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The Western Film Preservation Society

Author Archives: jerrysprague

Them Durn-tootin, Young Whipper Snappers and Them Durn Persnickity Females!

20 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by jerrysprague in B-Western trivia, Movies

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

B-Westerns, Dale Evans, Gabby Hayes, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers

George_Gabby_HayesMost of us remember watching Gabby Hayes in the B-westerns spout off his famous lines: “yer durn tootin’, young whipper snapper; consarn it all, dadgummit, and them durn persnickity females!”

Yes, that was Gabby alright; the old ruffian/codger with whom a fellow cowboy might sit around the pot bellied stove and swap lies as they spit their tobacco juice into (sometimes) the spittoon; and do other crude “manly” things unfitting to polite society.

But picture this. It’s early one morning on the set of a Roy Roger’s production and the actors and crew are arriving. Up drives an impeccably dressed man in a tweed coat and tie,smoking a pipe, speaking perfect English (he was originally trained as a Shakespearean actor), and sporting a Lincoln convertible. He hops out of the car, goes into the dressing room, puts his grubby outfit on, ruffles his hair and takes his false teeth out. He is now ready to be Gabby Hayes. A stage presence diametrically opposite his real life.

Born on May 7, 1885 in NY in Hayes Hotel owned by his father, Gabby was the third of seven children. As a young man, he worked in a circus and played semi-pro baseball while a teenager. He ran away from home at 17 and joined a touring stock company. He married Olive Ireland in 1914 and they did well on the vaudeville circuit. He retired in his 40s but then lost much of his money in the 1929 stock crash, thus having to return to work. His wife convinced him to move to CA where he got into the movie business. Initially, he played in westerns and non-westerns. By the mid-30s he was exclusively doing westerns and gained fame in the Hopalong Cassidy series as Windy. A salary dispute caused him to leave Paramount Pictures in 1939 to go with Republic; his new name became Gabby. By the 40s, he repeatedly worked with the top ten western box office stars, including John Wayne, Roy Rogers and Randolph Scott

Gabby made more than 40 films between 1939-1946 with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Roy once said, “ He was like my father, my buddy and my brother all wrapped up in one. I can’t say enough about him.” He became very close to the Rogers family and Roy and Dale referred to him as Pappy and credited him with teaching them the craft of acting. Hayes was a real actor and was the least like his on-stage persona than any of the actors with whom Roy and Dale worked. He was a Shakespearean-trained actor from NY, drove a Lincoln convertible, was impeccably well-groomed, and considered by his peers as one of the best dressed in Hollywood.

Roy and Dale considered Gabby one of their closest friends in Hollywood. He visited the ranch often. In their bio Happy Trails, Roy and Dale commented on how much Gabby loved is wife, Olive. He adored her and he really did not care what his critics nor his director said about his acting, only what Olive thought. As Gabby’s career blossomed, he bought Olive a nice condo in Palm Desert and all kinds of furs and jewelry. Then Olive got cancer and died in 1957, after 43 years of marriage. Gabby lived until he was 83 but Roy and Dale said he was never the same after she died.

During his career, he appeared in 190 sound-era films, of which 146 were westerns and serials. He starred with Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, Bob Steele, Wild Bill Elliot, Gene Autry, John Wayne and of course, Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers.

Gabby’s awards include two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for television and one for radio. In 2000, he was posthumously inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

Gabby never rode horses much until he was in his 40s and became a decent rider during the filming of the westerns.

Yes, Gabby was probably the most recognized and most popular of all the B-western sidekicks. He really added a lot to the movies he starred in but what did he think of Western films? When asked he replied, I hate ’em. Really can’t stand ’em. They always are the same. You have so few plots..the stagecoach holdup, the rustlers, the mortgage gag, the mine setting and the retired gunslinger.

Well, he hid his dislike of westerns very well. I say “kudos” to George Gabby Hayes. Now he was a real ACTOR!

The Silver Screen Cowboys: Who were the real horsemen and who were the real actors? Part 3: The real actors and pretend horsemen

10 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by jerrysprague in B-Western trivia, Cowboy Talk

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Alan Rocky Lane, Billy Boyd, John Wayne, Silver Screen Horses, Smiley Burnette

Hop a Long Cassidy (William Boyd): I’ll be the first to admit I was not a good horseman when I started the “Hoppy” series. An old stuntman named Trimble worked with me for a long time to improve my riding skills. After a while I managed to ride pretty well but I was never too fond of horses. I ride my horse Topper, chase rustlers and outlaws, shoot my six shooters, and do things that every kid and man in America would want to do.

Jimmy Ellison appeared in the first eight features with Boyd and says: Billy Boyd was not a good rider, and he never claimed to be. One time, we were supposed to come running out of a saloon, get on our horses and race down the street. Eager me—I got carried away, and as I’m making my getaway out of town, I look around, and Bill’s not on his horse, Topper, yet. The director yells, “Cut!” So I go back inside the saloon to try again, and Bill comes up to me and says, ‘Hey kid, for goodness sakes, take it a little slower next time, will you? I’m having a little trouble getting on my *#@** horse’. I felt like a show-off, so during the next take, I fumbled around a bit with my reins and saddle, and we rode out together.

To Boyd’s credit, he kept Topper after the series ended and took care of him until he passed away.

An opening logo to Hopalong Casidy

An opening logo to Hopalong Casidy

Smiley Burnette (sidekick to many): Sunset Carson once said: Smiley Burnette didn’t own his horse, Ringeye, the one he rode all the time in the movies. It belonged to the studio, and the ring around its eye was just painted on with one of those brushes that come in those little bottles of shoe polish. Smiley rode all over the horse, but he stayed on.

Alan Rocky Lane: Bill Whitney, director: He (Rocky) couldn’t ride worth a **&*. One time, he insisted on doing a croupier mount. I didn’t think he could, but he persisted. The stuntman (Davey Sharpe) said, “Go ahead, let him try!” Well, he came running up behind the horse and jumped, and hit the horse’s rear with his stomach. We all got a big laugh, but it’s a wonder I didn’t get fired. He rode a horse like the saddle was on backwards, and he was sitting on the horn. When asked if Lane were a good rider, Terry Frost said: Are you kidding! He thought he could but he couldn’t ride worth a *&*&. Of course, Rocky thought he was the best at everything. I worked with a lot of cowboys who did ride well but Rocky certainly was not one of them. Yakima Canutt once said: He was a poor rider; he ruined four good horses.

But let’s give some credit to Rocky Lane’s horsemanship: he did do the voice of Mr. Ed on television!

Tex Ritter was not known for his horse skills either. He rode White Flash and he often had troubles stopping the horse. There are accounts where the horse would take off running and Tex couldn’t stop him, they went on a long ride. Another time Tex and Flash ran into a bit part actor crossing the street, who went flying into the air and landing in a dirt pile with buttons and belt buckle torn off and his mouth full of gravel.

Charles Starrett was an impressive looking silver screen hero. I personally like his movies but I would have to rate him as more actor than cowboy. By his own admission, his double did most of the action scenes. He said, I certainly had the best stuntmen—Jock Mahoney for one. He was a great athlete and fearless. He was an excellent horseman and could jump like a deer. Before Jock, Ted Mapes and Jay Wisey, (Wisey made a series of pictures as Buffalo Bill, Jr.), and some others doubled me. I always felt I was hurt anytime one of the stuntmen got hurt. When Jock Mahoney started working on my films, he was all over the place. He did my fight scenes, stunts, and most of the riding. I kiddingly told some people that I was only around to do Jock’s dialogue. He was a tremendous athlete.

Louise Currie who starred with Starrett in the 1941 Columbia movie, The Pinto Kid commented: Charles was a handsome cowboy, so good looking. But he seemed to have a hard time riding a horse, just like I was. I got to know him very well, but I felt he should have been playing the visiting Easterner, rather than being a cowboy.

The Durango Kid (c) 2013 Jim Sanders

The Durango Kid (c) 2013 Jim Sanders

Jimmy Wakely’s horsemanship was summed up by Pierce Lyden (the ultimate bad guy in B-Westerns): To my way of thinking, Jimmy Wakely did not fit the bill as a Western Star. Jimmy always had trouble in the fight scenes, and he was not a good horseman. I would rate only Hoppy worse than Wakely.

Sterling Holloway: I didn’t care for my role as Autry’s sidekick, and I really didn’t care for horses. He could ride all right, but horses and I had a mutual agreement—they hated me and I hated them.

Pat Buttram (Gene Autry sidekick): I didn’t get along too well with horses…I always said that horses are hard in the middle and dangerous at both ends.

Oops! Yes, I almost forgot John Wayne. Perhaps, he shouldn’t be in this category but in the one before this one. Yes, he was once a B-Western “singing” cowboy. John Wayne was good at everything (well, except maybe for singing) so he had to be pretty good with horses. There is little written in Silent Hoofbeats about Wayne but what is written is informative. Wayne is quoted saying, Planes, cars, trains are OK for speed, but for excitement, there’s nothing like a horse. Put a man aboard a horse, and right off you’ve got the makings of something magnificent: physical strength, speed where you can see it, plus heroism. And the hero—he’s big and strong. You pit another strong man against him, with both their lives at stake, and right there, simplicity of conflict you just can’t beat. I feel fine about horses. After all, they’ve carried me a long way. Actor Adrian Booth said, I made a picture with John Wayne called Red River Range. John was wonderful to me. He knew I couldn’t get on a horse and he helped me a lot with my riding. But the Duke did draw a line in his relations with horses. He said during one movie, .…the director had me talking to my horse. It wasn’t just a case of my treating the horse like a faithful friend. I had to converse with him as though we were on the same intellectual level. I didn’t care for the idea, and made it known.

So, now you know the rest of the stories about the Silver Screen Cowboys and their famous steeds!

 

The Wannabe Cowboy, 2015

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