PM

Donovan’s Reef (1963)
Thursday, November 6, 9:30 PM

Rio Bravo (1959)
Friday, November 7, 7 PM

Stagecoach (1939)
Friday, November 7, 9:30 PM

Red River (1948)
Saturday, November 8, 7 PM

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Saturday, November 8, 9:30 PM

The Alamo (1960)
Sunday, November 9, 2 PM

The Cary
122 E. Chatham Street
Cary, NC 27511
(919) 462-2051

Thanks for the tip, Jennifer.

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50s Westerns DVD News #163: Gene Autry Collection 8.

The upcoming Gene Autry Collection from Timeless Media Group, number 8, contains some good ones. It’ll be available November 18. I haven’t seen one of these yet where the quality wouldn’t knock your socks off.

Saginaw Trail (1953)
One of Gene’s last features, this one mixes things up by taking place in the 1820s. Which means Gene’s Levis and flashing shirts are nowhere to be seen — and there’s a swordfight!

Riders In The Sky (1949)
With a picture built around the song “Ghost Riders In The Sky,” how could it not be terrific?

Riders Of The Whistling Pines (1949)
Gene’s up against crooked loggers as deadly insects infest our forests.

Trail To San Antone (1947)
Gene’s involved in horse racing this time, with Peggy Stewart along for the ride.

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DVR Alert: Stage To Tucson (1950) On GetTV.

What a beautiful poster Columbia cooked up for Stage To Tucson (1950), starring Rod Cameron and Wayne Morris. They gave it Technicolor, too, shot by Charles Lawton, Jr. in Lone Pine and at the Iverson Ranch.

James H. Griffith contributes the voice of Abraham Lincoln. He did the Lincoln thing fairly often, including an episode of The Lone Ranger.

This is one I’ve never seen, and GetTV is giving me a chance to fix that. It will air four times in November.

Saturday, November 1
4:40 PM & 1:05 AM

Saturday, November 29
7:05 PM & 4:05 AM

Mark your calendars, set your DVRs, etc. Oh, and don’t forget that they run two Durango Kid pictures every Saturday.

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50s Westerns DVD News #162: Annie Oakley, The Complete Series.

Stop! You’ve ordered your Annie Oakley set, haven’t you? Today’s the day.

Man, I can’t wait to get ahold of this thing.

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Adam West As Doc Holliday.

Let’s all congratulate Jerry Entract of the UK for being the first to come through with the correct answer(s) to the trivia question.

What was Edwin L. Marin’s wife’s name?
Ann Morriss

What show was she in that was based on a Randolph Scott film that Marin directed?
Colt .45. There was also a show based on Sugarfoot (1951), which Marin also directed.

And who played Doc Holliday in the episode she appeared in?
Adam West. Incidentally, West played Holliday in an episode of Sugarfoot, too.

The response was great, and everyone who wrote in got it right. These contests are fun. I won’t wait another million hits for the next one.

This is way off topic, but I’m so stoked about West’s Batman series coming to DVD and Blu-ray.

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50s Westerns Trivia Contest.

A million hits calls for some kinda something. So how about a trivia contest? This one’s complicated, so read carefully.

Director Edwin L. Marin’s last eight features were Westerns, six of them starring Randolph Scott. Marin died in May 1951, just before the release of Fort Worth. (That’s Randy on the set.)

After his death, Marin’s actress wife returned to work, and eventually appeared in an episode of a TV show based on a Scott Western (that Marin directed).

Here’s the question, which is in three parts:
What was Marin’s wife’s name?
What show was she in that was based on a Scott film that Marin directed?
And who played Doc Holliday in the episode she appeared in?

Email your answers to fiftieswesterns@gmail [dot] com. The first person to come through with all three parts correct will win the Randolph Scott triple-feature DVD: Fort Worth (1951), Colt .45 (1950) and Tall Man Riding (1955). The first two were directed by Edwin Marin, the third’s from Lesley Selander.

 

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The Spoilers (1942), A Million Hits And A Trivia Contest.

It’s not a 50s Western, but two of our favorites are in it, and this saloon fight has to be one of the best ever filmed. So, to commemorate this blog reaching 1,000,000 hits, here’s John Wayne and Randolph Scott in The Spoilers (1942). They might not reach a million hits in this six-minute sequence, but they certainly beat the crap out of each other.

To each and every one of you behind all those hits here at 50 Westerns From The 50s, my sincere thanks. I never imagined this crazy thing would ever see such a milestone.

So, to celebrate, and to honor my all-time favorite actor, Randolph Scott, let’s have another Trivia Contest. The question will appear, as a new post, tomorrow at noon (Eastern Standard Time).

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The Jack Webb Blogathon.

I believe this is the RKO Ranch in Encino, as it appears in the 1954 Dragnet episode “The Big Producer.” It’s a good one, one of the best in my opinion, about a washed-up silent movie producer reduced to peddling pornography. There’s a strong Sunset Boulevard (1950) vibe to it, with Jack Webb and Ben Alexander joined by Ralph Moody, Martin Milner and Carolyn Jones.

This seems like a good way to plug The Jack Webb Blogathon happening over at my other place, The Hannibal 8. It’s running through the weekend (beginning on Friday, naturally), and some great folks are contributing (including our friend Laura and my daughter Presley). Stop by if you get a chance.

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50s Westerns DVD News #161: Warner Archive 5 For $50 Sale.

What does Columbus have to do with 50s Westerns? Not much, unless you’re adding to your collection through Warner Archive’s Columbus Day sale — running through midnight tonight.

We’ve gone over all the great stuff you can get through the Archive, so I’ll shut up and let you get to it. But you couldn’t go wrong with Carson City (1952).

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