September 5, 2009 - Issue 32           Page 2 of 3

                                                           

The following article about our ol' pard Don Reeves appeared in the Buckskin Bulletin (Vol. XLII No. 1, Issue 1, 2009). That is the national publication of the Westerners International.

"Editor's Note: One of the most valuable members of the Home Ranch is Don Reeves, secretary of Westerners International. A lot of WI members probably don't know that much about low-key Don but his corral, Indian Territory Posse, has prepared, and shared this tribute to him which will be in their corral publication.)
                                                                                       
"On February 1, 2009, Don Reeves completed 30 yeaers of service with the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum (where the Home Ranch office is located.) He currently holds the McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture and has been on the curatorial staff since 1979. A native of Iowa, he received an MA in anthropology from the University of Oklahoma. Prior to joining the museum he was a curator for two years at the Oklahoma Historical Society.

"Examples of Don's creative talents are showcased in the Museum's American Cowboy Gallery, the Western Performers Gallery and the Children's Cowboy Corral, which he curated. Further evidence of his abilities is shown as curator of the annual Traditional Cowboy Arts Association Exhibition and Sale.

"Talented as an author, he has numberous exhibition catalogs and magazine articles to his credit. Don is about to be a published book author, as his book on Luis Ortega's Rawhide Artistry will soon be released.

"His vast knowledge of western history has resulted in his serving as a consultant on several film projects. Included in his consultation work is: 'A Colored Life: the Herb Jeffries Story,' 'All That Follows is True: The Making of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' as well as 'The Real Cowboy: Portrait of an American Icon.' If you watch the History Channel, you may have seen Don being interviewed on their program 'Cowboy Tech.'

"On matters near and dear to his friends in the Indian Territory Posse: He is a long time valued member of the Posse and made it possible for us tohold our meetings at the Museum. Along with other Posse members he engineered moving the headquarters of WI from Arizona to the museum in Oklahoma City. Don has served as Secretary of the WI Board of Directors for over 20 years.

"Our congratulations and appreciation to Don for his service to the Museum, the Posse, The Westerners International and to the preseervation of the legacy of the West."

Way to go, Don.
                                            
By the way, Westerners International started in Chicago, Illinois in 1944. They have local groups called "Corrals" or "Posses" that meet in many cities across the United States, as well as in several foreign countries such as Mexico and Japan. Their purpose is to share fun and scholarship related to the American frontier West. "Westerns share a dislike for stuffed shirtism, over-seriousness, shiftless thkinking, and above all ignorance," wrote the late member and historian Ray Allen Billington. Anyone who loves the lore and history of the American West can join. Members range from folks who are buffs to those who are simply readers or viewers and Westerns all the way to professional historians. The Westerners International helped organize the now much larger Western History Association in 1961. The Westerners International web site is at http://www.westerners-international.org.

                                                                                                           


The Oklahoma Cattleman's Association has elected a woman president for the first time in the organization's long history. Terry Stuart Forst of Waurika, Oklahoma comes from a long line of cattlemen. Her great-great-grandfather, Robert Clay Freeny, started the original ranch near Caddo (Bryan County), Oklahoma in 1868. Yes, that's correct, 1868--just three years after the end of the Civil War. Her grandmother, Carrie Ida Freeny, then became the owner of the ranch. Later, Terry's father, R.T. Stuart Jr., became the owner until he died in 2001. Terry had become the ranch manager in 1992 and, then became the owner. The Stuart Ranch today consists of some 11,000 acres in Bryan County and a whopping 32,000 ares near Waurika (Jefferson County). They have a hunting operation in addition to their cow-calf and yearling operation, as well as their production of American Quarter Horses.

David Carradine

Actor and singer David Carradine died in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday, June 4, 2009. His death was at his hotel, the Swissotel Nai Lert Park, and was deemed "suspicious". He apparently was found in his closet, nude and hanging by a rope.                                                   
                                                        David Carradine in 1976
                                                               as Woody Guthrie

Son of legendary actor John Carradine ("Stagecoach" with John Wayne), David Carradine became a star through his TV series, "Kung Fu," in the 1970's. That show featured him as "Grasshopper," a Shaolin priest, who traveled the American frontier in the 1800's. He went on to make over 70 largely forgettable films. The one major exception, in my book, was his portrayal in "Bound for Glory" of Oklahoma's premiere balladeer and songwriter, Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's younger sister, Mary Jo Guthrie Edgmon, told an interviewer that Carradine did a superb job of conveying the spirit and image of Woody, though David bore almost no physical resemblance to Woody. Carradine left behind two half-brothers, Keith Carradine (TV series, "Deadwood") and Robert Carradine (movie "Cowboys," starrring John Wayne) who are also actors.

Gale Storm

Gale Storm was born Josephine Owaissa Cottle on April 5, 1922 in Bloomington, Texas. She won a talent contest during her junior year in high school. That got him a trip to Hollywood. The studio executives at RKO recognized her talent and rare beauty, so they quickly signed her to a contact and gave her the stage name "Gale Storm".

                                                                   

                                                                 Gail Storm & Roy Rogers

Storm appeared in such Western films as "Red River Valley" (1941), "Jesse James at Bay" (1941), "Saddlemates," (1941), "Man from Cheyenne" (1942), "The Dude Goes West" (1948), "Stampede" (1949), "The Kid from Texas" (1950), "Curtain Call at Cactus Creek" (1950), "The Texas Rangers" (1951) and "Al Jennings of Oklahoma" (1951).

Gale Storm made her debut on records in the fall of 1955 on Dot Records. Within four months, three of her songs were among the top twenty best selling records in the nation. However, she is probably best remembered for being the star of the 1952 TV comedy series, "My Little Margie" and of the 1956 TV comedy series, "The Gale Storm Show".



Karl Malden
The actor Karl Malden died of natural causes at his home in Brentwood, California on Wednesday, July 1, 2009. He was 97 years of age.

He won an Oscar in 1951 for his supporting role of Mitch in "A Streetcar Named Desire". In 1954 he was again nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role as priest Father Corrigan in "On The Waterfront". Malden also had prominent roles in such Western movies as "One-Eyed Jacks" with Marlon Brando and "Nevada Smith" with Steve McQueen.

                                                                        

In May of 2009 a very frail Karl Maden accepted a "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the American Film Institute. He was introduced on that august occasion by long-time friend and actor Michael Douglas. Douglas played second banana to Maden in their very popular TV detective series, "The Streets of San Francisco". Not the most handsome of men, Malden was easily identified by his very large nose. He often joked that he was the only actor in Hollywood whose nose qualified him for handicapped parking. He was a good one.

 


Les Paul
Les Paul, the inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, died Thursday, August 13, 2009 of complications from pneumonia. He died at the White Plains Hospital in New York City. He was 94.

A tinkerer and musician since childhood, he experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up in 1941 with what he called "The Log." The strange contraption was a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings. He said, "I went into a nightclub and played it. Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut." He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a tradition guitar shape. And in  1952, Gibson  Guitars began producing the now-famous Les Paul Guitar.The use of electric guitar gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s, and then exploded with the advent of rock in the mid-'50s.

                                                                                                                 
As an inventor, Paul also helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll with multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the tracks in the finished recording.

 His career as a perform was also impressive. He was born Lester William Polfus, in Waukseha, Wis., on June 9, 1915. He began his career as a musician, billing himself as Red Hot Red or Rhubarb Red. He toured with the popular Chicago band Rube Tronson and His Texas Cowboys and led the house band on WJJD radio in Chicago. In the mid-1930s he joined Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians and soon moved to New York to form the Les Paul Trio, with Jim Atkins and bassist Ernie Newton.

He teamed with singer Mary Ford  (i.e., Colleen Summers) in the 1950's and turned the music world on it's head.  From 1949 to 1962, he earned not just one or two but . . . 36 . . . gold rrecords for such mega-hits as "Vaya Con Dios" and "How High the Moon" (both hit Number 1). Many of their songs used overdubbing techniques that Paul had helped develop. They divorced in 1962 and she died in 1977. She had been one of the "Sunshine Girls" who backed Western crooner Jimmy Wakely.

 

Elmer Kelton

Elmer Kelton, the dean of Western novelists, died of natural causes on Saturday, August 22, 2009  in San Angelo, Texas.

I first met Elmer Kelton in 1984 at the Western Writers of America convention in Branson, Missouri. It was “like” at first sight. He was humble, helpful and . . . , well, just West Texas friendly. He always had a warm handshake and smile for everyone.

In 1986, I interviewed Elmer during the WWA convention in Fort Worth, Texas. That interview was later published in the organization’s official magazine, The Roundup. As he published more and more excellent Western novels, he became a celebrity. Yet he never changed a bit.

Over the years Peggy and I got to share many meals and hours with Elmer and his gracious wife, Ann. And in more recent years, we saw him annually at the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, Texas. We often stayed at the same hotel and frequently had breakfast together, where we enjoyed his quick wit and storytelling ability.

                                                              

                                        Biscuits O'Bryan, Stan Paregien & Elmer Kelton  -- Sept., 2002 - Lubbuck, Texas

Elmer Kelton's books were always well researched for historical accuracy, but it was his storytelling that made his characters come to life on each finely crafted page. He set a bar for excellence that few writers will ever surpass.

So we say a fond “adios” to another Western legend. Much more than that, though, we bid farewell to a beloved friend.

At a later time I will post a major update to Elmer Kelton’s bio on  my web site. If you have stories or photos of Elmer that you would like to have considered for inclusion, please send them to me at:  cowboystan@live.com

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