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Today, May 26, is the birthday of Marion Robert Morrison who was born in 1907; he is better known as
John Wayne aka "The Duke".
In 1973, Wayne paid tribute to the United States with a recording of patriotic poems. So, drawing from my record collection, of all the albums I have with him, one way or another, what better representation for him than
America, Why I Love He?
The poems have musical accompaniment, conducted by Billy Liebert of
Sons of the Pioneers, that ranged from slow and reverent, to easy listening with chorus, to easy country/western.
Wayne was a college football player before he was discovered by
film director Raoul Walsh who said he liked Wayne's looks, way of moving and easy-going attitude.
John Ford also laid claim to discovery of Wayne. Walsh cast him in the first
widescreen spectacle,
The Big Trail (1930).
Wayne was born in
Winterset, Iowa, but grew up in
Southern California. He was part of his high school's football team and its debating team but he lost a football scholarship to the
University of Southern California as a result of a
bodysurfing accident.
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John Wayne ~
America, Why I Love Her
vinyl LP back cover
photo of album cover by Styrous®
While working for
Fox Film Corporation in bit roles, Wayne was given on-screen credit as "Duke Morrison" in
Words and Music (1929). Director
Raoul Walsh saw him moving studio furniture while working as a prop boy and cast him in his first starring role in
The Big Trail (1930). For his screen name, Walsh suggested "Anthony Wayne", after
Revolutionary War general
"Mad" Anthony Wayne. Fox Studios chief
Winfield Sheehan
rejected it as sounding "too Italian". Walsh then suggested "John
Wayne". Sheehan agreed, and the name was set. Wayne was not even present
for the discussion. His pay was raised to $105 a week.
My favorite film with Wayne is
The Quiet Man (1952); I suppose it's because it was not another typical western stereotype, although, it was "John Wayne". No matter what role he played it was always as "John Wayne."
movie poster
The major reason I like the film is
Maureen O'Hara, one of my film idols. Her red hair and emerald-green eyes were totally fascinating for me. However, those were not what first attracted me to her; I saw her in the brilliant 1941, black & white film,
How Green Was My Valley.
movie poster
During the
war he wanted to enlist, however,
Republic Studios, who he was working for at the time, was emphatically resistant to losing him since he was their only A-list actor under contract.
Herbert J. Yates, President of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract, and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting Wayne's further deferment. By many accounts, his failure to serve in the military later became the most painful part of his life.
His widow later suggested that his patriotism in later decades sprang
from guilt, writing: "He would become a 'superpatriot' for the rest of
his life trying to atone for staying home.
John Wayne ~
America, Why I Love Her
vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Wayne appeared as a guest on radio programs, such as:
The Hedda Hopper Show and
The Louella Parsons Show. He made a number of appearances in dramatic roles, mainly recreations for radio of his own film roles, on programs like
Screen Directors Playhouse and
Lux Radio Theatre. For six months in 1942, Wayne starred in his own radio adventure series,
Three Sheets to the Wind, produced by film director
Tay Garnett.
~
America, Why I Love Her
vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Director
Robert Rossen offered the starring role in
All the King's Men (1949) to Wayne. Wayne refused, believing the script to be un-American in many ways.
Broderick Crawford,
who was eventually cast in the role, won the 1949 Oscar for best male
actor, ironically beating out Wayne, who had been nominated for
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949).
He lost the leading role of Jimmy Ringo in
The Gunfighter (1950) to
Gregory Peck due to his refusal to work for
Columbia Pictures because its chief,
Harry Cohn,
had mistreated him years before when he was a young contract player.
Cohn had bought the project for Wayne, but Wayne's grudge was too deep,
and Cohn sold the script to
Twentieth Century Fox, which cast Peck in the role Wayne badly wanted but for which he refused to bend
John Wayne ~
America, Why I Love Her
vinyl LP gatefold interior
photo by Styrous®
His last film was
The Shootist (1976), whose main character, J. B. Books, was dying of cancer—which Wayne himself succumbed to three years later.
The Shootist (1976) contains numerous plot similarities to
The Gunfighter of nearly thirty years before, a role which Wayne had wanted but turned down.
John Wayne ~
America, Why I Love Her
vinyl LP gatefold interior detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Throughout most of his life, Wayne was a vocally prominent
conservative Republican in Hollywood, supporting
anti-communist positions. He took part in creating the conservative
Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals in February 1944, and was elected president of that organization in 1949. An ardent anti-communist and vocal supporter of the
House Un-American Activities Committee, he made
Big Jim McLain (1952) with himself as a
HUAC
investigator to demonstrate his support for the cause of
anti-communism. His personal views found expression as a proactive
inside enforcer of the "Black List" denying employment and undermining
careers of many actors and writers who expressed their personal
political beliefs earlier in life. Declassified Soviet documents reveal
that, despite being a fan of Wayne's movies, Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin according to some sources contemplated the assassination of Wayne for his frequently espoused anti-communist politics.
In 1960, he joined the anti-communist
John Birch Society but quit after the organization denounced
fluoridation of water supplies as a communist plot. Wayne supported Vice President
Richard Nixon in the
presidential election of 1960, but expressed his vision of patriotism when
John F. Kennedy won the election: "I didn't vote for him but he's my president, and I hope he does a good job." He used his star power to support conservative causes, including rallying support for the
Vietnam War by producing, codirecting, and starring in the financially successful
The Green Berets (1968).
In May 1971,
Playboy magazine published an interview with Wayne, in which he expressed his support for the Vietnam War, and made headlines for his opinions about social issues and race relations in the United States:
"With a lot of blacks, there's quite
a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully
so. But we can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn
everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white
supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I
don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and
judgment to irresponsible people.
... I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from
the Indians. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a
matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new
land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."
In the same
Playboy interview, Wayne calls the two lead characters in
Midnight Cowboy "fags" for the alleged "love of those two men". He also responded to questions about whether
social programs were good for the country:
"I know all about that. In the late
Twenties, when I was a sophomore at USC, I was a socialist myself—but
not when I left. The average college kid idealistically wishes everybody
could have ice cream and cake for every meal. But as he gets older and
gives more thought to his and his fellow man's responsibilities, he
finds that it can't work out that way—that some people just won't carry
their load ... I believe in welfare—a welfare work program. I don't
think a fella should be able to sit on his backside and receive welfare.
I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and
complaining people who think the world owes them a living. I'd like to
know why they make excuses for cowards who spit in the faces of the
police and then run behind the judicial sob sisters. I can't understand
these people who carry placards to save the life of some criminal, yet
have no thought for the innocent victim."
He's also reported to have said,
"I don't
feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There
were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were
selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."
In March 2019, the
Playboy interview resurfaced, which resulted in calls for
John Wayne Airport to be renamed.
John Wayne's son Ethan defended him, stating, "It would be an injustice
to judge someone based on an interview that's being used out of
context." In October 2019, USC student activists called for the removal of an exhibit dedicated to the actor, citing the interview.
Due to his status as the highest profile Republican star in Hollywood, wealthy
Texas Republican Party backers asked Wayne to run for national office in 1968, as had his friend and fellow actor Senator
George Murphy. He declined, joking that he did not believe the public would seriously consider an actor in the
White House. Instead, he supported his friend
Ronald Reagan's runs for
Governor of California in 1966 and 1970. He was asked to be the running mate for Democratic
Alabama Governor
George Wallace in 1968, but he immediately rejected the offer and actively campaigned for Richard Nixon; Wayne addressed the
1968 Republican National Convention on its opening day.
Do you have any questions as to why I might have thought this album was perfect to represent him? Also, in the present political climate it was needed.
John Wayne ~
America, Why I Love Her
vinyl LP gatefold interior detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Among the cast and crew who filmed
The Conqueror (1956) on location near
St. George, Utah, 91 cast/crew members developed some form of cancer at various times, including stars Wayne,
Susan Hayward,
Agnes Moorehead,
Pedro Armendáriz, and director
Dick Powell. The film was shot in southwestern
Utah, east of and generally
downwind from the site of recent U.S. government
nuclear weapons tests in
southeastern Nevada.
Many contend that radioactive fallout from these tests contaminated the
film location and poisoned the film crew working there.
Despite the suggestion that Wayne's 1964 lung cancer and his 1979
stomach cancer resulted from nuclear contamination, he believed his lung
cancer to have been a result of his six-pack-a-day cigarette habit.
John Wayne ~
America, Why I Love Her
vinyl LP gatefold interior detail
detail photo by Styrous®
America, Why I Love Her
You ask me why I love her? Well, give me time, and I'll explain...
Have you seen a Kansas sunset or an Arizona rain?
Have you drifted on a bayou down Louisiana way?
Have you watched the cold fog drifting over San Francisco Bay?
Have you heard a Bobwhite calling in the Carolina pines?
Or heard the bellow of a diesel in the Appalachia mines?
Does the call of Niagara thrill you when you hear her waters roar?
Do you look with awe and wonder at a Massachusetts shore...
Where men who braved a hard new world, first stepped on Plymouth Rock?
And do you think of them when you stroll along a New York City dock ?
Have you seen a snowflake drifting in the Rockies...way up high?
Have you seen the sun come blazing down from a bright Nevada sky?
Do you hail to the Columbia as she rushes to the sea...
Or bow your head at Gettysburg...in our struggle to be free?
Have you seen the mighty Tetons? ...Have you watched an eagle soar?
Have you seen the Mississippi roll along Missouri's shore?
Have you felt a chill at Michigan, when on a winters day,
Her waters rage along the shore in a thunderous display?
Does the word "Aloha"... make you warm?
Do you stare in disbelief When you see the surf come roaring in at Waimea reef?
From Alaska's gold to the Everglades...from the Rio Grande to Maine...
My heart cries out... my pulse runs fast at the might of her domain.
You ask me why I love her?... I've a million reasons why.
My beautiful America... beneath Gods' wide, wide sky.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 - Why I Love Her - 2:56
A2 - The Hyphen - 2:29
A3 - Mis Raices Estan Aqui (My Roots Are Buried Here) - 2:41
A4 - The People - 3:46
A5 - An American Boy Grows Up - 4:29
Side 2:
B1 - Face The Flag - 3:52
B2 - The Good Things - 2:40
B3 - The Pledge Of Allegiance - 4:19
B4 - Why Are You Marching, Son? - 3:58
B5 - Taps - 3:01
Credits:
Engineer – Pete Abbott
Arranged By – Billy Liebert
Conductor – Billy Liebert
Lead Vocals – John Wayne
Producer – Billy Liebert
Notes:
Voice recorded at Manzell Studios, Hollywood, California.
Gatefold
John Wayne – America, Why I Love Her
Label: RCA – LSP-4828
Format: Vinyl, Album, LP
Country: US
Released: 1973
Genre: Non-Music
Viewfinder links:
Susan Hayward
Hedda Hopper
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Agnes Moorehead
Fred Neil ~ A Midnight Cowboy
Dick Powell
John Wayne
Net links:
John Wayne Filmography
Architectural Digest ~ Look Inside John Wayne's House
The Atlantic ~ How John Wayne Became a Hollow Masculine Icon
National Review ~ John Wayne: The Hero We Need Now
The Second Disc ~ Reissue Theory: John Wayne, America, Why I Love Her
Texas Monthly ~ John Wayne, Texan?
USC News ~ John Wayne, an American Icon
Washington Post ~ John Wayne: American
YouTube links:
John Wayne ~
America, Why I Love Her
An American Boy Grows Up
Face The Flag
The Good Things
The Hyphen
Mis Raices Estan Aqui (My Roots Are Buried Here)
The People
The Pledge of Allegiance
Taps
Why Are You Marching, Son?
Outrage after John Wayne's old interview resurfaces (10:29)
I believe in white
supremacy until
the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility.
~ John Wayne
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, May 26, 2020
