John Wayne

Newport Beach, California.  Visited June 2013

There are actors and there are movie stars.  John Wayne was a movie star, and he knew it.  When you see a John Wayne movie, that’s exactly what you see.  Whether it’s in the Old West, the Irish countryside, the sands of Iwo Jima – no matter where he was or who he was, he was John Wayne. 

Young Marion

The actor we know as John Wayne was born Marion Morrison on May 27, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa.  His father’s poor health necessitated a family move to California where young Marion worked for his dad’s farming and pharmacy practice.  “Duke” Morrison (a nickname his family gave him after a favorite dog) was a good athlete and student who, upon graduation from high school, sought admission to the Naval Academy.  


 

Marion Morrison at USC

When he didn’t receive an appointment, the strapping 6’4” Morrison enrolled at the University of Southern California with the intent to play football.  In a Hollywood-worthy twist, Marion hurt his back body surfing, ending his football career before it got started. With the help of his USC coach who pulled some strings, Morrison was able get a job working on a movie studio back lot. 

1930's "B" star John Wayne

In another classic Hollywood twist, Duke Morrison was moving scenery when he was noticed by a director who cast him in a small part in a minor movie.  This role was the beginning of a ten-year stretch of starring and support roles in B pictures.  But the experience allowed the accidental actor a chance to hone his craft.  Somewhere along the line his name was changed to John Wayne – though the exact story of when and how this happened is unclear.  

Perhaps most significantly, the actor made the acquaintance of prominent filmmaker John Ford.  In 1939, Ford cast John Wayne in the role of the Ringo Kid in “Stagecoach”.  The movie was a hit and the Duke emerged from it as a bona fide Hollywood star. He would go on to do some of his best work with Ford.

As Sgt. Stryker in "Sands of Iwo Jima"

With the onset of World War II in 1940, a number of Hollywood actors enlisted in the armed forces.  Wayne was assigned a draft deferment due to his age (34).  At various times he sought a higher draft classification but his studio tried to block his attempts to join up.  In later years it was revealed that the Duke had been accepted into the the O.S.S (precursor to the C.I.A), but he never received the notice letter and therefore did not enlist.  It is interesting to consider what the most famous actor in the world would have done in military espionage.  While he never served in the military, Wayne did support the war effort through visiting troops and fund-raising.   

There was no one bigger in the movies during the fifties and sixties than John Wayne.  The Duke was larger than the movies – he was becoming an American icon.  And a polarizing political figure as well.  Wayne was a self-described socialist in college but became a life-long politically conservative Republican and anti-communist.  Declassified documents reveal that Joseph Stalin thought him enough of a concern that he was considered for possible assassination by the KGB.  Wayne’s political opinions were well known and occasionally controversial; such as his support of the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950’s and his stated views on race in the late sixties.  The Duke was a significant fundraiser for the Republican Party through the 1960’s and was a prominent backer of Richard Nixon’s presidency and Ronald Reagan’s governorship of California.  Interestingly however, as he reached his later years Wayne befriended Jimmy Carter and became less contentious in his political statements. 

The Duke with President Nixon and Henry Kissinger

 
John Wayne was a mid-century man’s man.  He described himself as “an old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness, flag-waving patriot.”  He also smoked heavily, drank excessively (though apparently never in a way that undermined his work), spoke his mind and could be ornery and vindictive if he felt he’d been wronged.  In addition to three marriages, the Duke also carried on affairs with a number of actresses and had left his third wife for his secretary at the time of his death.  But friends also described him as loyal and generous, and surprisingly self-effacing for a film star. 

Late Sixties on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in"

The Duke in a cameo role on "I Love Lucy" in the Fifties

Probably the most significant insight into John Wayne’s character is portrayed in his acting.  Over time, the Duke began to see his screen persona as an extension of his better self.  He protected and cultivated the roles he accepted as a stewardship of the icon he had created.  What John Wayne wanted to do was embody his sense of the American spirit – independent, strong, protective and motivated by duty to principle – on the big screen.  As he once remarked,

“I want to play a real man in all my films, and I define manhood simply: men should be tough, fair, and courageous, never petty, never looking for a fight, but never backing down from one either."
 

Friend and fellow actor Jimmy Stewart noted:  "I can't imagine there's anyone in the country who doesn't know who he is. Kids will be talking about him long after the rest of us are gone. John will make the history books, as Will Rogers did, because he lived his life to reflect the ideals of his country."

Statue of the Duke at John Wayne Airport in California

He didn’t always live up to those ideals, but in a way that is perhaps unique in film history, John Wayne cast himself in larger than life roles and then tried to live up to them as best he could.  

John Wayne with his best actor Oscar for "True Grit"

John Wayne’s last film role was in 1976 as the aging gunfighter John Book in “The Shootist”.  The story of a western legend who is watching his world pass him by was an appropriate valedictory to a 46 year film career which included 142 starring roles, an Academy Award (for best actor in “True Grit” - check out his acceptance speech here) and a perennial place in the top box office draws.  Three years after his performance in “The Shootist”, the Duke was diagnosed with stomach cancer.  He had lost a lung to cancer in the 1960’s but had seen the cancer go into remission.  Within a few months, the new cancer had spread and on June 11, 1979 John Wayne passed away at the age of 72.  

My son Grant at the Duke's spot at Grauman's Chinese Theater - 2004

I actually had the chance to see John Wayne in person – sort of.  In 1968, he directed the pro-Vietnam War film, “The Green Berets’.  The film premiered in Atlanta and Wayne was named honorary grand marshal at the annual Fourth of July parade. I was a nine-year-old boy standing in the crowd along Peachtree Street as the Duke road by waving to the crowd.  Not exactly a face time moment, but seeing John Wayne in person is something I’ve never forgotten.  

The Duke as Grand Marshal of the Atlanta 4th of July Parade 1968

This is a picture I took with my little polaroid camera standing in the parade crowd

John Wayne was buried on the side of a hill at Pacific View Memorial Park near his home in Newport Beach, California.    I did my pilgrimage to the Duke’s final resting place on a trip to California with my son Grant.  His small marker is virtually indistinguishable from any of the other graves in the cemetery.  The epitaph comes from an interview he gave late in life,

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."

My Personal Top Five John Wayne Films:

Five:  Rio Bravo – 1959.  This isn’t a classic like “The Searchers” but it is an enjoyable “Duke and misfits against the bad guys” story with a surprisingly good Dean Martin and classic Walter Brennan. (Trailer)

Four:  McClintock – 1963.  I think this is a funny movie, with Wayne and Maureen O’Hara and a bunch of character actors having a blast out west.  Some of his best lines are in this movie.  (Trailer)

Three:  True Grit – 1969.  This is the Duke’s Oscar performance with the memorable horse-riding shootout.  Curmudgeonly Rooster Cogburn and astounding scenery. (Trailer) 

Two:  The Shootist – 1976.  His final movie is a low key, poignant performance where Wayne makes way for a wonderful supporting cast including Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard and an aging Jimmy Stewart. (Trailer)

One:  The Quiet Man – 1952.  The role of a retired boxer trying to find his roots in Ireland doesn’t seem like a Wayne project, but it’s a witty and heart-warming movie with a great supporting cast including Maureen O'Hara and a hilarious Barry Fitzgerald and Michaleen Flynn. (Trailer)

Paul Revere

Boston, MA  Visited July 2003

July is Patriot Month here at ISDP.  There may be no person whose genuine contributions to the American Revolution are more shrouded and obscured by legend than Paul Revere.  This true patriot did ride the ride, but his contribution to the cause of building a new nation was far more than one night on a horse.  Here’s the story.

Revere family seal

Paul Revere was born December 21, 1734 in Boston.  His father was a Protestant Huguenot, who had emigrated from France to the American colonies.  The elder Revere was a silversmith who apprenticed his son into the craft.  One thing the son didn’t tend take to was his father’s puritan spiritual bent.  But after a contentious relationship over religious matters, the father and son eventually came to similar Christian convictions.   The elder Paul Revere died when his son was 20 years old, leaving the silversmith business in limbo because young Paul was not of legal age to master it. 

Paul Revere House in Boston

Paul Revere’s early twenties included a short stint in the colonial army during the French and Indian War.  In the years following the war Revere was married (in 1757) and built his name as an artisan in silver.  But in the mid-1760s the local economy in Boston went into the tank, forcing the silversmith to learn dentistry.  One of Revere’s early patients was a doctor, Joseph Warren, who also happened to be one of the key early leaders in opposition to England’s rule of the colonies.  Revere’s friendship with Warren radicalized him and he became part of the Sons of Liberty, a band of colonists committed to disrupting the English presence in Boston.  Revere was one of the key ‘partiers’ among the Sons of Liberty during their Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773. 

Depiction of Revere's ride by N. C. Wyeth

“The Midnight Ride” was just the most prominent mission of many that Paul Revere took as a patriot in the build-up to the Revolutionary War.  From 1773-75 he had signed on as courier rider for the various groups opposing the prevailing crown rule.  His job was to carry news between Boston and Philadelphia to help in the coordination of colonial resistance.   The Midnight Ride was all in a day's work. 

With the increasing presence of British troops in New England,  the colonists began to prepare for possible armed conflict.  They collected arms and ammunition in small town armories and developed a militia who became known as the Minute Men because of their commitment to mobilize at a moment’s notice.  On April 14, 1775 British General Gates received orders to move into the countryside to disarm the colonials and seize weapons stores.  

"One if by land...." Work by contemporary artist David Dibble

With the mobilization of troops on April 18 Revere was to set out on horseback with fellow patriot William Dawes to warn the colonials.  In order to determine the route of the British expedition Revere had previously arranged a signal system using lanterns (“One if by land, two if by sea”) in Old North Church, the tallest point in the city. 

Receiving the land route signal Revere set off on the road to Lexington and Concord west of Boston, alerting the militia along the way.  He arrived in Lexington around midnight and met with John Hancock  and Samuel Adams, who were lodging in the town (and were additional targets of the British excursion).  After conferring on the situation, Revere, Dawes and Samuel Prescott set out for Concord, where the largest stores of arms were hidden.  Revere was caught by the British and questioned about what was up ahead.  His answers had the effect of alerting the British that they had lost the element of surprise, so they reversed march and headed back to Boston.  By this time the Minute Men had taken up positions from which they could harass the British force on its return march.   

Location of Paul Revere's capture by the British on the way to Concord

Reaching Lexington the morning of April 19, the redcoats encountered a formed colonial militia on the Lexington Green, where ‘the shot heard round the world’ was fired; beginning the initial battle of the Revolutionary War.  During the battle Revere was released by the British at the expense of his horse but managed to make his way to Lexington where he assisted John Hancock's escape from town.   

Your blogger on Lexington Green

 

With the war begun Paul Revere enlisted as a major in the Massachusetts militia,  where he had a rocky experience.  His part in a failed military operation known as the Penobscot Expedition resulted in a court martial.  While he was exonerated by the trial his wartime military career was effectively ended.  However, Revere found numerous ways as a businessman and metalworker to assist in the war effort.  Though these activities brought him a certain amount of business and name recognition, there is no evidence that he profited unduly from the war.  In fact his activities seemed to have modeled the effective cooperation of the merchant class who underwrote much of the war effort for the ad hoc colonial army.  

Nighttime view of the Paul Revere statue in Boston with the Old North Church in the background

Paul Revere came out of the war not just a silversmith, but also a merchant and business and industrial innovator.  He worked with new technologies to produce a broad range of metal goods for high end and working class use.  He expanded into iron and copper working and became noted for his bell casting and armaments.  Revere also innovated in employment practices, becoming one of the first tradesmen to establish a hire for pay workforce to assist him.  He eventually passed on his diverse metalworking enterprises to his son, who kept the family business in operation through the 1800’s.  Revere Copper Works continues to produce housewares though it is now a subsidiary of another company.  And Revere’s personally designed and crafted silverware is highly valued not only for its historic merit but for its artistic quality as well.  

Crafty Revere Teapot at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Unlike many first generation patriots of his stature, Paul Revere never sought or served in national office.  Yet he remained active in Massachusetts politics through his life.  In his personal life he was married twice.  His first wife Sarah, whom he married in when he was 23, bore him eight children and passed away in early 1773.  Less than a year later he married his second wife, Rachel, just two months before the Boston Tea Party.  They also had eight children over a forty-year marriage.  Tragically, only five of Revere’s sixteen children survived him.  

Revere late in life as painted by Gilbert Stuart

Paul Revere retired as a well-respected craftsman and successful merchant around the time of the War of 1812, leaving his businesses to his children.  He died of natural causes on May 10, 1818, at the age of 83, at his home on Charter Street in Boston.  In the Boston Intelligencer his obituary noted, "seldom has the tomb closed upon a life so honorable and useful."  He is buried in Boston’s Old Granary Burial Ground along with a number of other well-known patriots.  I have visited the burial ground on two occasions, most recently with my brother John and friend Bauer Evans. 

 

My view in July 2003 as I lurk just beyond the crowd of tourists

 

 Straightforward epitaph for a straightforward man.

For the next forty plus years Paul Revere would be a respected but historically obscure Boston patriot and merchant.  But in 1860 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published a poem entitled “Paul Revere’s Ride”.  Though accurate in some of the basic details, the poem was a creative work intended to build civic lessons out of the story to stir the Union cause on the eve of the Civil War.  It worked and the poem, and its subject, have gone down in American history as emblematic of the spirit and resolve of liberty.        

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere….

The full text of the poem can be found here.

One relatively modern reference point for the Boston silversmith is the Sixties pop band "Paul Revere and the Raiders".  Dressing in dandy colonial garb the group was supposedly a U.S. music answer to the 'British Invasion'.  As such the band scored a few minor hits.  But it was no match for the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Who and other British bands who owned the US charts in the mid Sixties.  If you're looking for some real Sixties Americana check out Paul Revere and the Raiders as The Penguin's house band in a weird episode of "Batman"

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Fort Worth, Texas    Visited October 2013

 I grew up playing the guitar and loving great guitar playing.  But during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s I wasn’t listening to a lot of rock music.  About a decade or so ago I went back to listen to stuff from that era and I ran head-on into a tornado of Stratocaster blues named Stevie Ray Vaughan.  Listening to his music seemed to connect you with the limitless emotional possibilities of electric blues guitar.  Watching him play convinces you that the art of music performance flows from deep places in the soul.  I’ve wanted to do a pilgrimage to SRV’s place for a long time.  I made it last year.  Here’s the story.

Stevie Ray and Jimmy Lee

Stephen Ray Vaughan was born October 3, 1954 in Dallas Texas.  He was the second son of a WWII vet who probably suffered from PTSD.  It was an abusive environment to grow up in, and young Stephen’s life was hard.  At the age of seven he saw his older brother Jimmie Lee playing the guitar.  The instrument became a passion and escape.  By the age of 12 Stevie was playing in local Dallas cover bands.  His early exposure was to blues and rock music and his seminal musical influence was Jimi Hendrix.  As Vaughan would say later,

"I love Hendrix for so many reasons. He was so much more than just a blues guitarist–he played damn well any kind of guitar he wanted. In fact I'm not sure if he even played the guitar–he played music."

Teenage SRV

Stevie’s obsession with music was a major distraction from school.  Teachers attempted to work with his musical interest by offering formal music education.   But as a self-taught musician it just didn’t take.

“I took music theory for one year in high school and flunked all but one six-week period. That's because I couldn't read music, and the rest of the class was already eight or nine years into it. The teacher would sit down and hit a ten-fingered chord on the piano and you had to write all the notes down in about ten seconds. I just couldn't do it.”

Early Seventies Rocker Days

At 17 Vaughan dropped out of school to try to make a go of music and moved from Dallas to Austin.  In the early Seventies he played in a variety of cover and blues bands trying to find what fit his vision.  He developed a reputation as the hot new Texas blues player.   In 1977 he formed a blues band he called Triple Threat Review.  Two years and a couple of personnel changes later the band solidified as Steve Vaughan’s back-up band, rechristened Double Trouble.  With the change in the band name Vaughan also began to use his middle name as a musician. 

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble spent the next two years on the Texas bar circuit honing the blues-rock groove that became their hallmark.  In 1982 they got their first major gig outside Texas with an opportunity to play the Montreux Jazz Festival.  This was their breakout moment.  One reviewer who was there recounted SRV’s performance.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Montreux Jazz Festival 1982

"He seemed to come out of nowhere, a Zorro-type figure in a riverboat gambler's hat, roaring into the '82 Montreux festival with a '59 Stratocaster at his hip and two flame-throwing sidekicks he called Double Trouble. He had no album, no record contract, no name, but he reduced the stage to a pile of smoking cinders and, afterward, everyone wanted to know who he was.”

Early 80's

‘Everyone’ included two rock stars at the festival, David Bowie and Jackson Browne.  Each took an immediate interest in Vaughan.  Browne offered the band free recording time in his LA studio.  And Bowie signed up Steve as a featured player on his next album.  Another luminary in the audience at Montreux was John Hammond, the legendary music producer.  Shortly after the festival Hammond signed SRV and Double Trouble to a recording contract.  In early 1983 David Bowie’s album “Let’s Dance” came out with Vaughan playing on eight tunes.  The album became Bowie’s bestseller to date.  A few months later SRV’s first album, “Texas Flood” was released. 

Over the next few years Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble built a reputation as a powerhouse live act through incessant touring and recording.  However with the success came the downside of drugs and alcohol.  The downside bit Stevie Ray Vaughan hard.  By 1986 he was ingesting a quarter ounce of cocaine and a quart of whiskey daily.  Performances became erratic and on a tour in Germany the guitarist collapsed.  An emergency hospital stay and intensive rehab followed.  For Stevie Ray Vaughan, it worked.  As he reflected later, “I hit rock bottom, but thank God my bottom wasn't death.” 

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Mid 80s'

By June 1989 a sober SRV and Double Trouble had rebounded and reached new heights as a band.  With the release of the album “In Step” the guitarist and his band had become both a critical and commercial success.  “In Step” went gold and won a Grammy for best blues album of the year.  Blues legend Bonnie Raitt summed up the rejuvenated power of a drug free Stevie Ray Vaughan,

“He lived and breathed his music like he'd never get out alive, but he did get out... and the way he played and grew after his sobriety took away the last excuse for us blues hounds to stop living that deal with the devil just to be real.”

In 1990 Stevie and his brother Jimmy Lee recorded for the first time together.  An album was to be released in the fall of the year.  In August of that year, the Double Trouble tour arrived in East Troy, Wisconsin.  During a show on August 26 Stevie Ray participated in a jam that included a who’s who of contemporary blues guitarists – Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and even Stevie’s brother Jimmy Lee.  It was to be Vaughan’s last performance.  Fortunately, video of that final jam on "Sweet Home Chicago"   has been preserved.   

Following the concert around 1:00 am on Aug.27, he jumped on a helicopter with some of Clapton’s crewmembers.  Shortly after take-off in foggy conditions the chopper crashed, killing all on board.  Stevie Ray Vaughan was 35 years old.  







Stevie Ray Vaughan was buried in his home town of Dallas following a memorial service that included many of the great musicians who had come to appreciate the gifts and art of the quiet and universally liked guitarist.  Among the notable reflections, maybe the words of Eric Clapton best capture the essence of the musician Stevie Ray Vaughan.

I don't think anyone has commanded my respect more, to this day. The first time I heard Stevie Ray, I thought, "Whoever this is, he is going to shake the world." I was in my car and I remember thinking, I have to find out, before the day is over, who that guitar player is. That doesn't happen to me very often, that I get that way about listening to music. I mean, about three or four times in my life I've felt that way, in a car, listening to the radio, where I've stopped the car, pulled over, listened, and thought, I've got to find out before the end of the day, not, you know, sooner or later, but I have to know NOW who that is…  and I remember being fascinated by the fact that he never, ever seemed to be...lost in any way...It was as though he never took a breather...or took a pause to think where he was gonna go next, it just flowed out of him. It's going to be a long time before anyone that brilliant will come along again.”

Just a few weeks after Stevie’s untimely death, his album with Jimmy Lee, “Family Style” was released.  The record was a commercial hit and ended up winning a Grammy.  Within just a few months after SRV’s death the new album and Stevie Ray’s back catalogue had sold 5.5 million records. To appreciate the brothers check out this video of them playing  "Pipeline" together on the same double-neck guitar.

Stevie Ray and Jimmy Lee Vaughan

The legacy of Stevie Ray Vaughan has grown since his untimely death.  Unlike most musicians who die prematurely, the artist who passed from the seen in 1990 was not a tragic figure.  He had won his battle with the excesses of rock and roll stardom and had brought the blues he loved to a wider audience.  Stevie Ray Vaughan is universally considered to be one of the top ten guitarists in rock music history.  

   The above are from the Hollywood Guitar Center Museum in Hollywood, CA, which I visited with my son in June 2013. Just above is a somewhat creepy plaque.  Over that are jackets and guitars used by SRV in performance.   

On a trip to Dallas for a conference I connected with a friend of mine, Steve Gonzalez, who had moved to Texas from the Philly area.  I had asked him if he minded if we tried to find Stevie Ray’s grave.  Little did I know that Steve is a huge SRV fan and he was all about the plan.  We found Laurel Land Memorial Park in a suburban area south of Fort Worth. 

Just a few months after this, in March 2014 I had the opportunity to be in Austin, where there is a great statue of SRV memorializing the artist in the town where he made his name.  

At SRV statue in Austin with SG church planting guys

I can't end this post without a few recommendations. Here are a personal top three videos of SRV at his best. 

• Perhaps Stevie's most well known composition,"Pride and Joy"  from the legendary 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival show that put him on the map as a guitarist.

• Here's a killer live version of SRV's cover of Stevie Wonder's Superstition, played on his famous guitar "Lenny".

• Given the acknowledged influence of Jimi Hendrix, Stevie's cover of my favorite Hendrix song,"Little Wing", has to be on my list.  I couldn't find a video with quality to do justice to the live recording on his greatest hits album, but this at least gives a feel for SRV's take on it.  

The beauty of the blues