Stan Paregien, Editor
Sarah Padden died on Dec. 4, 1967 in Los Angeles, CA.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Sara Padden.
Harry W. Paige is a professor of literature and creative writing at Clarkson College in Potsdam, NY.
Harry Paige is the author of such young adult novels as Wade's Place, Johnny Stands (1982), Songs of the Teton Sioux (1970)and Shadow on the Sun (1984). The latter was a Juvenile Spur finalist in 1985 in the Western Writers of America. He is also the author of The Summer War (1983).
Harry W. Paige wrote a poem, "To the Memory of Mari Sandoz," in The Roundup (July-Aug., 1985), p. 16.
Lauran Paine spent his early days working as a cowboy. He likes to tell about the time in 1934 when, working on a ranch near Cache Le Poudre in Colorado, he bunked in an old log bunkhouse. It had no electricity and the owners strictly forbade the use of candles or lamps. But Paine found a pile of Western magazines in a corner, so he hung a blanket over his window and lit a candle and read the magazines. That went on, night after night, until finally the boss caught him and fired him on the spot. But by then he was hooked on Westerns.
Soon he began writing short stories about the West. He was determined to set the facts straight about what the cowboy life was really like. He wrote factual tales, but they didn't sell. Finally one editor told him to quit trying to educate the reader and just entertain him. He took that advice and it paid off handsomely for him.
At last count Lauran Paine had seen over 900 of his manuscripts published as books. That's right, over 9-0-0. And that includes at least 515 Westerns.And he did it under an astouding number of pen names: at least 74 pen names. He was listed in the Guiness Book of World Records from 1980 to 1984 as the world's most prolific living author.
Lauran Paine dropped like a bombshell on the publishing scene when in 1950 he had 14 books published. Those first books were written under his own name and included Adobe Empire, Timberline, Geronimo, Wake of the Moon, Valour in the Land, The Bounty Hunter, Sixgun Atonement, The Apache Kid, Kiowa-Apache, Greed at Gold River, The Modoc War, Lawman, and The Story of Buckhorn.
And Lauran Paine never slowed down. Among his latest books are The Homesteaders (as Richard Clarke), The Horseman (1986), The Marshal, Assassin's World (1975), Bannon's Law (1982), Dakota Death Trap (1979), Sky (1984), Tanner (1984) and The New Mexico Heritage (1987).
Lauran Paine once said, "I did quite a bit of magazine work. When the pulps died I was already doing books. So far I've dony my share of Western books, and perhaps a little bit of someone else's share as well. I've stayed with it because now I'm too old for manual labor, but unwilling to starve. I tried a few other things: motion picture work (Westerns), livestock dealing, rodeoing, blacksmithing, ranching, but every blessed one of those things is subject to the weather one way or another. Writing is not influenced by too little rain or too much rain, three-feet drifts of snow, or 150 days of unrelieved sunshine" (from his article, "On Becoming a Writer," The Roundup, Jan., 1985).
Lauran Paine's books have been translated into every major European language, and have even been reprinted behind the Iron Curtain and in Africa. One key to his productivity is the fact that he worked from early morning until mid-afternoon, most often seven days a week.
He was a resident of Greenview, California for many years. And his son, Lauran Paine, Jr., is also an author.
After finishing his studies in the Lattimer Mines elementary school, he moved on to Hazle Township High School. There, once again, he excelled in athletics, especially basketball. His prowess earned him a spot on the All-Regional team. He was also active in football, playing both fullback and quarterback.
By the time the senior class play rolled around, Jack was asked to play the role of an attorney, and it was at this time that he was first bitten by the acting bug. However, his athletic abilities were his ticket to higher education and he was offered several scholarships. His choice was the University of North Carolina where he played fullback on the football team. He soon found success on the school's boxing team and this prompted him to leave college at the close of his sophomore year to seek a career in the ring. After two months of extensive training, the 20-year-old lad had his first fight for real money. He won, and he continued to win, claiming victory in 18 of his 20 professional bouts.
Besides the prize money, boxing gave Jack the unmistakable battered face of the pugilist, a gift that would later serve him well. The broken-nosed youth was billed as "Rocky Palahnuik" and he became famous for his flailing fists. His last fight was against Harley Harvey of the Bronx who landed a severe blow to Jack's Adam's apple in the sixth round. Suffering terrible pain, he fought on for two more rounds until the referee wisely stopped the fight. The injury left Jack unable to speak for a week.
Waiting for his voice to return, he mulled over his future and decided to give up boxing. Back home in Pennsylvania, he joined his father and other relatives, working in the coal mines, but soon realized he wanted more, much more, than the dreary and dangerous life of the coal miner.
So in August 1942, he joined the Army Air Force and began training as a bomber pilot in San Antonio. A year later, during a take-off near Tucson, Arizona, the engine of his B-24 failed and he crashed. Later, reports would circulate that he face had been horribly disfigured and his had to undergo numerous plastic surgeries--resulting in his unusual facial appearance.
In a cartoon series titled "About Face" in 1968, artist Bill Griffith sketched three caricatures of Jack, with the comment: "Some faces are masks - others are like architecture - Jack Palance - now there's a face! A face like the side of a cliff - a face with geography!"
Let's let Jack Palance set the record straight. In a March 1984 interview with TV Guide, Jack himself commented: "Studio press agents make up anything they want to, and reporters go along with it. One flack created the legend that I had been blown up in an air crash during the war, and my face had to be put back together by way of plastic surgery. If it is a 'bionic face,' why didn't they do a better job of it? The only plastic surgery I've ever had in my life was a 10-minute operation to open my nasal passages because my nose had been broken during my career as a heavyweight boxer. Why do they keep harping on my looks after all these years of proving myself as an actor?"
After recovering from the plane crash, he was mustered out of the Air Force on April 2, 1944. Once again he returned home, and to the coal mines.
It wasn't long, though, before Jack went back to school, thanks to the funding supplied under the G.I Bill of Rights. He went to Stanford University at Palo Alto, California, majoring in journalism. Along with many other courses related to writing, he also became involved in acting.
In the fall of 1946 Jack borrowed $100 from a roommate and ventured out to seek fame and fortune, but amid the bright lights of New York City his funds quickly vanished. Jack was soon reduced to working at any job that came along--a short order cook, waiter, soda jerk, lifeguard at Jones Beach, and a brief stint as a photographer's model. Meanwhile, he made the casting rounds and continued to audition.
When there was an opening for a new understudy to Marlon Brando in the Broadway production of "Streetcar Named Desire," Palance applied and received the job.
Brando, very much interested in athletics, rigged up a punching bag in the theater's boiler room, and invited Jack to work out with him. Palance was happy to oblige. One night, Jack threw a hard punch that missed the bag and landed square on Brando's nose. The star had to be hospitalized, and missed some performances. Palance had created, albeit inadvertently, his own big break, and he went onstage as Stanley Kowalski. This role of an intense and dangerous young man was ideally suited to his looks and talent. He drew rave reviews and the attention of a talent scout for 20th Century-Fox.
When he finished his brief stint on Broadway, he ventured to the West Coast for a screen test. He was placed under contract. When the studio announced plans for filming Viva Zapata with Marlon Brando as its star, Jack yearned for the supporting role of Eufemio. Instead, Anthony Quinn was cast in the role and won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Greatly disappointed, Palance walked out of his contract at 20th Century-Fox and returned to New York hoping to reactivate his stage career.
On January 13, 1951, he was back on Broadway portraying the role of Gletkin, a Russian soldier in the drama "Darkness at Noon," which starred Claude Rains. An exciting career boost came Jack's way that year when Theater World selected him as its "Most Promising New Stage Personality."
Director George Stevens, who remembered Jack's film work, called him back to Hollywood for the role of hired gunman Jack Blackie Wilson in the film "Shane," starring Alan Ladd.
For his role as the gunman, Jack invented a bit of business that turned a simple act, putting on a pair of black gloves, into a chilling prelude to murder. He became one of the screen's most menacing villains with this role. After long, meticulous preparation of the film, typical of director George Stevens, Shane was released in 1953, and Jack was nominated Best Supporting Actor.
Shane, shot on location at beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming, also had an effect on his personal life. Jack developed a love of the west and began to dream of living on his own ranch. Eventually, this dream would come true.
Before Shane was released, Jack was ready to leave Hollywood when an important role opposite Joan Crawford was offered. The RKO thriller "Sudden Fear," released in 1952, starred Crawford as a wealthy playwright, Myra Hudson, and Jack as an aspiring actor Lester Blaine. Both gave intense performances, and Jack was nominated for Best Supporting Actor of 1952. (Note: Although Shane had been filmed first, Sudden Fear was released before it, thus his first Oscar nomination was for Sudden Fear.) Jack drew very fine reviews, and his salary per film tripled. Look Magazine named him "Most Outstanding Newcomer of 1953." His popularity zoomed, and he received an average of 1500 fan letters each week, mostly from females.
On February 9, 1952, a second daughter, Brooke, was born.
With a distinctive face and voice, 6'3" Jack Palance played plain bad guys and sometimes lead guys with an attitude. He played Attila the Hun in "Sign of the Pagan" and Fidel Castro in "Che".
In 1955 Jack had his appendix removed. And his son Cody was born in December.
He won an Emmy in 1956 for his role as the bloodied but unbowed boxer in Rod Serling's live TV drama, "Requiem for a Heavyweight".
In 1991 he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in "City Slickers". He portrayed a tough, old cowboy named Curley who leads the tenderfoots on their cattledrive. Palance delighted the audience at the Academy Awards that year when he, at age 71, started doing one-handed push-ups onstage. Interestingly, he says he has never watched any of his own movies.
Jack Palance has appeared in more than 100 movies. His Western films include "Arrowhead" (1953), "Shane" (1953), "Monte Walsh" (1970), "Chato's Land" (1971), "The Horseman" (1971), "The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang" (1979, TV), "Young Guns" (1988), "City Slickers" (1991), "Legends of the West" (1992), "City Slickers II" (1994), and "Buffalo Girls" (1995, TV).
Palance wrote a book of romantic poems titled, The Forest of Love (Summerhouse Press, 1999). It details a man's frank yearnings for love and intimacy with women through the autumn of his years. He painted the picture used on the cover, and several paintings inside the book
CLICK HERE to hear a word from Jack Palance, from the movie "City Slickers".
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Jack Palance.
The "elder statesman" of Palo Duro is Jim Anderson, singer, songwriter, poet, and storyteller. He was raised on a family-owned farming and ranching operation in west Texas and Colorado, and having run the operation for fifteen years, his songs and poetry reflect his feeling for the land and its heritage that can only come from first-hand experience. To Jim, cowboying and music go hand in hand.
The lead singer and new Bass player is Jim's son, Cody Anderson. Cody was a musician in his own right as far back as junior high school, when he played clarinet and sang in the chorus. He participated in both sports and the arts, winning awards in both football and band. Even though Jim Anderson had a band traveling across West Texas and New Mexico at the time, Jim could never get Cody over his shyness to sing with the band. That changed in about 1998. And now Cody brings his own style to the music and poetry.
The third member of Palo Duro is Erica Swindell. She started studying the violin at the age of three, performs as the youngest member of the Amarillo Youth Symphony, and has won numerous citations of excellence. With sparkling eyes and a captivating smile, Erica and her fiddle add the finishing touch to the experience that is Palo Duro.
Palo Duro's new album, "Comanche Moon," contains fifteen tracks that tell the story of the Texas panhandle in song and poetry. The album recently received West Quest’s Historians Award for preserving and promoting the history, heritage, tradition, and spirit of the American West.
CLICK HERE to go to the home web page of Palo Duro.
I will sing of the Lord's great love forever;
© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
Sarah Padden
(Deceased)
Sarah Padden, actress, was born on Oct. 16, 1881 in England.
Sarah Padden appeared in 132 films, starting with "Obey the Law" in 1926 and ending with "Girl With An Itch" in 1957. She played in such Westerns as "Utah Wagon Train" (1951), "Gunslingers" (1950), "Range Justice" (1949), "The Dude Goes West" (1948), "Wild West" (1946), "Song of Old Wyoming" (1945) and "Billy the Kid" (1930).
Sarah Padden is the one holding the shotgun.
Harry W. Paige
Lauran Paine
Lauran Paine, author, was born on Feb. 25, 1916 in Duluth, Minn.
Jack Palance
Jack Palance, movie star and poet, was born as Walter Vladimir Palanuik on Feb. 18, 1919 in Lattimer Mines, PA. He worked in the coal mines in his youth, and was also a boxer who entered "amateur" boxing contests for the prize money.
Palo Duro
Palo Duro is Spanish for "hard wood," and that is the name of a musical trio as well as a beautiful canyon just south of Amarillo, Texas. The group Palo Duro is dedicated to the creation of authentic western entertainment. They do material written by people they've heard or know personally, along with things they wrote themselves and a sprinkling of great old classic cowboy songs.
This listing is far from complete and may contain errors.
Therefore, all Western entertainers and/or their agents
are requested to submit recommended changes by
contacting Stan Paregien through his e-mail address.
with my mouth I will make your faithfulness
known through all generations.
I will declare that your love stands firm forever,
that you established your faithfulness
in heaven itself.
--- Bible: Psalm 89:1-2
