Tea at Trianon: When John Wayne Met Wyatt Earp

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, September 23, 2019

When John Wayne Met Wyatt Earp

From Vintage News:

Many of the most famous characters in the Western movies were either loosely or wholly based on real people. However, there is no other character mentioned more often in films or on television than Wyatt Earp. The colorful life of this complex individual and icon of the Old American West has been an inspiration for movie makers and profoundly influenced the genre. He is probably the best-known lawman, but on the other hand, had been arrested several times during his life for various offenses, including horse theft, burglary, attacking a law officer, and consorting with prostitutes. However, Earp achieved iconic status mostly due to his role in one of the most famous gunfights in American history – the gunfight at O.K. Corral.

The famed lawman of the American West spent the final years of his life in California where he worked as a consultant on some silent cowboy movies. While there, Earp became good friends with many famous actors of the early Western movies, including William S. Hart and Tom Mix. Tom Mix became very close friends with Earp and even tried to convince some of the most influential people in Hollywood to make a film about Earp’s legendary gunfight, but his efforts were fruitless. In fact, the two of them were so close, that Mix served as a pallbearer at Earp’s funeral.

One of the greatest directors in film history, John Ford, also met Earp who often visited Ford’s film sets. Earp described the gunfight at O.K. Corral to him and even drew it out on paper. Ford later used the sketch to film the fight in My Darling Clementine.

In California, Wyatt Earp also befriended a young actor named Marion Morrison who would later change his name to John Wayne and would become an American acting icon. Director John Ford hired John Wayne as a prop boy and extra, so he had the opportunity to meet Wyatt Earp. He made an impact on the young actor who later credited his walk, talk, and persona to his acquaintance with Wyatt Earp and on one occasion he reportedly said, “Earp was the man who had actually done the things in his life that I was trying to do in a movie. I imitated his walk; I imitated his talk”. Eventually, John Wayne became one of the most popular film actors of the 20th century, and with the help of the famed lawman, Wyatt Earp, he created the model for the iconic hero of the American West. (Read more.)