Tom Barnes's Blog: Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog, page 7

Early Silent Movie Stars and Doc Holliday

This Week:
Let's Go to the Movies
Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone (Spicer hearing excerpt)
Writers Notebook: The growth of Sidney Sheldon's characters.
Let's Go to the Movies
Hollywood Silents 1914-1929 Part 4
Charlie Chaplin was a British comic and grew up in the theater. He was on an American tour when Mack Sennett saw him and signed him to a contract with Keystone. Sennett saw great potential in Chaplin's comedic humor, but was stumped as to how best to transfer that humor and energy to film. Out of frustration he just said, 'Get into a comedy makeup,' possibly thinking along the lines of a circus clown. Chaplin recalled the incident and said he had no idea what kind of makeup Sennett had in mind. He went to wardrobe and it struck him that baggy pants and oversized shoes might work. Fatty Arbuckle contributed a derby hat and a pair of his own pants. Chester Conklin provided a tight fitting cut away tail coat. And to make himself appear a bit older Chaplin added the small mustache.
Once he put the full costume on and added a cane it all felt right – and at that moment the little tramp was born.
Roscoe C. 'Fatty' Arbuckle joined the theater at an early age working for the Webster-Brown Stock Company. Arbuckle was a talented actor and comedian and he could play parts and did from acrobats to circus clowns to singing waiters.
By 1913 Arbuckle had his eye on film and directed several of his own one reel comedy skits.
In 1914 Mack Sennett recognized Arbuckle's talent and signed him with Keystone.
Mary Pickford:
America's Sweethart was born in Canada and her name was Gladys Smith. Her stage mother introduced her to the theater and the talented child fell in love with the theater from the beginning. The youngester was known on stage as 'Baby Gladys,' the public adored her from the beginning of her career and almost immediately made her a star.
At the age of 15 Gladys was mature enough to travel alone to New York. Her goal was to meet the famous producer David Belasco.She was aware that her chances of meeting the great producer was a longshot, however, her talent coupled with ambition and enthusiasm made theater people take notice. She made the rounds of theatrical agents and small time producers and in a very short period time she got that appointment to meet David Belasco. In the summer of 1907 she cabled her mother in Canada 'Gladys Smith now Mary Pickford – engaged by David Belasco to appear on Broadway this fall.'
Mary Pickford was a hit in the only Broadway play she did for Belasco 'The Warrens of Virginia.'
And it was during that time in New York that she discovered the movies. Mary followed her dream, made the rounds and fortunately got a job with Biograph Films working under the direction of D.W. Griffith. During those days in New York Biograph was a factory churning out a film every week.
In 1910 Griffith moved his troupe to California to get away from the New York Winters. Mary went along with the move and once in sunny California she played every kind of role you could imagine. She also wrote a few scenarios and sold them to Griffith for twenty five dollars each.
After appearing in 80 Biograph short films Mary Pickford left the company to work for Carl Leammle's IMP Company. (Leammle later founded Universal Pictures.)
Mary didn't care for the work enviroment at IMP and returned to Biograph and D.W. Griffith.
By that time the general public knew who Mary Pickford was and her films were becoming more and more popular.
The year following Mary Pickford's return to Biograph – the company produced its best body of work.
In the early Hollywood days film companies went in and out of business so fast that you needed a score card to keep up. Production companies were spread out all over the Los Angeles area. At one time there were a dozen or more film companies located on Mission Road in east Los Angeles. Tom Mix and Bronco Billy Anderson made their westerns in an area south of Glendale. Hollywood was also attracting its share of film companies. The Lasky Company and C.B. DeMille were turning out films from that old barn at Selma and Vine, while a few blocks away at Sunset and Gower the Christi Film Company was producing films out of an old tavern. The several blocks around Sunset and Gower would later be dubbed 'Gower Gulch' and over time film companies such as Columbia, RKO and Paramount would take up residence in that community.
The production of feature films was becoming common in Hollywood, but D.W. Griffith's mind was on the spectacular. He set up his Fine Arts Studio at the intersection of Sunset and Hollywood Blvd.
Griffith bought the rights to the 'Clansman' a book written by the Reverend Thomas Dixon to use as his basic story. As he adapted the book and wrote the screenplay Griffith expanded the scope of the narrative to fit the visual image he had in mind.
(To be continued)

Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone
Spicer Hearing Excerpt:

'...in Judge Spicer’s courtroom James Kehoe, a butcher, was on the stand and the district attorney asked,' "When Tom McLowry came into your shop, was he armed?"
"There was nothing to show that he was armed, nothing in sight.”
"Did you see or hear any part of the gunfight?"
Kehoe thought for a moment. "I heard two shots in quick succession and I saw Frank McLowry running out on the street and drawing his pistol. I saw Holliday going out on the street from near Fly's building. Holliday had a shotgun or rifle in his hand, by this time the shooting was general.”
"When Tom McLowry was in your shop, do you recall how he was dressed?"
"He had on a dark blue blouse of light material, dark pants and dark vest."
“Was the blouse worn inside or outside his pants?”
“It was outside his pants,” Kehoe said.
Price then stated, "I have no further questions for this witness, Your Honor.” Then he nodded toward the defense table. "Cross-examine?"
Doc scribbled a note and showed it to T. J. Drum. It read -- What about the coat lapels? Other witnesses said he was wearing a coat.
The lawyer studied Doc’s note for a few seconds and then responded to the judge. "We have no questions just now, but would like to reserve the right to possibly recall Mr. Kehoe at a later time.”
Doc leaned toward the lawyers and in a low voice said, "Don't you think we should have questioned Frank's gun action. He jerked his pistol before the shooting started. But the court record, at least according to this last witness, shows the fight was nearly finished and he was in the middle of the street before he pulled his six-gun." Doc took a breath and then stared the lawyers down. "Shouldn't we be objecting to some of this testimony?"
T. J. Drum's face flushed. "You may be right, Doc. I promise though we'll clear it up later."
"I sure hope so," Doc said glumly.
The next witness was a tall man in his forties with dark restless eyes. “My name is Andy Mehan, I’m in the saloon business.”
Mehan brought a pistol into court at the request of the prosecution. The gun was left at his bar by Thomas McLowry on October 26th between one and two o’clock.
The district attorney wanted to prove that Tom’s only sidearm had been checked at the Grand Hotel bar. The defense believed Tom checked one six-gun for the record while he carried a second revolver hidden in his pocket.
Tom Fitch cross-examined with that theory in mind. “During the time you’ve known Tom McLowry, have you seen that pistol before he gave it to you?”
“I had not.”
Tom Fitch smiled and said, “Thank you, Mr. Mehan. I have no further questions for this witness, Your Honor.”
Judge Spicer looked more than a little weary from the grueling week in the courtroom and touched his gavel to the desk and announced, “Court is adjourned until nine o’clock Monday morning.” Then he grinned. “Let’s make that ten o’clock. Think we could all stand some rest.”
Writers Notebook:
Sidney Sheldon on his approach to the novel.
‘When I begin a book, I start out with a character. I have no plot in mind. The character begets other characters, and soon they begin to take over the novel and chart their own destinies.
A caveat: Even though it works for me, I strongly advise beginning writers not to write without an outline. Writing without some kind of blueprint can lead to too many blind alleys. (While writing Bloodline, I found that the character of old Samuel was taking over the book, and since he was not a major character, I had to throw 250 pages into the wastebasket to bring the story back into perspective.)
Note that Sheldon’s method is similar to several other writers, William Faulkner for one.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com

Doc Holliday and Hollywood 1914

Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone
Excerpt: During the Spicer Hearings.
Following the November 3rd court session:
Doc walked with Wyatt to the Cosmopolitan Hotel to visit with Morgan and Virgil in order to fill them on their day in court. Wyatt stopped by Virgil's room and Doc simply poked his head in the door and called a greeting to Virg. Then he went down the hall to Morg's room and found his friend sitting in the middle of his bed, cross-legged, rolling a cigarette. He was in pain, but managed a grin. "How did you fellows make out in court today?"
"Could have been better, I guess."
"What happened?"
“Johnny Behan was at it again.” Doc took out his notes and quoted large portions of Behan's testimony and pointed out several discrepancies. Then he said, “Here’s one you might remember. The district attorney was questioning Behan about a conversation Behan had with Wyatt, shortly after the shooting was over. It was when Wyatt said to me, 'Behan, you have deceived me. You said you had disarmed them. Then Behan said, 'I did not say anything of the kind. I had said. 'Earp, I told you that I was there for the purpose of arresting them and disarming them. He said he thought I said that I had disarmed them.’”
“Bullshit!” Morg roared. “That’s exactly what the son-of-a-bitch said, ‘I have disarmed them.’”
“You got that right, Morg.” Then Doc leaned back in his chair, took a long drag from his cigarette. "But that son-of-a-gun finally stumbled into the truth. He said the nickel-plated pistol got off the first round.”
Morg grinned and looked knowingly at Doc.
“Something else, this afternoon, a Mrs. King took the stand and told of a remark you supposedly made to me, in front of Bauer's Butcher Shop, just before the fight.”
"What was it?" Morg asked.
"I don't remember you saying it, but here's the way she put it. ”Doc referred to his notes and then did a pretty good imitation of the lady. 'I heard the gentleman on the outside say to Mr. Holliday, 'Let them have it.' And Mr. Holliday said, 'All right."'
Morg hooted, "Quit that, Doc, it hurts too much to laugh."
Doc chuckled. "Do you remember that?"
Morg shook his head. "Don't remember nothin' like that. But I do remember when we got to Bauer's place we were all jawin' with the sheriff. Seems to me, you had dropped back a ways by then."
"I don't figure Mrs. King to be a liar,” Doc said, “but she could be mistaken. Another thing, she's probably been coached by the prosecution."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Lawyer's sometimes tell witnesses how to say things. Now this might sound picky, but at the inquest she gave two different versions of what you were supposed to have said. I read that inquest transcript. In one place she said, 'Let them have it,' and in another she changed it to, 'Give it to them.' Nobody questioned her about it."
"Comes down to pretty near the same thing don't it, " Morg remarked.
"Maybe, but she never said the second version in Spicer's court.” Doc twirled the end of his mustache. "I think the prosecution made sure the lady used the phrase that pictured us in the worst possible light. Yep, 'Let ’em have it,' sure makes it sound like we were spoiling for a fight.”
"Think the judge saw it that way?"
"Don't know." Then Doc shook his head and grinned, "I'll tell you something, Morg -- of all the poker faces I've read in my life -- that old man's got one of the best. I swear I never know what he's thinking."
Spicer Hearing Excerpts: (To be continued)

Let's Go to the The Movies
Hollywood Silents 1914-1929 Part 3
During 1914 Los Angeles looked like a boom town – film companies forming and location filming was going on all over the city. Local citizens decried the invasion of the movie makers and Frances Marion describes the situation in her autobiography, 'Off With Their Heads.'
'How could anyone resent the lively fun they had brought into this dull environment? You encounter the gypsy-like caravans where ever you went. Indians in full war paint rode hell bent for leather across the dusty river beds. Mack Sennett's Cops leaped aboard the cable car that climbed a midget hill known as Angels Flight. Even the little parks became outdoor stages. During the noon hour you were apt to see Bluebeard and all his wives cozily eating ham sandwiches and hard boiled eggs, while the Apostle John sat under a pepper tree with his arm around a bathing beauty...'
Many in the legitimate theater thought little of the movie people either. Ms. Marion continues, ...'At the theater during rest periods the stock company often discussed the rising influence of the movies. Our star, Laurette Taylor, said, 'I shall never be lured into it, though they have trapped Madame Bernhardt, Lillie Langtry, and Minnie Maddern Fiske.'
'Those totting tintypes!' Shouted Jimmie Gleason, 'I wouldn't be caught dead in 'em.'
Gleason apparently had a conversion later on because he became one of the movies best known character actors and was a member of the group that founded the Screen Actors Guild.
Sunshine and fair weather drew those would be film makers from the east to the Los Angeles area like a giant magnet. Dozens of independent film makers would put a company together in order to make one film. For example 'Fatty's Wine Party,' Production Company.
'The Patchwork Girl of Oz,' The Oz Film Manufacturing Company.
Then there was the Apollo Film Company that made 'The Great Pasadena Rose Tournament of 1914.'
Those with a bit more staying power included The William Selig Company.
New York Motion Picture Company – Bison Division.
Biograph films.
Mutual Film Corporation.
Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company.
Lasky Feature Play Company, which included Sam Goldwyn, Cecil B. DeMille, Jesse L. Lasky and Arthur Friend produced "The Squaw Man' the first feature film made in Hollywood. Their production headquarters was an old yellow barn located at Selma and Vine. (That barn was moved and turned into a museum, which is now located in Griffith Park, across the street from the Hollywood Bowl.)
Sam Goldwyn's given name was Sam Goldfish, a name without destinction. And since he was in a business known for hyperbole he wanted a name that sounded more sophisticated, something that had a ring of success to it. As Sam went over his options he thought of a past associate named Selwyn and it occured to him that by splitting their names in half, and moving the parts around you had two different names. Selfish and Goldwyn. Sam picked the winner and chose a name that eventually made Sammy Goldfish famous.
There is another name in the movie business that means little to people outside the industry, but a man of vision that rose to the top of the film industry and stayed there. That name is Adolph Zukor.
Zukor's life in show business started out in New York's penny arcades and later Nickelodeons. He got into the movie business when he and a partner, Broadway producer, Charles Frohman bought the American rights to a French made film 'Queen Elizabeth' starring Sarah Bernhardt.They rented the Lyceum Theater, papered the city with advertising and opened the film July 12, 1912. Theater goers and society figures would have probably shunned the film except for one fact, the star was Sarah Bernhardt.
The 40 minute film was of poor quality, however it became a big hit for them. And from that success Zukor and Frohman founded the Famous Players In Famous Plays Film Company. The name was later changed to Famous Players. Their company produced 'The Prisoner of Zenda' and 'The Count of Monte Cristo' in 1913. Both films were successful and by the end of 1913 Zukor realized what was going on in the west and moved his part of the operation to Los Angeles.
It took Adolph Zukor only six months to set up shop in Hollywood, and by the middle of May 1914 Mr. Zukor managed to gather several small companies including Jesse Lasky's Feature Players Company the into one operation. And once they were all under one umbrella the group formed Paramount Pictures, which became the dominant motion picture company in Hollywood.
In 1914 motion picture companies began to promote their stars along with their films. Mary Pickford was the first Paramount star and Mack Sennett's Keystone Films countered with Fatty Arbuckle and Charlie Chaplin.
(To be continued)
Writers Notebook:
Words and phrases – the search goes on.
Ever get hung up on a word that’s almost but not quite right?
Peg Bracken has and she gives us some thoughts on the subject. ‘I do a great deal of rewriting. Almost never is a paragraph right the first time or the sixth or seventh time either for that matter. You are always looking for that right word. There’s a grave difference between a B and a B flat. And it matters too where it falls in the measure. I believe there’s only one best word. Of course one doesn’t always find that best word, but it is the thing to aim for.’

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com

1914 C.B. DeMille and D.W. Griffith

Let's Go to the Movies
Hollywood Silents 1914-1929 Part 2
During the early days of 1914 Hollywood and the general public were anticipating great comedies with Mack Sennett leading the way. The nickelodeon days had set the public up for comedy and Hollywood for the most part aimed to fulfill their wishes.
But no one could have ever guessed that back in 1914 two giants of the movie industry were working and growing along with Hollywood. D.W. Griffith was a journeyman producer director and C.B. Demille was a neophyte producer, both men were ambitious and hard working.
Griffith worked for Biograph Films writing, producing and directing. His first feature length film, Judith of Bethulia, (1914) had cost overruns that brought the total production cost to thirty thousand dollars. Biograph paid the bill, but let Griffith know that they would not give him authority to make any more long films.
Griffith left Biograph and eventually hooked up with the Triangle Film Corporation and Keystone Studios -- Mack Sennett.
DeMille's background in the theater working under Charles Froman and later David Belasco gave him a wide range of knowledge dealing with theater production, story lines, sets and lighting but he had no motion picture experience. However, the Lasky Featuree Play Company, which he became a part of gave him the chance to develop in that area. His close association with film director Oscar Apfel during the making of the 'Squaw Man' gave him a good foundation in film making. DeMille worked with Apfel on 'Brewsters Millions' and the 'The Master Mind.' On the next two films 'The Only Son' and 'The Man on the Box' he was named Co Director along with Apfel. On the sixth film, 'The Call of the North' C.B. DeMille wrote the screenplay and directed the film. He got screen credit for both and from that time forward DeMille directed and produced all of his own films, which included five more during the year 1914: The Virginian, What's His Name, The Man From Home, Rose of Rancho and The Ghost Breaker.
D.W. Griffith followed up his first feature film with Waits, The Massacre, The Battle of the Sexes, Brute Force, Home Sweer Home, The Escape and the Avenging Consience.
And while C.B. DeMille was going with stock actors, Griffith was assembling a group that were soon to become stars or well known feature players. Blanche Sweet, Henry Walthll, Lionel Barrymore, Harry Carey,. Mae Marsh, Lilian Gish and Dorothy Gish.
It was during that same year that D.W. Griffith began adapting a book for the screen called The Clansman – later called The Birth of a Nation.
(To be continued)


'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone.' Excerpt:

Shootout at the OK Corral.

Doc Holliday, Wyatt, Morgan and Virgil Earp face off with the cowboy's.

Ike Clanton, Billy Clanton, Tom McLowry, Frank McLowry and Billy Claiburn.. Tom McLowry stood nearly hidden behind Frank's horse.
Doc calmly looked over the opposition lineup. With the exception of the two men in front of Virgil, they were all even man for man.
Billy Claiborne turned pale and cowered behind Ike Clanton.
Virgil knew he was bucking the odds for a peaceful settlement, but holding Doc's cane out like an olive branch, he said, "Throw up your hands boy’s! I've come to disarm you."
Frank McLowry and Billy Clanton answered by drawing their six-guns.
"Hold on now. I don't mean that," Virgil said calmly, "I've come to disarm you."
Billy Claiborne grabbed Ike's coattails for a moment, then lost his nerve and bolted toward Fly's Photograph Gallery.
Virgil saw a glimmer of hope as cold sweat broke over Ike Clanton's face and he threw up his hands.
Hope was short lived though -- Frank McLowry and Billy Clanton leveled their pistols and commenced to cock the hammers.
Wyatt and Morgan responded to the outlaws by drawing their own six-guns.
Tom McLowry struggled to steady Frank's horse by holding onto the saddle girth and at the same time reaching for the Winchester in the scabbard. When he was unable to get a hand on the rifle he went for the revolver that he had concealed in his right front pocket.
Doc followed Tom McLowry with the Parker tucked in the crook of his left arm. Then he drew his Colt thirty-eight with his right hand. Fish or cut bait.
Doc's pulse quickened and he fixed his concentration on Billy Clanton's trigger finger... watched it tighten then just as the hammer responded Doc’s thirty-eight flashed a quick preemptive strike on Billy's forty-five.
Doc scored a hit on Billy's right wrist. And at that same instant, a shot from another angle doubled young Clanton over and drove him backwards with a slug to his belly.
Sweat poured off Ike Clanton's face. He grabbed Wyatt's coat collar and whined, "I'm not armed, please don't kill me."
“Either fight or get out, Ike!" Wyatt shouted over the din of gunfire.
Ike Clanton turned and ran away, leaving his brother and the McLowry’s to do his fighting.
Tom McLowry hid behind the horse, but poked his revolver over the animals’ loin, fired and hit Morgan Earp with a searing shot that traced across his upper back. Morg yelled as he fell to the ground. But like a stunned fighter, he bounced right back to his feet.
Close gunfire spooked Tom's cover. The horse bucked and jerked the reins out of Frank McLowry's hands and raced east on Fremont Street. Tom McLowry stood exposed and panic stricken, but quickly collected his wits and aimed again at Morgan.
Doc read Tom's sight line and took his own measure as he squeezed the triggers and fired both barrels of the Parker.
Tom McLowry reeled from the buckshot's impact; recovered, grabbed his bloody chest, then shuffled forward, staggered and fell bleeding into Fremont Street.
Doc glanced at the fallen cowboy, then turned to his left only to be looking down the muzzle of Frank McLowry's forty-five. Doc tossed the empty shotgun away, ducked and wheeled into a crouch position. Dammit! He felt the hot sting of Frank's bullet and an unmistakable sharp pain. But he was still on his feet and stared directly into the shooter's eyes.
Doc, Wyatt and Morg zeroed in on the outlaw and all three guns exploded as one, and Frank's body immediately bent and jerked like a broken piñata before falling hard onto the dusty street.
A chilly wind swirled, but the gun smoke hovered and clung head high above the place. In less than thirty seconds it was over. The only action left was a blood soaked Billy Clanton, sitting on the ground, glassy eyed, waving his forty-five and searching for a target.
Buck Fly came out of his boarding house and mercifully took the gun out of Billy's hands.
Frank and Tom McLowry appeared to be dead and Billy Clanton was bleeding to death from his several wounds.
Virgil and Morgan Earp, wounded, gritted their teeth and suffered the pain.
Doc determined his own hit was no hit at all, but a ricochet off his gun belt that had caused a painful bruise.
Numerous bullets pierced the skirt of Wyatt's coat, but he didn't have a scratch.
(Spicer hearing continues next week.)

Writers Notebook:
Inside the front flap of my writer’s notebook are several notes; among them is one that always makes me stop and think.‘What is the single most important piece of advice you’ve ever gotten about writing?’ I’m not quite sure, but this note contained in that same flap is high on the list. Stephen King once said, ‘I write about four hours a day – first draft – just write. Let it all hang out – don’t stop for misspelled words – punctuation – nothing. Let the passion and heat of the moment take charge. And don’t rewrite that same day. Write in am and rewrite in pm – no, no, no. Leave it alone, at least overnight.’
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com

Squaw Man, Brewsters Millions and The Keystone Cops

Let's Go to the Movies

Hollywood Silents 1914-1929 Part 1
The year of 1913 was a turning point for the fledgling American motion picture industry.
There were two major factors in play, one was production and it had to do with light, the second was the Motion Picture Trust. For the most part early American movies were shot outdoors on location in Manhattan, Astoria, Long Island and Fort Lee New Jersey.
During those early days of nickelodeons the format was very short films and the weather and sunlight was not so much a factor. But for longer feature films it could be a nightmare. Long weather delays could be a problem just holding a cast and crew together.
The other problem was even larger in the short term and it was the Motion Picture Patents Company a monopoly referred to as The Trust. This organization controlled production by holding onto Thomas Edison's Patents. The monopoly either owned or had control of most of the film theaters, and nickelodeons. Their scheme was to limit the size of a picture to one reel in order to get the nickel and dime customer in and out in a hurry, then do it again. Quality didn't mean a thing.
The men with true vision wanted to tell the big story, expand theater to the great
outdoors, widen the horizon with scope, color and background.

The year was 1913 when Sam Goldwyn, Cecil B. De Mille, Jesse L. Lasky and Arthur Friend, under the banner of Lasky's Feature Play Company set out to make an end run around the big guns of the Trust and produce a feature film. They chose to base their film on the Broadway hit titled 'The Squaw Man.' The decision was made to do this western out among the cactus in it's natural setting.
They put a group of five key people together with baggage, camera, and Cecil B. De Mille with his fancy title of director-general heading the group. Dustin Farnum, a good actor and Broadway star, would be the picture’s leading man. Oscar Apfel, a well-established film director, would do the directing with DeMille looking over his shoulder, and learning some of the techniques that would eventually make him famous.
Alfred Gandolfi cameraman and Fred Kley, Farnum's dresser, rounded out the group. Their destination was Flagstaff, Arizona and as it turned out Flagstaff didn't work for several reasons, days of rain being one and lack of extra cast talent in such a small town was another -- so they proceeded to Los Angeles.
Los Angeles was sprawling and gaudy but it was dry and the beautiful sun was a welcomed sight. They found a nice hotel, the Alexandria, and recognized a number of film people from the east.
DeMille's first job was to find the best location and rent some kind of studio space.
They rented a yellow barn located on the outskirts of Los Angeles in a place called Hollywood.
DeMille was busy with interviewing and hiring as well as working with Oscar Apfel on their shooting script. Perhaps a feeling of being behind schedule, the director-general was determined to begin filming before the year played out. As it happened, all the pieces fell into place and director Oscar Apfel yelled, "Action" as cameraman Alfred Gandolfi viewed through the camera and hand cranked film past the lens. The first scene of ‘The Squaw Man’ was shot on the morning of December 29, 1913. The Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company was in business and its first production was in the works. The Hollywood movie industry was stretching and yawning it's way to life. It only took the ‘Squawman’ crew three weeks to complete major photography, and that was quite an accomplishment, considering the fact that the monopoly trust had spotted their operation and tried to ruin their undeveloped film.
The making of that first movie took on the tone of a western melodrama when rifle shots rang out in the Cahuenga Pass, just missing DeMille and the horse he was riding home from work. The director-general improved his chances of survival by adding a gun and holster to his everyday wardrobe. He also put out the word that he knew how to use his pistol and wouldn't hesitate to shoot back if fired on again. It didn’t happen, but DeMille wore his armament for many months following that episode. Even with the shooting and film sabotage a daily threat the major part of the picture was completed in January of 1914, a near miracle.
DeMille and his production crew were not the only New Yorkers following the sun and moving west to Los Angeles. However most of the others were shooting short films, possibly still under the influence of the Monopoly Trust. But once DeMille produced the Squaw Man in spite of monoply threats, and that seemed to open the flood gates.
During those early production days the Los Angeles gentry considered the whole lot of film makers as outcasts and that was the way they were treated.
Of Course they brought some of the rath upon themselves. For example the Keystone Cops would take over a street and do whatever they needed to do and be gone before the real cops showed up.
The early feature films of 1914 were The Squaw Man, Brewsters Millions Followed by Tillie's Punchtured Romance.
'Tillie's Punctured Romance' was Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios first feature length film and it starred Marie Dressler, supported by Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin.
So in early 1914 star power was beginning to show up in Hollywood.
(To be continued)

'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone.'
On October 26, 1881 in the dusty little town of Tombstone, Arizone the shootout at the OK Corral took place. Next week I plan to excerpt a few pages from 'Doc's Road to Tombstone' and tell you what actually happened that day.

Writers Notebook:
Frustrated by her own limitations as an artist and writer Frances Marion sought out an old family friend, Jack London for advice.
London was blunt and to the point. 'If you expect to write stories pulsing with real life or put upon canvas compositions that are devinely human, you must go forth and live. Study human nature by rubbing elbows with the people. Go out and work with them, eat with them, dream with them.'
Inspired by Jack London's dramatic words Marion tried her hand at a dozen or more different jobs ranging from waiting tables and sales clerk to pitting peaches where she did indeed rub elbows.
Frances Marion eventually became a top Hollywood writer and in the early 1930's won Oscars for 'The Big House' and 'The Champ.'.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com

Doc Holliday, Jekyll Island, Ghosts and Legends

Continue Excerpts of the Spicer Hearing...
Wednesday, November 2, 1881
To open the afternoon session District Attorney Price summoned Sheriff Johnny Behan to the stand. Everyone in the courtroom knew where the sheriff stood. He was a politician and when it came to a court of law he could tap dance around an issue with the best of them.
Once the sheriff settled into the witness chair Price asked, "When were you first made aware of a possible difficulty on the afternoon of October 26th?”
“I was in the barbershop when I heard there might be trouble with armed cowboys,” Sheriff Behan said, “and I took it upon myself to disarm the men."
"How did you go about disarming the cowboys?"
"I first ran into Frank McLowry, and told him he had to disarm, there is likely to be trouble and I've proposed to disarm everyone in town that has arms. He said that he would not give up his arms, as he did not intend to have any trouble. About that time I saw Ike Clanton and Tom McLowry down the street. I said to Frank, come along with me. We went down to where Ike and Tom were standing. I said to the boys, you must give up your arms."
"How many men were in that group?" Price asked.
"I saw five standing there and asked them how many there were of them. They said four of us. The young man Claiborne said he was not one of the party. He wanted them to leave town. I saw the Earp's and Holliday coming down the sidewalk on the south side of Fremont Street. I said to the Clanton's. Wait here I see them coming and I'll go up and stop them."
“Then what did you do?”
"I went up the street and met them at Bauer’s butcher shop and told them not to go any further, that I was down there for the purpose of arresting and disarming the McLowry's and Clanton's. They did not heed me and I threw up my hands and said, "Go back. I'm Sheriff of this county and I'm not going to allow any trouble, if I can help it."
Then the witness shook his head and gave an embarrassed sigh. "They brushed past me. Then I turned and followed them by a couple of steps. When they got to within a few feet of the Clanton's and McLowry’s I heard one of them say, I think it was Wyatt Earp, ‘You sons-a-bitch’s you’ve been looking for a fight and now you can have it.’ About that time I heard a voice say throw up your hands. At that point I noticed a nickel plated pistol pointed at one of the Clanton party, I think Billy Clanton."
"Could you say with any certainty, who was holding the nickel plated pistol?"
"My impression, at that time, was that Holliday had the nickel plated pistol. I will not say for certain,” he added. “When the order was given, throw up your hands, I heard Billy Clanton say, ‘don’t shoot me, I don't want to fight.” Tom McLowry at the same time threw opened his coat and said, ‘I have nothing. Or I'm not armed.’"
"What was the position of Billy Clanton's hands, at that point?"
"I couldn't tell the position of Billy Clanton's hands at the time he said, ‘I don’t what a fight’, my attention was directed just at that moment to the nickel plated pistol."
"Who fired the first shot?"
"The nickel plated pistol was first to fire and another followed instantly."
"Both from the nickel plated pistol?"
"No. Those two shots were not from the same pistol, they were too nearly instantaneous to be fired from the same weapon."
"What happened after the second shot was fired?"
"All hell broke loose." The sheriff mopped his brow. "Two or three shots fired rapidly after that first shot."
"Who fired those shots?"
"By whom, I do not know." Behan cleared his throat. "The first two shots were fired by the Earp party."
“I have no further questions at this time, Your Honor."
When Judge Spicer adjourned court for the day the defense team stayed in their seats to discuss the day’s proceedings.
Doc picked up one of his notes. “Here’s something Behan said near Bauer’s Butcher Shop, which he conveniently left out of his testimony. I can recall him saying, ‘don’t go down there, they will murder you.’”
Wyatt perked up. “Damned if he didn’t say that, Doc. He sure as hell did.”
T.J. Drum said, “Good point but I doubt that we could prove it. Behan’s pretty slick with his answers. You might have noticed that he did not say that the cowboy’s hands were in any kind of position to surrender. He avoided that lie by simply saying that his attention was on the nickel-plated pistol.”
Excerpts from Judge Spicer's hearing. (To be continued)

The Jekyll Island Club Part 3
A central bank system, later called the Federal Reserve, didn't crop up over night. Bank failures and panics in 1873, 1893 and again in 1907 brought the problen to a head. In the fall of 1907 the United States was in a rescession and there were runs on several banks across the country with depositors demanding their money. A run on the Knickerbocker Trust Company in New York got everyones attention and forced the banking industry to look at the problem. After anslyzing the situation, industry leaders realized that there was no lender of last resort. When an individual bank got in trouble there was no one to turn to.
Once the problem was identified several banking leaders including Jekyll Island Club members George F. Barker, President of the First National Bank, and James Stillman, President of National City Bank met with fellow member J. Pierpont Morgan and began examining the assets of the troubled institutions. In short order a decision was made to offer loans to any of the banks that could show that they were solvent. And with a little help from the Treasury Department the banking community skated through the 1907 panic without a disaster.
However in 1908 Congress established a National Monetary Commission to oversee the banking community. That was only a temporary measure and another group was formed consisting of the chiefs of major corporations and banks that began to formulate a new policy that would be similar to a central bank. The group worked in secrete but eventually they needed a large, out of the way, facility that would make it less likely for anyone to leak the group plans before they had a chance to work out the details and have a working model that could stand up to scrutiny.
The Jekyll Island Club was chosen because it was isolated enough, and had meeting rooms and sufficient office space for small groups to do their work.
The main group, ostensibly heading off on a hunting trip, boarded a train at Hoboken, New Jersey and traveled south to Brunswick, Georgia. They were then taken by boat to the island.
The National Monetary Commission had laid the ground work for the banking and currency legislation, which the Jekyll Island group would use as the foundation on which to write the new banking law.
It took the men only ten days to work out the details.
The plan would then be presented to the congress as the completed work of the National Monetary Commission.
The reason for all the secrecy was that it was imperative that the true authors of the bill remain anonymous because of the overpowering resentment of the public toward bankers, and at that point no congressman would dare vote for a bill bearing a banking industry or Wall Street label, no matter how much they might have contributed to his campaign.
In truth the Jekyll Island plan was a Central Bank plan and in America there was a long tradition of struggle against any Central Bank. That thinking goes back to Thomas Jefferson's thoughts on the matter and his arguments against Alexander Hamilton's scheme for the First Bank of the United States.
In any event, no matter which side of the Federal Reserve argument you take, it is still very much a part of the Jekyll Island Club's legacy.

The millionaires would hardly recognize their island today, there is a large retirement community on the island and summer homes occupy the land where sand dunes use to be. Streets had been laid out before ecologist realized that the dunes kept the beaches in place. Acres of dunes were scraped off to provide land for motels with views of the ocean. Steps are now being taken to prevent any further man made erosion and newer property owners are required to protect native vegetation and the gnarled trees, which are rooted in the sand and help to stabilize the barrier against sea and storm.
New state laws also protect the delicate salt marshes where so much of the fish life in Georgia's off shore waters spawn. Those laws also protect the alligator as well as wild turkeys that meander through the deep wood and the deer that feed at night on the grass of the island's golf courses.

The Jekyll Island Club was the most exclusive club ever known, one hundred of the worlds wealthiest men quartered on an island nine miles long and one mile wide.
The club lasted for about sixty years and that was quite a long time in a society where fade and whim were common place.
The Jekyll Island club as an organization colsed its operation in the early days of World War II and the island was purchased by the state of Georgia in 1947. The clubhouse still remains as well as some thirty cottages.
You can visit the island today and enjoy it's natural beauty and while you're there you might also hear a few ghost stories. The Georgia coast is peppered with islands and they all have their favorite ghost stories and legends. Among them are Cumberland, Sapelo, Saint Simons and Jekyll. The iron kettle off the deck of the Wanderer, a few haunted millionaires cottages and just across the sound on the southwest side of Saint Simons Island is the place where the famous ' Legend of Ebo Landing,' got it's name.

Writers Notebook:
The word has the strength of a bulldog, genius is guided by it, no difficult task was ever accomplished without a touch of tenacity. None of the following slogans mention the word but in each case tenacity was a silent partner.
'It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.' Albert Einstein
'Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to always try one more time.' Thomas Edison
'If people knew how hard I have had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem wonderful at all.' Michelangelo
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com


.

Tombstone Hearing, Jekyll Island and The Federal Reserve

'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone'

Continue excerpts Spicer hearing..
After District Attorney Price finished questioning Allen, defense attorney Fitch stepped forward.
Tom Fitch’s first question in his cross-examination of Billy Allen was, "When you first got to Fremont Street, where was the Earp party?"
"Between Fly's building and the next house. The Earp's had already passed down Fremont Street when I got there."
"What were the first words you heard spoken between the two parties -- the Earp's and Holliday and the Clanton,s and McLowry’s?"
"I heard Tom McLowry say, ‘I haven’t got any arms."
“Where were you at that time?” Tom Fitch asked.
“I was standing about ten feet away, in front of Fly’s building.”
“When Tom McLowry said he hadn’t any arms, did he make any kind of gesture or movement?”
“He held the lapels of his coat open.”
"Did anyone other than Tom McLowry say anything?"
"Billy Clanton held up his hands and said, 'I don't want to fight."'
Doc nudged Wyatt and whispered, "Allen just said Billy Clanton held up his hands. Like hell he did. He was holding a six gun and was pointing it at either you or Virg."
Wyatt nodded and pointed to himself.
Tom Fitch stared at the witness. "Did you see the first shot -- who fired it?"
"The first shot came from the Earp party, the smoke came from Doc Holliday."
"I don't understand." Tom Fitch looked directly into Allen's eyes. "Are you saying Doc Holliday fired the first shot?"
"Well, I saw Doc swing his hand up and then I saw the smoke come from him and hearing the shot and seeing the smoke I just think it came from the Earp party."
"But you did not see Doc Holliday fire the first shot. You just think because some smoke swirled around at that time that it was Doc Holliday who fired the shot. You were behind the Earp party and couldn't see a thing. Maybe it was Billy Clanton that fired the first shot." Tom Fitch then said neutrally, "Who fired the second shot?"
"I did not see it, but I know from the sound that the second shot was fired from a shotgun. When the shotgun went off, Tom McLowry threw his hands up to his breast."
"What did you do when the firing commenced?"
"I ducked between the buildings, I got out of the way, quick!"
Wyatt turned to Doc. "Sounds to me like he used pretty good gumption, ducking in between the buildings."
"He might duck well, but he can't count for beans." Doc grinned. "If I'd fired the Parker when he said I did, the horse would have caught the buckshot, not Tom. And something else, Tom had already fired at Morg and was lining up another shot when I unloaded on him."
Tom Fitch softened his approach and gently said, "Now, when you were back on Allen Street with Mr. Coleman. You say he walked away and gestured you to come along and you said, 'I don't want to see it."' Then the attorney snapped. "You didn’t want to see what?"
"I didn't want to see the quarrel, I knew there would be one."
"Quarrel?" Tom Fitch said mockingly. "No. It was not a quarrel you were concerned about. There was to be a gunfight and you were privy to that information. You knew the cowboy's plans didn't you?"
"I object. I strenuously object, Your Honor." The district attorney blurted out, "Mr. Fitch is badgering the witness."
"Calm down, Mr. Price." The judge gestured toward the overwrought attorney. "Objection sustained. Mr. Risley, strike Mr. Fitch's last remark from the record."
Tom Fitch grinned. "I have no further questions for this witness, Your Honor.”
Excerpts from Judge Spicer's hearing. (To be continued).

Jekyll Island Club Part 2
The charter members of the club didn't want a palatial and socially suffocating Newport. As a matter of fact a few years later when Palm Beach was in it infancy they scoffed at the p retention of it.
What the members wanted was a place to get away from the rigors of the business world.
Originally the Jekyll Island Club was a hunting club. They imported English phesants and legend has it that Italy sent them several dozen wild boar. The island already had turkey's, deer, alligators, spiders, snakes, scorpions, ticks and an especially pesky bug called the sand fly.
There were no roads across the great salt marsh that shields Jekyll Island from the outside world and it was just as well because that's the way the millionaires wanted it. At both ends of the island were posted armed guards and patrol boats on the river kept out strangers.
On March 20, 1899 President McKinley arrived on the island to enlist the millionaires support for his reelection. He arrived as a guest, but because the president was not a member of the club he was considered a stranger to the island. And according to strict club rules the president could only stay two weeks.
Few Georgians even knew McKinley was in the state, although one of men he talked to was Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of a chain of very influential newspapers. Of course Pulitzer kept his mouth shut because of another club rule forbidding any personal or hard news from leaving the island.
The members desire to socialize only among themselves did not necessarily mean that they were always friendly toward one another
These were powerful men and they had powerful enemies. One member that William Rockefeller absolutely detested was his next door neighbor John Pierpont Morgan, and Mr. Rockefeller didn't care too much for his son junior either.
But all in all the millionaires got along with about the same level of acrimony as any other large family.
There was a beautiful inter faith chapel where the members worshiped, gave their children in marriage and they had at least one funeral. Two English bus boys were drowned in the surf and they were buried on the island.
Probably the most valuable treasure left over from the millionaires era were two stained glass windows in the chapel. One was crafted and signed by Louis Tiffany and the other was done by Maitland Armstrong. They were stunning pieces of art given to the club by members and are considered priceless.
But even with that beautiful chapel and its stained glass windows social life on Jekyll did not center around the church. Most social intercourse between the millionaires and their families centered around the bridge table, club house, billiard room or a stroll through the gardens. Talks in the parlor were about children, servants, friends and fashions.
But despite the informality of life on the island a sense of money was always present. And to put that into perspective, we are reminded that a number of the members of the Jekyll Island Club would also play a psrt in the founding of The Federal Reserve Bank
(To be continued)
Writers Notebook:
Inside the front flap of my writer’s notebook are several notes and among them is one that always makes me stop and think.
‘What is the single most important piece of advice you’ve ever gotten about writing?’
I’m not quite sure, but this note contained in that same flap is high on the list. Stephen King once said, ‘I write about four hours a day – first draft – just write. Let it all hang out – don’t stop for misspelled words – punctuation – nothing. Let the passion and heat of the moment take charge. And don’t rewrite that same day. Write in am and rewrite in pm – no, no, no. Leave it alone, at least overnight.’

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com

Tombatone, Jekyll Island and Venita's Humor

'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombatone'
Excerpt:
Tuesday, November 1, 1881

Judge Spicer took the bench at nine a.m. rapped his gavel and gestured for the prosecution to call their witness.
A young spare built man with gray eyes took the stand and in answer to the first question said, "My name is William Allen. I live in Tombstone."
The lanky district attorney said in a quiet voice, "Tell us if you know any of the men who were involved in the difficulty on the afternoon of October 26, 1881?"
"I knew all of them, at least on sight.”
District Attorney Price slowly paced in front of his witness, chewing on a yellow pencil. "When were you first made aware that any difficulty existed between any of these men?"
"Well, that morning, I heard there was some trouble between Isaac Clanton and Doc Holliday. I also heard from Henry Fry that Tom McLowry had been hit with a pistol, by Wyatt Earp."
Tom Fitch got to his feet and said, "I object, Your Honor, the witness is testifying to hearsay."
"Objection sustained." Spicer then admonished the witness, "Just tell them what you yourself saw or heard."
The lanky Price gave his witness a not to worry look before he continued. "When did you first see any of the participants on the day of the difficulty?"
"I first saw Frank McLowry, pretty near the Grand Hotel, as they were riding into town. Frank McLowry and Billy Clanton were with an old gentleman I'm not acquainted with."
"What was the time of day when you saw these men and what occurred at that time?"
"It was about two o'clock in the afternoon. Frank McLowry, Billy Clanton and the old man went inside the Grand Hotel."
“What did you do?”
"I followed them into the bar. They were about ready to have a drink, and they asked me to join them."
“Did you all take a drink?”
"No. I called Frank off to one side and asked him if he knew what was going on, that Wyatt Earp knocked Tom McLowry down with a gun, on --"
"I object to this line of hearsay and request to strike from the record," Tom Fitch said.
"Sustained. Court reporter, strike that last statement from your record," Spicer then glared at the prosecutor.
The district attorney shook off the rebuke and gently asked his witness, "Then what happened after your conversation with Frank McLowry?"
“Frank McLowry said, ‘We won’t drink.’ Those are the last words I ever heard him say. They went out the door, got on their horses and rode off. Just before that he said, ‘I will get the boy’s out-of-town.’"
Doc scribbled a note to bring up the point of Allen's recollection, two sets of Frank's last words?
More Excerpts: (To be continued)
Georgia's Heritage
Jekyll Island
For sixty years prior to World War II Jekyll Island was the most exclusive private club in the world. The clubhouse was a most imposing Victorian structure and within those rooms slept the Astors, the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, the Goulds and Pulitzers.
From mid winter to Easter the richest men in America made Jekyll Island their retreat and they brought along their wives, their children and sometimes their mistresses.
Most members lived in individual houses, which they referred to as cottages, but to the average person they looked more like small mansions. However there was no great effort on their part to buy lavish interior furnishings, and the inside decor of most cottages looked like that of a typical beach house.
The most important part of their social life was the large gathering for their evening meal. The meal generally consisted of several courses that lasted from three to four hours. A special chef was loaned to them and imported in from Del Monico's in New York.
In the club's heyday from about 1890 to 1920 it is said that their membership controlled about one sixth of the country's wealth.
William Rockefeller's stock dividends alone amounted to more than two million a year and that was at a time when the American worker was bringing home about seven dollars a week. Of course those figures ar peanuts when compared to current business executives and their multi million dollar golden parachute rewards.
The Jekyll Island Club activities ceased at the beginning of World War II, however, the island had a long history before and after the Jekyll Island Club. The island was named by General Ogelthorpe after his friend and benefactor Sir Joseph Jekyll.
The year of 1859 saw the darkest hour of Jekyll Island's history. It was when the last cargo of African Slaves were unloaded onto the island nearly a half century after congress had outlawed the importation of slaves.
They were brought to the island on a sleek vessel named the Wanderer that flew the flag of the New York Yacht Club. On deck was an old iron kettle that was used to cook the corn meal mush that was fed to the slaves on their journey to America. That kettle was off loaded from the Wanderer and remains in a prominent location on the island. Legend has it and some islanders say that on nights when a hot wind blows off the marsh you can hear sounds and moans of what can only be described as unhappy human beings swirling around that old iron pot.
An expansive lawn spreads from the club house to the Jekyll River where many of the club members anchored their yacht's. And it was the main playground of the millionaires where they played tennis, croquet and swam in the pool that is still in use. To give you and idea of the power yielded by this group you would have to go no further than this one story.
At four o:clock on the afternoon of January 25, 1915. one of the first telephones on the island rang and was answered by a member of the club, Mr. Theodore Vale. Vale was the president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. On the other end of the line in Washington was President Wilson, Alexander Graham Bell was in New York and Thomas Watson was in San Francisco. And that was the first transcontinental telephone call. The conversation was of no significance, but the technical accomplishment of that call was a giant step in the area of communications.
(To be Continued)

Writers Notebook:

A friend of mine writes a humorous Internet blog and a while back she wrote: I Find it absolutely impossible to stay in a bad mood while singing Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, Zip-A-Dee-A, My Oh My What a Wonderful Day, Plenty of Sunshine Heading My Way Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Zip-A-Dee-A…Mr. Bluebird on my shoulder etc.
Her name is Venita Louise and she applies that kind of humor. In her novel 'Mixed Nuts.' Venita has written a comedy using all the elements of farce without the pratfalls.
Review written by Tom Barnes.
Jingle writer, and head of the household, Frank Beal has distractions flying around his piano workplace like boomerangs. Son Matt has a slew of knock knock jokes; daughter Melinda is the moppet version of Inspector Cleseau with a hardhat while wife Joan angles for a new car in order to keep up with the Jones’s. And that’s just inside the house.
The next door neighbor’s gardener Tito is sure Frank Beal controls the outdoor snail population and accuses Frank of sending his snails next door, “to Meester Robert’s yard.”
You’ve got to empathize with Frank though and wonder how he is able to turn off the madness and produce jingles.
But you soon find out he’s had prior experience with madness when his brother Gene shows up in a skirt. Well, it’s not really a skirt, the clannish Uncle Gene shows up wearing a Kilt.
Venita’s world also includes a special mix of goofballs, voodoo spells, hex’s and a wandering peacock.


Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com

Tombstone Court and Duke Spots Fillmore Fire

During the next several blog postings I plan to use excerpts from 'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone' take you inside Judge Wells Spicer's courtroom and let you hear from the people that were actually there in 1881. You'll get it straight from the witnesses, attorney's and the judge as well as Doc and Wyatt's take on the proceedings.

Monday, October 31, 1881
Judge Wells Spicer walked into his courtroom at exactly three o'clock and one glance at the spectators in the room told him he had a problem. The judge had ruled that the hearing would be closed to the public. But from what he could see the order was being disregarded. The first two rows of the gallery were filled with backup lawyers, assistants and a few hangers on. He also recognized several members of the press that had apparently lied their way past the bailiff. It caused him some concern, but for the time being, he decided to ignore it.
Doc and Wyatt sat at the defense table wedged in between Tom Fitch and T.J. Drum. Beads of sweat appeared on Doc's forehead and he nervously toyed with a pencil and began to doodle on a note pad.
Ike Clanton was at the prosecution table, his personal lawyer, Ben Goodrich to his right, District Attorney Price and his chief assistant, Earl Smith, was at the left end of the table. Doc sensed a more than confidant; you might even call it a cocky air coming from the prosecutions side.
Judge Spicer rapped his gavel and called, "Order in the court. Court is now in session."
And with those words E. J. Risley, the court reporter began taking notes.
Judge Spicer said, “Papers have been filed with this court entitled: Arizona Territory Vs Earp’s and Holliday. Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp and J.H. Holliday are charged with the wanton and willful killing of Frank McLowry, Tom Mc Lowry and Billy Clanton. This hearing has been called in order to examine those charges.”
Judge Spicer then nodded toward the district attorney and said, “I believe the first witness is to be Dr. H. M. Mathews. Dr. Matthews, would you please take the stand."
A bushy browed man in his early fifties wearing a rumpled gray suit and horn-rimmed glasses walked forward. The gentleman was sworn in by the clerk and took a seat in the witness box.
District Attorney Price got up from his chair and walked to a position in front of the witness. "Would you please tell the court your name and what position you hold in the community?
"My name is H. M. Matthews, I am a practicing physician, and Coroner of Cochise County.”
Price then asked, "Where were you on the 26th of October, 1881?”
"I was in the town of Tombstone on that day.”
"Did you see or were you made aware of a difficulty that occurred between the Earps and Holliday and the Clantons and McLowry’s on that day?"
"I was notified of the affray. I did not see it."
(Excerpts from Judge Spicer's court to be continued)

Excerpt 'The Goring Collection.'
The irony of it all was that during that period, of evaluation and soul searching, the KGB assigned a new contact code-name Isaac. Their first meeting was set for Fisherman’s Wharf. When Jacob got there, he broke into a wide smile as he hurried across the room. Then he stood for a moment before grabbing Alexei's hand and pulling him into a bear hug. "How did you arrange this?" Jacob asked. But even before Alexei spoke, he felt a chill in the air. Something was wrong.
"I had nothing to do with the arrangement." Then the heavyset Alexei said bluntly. "Someone higher up suggested that I have a talk with you, Jacob."
"About what?" Jacob asked incredulously.
Alexei sat for a long moment chewing on the stub of an unlit cigar. "Your dedication to the cause, Jacob."
"What? How can you say a thing like that?" Jacob said as his stomach churned and he thought they must have been reading my mind.
"Jacob, I'm only telling you what has been reported to the top. None of us live in a vacuum. We are always watched and monitored. There are reports that your lectures both in the classroom and on the circuit are becoming something less than effective.” Alexei chuckled, “Some believe that the ideology has become contaminated by your Western experience."
"That's an outrageous lie, Alexei," Jacob said without conviction.
"It's not for me to say, Jacob." Then Alexei moved closer. "Now this is not official, but I believe Moscow is very close to a decision."
"A decision? About what?" Jacob demanded.
"To have you recalled to Moscow, for reevaluation, and your pallid lectures are only one part of your problem."
"What do you mean?"
With riveting eyes and a harsh whisper Alexei explained. "There is a rumor floating about that suggests that you may have turned.”
"My God!"
"Well, I wouldn't know any thing about that," Alexei said with mock humor
(To be continued)

Writers Notebook:
Duke Howard Actor, Writer and Fire Spotter.
Fire spotters are the first to sound the warning of possible tragedy. The beginning of the fire presently burning in the Fillmore and Moorepark area of Southern California as told by Duke Howard.
'The view from that fire tower is magnificent; the expansiveness must be close to 25 miles or maybe more. I have seen condors, golden eagles, falcons, etc. It is great for a bird watcher. The Crows and Falcons fly and float on the up drafts and gusts wind which swirls about 10 miles an hour. I have my table set up where I can write my book and also observe the South East and West for smoke. It was while I was called away to identify a Red Shouldered Hawk for my team leader when the fire started. While identifying the hawk I scoped out a pair of Prairie Falcons dueling with Crows when I followed the falcons south I saw the beginning of the smoke. It was rising from the mountains over Fillmore. The three of us viewed then the other two swung into action Cheryl got on the Osborne Fire Finder to find the Location. Once determined, our team leader called it into the dispatcher. By the time we finished, the fire was gaining, gobbling up the earth,and looking definitely out of control. Two scoopers arrived on the scene from scooping out water from Lake Piru. They laid down a barrier of water. For a moment, it stopped the fire in it raging, but it started up again. Then the DC 10 appeared and dropped its fire retardant, but for every time they thought they had it under control it started up. It was if we were watching a fight, for every punch the planes threw and hit the fire sending it to the canvass, it would take a count and rise to fight again. This was still going on when we finished our shift. The planes could not throw enough punches or a knock out punch that day. They could not subdue the fire. The fire refused to stay down. What a fight and what a moment...'
Tom Barnes Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter: Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com

Jacob's Turn and the Tombstone Lawyers

'We hold these truths to be self evident...'

Excerpt from 'The Goring Collection'
Jacob Meyers, a short balding man in his early seventies sat, before his living room fireplace, waiting for the others to arrive. The apartment overlooked the East River and the living room was comfortably furnished with wall paintings; a soft leather couch, chairs, and a large coffee table made from the hatch cover of a World II Liberty ship. Jacob glanced out the window and saw a small sailboat flying a large American flag and tacking to the wind. That flag somehow reminded him of his turn and how it all came together. It must have been during that prescribed course in citizenship, which turned out to be nothing more than an appetizer. For when he finished those studies, he began reading biographies on the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Federalist papers. Jacob believed that the most profound difference in his thinking was provided by a short phrase written by Thomas Jefferson into the Declaration of Independence. ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’
And while those words from the Declaration of Independence rang loud and clear, it seemed to Jacob that the words of Karl Marx were now sounding hollow and thin.' (To be continued)

Cochise County political ring Fight's Back.
The ring and their cowboy's lost a round at the OK Corral, but they were by no means ready to concede defeat.

Coroner H.M. Matthews called for an inquest to begin Friday, Oct. 28th.
At the same hour the coroner's jury was being impaneled, ring lawyers filed papers with the Cochise County Court demanding the arrest of Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday. Charging them with the wanton and willful killing of Frank McLowry, Tom McLowry and Billy Clanton.
Word leaked out regarding the ring's intentions and the would-be defendants began making plans of their own. Bogus charges or not, they had to be legally countered. Wyatt's personal attorney, Tom Fitch, hired their defense team. He selected Judge T. J. Drum to work with him in the courtroom and the law firm of Howard and Street agreed to do the legal research. That firm would also coordinate the day-to-day legwork of rounding up and interviewing potential witnesses.
Col. William Herring, a staunch supporter of law and order volunteered to work with the defense team on their overall strategy.
Doc and Wyatt attended a Saturday breakfast meeting with their lawyers at the Melrose Restaurant on Fremont Street. The group had just assembled in a small banquet room when Tom Fitch gestured for everyone to take a seat. He removed a letter sized paper from his pocket, cleared his throat, smiled and began to read, "Goodrich and Goodrich, Campbell and Robinson, Smith and Colby, J.M. Murphy, District Attorney Lyttleton Price, his chief assistant Earl Smith and that's just the ones on record."
“What's that suppose to mean, Tom?" Wyatt drawled.
"That's the group of attorneys the ring hired to prosecute a case called -- Arizona Territory Vs Earps and Holliday."
"Good God Almighty ... they do mean business,” Doc declared." Then he frowned and sipped his coffee. But he was heartened when he looked around the table and realized that there was not the slightest sign of intimidation on the faces of their lawyers.
Col. Herring leaned in and talked in a manner that would exclude the walls from hearing. "There is no way in hell that Ike Clanton could finance that gaggle of legal talent. It appears to me that the Cochise County political ring is still backing their cowboys.”
A good part of the meeting was taken up with Doc and Wyatt giving their accounts of the shoot-out. Doc did not volunteer that his shot to Billy Clanton's wrist might have been the opening round.
Col. Herring made it clear to the defendants that the prosecution would likely try and have them arrested.
T.J. Drum gave a report he had gotten from the coroner's inquest. And how the bias was running against the Earps and Holliday. However, the coroner was not swayed by politics and refused to add inflammatory language to his report. Dr. Matthews simply stated that Tom and Frank McLowry and Billy Clanton died from gunshot wounds. (To be continued)

Santa Anita and the Breeders Cup
Not since the days of Seabuscuit has more attention been focused on the Santa Anita race track and it's not really so much about horses as the track surface the horses will run over.
My idea to do a pro and con post on Santa Anita's Pro-Ride racing surface didn't pan out. Why? Because the only real opposition to the synthetic surface to go on record is Jess Jackson, a co owner of Rachel Alexandra. He has indicated that the only reason the super filly won't be running during the Breeders Cup series is because of the track surface.
Most racing fans, including myself, would like to see the filly run in the Breeders Cup, but apparently that is not to be.
However, at the present time we have two of the top 3 year olds Mine that Bird and Summer Bird (half brothers) that are expected to square off against each other in the 5 million dollar classic.And don't forget the added competition coming in from Europe. They'll give you handicappers a few anxious moments, but like they say, that's horse racing.
In the meantime I'll pass along what ever tid bits of information I come across regarding the run up to the Breeders Cup.

Writers Notebook:
You have committed to a project, finished the basic research and character prep work and you’re all set to begin writing. Suddenly you’re overcome with anxiety – you’ve got a knot the size of a baseball in your stomach. Stop!
You are not alone. It might give you some comfort to know that John Steinbeck experienced some of those same anxious moments. In one of his letters written in February 1936, which was included in his ‘A Life in Letters’ Steinbeck said, ‘I have to start [writing:] and am scared to death as usual – miserable sick feeling of inadequacy.’ Then in the very next sentence he said, ‘I’ll love it once I get down to work.’
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter. Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com

And Now The Rest of The Story

Researching a Legend Part 13
A phrase Paul Harvey made famous, 'the rest of the story' fits into the research and writing of 'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone' and made it possible to tell all of the Doc Holliday story.'
It was a storytelling technique I hadn't considered until a New York editor suggested that I might write a story about the story. It made perfect sense once I thought about it. Now this part of the story would be pure fiction, which would be in another time and another place. However, the content of that part of the story would deal with the facts as they had actually happened years before.

Over a period of time I decided what kind of information the reader needed to make a connection between Doc Holliday's world in the 1800's and the current story about the story.
Doc's romantic interest Mattie Holliday, became a nun Sister Mary Melanie and lived until 1937. I had already determined that Sister Melanie and Margaret Mitchell were cousins as well as close friends. And during my research into the book 'Gone With the Wind' I became aware that Ms. Mitchell had used Sister Melanie's stories about hers and John Henry's life as background in establishing some of her characters in the book.

It would be great if I could sit down and talk to Margaret Mitchell, but that was impossible since she was killed in a tragic automobile accident in 1949.
Why not go to the source, Sister Mary Melanie? An interview or a series of interviews with Sister Melanie and a young reporter. The characters in my story about the story would now be an elderly journalist and a writer/producer researching the Doc Holliday story.
(To be continued)

2009 Horse Racing update:
There was no Triple Crown winner this year but there was still plenty of excitement about racing.
Birdstone, 2004 winner of the Belmont and Travers Stakes sired two of the 2009 racing stars Mine That Bird winner of the Kentucky Derby and Summer Bird winner of the same races his sire won in 2004, the Belmont and Travers.

Then we have the super filly Rachel Alexandra winner of the Kentucky Oaks, Preakness, Haskell and Woodward.
Say what you might about the individual races this years crop of three year olds is about as good as they get. Triple Crown winner notwithstanding.

If you go back and screen the classic races you'll see that even in his losses Mine that Bird, a come from behind kind of runner, could have won the Preakness and the Belmont but for racing luck and the possibility that his throat problem already existed, but didn't show up until later. It was a throat and breathing problem that led to an operation to correct an entrapped epiglottis and forced him to withdraw from the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.

The excitement in this years racing is a combination of things, Rachel Alexandra being a big part of it, but between Mine that Bird and Summer Bird a lot happened in the area of breeding. It isn't every year that a Birdstone comes along, that sire has now matched Count Fleet the 1943 Triple Crown winner in American Classic Victories.

Of course the 2009 season is not over yet, presently though there's some R & R due for Trainer Chip Woolley to let that broken leg mend and get off his crutches. And Mine that Bird's rehab from surgery.
Following that rest period Chip Wolley and Mine that Bird will be heading to Santa Anita for a start in the Goodwood over the synthetic surface on October 10th and later the five million Breeders Cup classic over that same course in November.

Rachel Alexandra has opted out of races over the synthetic track called Pro-Ride Surface for that reason only. And that makes me wonder how Mine that Bird and Summer Bird will handle that synthetic track. For the answer we'll just have to wait and see.

Writers Notebook:
'Nobody ever mastered any skill except through intensive, persistent and intelligent practice.' Norman Vincent Peale. The quote is from his famous book 'The Power of Positive Thinking.'
John Steinbeck mentions practice a number of times in 'Steinbeck: A Life in Letters.'
Here's one of his quotes. '...I want to start on my long novel -- the one I've been practicing for all my life. It is the Salinas Valley one. I think that if I'm not ready to write it, I never will be.'
Steinbeck was referring to 'East of Eden.'
Those are common sense reminders that some writers seem to ignor. Look at it this way, assuming you have some writing talent, how much better your work could be if you actually practiced and worked on your craft?

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com