Tom Barnes's Blog: Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog, page 9
June 17, 2009
In Search of Doc Holliday
Researching a Legend:
Part One
When we wrapped up the filming of Okefenokee (Georgia’s Heritage TV Series) we moved on to Valdosta and tackled the Holliday story. Both the character and the era interested me, but the story line seemed to leave too much out. I completed my work on the show and returned to Hollywood.
All the while that Holliday story continued to hold my interest and eventually I decided to do something about it. To begin the process I read everything I could get my hands on about the character and the era. Then I followed that up by going to the Central Library in Los Angeles. I spent hours researching and making notes from reference books that I couldn’t check out. Among them were Legends of the West, George Parson’s Journal and Eddie Foy’s biography, “Clowning Through Life.”
By that time the Holliday story definitely had my attention, and it wasn’t so much what was there, but what was missing. In every book I read Doc’s character was coming off about the same as the early Dime Store Novels that depicted him – that of a coughing, gun-crazed alcoholic.
Missing was the human factor, his family life, did he have brothers and sisters? What about his early education and where did he go to dental college? He was a dentist, but where did he practice? There were hints of a romantic tie with his cousin Mattie Holliday but no substance. And those were just a few questions I wanted to find answers to. In my mind you could not make a real three-dimensional character out of the stuff I’d read. But I’ll bet there are answers to those questions and I planned to go out and find them.
It was common knowledge that Doc Holliday suffered from tuberculosis. But none of the books or movies I was familiar with dealt with the disease in any way other than a superficial portrayal, that of a consumptive riddled ‘lunger.’
That line of thought sent me back to the library to root around the stacks looking for books on tuberculosis. Within a week or two I had read sections of and made notes from a dozen books on the subject.
The studies go back to 1020 when a pulmonary disorder was identified as a disease. But it wasn’t until 1839 when the disease was actually named Tuberculosis. And through all those years there was no consensus for any kind of a cure. During the late 1830’s someone had the idea to bring a number of tubercular patients into Mammoth Cave, with the hope that a constant temperature and purity of the cave air they might find a cure; the patients died within a year.
But in some perverted way that failed experiment might have pointed toward a natural cure – not cave air, but dry fresh air.
So that was about where the medical community stood during Doc Holliday’s lifetime, they had some of the answers, but not enough to lead them to an actual cure.
At that point I figured I’d get more answers on site than following up on footnotes written by people using flimsy one or two source methods to arrive at their conclusions.
My basic plan was to drive to Tombstone study the geography of the place and listen to the locals. Then to Griffin, Georgia where Doc was born grew up and owned property. Atlanta was next, then Philadelphia. Susan McKey Thomas, the historian on the PBS TV show we did was almost sure that Doc attended ‘The Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery’ in Philadelphia and believed that records at the University of Pennsylvania library would prove that fact.
My return trip was tentative, but I expected to make stops in Dallas, Central Texas and then make another visit to Tombstone.
My first working research trip to Tombstone
(To be continued)
The Goring Collection.
Prologue:
Part One
Berlin, Germany 1941
Jacob was six years old and his sister Natalie a year younger, when they stood on the windswept platform at Berlin Station and waved enthusiastically while their parents boarded the train. Jonathan and Anna Meyers had told the children they were off on a business trip to Switzerland, and they would meet them later in Rostock. The trip was precipitated when Jonathan’s friend, Fritz Heimann, while working at the Reich Chancellery saw the names Jonathan and Anna Meyers on a list stamped JEWS for DEPORTATION.
However, the news was not all bad as he noticed that, for some unknown reason, Jacob and Natalie were not named in the document and in that instant he saw a way to save the children. Fritz Heimann urged his friend to leave them in his care, explaining that he would take them to his family home in Rostock.
Jonathan Meyers was reluctant at first but eventually recognized the gravity of the situation, consulted with his wife Anna and they agreed to go along with Heimann’s plan. Jonathan sold off some of his merchandise, which included one of the finest collections of rare books, old coins and paintings in Berlin. Then he packaged his cherished Pissarro painting, The Cliff’s of Normandy, and shipped it off to Rostock.
Once the elder Meyers’ train rolled out of Berlin Station Fritz Heimann leaned on his cane and gestured. "Come along children, we must hurry, our train leaves soon."
Jacob and Natalie skipped along the platform as they made their way to the other track, and boarded the Rostock Express that would take them north to the city by the sea. During that trip north the children’s questions never ceased. When will Mama and Papa come? Where will we live? Who will we be staying with? Fritz Heimann explained that they would be living at his family home and then in a very serious tone, he admonished, “For now you must address me as your father. Do you understand?”
It was obvious, from the looks on their innocent faces that the children did not understand. However, a few moments later a mischievous grin spread over Jacob’s face as he decided to play the game. “Yes, Papa.”
(To be continued)
Writers Notebook:
Advice you can take to the bank.
‘To master a skill or solve a problem, you must practice the skill, study and stay with your problem.’
And while you’re at it, consider the words of these three masters, all working in their own way pointing out a great work ethic.
‘If people knew how hard I have had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem wonderful at all.’
Michelangelo
‘Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to always try one more time.’
Thomas Edison
‘It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.’
Albert Einstein
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
www.TomsHurricanes.com
Part One
When we wrapped up the filming of Okefenokee (Georgia’s Heritage TV Series) we moved on to Valdosta and tackled the Holliday story. Both the character and the era interested me, but the story line seemed to leave too much out. I completed my work on the show and returned to Hollywood.
All the while that Holliday story continued to hold my interest and eventually I decided to do something about it. To begin the process I read everything I could get my hands on about the character and the era. Then I followed that up by going to the Central Library in Los Angeles. I spent hours researching and making notes from reference books that I couldn’t check out. Among them were Legends of the West, George Parson’s Journal and Eddie Foy’s biography, “Clowning Through Life.”
By that time the Holliday story definitely had my attention, and it wasn’t so much what was there, but what was missing. In every book I read Doc’s character was coming off about the same as the early Dime Store Novels that depicted him – that of a coughing, gun-crazed alcoholic.
Missing was the human factor, his family life, did he have brothers and sisters? What about his early education and where did he go to dental college? He was a dentist, but where did he practice? There were hints of a romantic tie with his cousin Mattie Holliday but no substance. And those were just a few questions I wanted to find answers to. In my mind you could not make a real three-dimensional character out of the stuff I’d read. But I’ll bet there are answers to those questions and I planned to go out and find them.
It was common knowledge that Doc Holliday suffered from tuberculosis. But none of the books or movies I was familiar with dealt with the disease in any way other than a superficial portrayal, that of a consumptive riddled ‘lunger.’
That line of thought sent me back to the library to root around the stacks looking for books on tuberculosis. Within a week or two I had read sections of and made notes from a dozen books on the subject.
The studies go back to 1020 when a pulmonary disorder was identified as a disease. But it wasn’t until 1839 when the disease was actually named Tuberculosis. And through all those years there was no consensus for any kind of a cure. During the late 1830’s someone had the idea to bring a number of tubercular patients into Mammoth Cave, with the hope that a constant temperature and purity of the cave air they might find a cure; the patients died within a year.
But in some perverted way that failed experiment might have pointed toward a natural cure – not cave air, but dry fresh air.
So that was about where the medical community stood during Doc Holliday’s lifetime, they had some of the answers, but not enough to lead them to an actual cure.
At that point I figured I’d get more answers on site than following up on footnotes written by people using flimsy one or two source methods to arrive at their conclusions.
My basic plan was to drive to Tombstone study the geography of the place and listen to the locals. Then to Griffin, Georgia where Doc was born grew up and owned property. Atlanta was next, then Philadelphia. Susan McKey Thomas, the historian on the PBS TV show we did was almost sure that Doc attended ‘The Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery’ in Philadelphia and believed that records at the University of Pennsylvania library would prove that fact.
My return trip was tentative, but I expected to make stops in Dallas, Central Texas and then make another visit to Tombstone.
My first working research trip to Tombstone
(To be continued)
The Goring Collection.
Prologue:
Part One
Berlin, Germany 1941
Jacob was six years old and his sister Natalie a year younger, when they stood on the windswept platform at Berlin Station and waved enthusiastically while their parents boarded the train. Jonathan and Anna Meyers had told the children they were off on a business trip to Switzerland, and they would meet them later in Rostock. The trip was precipitated when Jonathan’s friend, Fritz Heimann, while working at the Reich Chancellery saw the names Jonathan and Anna Meyers on a list stamped JEWS for DEPORTATION.
However, the news was not all bad as he noticed that, for some unknown reason, Jacob and Natalie were not named in the document and in that instant he saw a way to save the children. Fritz Heimann urged his friend to leave them in his care, explaining that he would take them to his family home in Rostock.
Jonathan Meyers was reluctant at first but eventually recognized the gravity of the situation, consulted with his wife Anna and they agreed to go along with Heimann’s plan. Jonathan sold off some of his merchandise, which included one of the finest collections of rare books, old coins and paintings in Berlin. Then he packaged his cherished Pissarro painting, The Cliff’s of Normandy, and shipped it off to Rostock.
Once the elder Meyers’ train rolled out of Berlin Station Fritz Heimann leaned on his cane and gestured. "Come along children, we must hurry, our train leaves soon."
Jacob and Natalie skipped along the platform as they made their way to the other track, and boarded the Rostock Express that would take them north to the city by the sea. During that trip north the children’s questions never ceased. When will Mama and Papa come? Where will we live? Who will we be staying with? Fritz Heimann explained that they would be living at his family home and then in a very serious tone, he admonished, “For now you must address me as your father. Do you understand?”
It was obvious, from the looks on their innocent faces that the children did not understand. However, a few moments later a mischievous grin spread over Jacob’s face as he decided to play the game. “Yes, Papa.”
(To be continued)
Writers Notebook:
Advice you can take to the bank.
‘To master a skill or solve a problem, you must practice the skill, study and stay with your problem.’
And while you’re at it, consider the words of these three masters, all working in their own way pointing out a great work ethic.
‘If people knew how hard I have had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem wonderful at all.’
Michelangelo
‘Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to always try one more time.’
Thomas Edison
‘It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.’
Albert Einstein
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
www.TomsHurricanes.com
June 10, 2009
2009 Belmont Summer Bird, Dunkirk and Mine that Bird
Birdstone’s success and Desormeaux’s redemption:
Sons of Birdstone: Summer Bird and Mine that Bird finished first and third in Saturday’s Belmont.
The youngsters were true to their breeding showing tenacity and stamina passed along to them by Papa Birdstone. While the Belmont didn’t produce a Triple Crown this year it might have done just as much for racing by highlighting an overlooked stud. Of course now that the secrets out Birdstone will be getting more respect and I predict his stud fees will be going up by a sizeable figure.
The most honest part of horse racing is the horse. Owners, trainers and jockeys are all guided by a human factor, ego followed close on by ignorance.
Last year it was Big Brown’s trainer making outrageous remarks about how great his charge was. This year Mine that Bird’s jockey Calvin Borel was the culprit.
An odd thing happened on the way to the finish line – redemption for Kent Desormeaux.
A couple of Cajuns Desormeaux and Borel riding competing horses from the same sire, Desormeaux came both mentally and physically prepared to win the Belmont, Borel didn’t. While Borel was enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame on TV’s Late Shows and seeing New York Desormeaux was studying his past performance record at Belmont, including a couple of losing efforts in the Belmont stakes. He was also working to secure mounts for the day of the Belmont and wound up with three wins on the early card prior to the big race. That race day experience of riding solid mounts over Big Sandy gave Desormeaux an edge.
Now we are aware that the Kentucky Derby winner Mine that Bird has a very talented half brother Summer Bird.
But don’t forget Dunkirk, the horse with the speed that carried the race and came in second.
What Desormeaux knew from past experience over the giant Belmont oval could only be learned by multiple races over the track. Big Sandy as the Belmont track is called is as different from Churchill Downs as the Indianapolis brickyard is to Talladega, Alabama in auto racing.
Kent Desormeaux and Summer Bird had something else going for them, Nick Zito the winning New York trainer. Summer Bird and his trainer Tim Ice were welcomed into and housed in Zito’s barn for their stay in New York.
Zito has spoiled the chances of several Triple Crown threats with wins in the Belmont, which includes Birdstone’s win over Smarty Jones in 2004.
Of the first three horses to cross the finish line Dunkirk was the only one to sustain an injury, a fracture in his left hind cannon bone. Fortunately it’s not life threatening, but it will keep him out of racing for a while.
Belmont winner Summer Bird returns to his Louisiana Downs home base for some rest. Then according his trainer Tim Ice he’ll begin to train for the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park on August 2nd. The next goal will be the Grade 1, $1 million Travers at Saratoga on August 29th.
Mine that Bird’s trainer Chip Woolley said his horse came out of the race in great condition and was set for an eight-week rest.
In the meantime the owners and Woolley are aiming for the Breeders Cup Classic at Santa Anita on November 7th. To prepare for that race they want to keep him on the dirt and run him against three year olds.
The horse seems to have gotten through the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont better than his trainer. Woolley admitted that hobbling through the grind of a Triple Crown campaign on crutches and a broken leg finally took its tole on him.
‘Talk about whipped, about half way through dinner last night I just said guys I’m done. And I’m not that type at all. I couldn’t believe how I hit the wall last night. I never thought I’d be sitting here sort of down about running third in the Belmont. This has been a lifetime dream.’
Coming Attractions:
‘Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone’
‘Doc Holliday’s gambling skills, six-gun and caustic wit created a western legend. But Sister Mary Melanie, Margaret Mitchell and ‘Gone With the Wind’ tell the rest of the story and give us the real Doc Holliday.’
‘The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle’
Washington orders military to develop hurricane-warning system. Navy vets back from Pacific War form Squadron 114 and flying out of Masters Field, Miami, Florida chased and charted eleven tropical storms and hurricanes the season of 1945, which started the process and development of our present Hurricane Warning System.
For updates go to www.TomsHurricanes.com
Writers Notebook:
A How to Book that Works:
My Review
Dan Poynter’s Self Publishing Manual is what the title implies – and a whole lot more. The book is also a marketing guide and goes a long way in the public relations area.
During the course of reading the book I jotted down a dozen or more subject notes and I’ll share some of them with you.
Poynter talks about reviews, testimonials and how your web site is at the heart of your promotional campaign. The section on news releases gives you an example of their format and how to tailor the release to your material.
The chapter titled “Advertising Your Book,” not only gives mail and print information you are told how to obtain radio interviews, which gives you free airtime to promote your book.
Those are just a few of the great ideas. Anyone with a book in the works or one that’s ready for the market will benefit from this manual.
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.TomsHurricanes.com
www.RocktheTower.com
Sons of Birdstone: Summer Bird and Mine that Bird finished first and third in Saturday’s Belmont.
The youngsters were true to their breeding showing tenacity and stamina passed along to them by Papa Birdstone. While the Belmont didn’t produce a Triple Crown this year it might have done just as much for racing by highlighting an overlooked stud. Of course now that the secrets out Birdstone will be getting more respect and I predict his stud fees will be going up by a sizeable figure.
The most honest part of horse racing is the horse. Owners, trainers and jockeys are all guided by a human factor, ego followed close on by ignorance.
Last year it was Big Brown’s trainer making outrageous remarks about how great his charge was. This year Mine that Bird’s jockey Calvin Borel was the culprit.
An odd thing happened on the way to the finish line – redemption for Kent Desormeaux.
A couple of Cajuns Desormeaux and Borel riding competing horses from the same sire, Desormeaux came both mentally and physically prepared to win the Belmont, Borel didn’t. While Borel was enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame on TV’s Late Shows and seeing New York Desormeaux was studying his past performance record at Belmont, including a couple of losing efforts in the Belmont stakes. He was also working to secure mounts for the day of the Belmont and wound up with three wins on the early card prior to the big race. That race day experience of riding solid mounts over Big Sandy gave Desormeaux an edge.
Now we are aware that the Kentucky Derby winner Mine that Bird has a very talented half brother Summer Bird.
But don’t forget Dunkirk, the horse with the speed that carried the race and came in second.
What Desormeaux knew from past experience over the giant Belmont oval could only be learned by multiple races over the track. Big Sandy as the Belmont track is called is as different from Churchill Downs as the Indianapolis brickyard is to Talladega, Alabama in auto racing.
Kent Desormeaux and Summer Bird had something else going for them, Nick Zito the winning New York trainer. Summer Bird and his trainer Tim Ice were welcomed into and housed in Zito’s barn for their stay in New York.
Zito has spoiled the chances of several Triple Crown threats with wins in the Belmont, which includes Birdstone’s win over Smarty Jones in 2004.
Of the first three horses to cross the finish line Dunkirk was the only one to sustain an injury, a fracture in his left hind cannon bone. Fortunately it’s not life threatening, but it will keep him out of racing for a while.
Belmont winner Summer Bird returns to his Louisiana Downs home base for some rest. Then according his trainer Tim Ice he’ll begin to train for the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park on August 2nd. The next goal will be the Grade 1, $1 million Travers at Saratoga on August 29th.
Mine that Bird’s trainer Chip Woolley said his horse came out of the race in great condition and was set for an eight-week rest.
In the meantime the owners and Woolley are aiming for the Breeders Cup Classic at Santa Anita on November 7th. To prepare for that race they want to keep him on the dirt and run him against three year olds.
The horse seems to have gotten through the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont better than his trainer. Woolley admitted that hobbling through the grind of a Triple Crown campaign on crutches and a broken leg finally took its tole on him.
‘Talk about whipped, about half way through dinner last night I just said guys I’m done. And I’m not that type at all. I couldn’t believe how I hit the wall last night. I never thought I’d be sitting here sort of down about running third in the Belmont. This has been a lifetime dream.’
Coming Attractions:
‘Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone’
‘Doc Holliday’s gambling skills, six-gun and caustic wit created a western legend. But Sister Mary Melanie, Margaret Mitchell and ‘Gone With the Wind’ tell the rest of the story and give us the real Doc Holliday.’
‘The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle’
Washington orders military to develop hurricane-warning system. Navy vets back from Pacific War form Squadron 114 and flying out of Masters Field, Miami, Florida chased and charted eleven tropical storms and hurricanes the season of 1945, which started the process and development of our present Hurricane Warning System.
For updates go to www.TomsHurricanes.com
Writers Notebook:
A How to Book that Works:
My Review
Dan Poynter’s Self Publishing Manual is what the title implies – and a whole lot more. The book is also a marketing guide and goes a long way in the public relations area.
During the course of reading the book I jotted down a dozen or more subject notes and I’ll share some of them with you.
Poynter talks about reviews, testimonials and how your web site is at the heart of your promotional campaign. The section on news releases gives you an example of their format and how to tailor the release to your material.
The chapter titled “Advertising Your Book,” not only gives mail and print information you are told how to obtain radio interviews, which gives you free airtime to promote your book.
Those are just a few of the great ideas. Anyone with a book in the works or one that’s ready for the market will benefit from this manual.
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.TomsHurricanes.com
www.RocktheTower.com
June 3, 2009
Mine that Bird and the Legendary Seabiscuit
Mine that Bird and the Belmont
It was announced over the weekend that Rachel Alexandra will not run in the Belmont Stakes this Saturday and thus will deny the match up most people had hoped for. Not to worry though, there will be a race on Saturday and Mine that Bird winner of the Kentucky Derby and second in the Preakness will be out to make a statement.
However, we’ll first have to get past the flap his jockey Borel caused with an over confident remark, ‘We’re going to win it, no questions asked,’ has piqued the pride of some horsemen and I suspect tactics born out of that irritation will show up on the racetrack Saturday afternoon.
That remark notwithstanding Borel has only ridden in seven races over the Belmont course winning just once.
Clair Novak interviewed Borel and they talked about his statement and some of the remarks regarding tactics to deny him a win. In her remarks after the interview she concluded that …’a confident reinsman is saying "bring it on."
"They're going to do their best, yes, you're supposed to, that's what it's about, but I don't have to be (on the rail)," he said.
And, at the end of the day — win, lose, or draw — all riders will just be doing their jobs.
"It's a horse race," Borel said. "I've been there, done that. And they've gotta ride their horse. But they're not going to stop me from wining."
The story of Mine that Bird reminds me of another small sized horse from an earlier generation. Seabiscuit was his name and he didn’t win all of his races either, but he won the hearts of Americans.
My review
Seabiscuit: The Little Horse With a Big Heart.
In her story of Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand has opened a unique window into the world of horse racing. The main characters are a quiet horse trainer named Tom Smith, the flamboyant horse owner Charles Howard, a horse named Seabiscuit and jockey’s Red Pollard and George Wolfe.
The owner and trainer first hooked up at the Aqua Caliente Race Track in Mexico. Smith and Howard were as opposite as night and day, but they made accommodations for each other’s differences and their relationship flourished. Once Smith worked the stable’s horses into racing condition they moved the operation north to Santa Anita and into Barn #38.
Their first season together was successful and near the end of the Santa Anita season Howard decided to move his stable to a small track in Michigan called the Detroit Fairgrounds. Smith was sent farther east to look for some mature horses to augment their juvenile stable. On June 29th at Boston’s Suffolk Downs a horse stopped in front of Tom Smith and for a long moment the two eyed one another. Fate? The horse continued in the post parade, but Seabiscuit had gotten Smith’s attention. It wasn’t his build, he had a rectangular body with short legs, but Smith looked at the program and saw that the horse was a descendent of the great Man O’ War and was sired by Hard Tack. Seabiscuit reflected none of the beauty and breadth of his forebears, but carried all the nasty, mean and unruly traits of the others.
Tom Smith wanted that horse and Charles Howard made arrangements. Seabiscuit was taken to the Howard barn, but the former owners had worn the horse out. Seabiscuit was exhausted from a hard racing campaign. The horse was only three years old and had already run as many races as most horses would accumulate in a full career. What Tom Smith wanted was time to rest the horse, and give himself a chance to figure out the horses problems and how best to deal with them. Seabiscuit had been abused by a number of jockey’s and it would take some time to turn the horse’s attitude around.
In November of 1936 Howard’s stable of horses were in the San Francisco Bay area of California, the idea was to enter Seabiscuit in the Santa Anita handicap on February 27th of the next year.
Tom Smith had finally found a way to settle the horse down and got Seabiscuit interested in what he was born to do – run. They ran him in two prep races at Bay Meadows and won them both. Red Pollard was aboard in both wins. Then it was on to Southern California for two more prep races prior to the Santa Anita Handicap.
The big cap was run before 60, 000 raucous and cheering race fans. Pollard rode a perfect race weaving his way through the field and got the lead in the stretch – but the jockey let the horse relax around the eighth pole. No one knows for sure, but chances are due to Pollard’s right blind eye he probably didn’t see Rosemont flying down the middle of the track. Seabiscuit was overtaken and couldn’t regain the momentum to win. He lost in a photo finish but won the hearts of Americans all over the depression-plagued land. There was something about that little horse that gave hope to millions who had little more than hope to cling to during those hard times.
Hillenbrand has fashioned a great horse story and readers will come away with knowledge that they could have only learned from a legend.
Writers Notebook:
Another marketing source for writers is Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s ‘The Frugal Book Promoter.’
My review.
After wading through half a dozen cut and paste marketing books, I found it refreshing to read Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s down to earth approach to book promotion. The Frugal Book Promoter is the real deal, easy to read and easy to apply.
In her PR Primer she says, “Don’t publicize your book; instead “brand” yourself.”
In other words don’t be a one-pony show, after all you might write another book or invent something you’d like to promote.
Frugal is filled with easy to understand marketing tips along with how to use postcards, get book reviews and Media interviews. There’s also a chapter on E-Books.
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
It was announced over the weekend that Rachel Alexandra will not run in the Belmont Stakes this Saturday and thus will deny the match up most people had hoped for. Not to worry though, there will be a race on Saturday and Mine that Bird winner of the Kentucky Derby and second in the Preakness will be out to make a statement.
However, we’ll first have to get past the flap his jockey Borel caused with an over confident remark, ‘We’re going to win it, no questions asked,’ has piqued the pride of some horsemen and I suspect tactics born out of that irritation will show up on the racetrack Saturday afternoon.
That remark notwithstanding Borel has only ridden in seven races over the Belmont course winning just once.
Clair Novak interviewed Borel and they talked about his statement and some of the remarks regarding tactics to deny him a win. In her remarks after the interview she concluded that …’a confident reinsman is saying "bring it on."
"They're going to do their best, yes, you're supposed to, that's what it's about, but I don't have to be (on the rail)," he said.
And, at the end of the day — win, lose, or draw — all riders will just be doing their jobs.
"It's a horse race," Borel said. "I've been there, done that. And they've gotta ride their horse. But they're not going to stop me from wining."
The story of Mine that Bird reminds me of another small sized horse from an earlier generation. Seabiscuit was his name and he didn’t win all of his races either, but he won the hearts of Americans.
My review
Seabiscuit: The Little Horse With a Big Heart.
In her story of Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand has opened a unique window into the world of horse racing. The main characters are a quiet horse trainer named Tom Smith, the flamboyant horse owner Charles Howard, a horse named Seabiscuit and jockey’s Red Pollard and George Wolfe.
The owner and trainer first hooked up at the Aqua Caliente Race Track in Mexico. Smith and Howard were as opposite as night and day, but they made accommodations for each other’s differences and their relationship flourished. Once Smith worked the stable’s horses into racing condition they moved the operation north to Santa Anita and into Barn #38.
Their first season together was successful and near the end of the Santa Anita season Howard decided to move his stable to a small track in Michigan called the Detroit Fairgrounds. Smith was sent farther east to look for some mature horses to augment their juvenile stable. On June 29th at Boston’s Suffolk Downs a horse stopped in front of Tom Smith and for a long moment the two eyed one another. Fate? The horse continued in the post parade, but Seabiscuit had gotten Smith’s attention. It wasn’t his build, he had a rectangular body with short legs, but Smith looked at the program and saw that the horse was a descendent of the great Man O’ War and was sired by Hard Tack. Seabiscuit reflected none of the beauty and breadth of his forebears, but carried all the nasty, mean and unruly traits of the others.
Tom Smith wanted that horse and Charles Howard made arrangements. Seabiscuit was taken to the Howard barn, but the former owners had worn the horse out. Seabiscuit was exhausted from a hard racing campaign. The horse was only three years old and had already run as many races as most horses would accumulate in a full career. What Tom Smith wanted was time to rest the horse, and give himself a chance to figure out the horses problems and how best to deal with them. Seabiscuit had been abused by a number of jockey’s and it would take some time to turn the horse’s attitude around.
In November of 1936 Howard’s stable of horses were in the San Francisco Bay area of California, the idea was to enter Seabiscuit in the Santa Anita handicap on February 27th of the next year.
Tom Smith had finally found a way to settle the horse down and got Seabiscuit interested in what he was born to do – run. They ran him in two prep races at Bay Meadows and won them both. Red Pollard was aboard in both wins. Then it was on to Southern California for two more prep races prior to the Santa Anita Handicap.
The big cap was run before 60, 000 raucous and cheering race fans. Pollard rode a perfect race weaving his way through the field and got the lead in the stretch – but the jockey let the horse relax around the eighth pole. No one knows for sure, but chances are due to Pollard’s right blind eye he probably didn’t see Rosemont flying down the middle of the track. Seabiscuit was overtaken and couldn’t regain the momentum to win. He lost in a photo finish but won the hearts of Americans all over the depression-plagued land. There was something about that little horse that gave hope to millions who had little more than hope to cling to during those hard times.
Hillenbrand has fashioned a great horse story and readers will come away with knowledge that they could have only learned from a legend.
Writers Notebook:
Another marketing source for writers is Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s ‘The Frugal Book Promoter.’
My review.
After wading through half a dozen cut and paste marketing books, I found it refreshing to read Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s down to earth approach to book promotion. The Frugal Book Promoter is the real deal, easy to read and easy to apply.
In her PR Primer she says, “Don’t publicize your book; instead “brand” yourself.”
In other words don’t be a one-pony show, after all you might write another book or invent something you’d like to promote.
Frugal is filled with easy to understand marketing tips along with how to use postcards, get book reviews and Media interviews. There’s also a chapter on E-Books.
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
May 27, 2009
Doc Holliday, Val Kilmer and Amazon Reviews
Inside Doc Holliday’s World
Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone: Tuberculosis, the road west and Sister Melanie.
False accusations and outright lies aimed to darken the Holliday legend was not lost on journalist, Lucy Caldwell and producer, Bobby Anderson. They were convinced that the true Holliday legend was hidden beneath a veneer that Dime Store novels had drawn and Hollywood perpetuated. Lucy and Bobby worked independently, searching for the real Doc Holliday, but success comes only after they join forces and fully explore the love story involving John Henry and his cousin, Mattie Holliday.
The storybook romance between John Henry and Mattie is cut short by disease and family strife. The young dentist is forced by circumstance and failing health to abandon Mattie for a life in the West where he encounters the likes of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Eddie Foy and Kate Elder. Doc Holliday, using his gambling skills and a caustic wit, plays out the bad hand life had dealt him.
In a card game at Ft. Griffin, when forced to defend himself, Doc killed a card cheater. The cheaters pals want retribution, but Kate plans and executes a daring escape from the hostile mob. Doc owes his life to Kate and even as they forge a salty and tumultuous relationship, he would never forget what she did for him at Ft. Griffin.
Doc’s courage and loyalty are tested when he rushes in to save Wyatt Earp from a bunch of drunken cowboys, and a hangman’s noose, at Dodge City.
Three years later Doc once again shows his true character when he stands with the Earp’s in the shootout, at the Ok Corral. Doc survives the gunfight, but death from tuberculosis is never far away.
Mattie, desperate in her loneliness, writes Doc that she has fully embraced her Catholic religion…
Doc opened the envelope, half standing and half sitting beside the steps to the porch.
My Dear John Henry,
I am sure that you will feel no more shock than I at the prospect of my becoming a nun and I expect that I will be the oldest novice in the country. Be that as it may, I have a new beginning, a new life. My work for the Lord will not keep my love from you. It will, however, be a love from my heart only. My feeling and caring for your well being will remain the same. Our past will always shine bright in my memories, dear cousin.
I am well aware that you do not carry the same religious fervor that I have inherited from Mother. I know that you are good John Henry and perhaps one day you will come to see the Lord as I do. In the meantime, I shall pray for you every day and be with you in spirit. God bless you, John Henry.
Doc held the letter at arms length and looked at the signature. He shook his head in disbelief and lamented, "Melanie ... Sister Mary Melanie?" then he sobbed plaintively, "My God, Mattie. What have I done?"
Tombstone and Val Kilmer:
Why has Val Kilmer won more accolades than any other actor, to date, playing the role of Doc Holliday? I can’t speak for Kilmer, but his on screen performance in Tombstone went far beyond the old dime store novel caricature, used by most of his predecessors. Kilmer found and used Doc’s natural wit and humor, and that’s an echo from the past. When someone asked why he palled around with Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp said, ‘He makes me laugh.’
The jockey flap and the Belmont:
We’ve got Jess Jackson and Chip Woolly, a couple of old horse traders, at the poker table with both drawing to an inside flush.
Woolly wants Borel to ride Mine that Bird in the mile and one half Belmont. I don’t think Borel is the best choice, but that’s just my opinion.
Jackson’s not sure Rachel Alexandra can go a mile and one half and I think a lot of folks are in that camp.
Maybe we’ll have an answer soon, will she or won’t she, and a jockey to be named next Monday. But no matter what happens, since the Triple Crown is not to be this year the jockey story and the reluctant debutant have held the racing world’s attention during this wait for that long mile and one half race on June 6th called the Belmont Stakes.
Writers Notebook:
Sell your book on Amazon
Review
‘Brent Sampson has given us a pretty good primer on some of the Amazon programs available to authors selling their books on Amazon. I say some because Amazon is innovative and in a constant state of change. They add programs, change, update and even cancel one now and then. But Sampson’s ‘Sell your book on Amazon’ has captured a moment in time and gives you a good overview of the basic programs.
You begin on the Profile page and work from there to Amazon Connect, Listmania, So you’d like to…, the book detail page and several other programs you might find interesting.
If you are a non-technical person, like me, Sampson’s book will walk you through the programs with ease. Keep this in mind though, ‘Sell Your Book on Amazon’ won’t answer all your marketing questions, but it will save you a lot of time as you work your way through the Amazon system.’
Here are several notes about reviews and how they can benefit the writer.
Writing customer reviews on Amazon are a valuable asset to the writer. They also get the added bonus of a gold-star near the title. As soon as your book is listed on Amazon look around for a good review, a five star review if possible.
One way to get those customer reviews is to give away review copies to persons you consider capable of writing a good review and ask those reviewers to post their reviews on Amazon. And don’t forget to mention that five stars would be very helpful.
You can also trade reviews – you review my book and I’ll review yours.
But be prepared to take your lumps. Just remember that when you’re out in the marketplace everyone has an opinion and they are all biased one way or another. Some people never have a nice thing to say about anybody or anything in their book reviews.
I have one reviewer that has taken a particular dislike to one of my books and continues to give it a one star rating along with several very unflattering remarks. (I know the reason for the bias.) Amazon has been kind enough to take it down a couple of times, but it’s like one of those annoying pop up ads that keep coming back.
I’ve decided to leave it there and consider it a badge of honor – at least he’s paying attention. I took a look around and discovered I’m not alone in the one star division; I have some pretty good company. John Grisham’s ‘The Firm,’ Sidney Sheldon’s ‘Master of the Game’ and Dick Francis got in the club with ‘Win, Place and Show.’
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
Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone: Tuberculosis, the road west and Sister Melanie.
False accusations and outright lies aimed to darken the Holliday legend was not lost on journalist, Lucy Caldwell and producer, Bobby Anderson. They were convinced that the true Holliday legend was hidden beneath a veneer that Dime Store novels had drawn and Hollywood perpetuated. Lucy and Bobby worked independently, searching for the real Doc Holliday, but success comes only after they join forces and fully explore the love story involving John Henry and his cousin, Mattie Holliday.
The storybook romance between John Henry and Mattie is cut short by disease and family strife. The young dentist is forced by circumstance and failing health to abandon Mattie for a life in the West where he encounters the likes of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Eddie Foy and Kate Elder. Doc Holliday, using his gambling skills and a caustic wit, plays out the bad hand life had dealt him.
In a card game at Ft. Griffin, when forced to defend himself, Doc killed a card cheater. The cheaters pals want retribution, but Kate plans and executes a daring escape from the hostile mob. Doc owes his life to Kate and even as they forge a salty and tumultuous relationship, he would never forget what she did for him at Ft. Griffin.
Doc’s courage and loyalty are tested when he rushes in to save Wyatt Earp from a bunch of drunken cowboys, and a hangman’s noose, at Dodge City.
Three years later Doc once again shows his true character when he stands with the Earp’s in the shootout, at the Ok Corral. Doc survives the gunfight, but death from tuberculosis is never far away.
Mattie, desperate in her loneliness, writes Doc that she has fully embraced her Catholic religion…
Doc opened the envelope, half standing and half sitting beside the steps to the porch.
My Dear John Henry,
I am sure that you will feel no more shock than I at the prospect of my becoming a nun and I expect that I will be the oldest novice in the country. Be that as it may, I have a new beginning, a new life. My work for the Lord will not keep my love from you. It will, however, be a love from my heart only. My feeling and caring for your well being will remain the same. Our past will always shine bright in my memories, dear cousin.
I am well aware that you do not carry the same religious fervor that I have inherited from Mother. I know that you are good John Henry and perhaps one day you will come to see the Lord as I do. In the meantime, I shall pray for you every day and be with you in spirit. God bless you, John Henry.
Doc held the letter at arms length and looked at the signature. He shook his head in disbelief and lamented, "Melanie ... Sister Mary Melanie?" then he sobbed plaintively, "My God, Mattie. What have I done?"
Tombstone and Val Kilmer:
Why has Val Kilmer won more accolades than any other actor, to date, playing the role of Doc Holliday? I can’t speak for Kilmer, but his on screen performance in Tombstone went far beyond the old dime store novel caricature, used by most of his predecessors. Kilmer found and used Doc’s natural wit and humor, and that’s an echo from the past. When someone asked why he palled around with Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp said, ‘He makes me laugh.’
The jockey flap and the Belmont:
We’ve got Jess Jackson and Chip Woolly, a couple of old horse traders, at the poker table with both drawing to an inside flush.
Woolly wants Borel to ride Mine that Bird in the mile and one half Belmont. I don’t think Borel is the best choice, but that’s just my opinion.
Jackson’s not sure Rachel Alexandra can go a mile and one half and I think a lot of folks are in that camp.
Maybe we’ll have an answer soon, will she or won’t she, and a jockey to be named next Monday. But no matter what happens, since the Triple Crown is not to be this year the jockey story and the reluctant debutant have held the racing world’s attention during this wait for that long mile and one half race on June 6th called the Belmont Stakes.
Writers Notebook:
Sell your book on Amazon
Review
‘Brent Sampson has given us a pretty good primer on some of the Amazon programs available to authors selling their books on Amazon. I say some because Amazon is innovative and in a constant state of change. They add programs, change, update and even cancel one now and then. But Sampson’s ‘Sell your book on Amazon’ has captured a moment in time and gives you a good overview of the basic programs.
You begin on the Profile page and work from there to Amazon Connect, Listmania, So you’d like to…, the book detail page and several other programs you might find interesting.
If you are a non-technical person, like me, Sampson’s book will walk you through the programs with ease. Keep this in mind though, ‘Sell Your Book on Amazon’ won’t answer all your marketing questions, but it will save you a lot of time as you work your way through the Amazon system.’
Here are several notes about reviews and how they can benefit the writer.
Writing customer reviews on Amazon are a valuable asset to the writer. They also get the added bonus of a gold-star near the title. As soon as your book is listed on Amazon look around for a good review, a five star review if possible.
One way to get those customer reviews is to give away review copies to persons you consider capable of writing a good review and ask those reviewers to post their reviews on Amazon. And don’t forget to mention that five stars would be very helpful.
You can also trade reviews – you review my book and I’ll review yours.
But be prepared to take your lumps. Just remember that when you’re out in the marketplace everyone has an opinion and they are all biased one way or another. Some people never have a nice thing to say about anybody or anything in their book reviews.
I have one reviewer that has taken a particular dislike to one of my books and continues to give it a one star rating along with several very unflattering remarks. (I know the reason for the bias.) Amazon has been kind enough to take it down a couple of times, but it’s like one of those annoying pop up ads that keep coming back.
I’ve decided to leave it there and consider it a badge of honor – at least he’s paying attention. I took a look around and discovered I’m not alone in the one star division; I have some pretty good company. John Grisham’s ‘The Firm,’ Sidney Sheldon’s ‘Master of the Game’ and Dick Francis got in the club with ‘Win, Place and Show.’
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
May 20, 2009
Bob Hope Introduces Oscar to Radio
Let’s go to the Movies Part 18
Hollywood Grows Up.
Hollywood came of age during the 1930’s and movie fans lined up in droves to watch the latest film. The industry grew in every aspect of filmmaking, silents to sound, black and white to color, and a thousand other film techniques the public was not aware of.
With every passing year during that decade writers and directors were delivering a better product.
Suddenly a funny thing happened, it was like the whole Hollywood colony took aim at and built to a crescendo, saving their very best for that last and final year of the decade -- 1939. And what a film year it was. Members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science had a wonderful and at the same time the terrible task of weeding out the good from the good.
During most years any one of 1939’s top 20 or 25 films could have won an Oscar
The nominating committee did a masterful job just to pare it down some, but not much, as they finally nominated ten films for best picture. When you read the list of films in the group that were not nominated you might have a fleeting moment and think – why they must have thrown a bunch of titles into a hat and drew out the first ten. I’m sure that didn’t happen, but what a delicious dilemma.
Here are some of the films that didn’t make the cut Gunga Din – Cary Grant, The Little Princess – Shirley Temple, Intermezzo – Ingrid Bergman’s American debut, Story of Vernon and Irene Castle – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, The Roaring Twenties – Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney, Drums along the Mohawk – Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda, The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Charles Laughton and Young Mr. Lincoln with Henry Fonda.
America was digging its way out of the malaise and misery of those depression years and it was Hollywood that provided an all-star celebration, marking an end to the thirties.
‘Turn on your radios America.’
On the night of February 29, 1940 there's going to be a party at the Ambassador Hotel’s Cocoanut Grove.
Bob Hope was the MC for the evening and said, ‘Hello this is Bob, coming to you from the Ambassador Hotel, and the Academy Award Ceremony, Hope -- saying good evening all you, sitting on pins and needles, hopefuls.’
That was Oscar night and what a wonderful night it was as they passed out awards for great and talented work in front of and behind the camera.
Then came the announcement for the grand prize. ‘And here are the nominees for best picture.
Dark Victory
Good Bye, Mr. Chips
Gone With the Wind
Love Affair
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
Ninotchka
Of Mice And Men
Stagecoach
The Wizzard Of Oz
Wuthering Heights.
Now open the envelope please. ‘The best picture of 1939 is;
GONE WITH THE WIND.’
Think ahead to the Belmont Stakes.
There will be no Triple Crown in 2009, but the drama continues.
Blocked at the top of the stretch -- the lost momentum doomed the chances of a clean late run for Mine that Bird’s win. However, when he got back in stride, he gave a stretch run for the ages only to come up ¾’s of a length short to finish second.
Rachel Alexandra got the win, but her owners are unsure about the Belmont.
There’s a long tradition in horse racing that directs the horses from the saddling barn to begin the post parade. The horses are led out of the barn to a walking area where they make a brief stop and one of the racing officials gives the call, ‘Riders up,’ and the jockey is given a leg up and into the saddle.
Question now is who’s the jockey that will climb aboard Mine that Bird on June 6th for the Belmont Stakes?
Last Monday morning trainer Chip Woolly announced that his choice for the Belmont was Mike Smith who rode Mine that Bird to a second place win in the Preakness. But later in the day Smith’s agent called Woolly and explained that a prior commitment to ride Madeo in the Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap at Hollywood Park that day had to be honored.
So there you have it – for now.
Back at Churchill Downs, trainer Chip Woolly’s first priority is keeping Mine that Bird fit and ready for the Belmont. Second is the jockey situation. He said, ‘We’re going to make a decision pretty quick, so we’ll see what happens.’ Then he added, ‘Patience is probably the number one concern; is somebody patient and will they wait and see how things develop.’
And here’s my two cents for what they’re worth. I’d be looking for someone based at Belmont with patients and a jockey that knows every inch of ground on that big oval like the back of his or her hand. A jockey that knows how to win at a mile and one half on that two turn monster.
To keep up with the saga read my daily twitter reports in the sidebar of this blog or go to www.twitter.com/tombarnes39
Writers Notebook:
Writing a book is just part of the chain that eventually gets your book into the hands of the reader. Publishing and marketing are a large part of that process and to give you some ideas about marketing and sales during the next few weeks I plan to introduce you to some of those subjects by using my own reviews of the books.
Make Friends and Sell Books
John Kremer seems to live and breathe book marketing. One of his mottos is that selling is all about making friends and the more you work with 1001 Ways to Market your Book the sooner you recognize the truth in that statement. Connecting with people and networking is all about making friends.
The first time you thumb through the 700-page book you are almost overwhelmed by the daunting task ahead. Just turn a couple of pages and you’ll find the dedication. It’s only a few lines but near the bottom is a line filled with hope. John says, ‘Take your time. Do it right. And enjoy.’
Keep that in mind and do one task at a time. Then before you know it, you’ll be highlighting sections and marking page numbers for points of reference.
The book contains everything from Internet sales, websites, blogs and newsletters to bookstores and book fairs. And a whole lot more.
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
Hollywood Grows Up.
Hollywood came of age during the 1930’s and movie fans lined up in droves to watch the latest film. The industry grew in every aspect of filmmaking, silents to sound, black and white to color, and a thousand other film techniques the public was not aware of.
With every passing year during that decade writers and directors were delivering a better product.
Suddenly a funny thing happened, it was like the whole Hollywood colony took aim at and built to a crescendo, saving their very best for that last and final year of the decade -- 1939. And what a film year it was. Members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science had a wonderful and at the same time the terrible task of weeding out the good from the good.
During most years any one of 1939’s top 20 or 25 films could have won an Oscar
The nominating committee did a masterful job just to pare it down some, but not much, as they finally nominated ten films for best picture. When you read the list of films in the group that were not nominated you might have a fleeting moment and think – why they must have thrown a bunch of titles into a hat and drew out the first ten. I’m sure that didn’t happen, but what a delicious dilemma.
Here are some of the films that didn’t make the cut Gunga Din – Cary Grant, The Little Princess – Shirley Temple, Intermezzo – Ingrid Bergman’s American debut, Story of Vernon and Irene Castle – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, The Roaring Twenties – Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney, Drums along the Mohawk – Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda, The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Charles Laughton and Young Mr. Lincoln with Henry Fonda.
America was digging its way out of the malaise and misery of those depression years and it was Hollywood that provided an all-star celebration, marking an end to the thirties.
‘Turn on your radios America.’
On the night of February 29, 1940 there's going to be a party at the Ambassador Hotel’s Cocoanut Grove.
Bob Hope was the MC for the evening and said, ‘Hello this is Bob, coming to you from the Ambassador Hotel, and the Academy Award Ceremony, Hope -- saying good evening all you, sitting on pins and needles, hopefuls.’
That was Oscar night and what a wonderful night it was as they passed out awards for great and talented work in front of and behind the camera.
Then came the announcement for the grand prize. ‘And here are the nominees for best picture.
Dark Victory
Good Bye, Mr. Chips
Gone With the Wind
Love Affair
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
Ninotchka
Of Mice And Men
Stagecoach
The Wizzard Of Oz
Wuthering Heights.
Now open the envelope please. ‘The best picture of 1939 is;
GONE WITH THE WIND.’
Think ahead to the Belmont Stakes.
There will be no Triple Crown in 2009, but the drama continues.
Blocked at the top of the stretch -- the lost momentum doomed the chances of a clean late run for Mine that Bird’s win. However, when he got back in stride, he gave a stretch run for the ages only to come up ¾’s of a length short to finish second.
Rachel Alexandra got the win, but her owners are unsure about the Belmont.
There’s a long tradition in horse racing that directs the horses from the saddling barn to begin the post parade. The horses are led out of the barn to a walking area where they make a brief stop and one of the racing officials gives the call, ‘Riders up,’ and the jockey is given a leg up and into the saddle.
Question now is who’s the jockey that will climb aboard Mine that Bird on June 6th for the Belmont Stakes?
Last Monday morning trainer Chip Woolly announced that his choice for the Belmont was Mike Smith who rode Mine that Bird to a second place win in the Preakness. But later in the day Smith’s agent called Woolly and explained that a prior commitment to ride Madeo in the Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap at Hollywood Park that day had to be honored.
So there you have it – for now.
Back at Churchill Downs, trainer Chip Woolly’s first priority is keeping Mine that Bird fit and ready for the Belmont. Second is the jockey situation. He said, ‘We’re going to make a decision pretty quick, so we’ll see what happens.’ Then he added, ‘Patience is probably the number one concern; is somebody patient and will they wait and see how things develop.’
And here’s my two cents for what they’re worth. I’d be looking for someone based at Belmont with patients and a jockey that knows every inch of ground on that big oval like the back of his or her hand. A jockey that knows how to win at a mile and one half on that two turn monster.
To keep up with the saga read my daily twitter reports in the sidebar of this blog or go to www.twitter.com/tombarnes39
Writers Notebook:
Writing a book is just part of the chain that eventually gets your book into the hands of the reader. Publishing and marketing are a large part of that process and to give you some ideas about marketing and sales during the next few weeks I plan to introduce you to some of those subjects by using my own reviews of the books.
Make Friends and Sell Books
John Kremer seems to live and breathe book marketing. One of his mottos is that selling is all about making friends and the more you work with 1001 Ways to Market your Book the sooner you recognize the truth in that statement. Connecting with people and networking is all about making friends.
The first time you thumb through the 700-page book you are almost overwhelmed by the daunting task ahead. Just turn a couple of pages and you’ll find the dedication. It’s only a few lines but near the bottom is a line filled with hope. John says, ‘Take your time. Do it right. And enjoy.’
Keep that in mind and do one task at a time. Then before you know it, you’ll be highlighting sections and marking page numbers for points of reference.
The book contains everything from Internet sales, websites, blogs and newsletters to bookstores and book fairs. And a whole lot more.
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
May 13, 2009
Movies, The Preakness and Politicians
Let’s go to the Movies
Part 17
The flap with the Hays office over ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn’ was just one of dozens of problems that David Selznick had to resolve between the time filming was complete in early July 1939 to the Atlanta Premier on December 15th.
If there were a problem it would eventually land on Selznick’s desk. But of course that’s the task you assume as motion picture producer.
Just to name a few items; editing the long film down to a reasonable time, hiring someone to write the onscreen titles, a kind of narration that sets up coming scenes. Ben Hecht took the assignment and did an excellent job, even with Selznick looking over his shoulder.
Writing the music and recording the score onto the film is a huge undertaking and is extremely important to the finished film. Max Steiner, a great talent, was hired for the job and as was Selznick’s practice he hired a back-up composer to write a second score just in case Steiner didn’t come through on time. Fortunately Steiner’s worked tirelessly and got it out on time.
His score for Gone With the Wind was much acclaimed and was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to The Wizard of Oz.
Distribution and ticket prices were an issue, remember box office tickets at the time were about a quarter but a special price structure had to be worked out for Gone With the Wind, general admission prices we seventy five cents for morning and afternoon showings, a dollar at night and a dollar fifty for preferred seating.
There was a protracted discussion with the Screen Directors Guild regarding the onscreen credit for director. Remember, several men worked on the film and were contenders for the screen credit. George Cukor, Victor Fleming and Sam Wood all contributed to the film and at one time it was thought all three might share in the credit, however in the end Victor Fleming was given the sole credit.
The film was officially completed on December the 11th with the World Premier scheduled for Atlanta, Georgia on December 15th.
Here’s a typical report of the event at the time:
The focus was on Atlanta last week when David Selznick brought his film version of Gone With the Wind to that Southern city. And he brought Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable with their spouses Lawrence Olivier and Carol Lombard along with a host of others.
I won’t try to name all the celebrities attending that great opening because I’d probably leave your favorite off the list and you’d be ticked off at me.
But I will say that Kay Brown, Selznick’s New York Representative, without whom there might not have been a movie version of Gone With the Wind, was in Atlanta.
This writer was also there. I lived with my family at 1424 South Gordon Street in West End Atlanta. And from the mind of that little boy I can still see those giant Klieg lights hurling those beams of light, crisscrossing the Atlanta skyline and into the sky. They looked so close I felt I could reach out and touch them. Of course I couldn’t because they were about five miles away. I felt the excitement though and was fully aware that they were lighting up the sky for a movie about the South called Gone With the Wind.
Something else, and I didn’t know the significance at the time but at the Cascade Theatre located just around the corner from our house, the current movie playing there was ‘The Wizard of Oz.’
Victor Fleming directed both ‘Oz’ and ‘Wind’ and years later I had the opportunity to work on stage opposite Bert Lahr (the Cowardly Lion) in the Pulitzer Prize winning play ‘Harvey.’
(To be continued)
Golf and Horse Racing – an Unlikely Paring
Honor and integrity seem to have vanished from the lexicon of the sports world save Golf and Horse Racing.
Are there ever any suspect moments in those two sports, of course there are, but they are rare compared to other sports.
My personal example of lost integrity is in baseball’s home run derby. I personally have put a mental asterisk after every name in the record book since Hank Aaron.
Of course that’s just my personal opinion about steroids and I expect it runs against the tide – but then I always was a rebel.
My point is jockey Calvin Borel who rode Mine that Bird to a whopping upset in the 2009 Kentucky Derby was aboard Rachel Alexandra the day before for the Kentucky Oaks Grade 1 race winning by 20 lengths.
Rachel Alexandra has won 7 out of 10 races and during the last five stakes wins Calvin Borel was the jockey. He made a commitment earlier in the year to ride the filly and he sticks by his word.
Hall of Fame and Eclipse award winning jockey Mike Smith gets the call to replace Borel on Mine that Bird – and from where I sit, not a bad call.
Bennie Woolley’s choice of veteran Mike Smith to pilot the Bird is backed up by past performance. Mike won the Kentucky Derby aboard Giacomo in 2005, and the Preakness aboard Prairie Bayou in 1993.
Excerpt from the Baltimore Sun tells what happened during the running of the 2005 Preakness:
‘At the time, Prairie Bayou, ridden by, Mike Smith was starting his move along the inside rail about 14 lengths off the pace and was moving up from 10th place to his eventual victory.’
Mike said, "I was lucky enough to miss him; he broke down right in front of me," Smith said of Union City. "When horses break down and fall, they usually fall right or left. But he stayed straight and I ducked around him at the last second."
Smith still had nearly half a mile to go, and a lot of traffic to negotiate in order to catch Personal Hope, who held the lead along the rail. But Smith made his move at the head of the stretch when he took Prairie Bayou outside, angling five-wide and circling the pack. He drew into the clear and ran straight down the track to eventually beat the favorite
Writers Notebook:
Here’s a plea for political writers and humorist to look back at a few examples of true humor and wit without malice.
Here are three by Will Rogers.
‘Be a politician, no training necessary.’
‘We’ve got the best politicians in this country that money can buy.’
‘With congress, every time they make a joke it’s a law; and every time they make a law it’s a joke.’
Now who would argue with that logic? Politicians of course.
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
Part 17
The flap with the Hays office over ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn’ was just one of dozens of problems that David Selznick had to resolve between the time filming was complete in early July 1939 to the Atlanta Premier on December 15th.
If there were a problem it would eventually land on Selznick’s desk. But of course that’s the task you assume as motion picture producer.
Just to name a few items; editing the long film down to a reasonable time, hiring someone to write the onscreen titles, a kind of narration that sets up coming scenes. Ben Hecht took the assignment and did an excellent job, even with Selznick looking over his shoulder.
Writing the music and recording the score onto the film is a huge undertaking and is extremely important to the finished film. Max Steiner, a great talent, was hired for the job and as was Selznick’s practice he hired a back-up composer to write a second score just in case Steiner didn’t come through on time. Fortunately Steiner’s worked tirelessly and got it out on time.
His score for Gone With the Wind was much acclaimed and was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to The Wizard of Oz.
Distribution and ticket prices were an issue, remember box office tickets at the time were about a quarter but a special price structure had to be worked out for Gone With the Wind, general admission prices we seventy five cents for morning and afternoon showings, a dollar at night and a dollar fifty for preferred seating.
There was a protracted discussion with the Screen Directors Guild regarding the onscreen credit for director. Remember, several men worked on the film and were contenders for the screen credit. George Cukor, Victor Fleming and Sam Wood all contributed to the film and at one time it was thought all three might share in the credit, however in the end Victor Fleming was given the sole credit.
The film was officially completed on December the 11th with the World Premier scheduled for Atlanta, Georgia on December 15th.
Here’s a typical report of the event at the time:
The focus was on Atlanta last week when David Selznick brought his film version of Gone With the Wind to that Southern city. And he brought Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable with their spouses Lawrence Olivier and Carol Lombard along with a host of others.
I won’t try to name all the celebrities attending that great opening because I’d probably leave your favorite off the list and you’d be ticked off at me.
But I will say that Kay Brown, Selznick’s New York Representative, without whom there might not have been a movie version of Gone With the Wind, was in Atlanta.
This writer was also there. I lived with my family at 1424 South Gordon Street in West End Atlanta. And from the mind of that little boy I can still see those giant Klieg lights hurling those beams of light, crisscrossing the Atlanta skyline and into the sky. They looked so close I felt I could reach out and touch them. Of course I couldn’t because they were about five miles away. I felt the excitement though and was fully aware that they were lighting up the sky for a movie about the South called Gone With the Wind.
Something else, and I didn’t know the significance at the time but at the Cascade Theatre located just around the corner from our house, the current movie playing there was ‘The Wizard of Oz.’
Victor Fleming directed both ‘Oz’ and ‘Wind’ and years later I had the opportunity to work on stage opposite Bert Lahr (the Cowardly Lion) in the Pulitzer Prize winning play ‘Harvey.’
(To be continued)
Golf and Horse Racing – an Unlikely Paring
Honor and integrity seem to have vanished from the lexicon of the sports world save Golf and Horse Racing.
Are there ever any suspect moments in those two sports, of course there are, but they are rare compared to other sports.
My personal example of lost integrity is in baseball’s home run derby. I personally have put a mental asterisk after every name in the record book since Hank Aaron.
Of course that’s just my personal opinion about steroids and I expect it runs against the tide – but then I always was a rebel.
My point is jockey Calvin Borel who rode Mine that Bird to a whopping upset in the 2009 Kentucky Derby was aboard Rachel Alexandra the day before for the Kentucky Oaks Grade 1 race winning by 20 lengths.
Rachel Alexandra has won 7 out of 10 races and during the last five stakes wins Calvin Borel was the jockey. He made a commitment earlier in the year to ride the filly and he sticks by his word.
Hall of Fame and Eclipse award winning jockey Mike Smith gets the call to replace Borel on Mine that Bird – and from where I sit, not a bad call.
Bennie Woolley’s choice of veteran Mike Smith to pilot the Bird is backed up by past performance. Mike won the Kentucky Derby aboard Giacomo in 2005, and the Preakness aboard Prairie Bayou in 1993.
Excerpt from the Baltimore Sun tells what happened during the running of the 2005 Preakness:
‘At the time, Prairie Bayou, ridden by, Mike Smith was starting his move along the inside rail about 14 lengths off the pace and was moving up from 10th place to his eventual victory.’
Mike said, "I was lucky enough to miss him; he broke down right in front of me," Smith said of Union City. "When horses break down and fall, they usually fall right or left. But he stayed straight and I ducked around him at the last second."
Smith still had nearly half a mile to go, and a lot of traffic to negotiate in order to catch Personal Hope, who held the lead along the rail. But Smith made his move at the head of the stretch when he took Prairie Bayou outside, angling five-wide and circling the pack. He drew into the clear and ran straight down the track to eventually beat the favorite
Writers Notebook:
Here’s a plea for political writers and humorist to look back at a few examples of true humor and wit without malice.
Here are three by Will Rogers.
‘Be a politician, no training necessary.’
‘We’ve got the best politicians in this country that money can buy.’
‘With congress, every time they make a joke it’s a law; and every time they make a law it’s a joke.’
Now who would argue with that logic? Politicians of course.
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
May 6, 2009
Kentucky Derby Upset and Gone With the Wind Wrap
Mine That Bird Rail to Wire Win
Dream up all the cliché’s in the book and you’ll find several that will fit into Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
When Calvin Borel looked at Mine that Bird’s past performance chart he saw a mixed bag. Two-year-old champion in Canada and then some unmentionable races in the States. But as he studied the form some things became apparent. Mine that Bird’s losses came with consistency when he got caught wide on the turns.
I suspect a wry grin crossed Calvin’s face as he thought, ‘Well, we can fix that,’
The handicappers looking at the Kentucky Derby form saw that awful race Mine that Bird ran at Santa Anita last October, and at that point most of them probably crossed him off their list of contenders.
However, had they thrown that race out (and by the way Santa Anita’s racing surface is a synthetic material, which might have made a difference) it could have made a world of difference but then he wouldn’t have gone off at 50-1 and there would have been no big story.
Heavy overnight rains came to Churchill Downs and that seemed to favor the Louisiana Derby winner Friesan Fire, he had won his race over a sloppy track.
The 3-1 favorite I want Revenge was an early morning scratch.
For those of us that watched on TV you could sense a typical Kentucky Derby day kind of excitement in the crowd. Wide brimmed ladies hats, celebrities and mint juleps were all in evidence and while there was plenty of betting going on there were no wide swings in the odds.
During the saddling process, the post parade and as the 19-horse field loaded into the gate the horses maintained a calm.
Out of the gate Dunkirk stumbled and Mine that Bird was pinched in between horses.
Borel gently took a hold on the Bird, got him out of trouble and went about his business of moving to the rail – dead last.
Join the Dance and Regal Ransom led the field up front and kept the horses moving at a good pace.
Borel got Mine that Bird to the rail and they went almost unnoticed to the public and track announcer as they passed horses on the inside. They had no traffic problems along the way, and moving into the stretch That Bird kicked into another gear with only a sliver of a hole in front of him, the space was paper thin, but he accelerated through it and burst into the clear. By the time the announcer realized what was happening Borel had that Bird three lengths in front of the field and extending his lead as they pulled away to an easy 5 and ½ length win.
Now on to the Preakness and quest for the Triple Crown:
One of my daily updates on Twitter:
‘Calvin Borel pilots Mine that Bird to the rail and they fly inside the field to nab second longest price in Kentucky Derby history.’
Read more tweets at www.Twitter.com/tombarnes39
Let’s Go to the Movies Part 16
It’s a Wrap
June 27, 1939
Mr. John Hay Whitney
630 5th Avenue
New York, N.Y.
‘Sound the siren. Scarlett O’Hara completed her performance at noon today. Gable finishes tonight or in the morning…’
That left only a week of pickup shots and Gone With the Wind filming would be complete.
During the next several months David Selznick would be overseeing the editing process while at the same time conducting a low key PR campaign. During that same period Selznick had to use diplomacy to calm the mayor of Atlanta. It seems that Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield had heard a rumor that Atlanta was out of the running for the World Premier of Gone With the Wind and communicated his concern to David Selznick.
On July 17, 1939 Selznick sent this reassuring letter to the mayor, and it reads in part: ‘Dear Mayor Hartsfield:
I am in receipt of your telegram concerning the premier of Gone With the Wind. The rumors, which you have heard, have no foundation. Neither we, nor Loew’s, Incorporated have ever given any thought to opening any place but Atlanta, as I have repeatedly assured Governor Rivers, yourself, Miss Mitchell, and other important Georgians…’
And just to give you a sense of what went on behind the scenes between the film’s completion and the premier in Atlanta of Gone With the Wind here is an excerpt from a memo sent to Kay Brown in New York October 7, 1939.
‘…we have our main title all laid out on the basis of having Gone With the Wind come first, and in a unique manner; but if MGM for some strange reason thinks that Clark Gable is more important than Gone With the Wind, and should come first, and wants to bitch up our main title layout, I suppose there’s nothing I can do but get up a new main title, since under out contract with MGM Gable’s name must precede Gone With the Wind.’
A footnote following that memo: The names of the four stars, in a size fifty percent of the films title, followed the films title on the screen and in all advertising.’
One of Selznick’s final battles was that the language censors, at the time, demanded a change from the words in the book, Rhett Butler’s punch line to Scarlett as he turns to walk away – ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,’ was being questioned by the Hays office.
Fortunately Selznick won that battle and shortly after the film’s release ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn’ became a catch phrase and part of Hollywood and Movie lore.
(To be continued)
Writers Notebook.
There can be no honor without a foundation of integrity. That may seem old-fashioned, but – it is a fact.
Honor your character’s integrity.
To paraphrase Sherwood Anderson: Your characters should be as real as living people. You should be no more willing to sell them out than you would to sell out your friends or the woman you love. To take the lives of those people and bend or twist them to suit the needs of some cleverly thought out plot to give your readers a false emotion is as mean and ignoble as it is to sell out living men or women… And that is the truth.
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
.
Dream up all the cliché’s in the book and you’ll find several that will fit into Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
When Calvin Borel looked at Mine that Bird’s past performance chart he saw a mixed bag. Two-year-old champion in Canada and then some unmentionable races in the States. But as he studied the form some things became apparent. Mine that Bird’s losses came with consistency when he got caught wide on the turns.
I suspect a wry grin crossed Calvin’s face as he thought, ‘Well, we can fix that,’
The handicappers looking at the Kentucky Derby form saw that awful race Mine that Bird ran at Santa Anita last October, and at that point most of them probably crossed him off their list of contenders.
However, had they thrown that race out (and by the way Santa Anita’s racing surface is a synthetic material, which might have made a difference) it could have made a world of difference but then he wouldn’t have gone off at 50-1 and there would have been no big story.
Heavy overnight rains came to Churchill Downs and that seemed to favor the Louisiana Derby winner Friesan Fire, he had won his race over a sloppy track.
The 3-1 favorite I want Revenge was an early morning scratch.
For those of us that watched on TV you could sense a typical Kentucky Derby day kind of excitement in the crowd. Wide brimmed ladies hats, celebrities and mint juleps were all in evidence and while there was plenty of betting going on there were no wide swings in the odds.
During the saddling process, the post parade and as the 19-horse field loaded into the gate the horses maintained a calm.
Out of the gate Dunkirk stumbled and Mine that Bird was pinched in between horses.
Borel gently took a hold on the Bird, got him out of trouble and went about his business of moving to the rail – dead last.
Join the Dance and Regal Ransom led the field up front and kept the horses moving at a good pace.
Borel got Mine that Bird to the rail and they went almost unnoticed to the public and track announcer as they passed horses on the inside. They had no traffic problems along the way, and moving into the stretch That Bird kicked into another gear with only a sliver of a hole in front of him, the space was paper thin, but he accelerated through it and burst into the clear. By the time the announcer realized what was happening Borel had that Bird three lengths in front of the field and extending his lead as they pulled away to an easy 5 and ½ length win.
Now on to the Preakness and quest for the Triple Crown:
One of my daily updates on Twitter:
‘Calvin Borel pilots Mine that Bird to the rail and they fly inside the field to nab second longest price in Kentucky Derby history.’
Read more tweets at www.Twitter.com/tombarnes39
Let’s Go to the Movies Part 16
It’s a Wrap
June 27, 1939
Mr. John Hay Whitney
630 5th Avenue
New York, N.Y.
‘Sound the siren. Scarlett O’Hara completed her performance at noon today. Gable finishes tonight or in the morning…’
That left only a week of pickup shots and Gone With the Wind filming would be complete.
During the next several months David Selznick would be overseeing the editing process while at the same time conducting a low key PR campaign. During that same period Selznick had to use diplomacy to calm the mayor of Atlanta. It seems that Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield had heard a rumor that Atlanta was out of the running for the World Premier of Gone With the Wind and communicated his concern to David Selznick.
On July 17, 1939 Selznick sent this reassuring letter to the mayor, and it reads in part: ‘Dear Mayor Hartsfield:
I am in receipt of your telegram concerning the premier of Gone With the Wind. The rumors, which you have heard, have no foundation. Neither we, nor Loew’s, Incorporated have ever given any thought to opening any place but Atlanta, as I have repeatedly assured Governor Rivers, yourself, Miss Mitchell, and other important Georgians…’
And just to give you a sense of what went on behind the scenes between the film’s completion and the premier in Atlanta of Gone With the Wind here is an excerpt from a memo sent to Kay Brown in New York October 7, 1939.
‘…we have our main title all laid out on the basis of having Gone With the Wind come first, and in a unique manner; but if MGM for some strange reason thinks that Clark Gable is more important than Gone With the Wind, and should come first, and wants to bitch up our main title layout, I suppose there’s nothing I can do but get up a new main title, since under out contract with MGM Gable’s name must precede Gone With the Wind.’
A footnote following that memo: The names of the four stars, in a size fifty percent of the films title, followed the films title on the screen and in all advertising.’
One of Selznick’s final battles was that the language censors, at the time, demanded a change from the words in the book, Rhett Butler’s punch line to Scarlett as he turns to walk away – ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,’ was being questioned by the Hays office.
Fortunately Selznick won that battle and shortly after the film’s release ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn’ became a catch phrase and part of Hollywood and Movie lore.
(To be continued)
Writers Notebook.
There can be no honor without a foundation of integrity. That may seem old-fashioned, but – it is a fact.
Honor your character’s integrity.
To paraphrase Sherwood Anderson: Your characters should be as real as living people. You should be no more willing to sell them out than you would to sell out your friends or the woman you love. To take the lives of those people and bend or twist them to suit the needs of some cleverly thought out plot to give your readers a false emotion is as mean and ignoble as it is to sell out living men or women… And that is the truth.
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
.
April 29, 2009
GWTW Directors, the Kentucky Derby, Art and Hemingway
Let’s go to the Movies
Part 15
Victor Fleming returned to work and Sam Wood stayed on to help.
According to David Selznick Sam Wood did an outstanding job filling in for Fleming and in one of his memos he stated that there was no loss in picture quality during that period.
Fleming was back on the set the second week of May and Sam Wood agreed to stick around and help out where ever he was needed. By that time in the production the working script was in place and Selznick’s idea was to drive forward and complete filming as soon as possible.
To accomplish that goal he wanted to have as many as five units shooting various scenes on the same day. And as a means to that end Selznick would take Sam Wood up on his offer and then add several other second unit directors to shoot various location scenes.
Previously mentioned second unit directors Yakima Canutt and James A Fitzpatrick were already on the list.
Fitzpatrick was in Georgia shooting background scenes from the actual Tara area.
In order to have enough directing talent available Peter Ballbusch, a solid utility director was added to the second unit director’s list.
B. Reeves Eason had a wide range of experience as actor, writer and director also signed up as a second unit director.
Chester M. Franklin was hired for his experience dating back to the silent days.
William Cameron Menzies the present production designer and art director of GWTW was pressed into service as a second unit director. The versatile Menzies was also a film director, producer and screenwriter.
Menzies would later add to his resume the film ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ where he shared producer credits with Mike Todd and Kevin McCloy.
The Kentucky Derby
This week’s sports pages all over the world will be filled with stories about Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. Horses, trainers and owners will all get their moment of fame. Some of the stories will be original and insightful while most will be boilerplate rhetoric you could have read the week before any past derby. And some of the best stories may be overlooked this week simply because late in the afternoon on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs the Kentucky Derby will be run. And sometimes a star is born.
But once the winner gets that blanked of roses, be it favorite or unbelievable Longshot a new cycle begins with talk in the Sunday morning sports pages about the 2009 race for the Triple Crown.
Back in 1919 a star and a tradition was born.
The big story coming out of the 1919 Kentucky Derby was that Sir Barton was not in the race to win, he was entered as a rabbit to go out fast and wear down the favorites giving Sir Barton’s stable mate Billy Kelly a chance to come from behind and take all the marbles. Well, it didn’t work out that way because Sir Barton didn’t tire; he just went on to win the race.
Sir Barton was immediately put on a train and shipped to Baltimore where only four days later he won the Preakness. Then a couple of weeks after that race he took New York by storm and won a race at Belmont, which was later to become the Belmont Stakes.
And that was the beginning of a horse racing tradition known as the Triple Crown.
(To be continued)
Nazi Stolen Art
Excerpt from ‘The Goring Collection.
Jacob Meyers, head of the Founders Group Intelligence Division, hooks up with Interpol’s international art investigation. Two suspect paintings, a Manet and Cézanne, are sold in Berlin as copies and tracked to the Berghoff Gallery in Chicago where they sell as originals. The paintings came from cache plundered by the Nazi’s now controlled by Cartel.
FGI Operatives investigate and report a flurry of Cartel activities in Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Accidental shooting at the Chicago Gallery, two murders in San Francisco, political blackmail in Las Vegas and a rogue group within the Cartel dealing drugs in West Georgia. That hodgepodge of crimes makes no sense until Jacob gets a tip from informant giving him date and place for Cartel’s upcoming grand auction. But the real bombshell comes when Cartel member – ex Senator Tripp Farrell – is linked to San Francisco murders.
A task force made up of FGI, Customs, DEA and a local sheriff quashed the Cartel’s multi-million dollar auction and shut down the drug trafficking operation. But the hunt for Cartel’s main stash continued and leads to Europe where FGI, Interpol and a Danish Partisan group team up to search for the Goring Collection.
Writers Notebook:
A lesson from Hemingway’s ‘A Moveable Feast.’
‘…good and severe discipline.’
‘It was in that room that I learned not to think about anything that I was writing from the time I stopped writing until I started again the next day. That way my subconscious could be working on it and at the same time I would be listening to other people and noticing everything…’
‘Going down the stairs when I had worked well, and that needed luck as well as discipline, was a wonderful feeling and I was free then to walk anywhere in Paris. If I walked down by different streets to Jardin du Luxembourg in the afternoon I would walk through the gardens and then go to the Musee du Luxembourg…’ ‘I went there nearly every day for the Cézanne’s and to see the Manet’s and the Monet’s and the other Impressionist’s that I had first come to know about in the Art Institute in Chicago…’
‘But if the light was gone in the Luxembourg I would walk up through the gardens and stop in at the studio apartment where Gertrude Stein lived at 27 rue de Fleurus.’
Another example of what the writer observes is what eventually goes onto the printed page. And Hemingway believed that those observations after passing through the subconscious was the way to build from, ‘that one true sentence,’ he talked about so often.
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
Part 15
Victor Fleming returned to work and Sam Wood stayed on to help.
According to David Selznick Sam Wood did an outstanding job filling in for Fleming and in one of his memos he stated that there was no loss in picture quality during that period.
Fleming was back on the set the second week of May and Sam Wood agreed to stick around and help out where ever he was needed. By that time in the production the working script was in place and Selznick’s idea was to drive forward and complete filming as soon as possible.
To accomplish that goal he wanted to have as many as five units shooting various scenes on the same day. And as a means to that end Selznick would take Sam Wood up on his offer and then add several other second unit directors to shoot various location scenes.
Previously mentioned second unit directors Yakima Canutt and James A Fitzpatrick were already on the list.
Fitzpatrick was in Georgia shooting background scenes from the actual Tara area.
In order to have enough directing talent available Peter Ballbusch, a solid utility director was added to the second unit director’s list.
B. Reeves Eason had a wide range of experience as actor, writer and director also signed up as a second unit director.
Chester M. Franklin was hired for his experience dating back to the silent days.
William Cameron Menzies the present production designer and art director of GWTW was pressed into service as a second unit director. The versatile Menzies was also a film director, producer and screenwriter.
Menzies would later add to his resume the film ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ where he shared producer credits with Mike Todd and Kevin McCloy.
The Kentucky Derby
This week’s sports pages all over the world will be filled with stories about Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. Horses, trainers and owners will all get their moment of fame. Some of the stories will be original and insightful while most will be boilerplate rhetoric you could have read the week before any past derby. And some of the best stories may be overlooked this week simply because late in the afternoon on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs the Kentucky Derby will be run. And sometimes a star is born.
But once the winner gets that blanked of roses, be it favorite or unbelievable Longshot a new cycle begins with talk in the Sunday morning sports pages about the 2009 race for the Triple Crown.
Back in 1919 a star and a tradition was born.
The big story coming out of the 1919 Kentucky Derby was that Sir Barton was not in the race to win, he was entered as a rabbit to go out fast and wear down the favorites giving Sir Barton’s stable mate Billy Kelly a chance to come from behind and take all the marbles. Well, it didn’t work out that way because Sir Barton didn’t tire; he just went on to win the race.
Sir Barton was immediately put on a train and shipped to Baltimore where only four days later he won the Preakness. Then a couple of weeks after that race he took New York by storm and won a race at Belmont, which was later to become the Belmont Stakes.
And that was the beginning of a horse racing tradition known as the Triple Crown.
(To be continued)
Nazi Stolen Art
Excerpt from ‘The Goring Collection.
Jacob Meyers, head of the Founders Group Intelligence Division, hooks up with Interpol’s international art investigation. Two suspect paintings, a Manet and Cézanne, are sold in Berlin as copies and tracked to the Berghoff Gallery in Chicago where they sell as originals. The paintings came from cache plundered by the Nazi’s now controlled by Cartel.
FGI Operatives investigate and report a flurry of Cartel activities in Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Accidental shooting at the Chicago Gallery, two murders in San Francisco, political blackmail in Las Vegas and a rogue group within the Cartel dealing drugs in West Georgia. That hodgepodge of crimes makes no sense until Jacob gets a tip from informant giving him date and place for Cartel’s upcoming grand auction. But the real bombshell comes when Cartel member – ex Senator Tripp Farrell – is linked to San Francisco murders.
A task force made up of FGI, Customs, DEA and a local sheriff quashed the Cartel’s multi-million dollar auction and shut down the drug trafficking operation. But the hunt for Cartel’s main stash continued and leads to Europe where FGI, Interpol and a Danish Partisan group team up to search for the Goring Collection.
Writers Notebook:
A lesson from Hemingway’s ‘A Moveable Feast.’
‘…good and severe discipline.’
‘It was in that room that I learned not to think about anything that I was writing from the time I stopped writing until I started again the next day. That way my subconscious could be working on it and at the same time I would be listening to other people and noticing everything…’
‘Going down the stairs when I had worked well, and that needed luck as well as discipline, was a wonderful feeling and I was free then to walk anywhere in Paris. If I walked down by different streets to Jardin du Luxembourg in the afternoon I would walk through the gardens and then go to the Musee du Luxembourg…’ ‘I went there nearly every day for the Cézanne’s and to see the Manet’s and the Monet’s and the other Impressionist’s that I had first come to know about in the Art Institute in Chicago…’
‘But if the light was gone in the Luxembourg I would walk up through the gardens and stop in at the studio apartment where Gertrude Stein lived at 27 rue de Fleurus.’
Another example of what the writer observes is what eventually goes onto the printed page. And Hemingway believed that those observations after passing through the subconscious was the way to build from, ‘that one true sentence,’ he talked about so often.
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
April 22, 2009
Oz, Wind and The Great Gatsby
Let’s Go to the Movies
Part 14
Exhausted!
Victor Fleming never got a break between his work on ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and his assignment to ‘Gone With the Wind.’
Under normal circumstances, with only a couple of days rest it would have been enough for a routine transition. However, his assignment to ‘Gone With the Wind,’ was anything but routine. The general public had already formed opinions and had high expectations of what they wanted from reading the 1034 page novel. And David Selznick had every intention of satisfying those expectations.
In a sense Fleming’s first hurdle was in the area of public relations. He was replacing George Cukor, a very popular director; through no fault of his own, nonetheless it was a touchy situation, as some members of the GWTW cast didn’t like the change at all.
Second and probably more important was that the script was still in pieces and had to be assembled, one script written by Sidney Howard and the other by Oliver Garrett. David Selznick picked and chose from, not unlike a Chinese Restaurant menu, scenes by selecting from Side A or Side B. Now this is just an educated guess, but I suspect that Ben Hecht was the go to guy to write, when necessary, transitions and any other slight modifications that Selznick came up with. For the most part those changes within the scenes came from the book. You see Selznick, continued to sift through Margaret Mitchell’s novel and, when he found a fit, he transferred dialogue or a phrase or two straight out of the book to the shooting script. Sounds insane, but you have to admit that when all the pieces were assembled – it worked.
The trouble was that Victor Fleming didn’t have a clue about the eventual outcome. To him at that moment it probably looked like a train wreck in the making.
That was in mid February of 1939 and it took about two months before the shooting schedule and other duties began to take a physical tole on the director.
The first indication of a problem was a hush, hush memo dated April 14, 1939 from Selznick to his Vice President Henry Ginsberg and first assistant Daniel O’Shea.
The memo posed the possibilities of again having to halt production. ‘…I have for some time been worried that Fleming would not be able to finish the picture because of his physical condition….’
Fleming’s doctor thought he was in good enough shape to continue work, but from Selznick’s personal observation he said ‘…he is so near the breaking point both physically and mentally from shear exhaustion that it would be a miracle, in my opinion, if he’s able to shoot for another seven or eight weeks.’
Selznick certainly didn’t want his opinion to get back to Fleming, but during the course of the memo he mentioned a couple of possible replacement directors Bob Leonard from the MGM staff and Bill Wellman at Paramount.
Selznick’s intuition regarding Fleming’s physical condition likely came from his knowledge about what brought him to GWTW in the first place. Fleming had been working in a pressure cooker situation over at MGM on ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ the directors position had been like playing the game of musical chairs. Some of the directors that had been assigned and later replaced were Norman Taurog, Richard Thorpe, George Cukor, and Victor Fleming, sound familiar? When Fleming was pulled off Oz to replace Cukor on ‘Gone With the Wind’ he was replaced by King Vidor.
And although Victor Fleming wasn’t there for the final takes of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ he got sole credit for directing the film. Screen Credits are part of the inside Hollywood politics and while several directors might work on and contribute to a film, usually only one gets the screen credit while the others go Unaccredited.
On April 26, Fleming collapsed on the set from exhaustion and was out for a two-week rest. Sam Wood took over for the ailing Fleming. Wood came over from MGM and was not without credentials, he had directed Ginger Rogers in her Oscar winning performance in Kitty Foyle.
(To be continued)
More about Nazi Stolen art and ‘The Goring Collection.’
When Jacob asked why the painting was withdrawn from the auction a tight-lipped manager was trotted out and asserted, “Due to confidentiality agreements with the seller we can offer no reason why the painting has been withdrawn.”
“Is there any possibility that it will be offered at a later time?” Jacob asked.
“We have no way of knowing that,” the manager said in a tone that dismissed any further questions.
‘Jacob knew the man was lying and was frustrated by his own actions that had allowed the painting to be snatched right out from under his nose. Suddenly he felt pangs of guilt, not for his present thoughts, but what he hadn’t recognized in the past. For soon after the Nazi’s took the painting he had simply dismissed Papa’s Pissarro as just another relic that could easily be replaced. Of course, looking back at the situation he could only attribute that callous dismissal to his youth. But when the painting turned up, at the Auction House, he saw everything in a different light and suddenly realized just how much the painting had meant to him and his sister during the war years. And at that moment he made a solemn promise, in the memory of his parents, to use every resource at his disposal to find Papa’s cherished painting. Jacob furrowed his brow as he thought about the daunting task ahead.’
Even today Nazi stolen art still grabs headlines.
U.S. Customs Seizes Old Master Lost in Nazi-Era Forced Sale
By Catherine Hickley
For Old Master story Click Here
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pi...
Writers Notebook:
F. Scott Fitzgerald
In a long ago April, 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his editor Maxwell Perkins were bantering about who should get credit for the structure of ‘The Great Gatsby.’ As the release date approached everyone at Scribner’s along with the author believed they had a best seller on their hands. As it turned out the critic’s had other ideas.
Two days after publication The New York World described F. Scott Fitzgerald’s latest A Dud. And unfortunately most of those early critics’s arrived at that same conclusion.
The book didn’t sell and Scribner’s warehouse had several thousand copies of the unsold books to prove it. But to find a reason why later generations gave ‘Gatsby’ a new life, one might look back at H.L. Mencken’s remarks at the time of publishing. Mencken said he found the form ‘No more than a glorified anecdote and a far inferior story at bottom.’ But he did recognize ‘the novel as plainly the product of a sound stable talent, conjured into being by hard work. And he appreciated the craft of revision that accounted for so much, and it shows on every page.’
Mencken also credited Fitzgerald with ‘depicting the rattle and hullabaloo of society with great gusto and sharp accuracy.’ (The flapper, Speakeasies and Bathtub gin)
Of course there were some good reviews at the time that were drowned out by the other side. However, even today with its rebirth and popularity when talk gets around to ‘The Great Gatsby’ you can still find good arguments on both sides of the debate.
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
Part 14
Exhausted!
Victor Fleming never got a break between his work on ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and his assignment to ‘Gone With the Wind.’
Under normal circumstances, with only a couple of days rest it would have been enough for a routine transition. However, his assignment to ‘Gone With the Wind,’ was anything but routine. The general public had already formed opinions and had high expectations of what they wanted from reading the 1034 page novel. And David Selznick had every intention of satisfying those expectations.
In a sense Fleming’s first hurdle was in the area of public relations. He was replacing George Cukor, a very popular director; through no fault of his own, nonetheless it was a touchy situation, as some members of the GWTW cast didn’t like the change at all.
Second and probably more important was that the script was still in pieces and had to be assembled, one script written by Sidney Howard and the other by Oliver Garrett. David Selznick picked and chose from, not unlike a Chinese Restaurant menu, scenes by selecting from Side A or Side B. Now this is just an educated guess, but I suspect that Ben Hecht was the go to guy to write, when necessary, transitions and any other slight modifications that Selznick came up with. For the most part those changes within the scenes came from the book. You see Selznick, continued to sift through Margaret Mitchell’s novel and, when he found a fit, he transferred dialogue or a phrase or two straight out of the book to the shooting script. Sounds insane, but you have to admit that when all the pieces were assembled – it worked.
The trouble was that Victor Fleming didn’t have a clue about the eventual outcome. To him at that moment it probably looked like a train wreck in the making.
That was in mid February of 1939 and it took about two months before the shooting schedule and other duties began to take a physical tole on the director.
The first indication of a problem was a hush, hush memo dated April 14, 1939 from Selznick to his Vice President Henry Ginsberg and first assistant Daniel O’Shea.
The memo posed the possibilities of again having to halt production. ‘…I have for some time been worried that Fleming would not be able to finish the picture because of his physical condition….’
Fleming’s doctor thought he was in good enough shape to continue work, but from Selznick’s personal observation he said ‘…he is so near the breaking point both physically and mentally from shear exhaustion that it would be a miracle, in my opinion, if he’s able to shoot for another seven or eight weeks.’
Selznick certainly didn’t want his opinion to get back to Fleming, but during the course of the memo he mentioned a couple of possible replacement directors Bob Leonard from the MGM staff and Bill Wellman at Paramount.
Selznick’s intuition regarding Fleming’s physical condition likely came from his knowledge about what brought him to GWTW in the first place. Fleming had been working in a pressure cooker situation over at MGM on ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ the directors position had been like playing the game of musical chairs. Some of the directors that had been assigned and later replaced were Norman Taurog, Richard Thorpe, George Cukor, and Victor Fleming, sound familiar? When Fleming was pulled off Oz to replace Cukor on ‘Gone With the Wind’ he was replaced by King Vidor.
And although Victor Fleming wasn’t there for the final takes of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ he got sole credit for directing the film. Screen Credits are part of the inside Hollywood politics and while several directors might work on and contribute to a film, usually only one gets the screen credit while the others go Unaccredited.
On April 26, Fleming collapsed on the set from exhaustion and was out for a two-week rest. Sam Wood took over for the ailing Fleming. Wood came over from MGM and was not without credentials, he had directed Ginger Rogers in her Oscar winning performance in Kitty Foyle.
(To be continued)
More about Nazi Stolen art and ‘The Goring Collection.’
When Jacob asked why the painting was withdrawn from the auction a tight-lipped manager was trotted out and asserted, “Due to confidentiality agreements with the seller we can offer no reason why the painting has been withdrawn.”
“Is there any possibility that it will be offered at a later time?” Jacob asked.
“We have no way of knowing that,” the manager said in a tone that dismissed any further questions.
‘Jacob knew the man was lying and was frustrated by his own actions that had allowed the painting to be snatched right out from under his nose. Suddenly he felt pangs of guilt, not for his present thoughts, but what he hadn’t recognized in the past. For soon after the Nazi’s took the painting he had simply dismissed Papa’s Pissarro as just another relic that could easily be replaced. Of course, looking back at the situation he could only attribute that callous dismissal to his youth. But when the painting turned up, at the Auction House, he saw everything in a different light and suddenly realized just how much the painting had meant to him and his sister during the war years. And at that moment he made a solemn promise, in the memory of his parents, to use every resource at his disposal to find Papa’s cherished painting. Jacob furrowed his brow as he thought about the daunting task ahead.’
Even today Nazi stolen art still grabs headlines.
U.S. Customs Seizes Old Master Lost in Nazi-Era Forced Sale
By Catherine Hickley
For Old Master story Click Here
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pi...
Writers Notebook:
F. Scott Fitzgerald
In a long ago April, 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his editor Maxwell Perkins were bantering about who should get credit for the structure of ‘The Great Gatsby.’ As the release date approached everyone at Scribner’s along with the author believed they had a best seller on their hands. As it turned out the critic’s had other ideas.
Two days after publication The New York World described F. Scott Fitzgerald’s latest A Dud. And unfortunately most of those early critics’s arrived at that same conclusion.
The book didn’t sell and Scribner’s warehouse had several thousand copies of the unsold books to prove it. But to find a reason why later generations gave ‘Gatsby’ a new life, one might look back at H.L. Mencken’s remarks at the time of publishing. Mencken said he found the form ‘No more than a glorified anecdote and a far inferior story at bottom.’ But he did recognize ‘the novel as plainly the product of a sound stable talent, conjured into being by hard work. And he appreciated the craft of revision that accounted for so much, and it shows on every page.’
Mencken also credited Fitzgerald with ‘depicting the rattle and hullabaloo of society with great gusto and sharp accuracy.’ (The flapper, Speakeasies and Bathtub gin)
Of course there were some good reviews at the time that were drowned out by the other side. However, even today with its rebirth and popularity when talk gets around to ‘The Great Gatsby’ you can still find good arguments on both sides of the debate.
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
April 15, 2009
GWTW on Location, Nazi Stolen Art and Blogging
Let’s go to the Movies
David Selznick had some sleepless nights mulling over his vision for the final cut of his Gone With the Wind film. Not only did it involve the length of the picture it involved the grand scope of every frame. Could they make a larger than life picture within the confines of their back lot? The answer was a resounding NO.
Selznick tackled the problem and alluded to a partial answer in a memo dated March 9, 1939 directed to Ray Klune, his production manager,
Selznick complained about the exteriors being shot outside Tara and compared them to other films such as ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘The Great Waltz,’ and he wasn’t pleased with what he saw…’Frankly, I’m now terribly sorry we didn’t build Tara on location…I’d like you and Mr. Menzies to get together immediately to make sure that out remaining exteriors, such as the exterior of Twelve Oaks, and the shot in which Gerald talks about the land being the only thing that matters, have real beauty instead of looking like B picture film…This is quite apart from the photography – I don’t see how the greatest cameraman in the world could get much beauty out of what we have given him for the exterior of Tara. (I am not speaking now of the set itself but of the landscaping, the line of trees etc…Incidentally, I would also like you to consider whether your second unit should go immediately to Georgia, or any other place, to pick up some shots for the opening sequence…’
Well, that memo sparked an increase in location scouting and eventually second unit film crews moved off the Selznick Studio back lot and began shooting GWTW’s exterior scenes in the great outdoors.
James Fitzpatrick (‘Travel Talks’ short subject producer) was hired as a second unit director and dispatched to Georgia to get an authentic sense of the land and the Georgia environment.
Second unit camera’s cast and crew’s traveled from Culver City to locations at Agoura Hills, Big Bear, Calabasas, Chico, Malibu Lake, Pasadena, San Bernardino National Forest, Simi Valley, and probably several other locations.
Some of the directors involve in that location filming were Sam Wood, Yakima Canutt, Chester Franklin, and the aforementioned James Fitzpatrick filmed Georgia scenes, some of which were used in the title sequence of the film.
The second unit work on those exterior scenes was well worth the effort as they gave the film an openness that would otherwise have been missing had Selznick not had that great vision.
Some of the outdoor scenes that added real life and continuity to the film include Big Sam’s ‘Quittin’ time’ scene with men coming home from the fields.
Gerald O’Hara’s horse riding and jumping sequences, Gerald and Scarlett’s walk and his talk about the land.
Scarlett’s ‘As God is my witness’ scene in the open field gives us a few moments of true movie magic.
The cotton field scene with sisters Suellen and Careen as well as the returning veterans and the long shot sequence of Ashley coming home from the war are all effective.
And when you consider that this film was made long before modern special effects became a part of moviemaking is hard to believe they actually pulled it off. But the test of time alone proves that their hard work was rewarded and that Selznick’s vision had been right on target.
The industry recognized the quality of the film immediately and gave awards to Lyle Wheeler for best interior decoration and William Cameron Menzies for outstanding achievement in the use of color. (Those are just a couple of awards; Gone With the Wind almost swept the Academy Awards in 1939 – a year of great films. More later on 1939 films and awards.)
Hitler’s Stolen Art Still in the News
The irony is in the timing. While America was waiting for the opening of ‘Gone With the Wind’ Europe was preparing for World War II. .
BERLIN (AP) — Two paintings that the Nazis forced a Jewish art dealer to sell off in the 1930s have been returned to his estate, and its heirs said Wednesday they were working hard to recover hundreds more.
‘Tom Barnes has tapped the headlines into Nazis stolen art and crafted a spellbinding mystery.’ Julie Burton, playwright and author of “Consider the Tulips.”
‘The Goring Collection.’
Jacob Meyers is stunned to see his father’s Pissarro – taken by the Nazi’s in 1945 – among the paintings up for sale at the Old World Auction House in Manhattan. He questions management and while he reads a phony provenance, the Pissarro is withdrawn from sale and mysteriously disappears. Jacob, head of an intelligence group, alerts Interpol and joins their ongoing investigation into the underground world of stolen art.
Two suspect paintings, a Manet and a Cézanne sold by an international cartel in Berlin as copies, are tracked to the Berghoff Gallery in Chicago where they are auctioned off as originals. An accidental shooting at the gallery exposes the cartel’s shell game and leads to blackmail of a Las Vegas odds maker, murder of a San Francisco politician, and the assassination of a former matinee idol in West Virginia.
Link to stolen art display: Click Here
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/art...
Writers Notebook:
On Internet Blogging:
Think of blogging as a community bulletin board.
Simply put you blog to share information with others and you can blog about anything Aunt Suzie’s favorite recipes, politics, pop art, gardening or fly-fishing.
The political classes are having a field day in the blog world.
My ‘RocktheTower’ blog reflects many of my personal experiences as writer, actor and hurricane hunter.
Most writers have files filled with stuff (and some is just that – stuff) we’ve written in the past articles, essays etc. If you’ve written a book you’re in good shape because you have lots of material to fall back on. Use excerpts to promote your book or make a point.
You set your own schedule and deadline to post. My idea is to work with consistency in order to make that deadline. One of the incentives I use is that at the end of the day I will have accumulated enough material to edit into a book about storytelling on the blog.
Twitter is something you might look into, it will give you another way to generate new ideas and feed your blog: something to think about.
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
David Selznick had some sleepless nights mulling over his vision for the final cut of his Gone With the Wind film. Not only did it involve the length of the picture it involved the grand scope of every frame. Could they make a larger than life picture within the confines of their back lot? The answer was a resounding NO.
Selznick tackled the problem and alluded to a partial answer in a memo dated March 9, 1939 directed to Ray Klune, his production manager,
Selznick complained about the exteriors being shot outside Tara and compared them to other films such as ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘The Great Waltz,’ and he wasn’t pleased with what he saw…’Frankly, I’m now terribly sorry we didn’t build Tara on location…I’d like you and Mr. Menzies to get together immediately to make sure that out remaining exteriors, such as the exterior of Twelve Oaks, and the shot in which Gerald talks about the land being the only thing that matters, have real beauty instead of looking like B picture film…This is quite apart from the photography – I don’t see how the greatest cameraman in the world could get much beauty out of what we have given him for the exterior of Tara. (I am not speaking now of the set itself but of the landscaping, the line of trees etc…Incidentally, I would also like you to consider whether your second unit should go immediately to Georgia, or any other place, to pick up some shots for the opening sequence…’
Well, that memo sparked an increase in location scouting and eventually second unit film crews moved off the Selznick Studio back lot and began shooting GWTW’s exterior scenes in the great outdoors.
James Fitzpatrick (‘Travel Talks’ short subject producer) was hired as a second unit director and dispatched to Georgia to get an authentic sense of the land and the Georgia environment.
Second unit camera’s cast and crew’s traveled from Culver City to locations at Agoura Hills, Big Bear, Calabasas, Chico, Malibu Lake, Pasadena, San Bernardino National Forest, Simi Valley, and probably several other locations.
Some of the directors involve in that location filming were Sam Wood, Yakima Canutt, Chester Franklin, and the aforementioned James Fitzpatrick filmed Georgia scenes, some of which were used in the title sequence of the film.
The second unit work on those exterior scenes was well worth the effort as they gave the film an openness that would otherwise have been missing had Selznick not had that great vision.
Some of the outdoor scenes that added real life and continuity to the film include Big Sam’s ‘Quittin’ time’ scene with men coming home from the fields.
Gerald O’Hara’s horse riding and jumping sequences, Gerald and Scarlett’s walk and his talk about the land.
Scarlett’s ‘As God is my witness’ scene in the open field gives us a few moments of true movie magic.
The cotton field scene with sisters Suellen and Careen as well as the returning veterans and the long shot sequence of Ashley coming home from the war are all effective.
And when you consider that this film was made long before modern special effects became a part of moviemaking is hard to believe they actually pulled it off. But the test of time alone proves that their hard work was rewarded and that Selznick’s vision had been right on target.
The industry recognized the quality of the film immediately and gave awards to Lyle Wheeler for best interior decoration and William Cameron Menzies for outstanding achievement in the use of color. (Those are just a couple of awards; Gone With the Wind almost swept the Academy Awards in 1939 – a year of great films. More later on 1939 films and awards.)
Hitler’s Stolen Art Still in the News
The irony is in the timing. While America was waiting for the opening of ‘Gone With the Wind’ Europe was preparing for World War II. .
BERLIN (AP) — Two paintings that the Nazis forced a Jewish art dealer to sell off in the 1930s have been returned to his estate, and its heirs said Wednesday they were working hard to recover hundreds more.
‘Tom Barnes has tapped the headlines into Nazis stolen art and crafted a spellbinding mystery.’ Julie Burton, playwright and author of “Consider the Tulips.”
‘The Goring Collection.’
Jacob Meyers is stunned to see his father’s Pissarro – taken by the Nazi’s in 1945 – among the paintings up for sale at the Old World Auction House in Manhattan. He questions management and while he reads a phony provenance, the Pissarro is withdrawn from sale and mysteriously disappears. Jacob, head of an intelligence group, alerts Interpol and joins their ongoing investigation into the underground world of stolen art.
Two suspect paintings, a Manet and a Cézanne sold by an international cartel in Berlin as copies, are tracked to the Berghoff Gallery in Chicago where they are auctioned off as originals. An accidental shooting at the gallery exposes the cartel’s shell game and leads to blackmail of a Las Vegas odds maker, murder of a San Francisco politician, and the assassination of a former matinee idol in West Virginia.
Link to stolen art display: Click Here
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/art...
Writers Notebook:
On Internet Blogging:
Think of blogging as a community bulletin board.
Simply put you blog to share information with others and you can blog about anything Aunt Suzie’s favorite recipes, politics, pop art, gardening or fly-fishing.
The political classes are having a field day in the blog world.
My ‘RocktheTower’ blog reflects many of my personal experiences as writer, actor and hurricane hunter.
Most writers have files filled with stuff (and some is just that – stuff) we’ve written in the past articles, essays etc. If you’ve written a book you’re in good shape because you have lots of material to fall back on. Use excerpts to promote your book or make a point.
You set your own schedule and deadline to post. My idea is to work with consistency in order to make that deadline. One of the incentives I use is that at the end of the day I will have accumulated enough material to edit into a book about storytelling on the blog.
Twitter is something you might look into, it will give you another way to generate new ideas and feed your blog: something to think about.
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
Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog
I do a variety blog and post every Wednesday. I am an actor, writer and hurricane hunter and my subjects are generally written about those fields. During Hurricane Season I do at least one story every
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