December 12 Birthday Wishes

Buck Jones [1891 - 1942]
Roberto Contreras [1928 - 2000]

Howdy Manco!!

Buck Jones began his film career back in 1913 in silent films. Raised on a ranch, he was familiar with horses and guns and after serving in the Moro War in the Phillipines, he joined a wild west show and then started appearing in uncredited roles in film. During WW I, he broke horses for the U.S. Army. Jones appeared in over 160 films between 1913-1942, most of which were westerns and was one of the most popular matinee cowboys in film. In 1941, Jones signed with Monogram Pictures to do a series of films starring himself, Col. Tim McCoy and Raymond Hatton about the adventures of 3 Texas Rangers, called The Rough Riders, starting with Arizona Bound. He had finished 9 of this series, including Gunman From Bodie, Ghost Town Law and Dawn On The Great Divide, when on the night of November 30, 1942, Jones and several of his friends had gathered at the Coconut Grove in Boston, Mass. to celebrate. A fire broke out, which eventually claimed the lives of Jones and over 500 others. The Rough Riders and Buck Jones in particular, were always some of my favorites. Jones had developed a gimmick, which was to unwrap and stick a piece of gum into his mouth, right before the shooting started. The kids picked up on this quickly and always knew when the action was about to begin!! Buck Jones was inducted into the Western Heritage, Western Performers Hall Of Fame in 1973.

Roberto Contreras was an Hispanic character actor, who because of his obvious Mexican appearance was typecast early. He first showed up in film in 1954 and appeared on several of the western t.v. series like, Broken Arrow, 26 Men. Maverick etc, as Mexican bandits, peons, farmers and the like. He was cast in The Badlanders with Alan Ladd and The Magnificent Seven with Yul Brenner as an uncredited villager. He is probably best remembered for the role of Pedro, in The 1967-1971 series, The High Chaparral. He was also cast in The Professionals with Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster, Alvaraz Kelly with William Holden and Richard Widmark and Gold Of The Seven Saints with Clint Walker. Later he would also appear in Scar Face with Al Pacino, Topaz and Blood In, Blood Out. Contreras did his last acting in 1993 and died in 2000.

Ed

Today is also the birthday for Don C. Harvey who made so many westerns that I can't list them all here. At the movies he worked with western stars from Rocky Lane, Gene Autry & Tim Holt to Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott & Glenn Ford, and on TV from the Lone Ranger, Colt 45, Wyatt Earp on through the re-ocurring role of Collins on Rawhide. He died way too young at a bit over 50 years old. A good friend of us three Goldrup boys when we were kids....and the first one to suggest to Ray that he become a writer. His wife Jean was also an actress, and their horse Goldy was the horse used by Bill Williams onthe Kit Carson TV series.

Also today:

Romanian born actor Edward G. Robinson (1893-1973) starred in tough guy and gangster roles, thanks to his role as Caesar Enrico "Rico" Bandello in 1930's Little Caesar. He would star in gangster movies, film noir movies like Double Indemnity, The Stranger, and Scarlet Street, even a couple Westerns (The Violent Men, Cheyenne Autumn, and McKenna's Gold). Comedian Billy Crystal made fun of his being cast in The Ten Commandments ("Where's your messiah now, see! Nyah!"). He did a make-up test as Dr. Zaius for Planet of the Apes, but passed on the role. His last film was Soylent Green. He was awarded an honorary Academy Award in 1973, but died 2 months before the ceremony.

The Chairman of the Board, Old Blue Eyes Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) started his singing career in 1935, and came under contract with Tommy Dorsey until 1942. He began acting in the 1940s, but by 1950 his career was in decline. His comeback started when he was cast as Maggio in From Here To Eternity in 1953, for which he won an Oscar. By the early '60s he teamed with his pals Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis Jr as the "Rat Pack", and recording a string of hits. His Western films are Sergeants 3, 4 For Texas, and Dirty Dingus Magee. He stopped acting in the 1980s, did his last concert in 1995, and passed away after battling Kidney and heart disease and cancer.

Tinhorn - you left out Frankie's only really "serious" Western, Johnny Concho. I've seen it but not since 1980 or so. When I was six years old, in 1962, I thought Sergeants 3 was the greatest movie ever made. That opinion lasted less than a year but many years later I came to regard Sinatra as the Greatest Voice of the 20th Century, and felt that being 40 years younger than him to the day gave us a cosmic connection, sort of.

TCM just showed None But the Brave from 1965, the only film Sinatra directed. Caught most of the last hour or so and found it interesting -- U.S. and Japanese units on a pacific island, coexisting unitl they felt forced to shoot it out, with the legend "No one Ever Wins" gracing the screen at the end. And though I'd always thought of it as a "Frank Sinatra movie" Frank-the-actor plays a supporting part and the main American character is -- Cheyenne Bodie himself, Big Clint Walker!

December 12 is also birthday to quite a few other musicians and singers, but I always feature a lot of Frankie. Today I added a few of his bossa nova numbers with Antonio Carlos Jobim to my itunes library.