August 2018 44 John Ford is usually credited with discovering Marion Morrison but there’s another important director who actually was the first to take a chance on him as a leading actor. In 1929, Raoul Walsh spied prop boy Marion on the back lot at Fox and thought he might be a good fit for his next film. Walsh had already made the first sound western In Old Arizona (1928) in which he was set to direct and star in this first Cisco Kid film; a freak accident involving a jackrabbit crashing through his windshield caused the director to lose an eye forcing him to bow out of acting. Walsh hired Warner Baxter to star as Cisco, garnering him the best actor award at the Oscars. Baxter was already an established star when he played Cisco, but Marion Morrison had only appeared as an extra, sometimes with a few lines; Walsh was taking a big chance. The budget for The Big Trail was close to $2,000,000, roughly $28,000,000 in today’s market. The cost came from the use of inventive new 70mm equipment and featuring actual locations in California, Utah, Montana, Arizona, and Wyoming; the film was simultaneously shot in the usual 35mm which ate up money and time. Released during the Depression cinema owners would need to install expensive 70mm equipment for the “Grandeur” technique and opted to show the 35mm version, which lacked the vast landscape Walsh had captured with “Grandeur” 70mm. The newly minted John Wayne did a workmanlike job, but the film lost money and didn’t raise his stock with Fox studios. The studio did retain him for two more lackluster films, Girls Demand Excitement (1931) with Virginia Cherrill and Big Trail co-star Marguerite Churchill, and Three Lost Girls opposite Loretta Young. Three strikes and you’re out, and Fox terminated his contract. John immediately signed with Columbia Pictures, a studio he grew to loathe due to its president, Harry Cohn. First, up for his new studio was Arizona with Laura La Plante, an out west story that had already been filmed twice; this version with Wayne ignored the western motif in favor of a 1931 updating; it’s no relation to the 1940 classic with Jean Arthur and William Holden. By Charlie LeSueur Charlie LeSueur, AZ’s Official Western Film Historian. Encore Fellow @ Western Spirit, Scottsdale’s Museum of the West. 480.358.5178, azfilmhistorian@gmail.com, silverscreencowboyz.com JOHN WAYNE His next film would be the lowest point of his career. The Deceiver, starred Lloyd Hughes and Dorothy Sebastian. The Duke was cast as a corpse. It was quite a come-down for the actor who seemed to be working his way down the career ladder rather than up. For the remainder of his Columbia contract, he was ‘saddled’ with supporting roles alongside Buck Jones, Jack Holt, and Tim McCoy. Duke may have viewed his future as not so bright going from an “A” star to a corpse to supporting roles in “B” westerns all in less than three years. He couldn’t know it at the time but those “oaters” would open up the next stage of his career. Next month, Part 3 of John Wayne RELAXING HOME FOR RENT 3 BEDROOM / 2 BATH 1500 SQ FT / SLEEPS 8 3 NIGHT MINIMUM Full-Time, Local, Horse Property Specialist 472 E. Wickenburg Way, Ste. 102 Wickenburg, AZ 85390 Susan Abare, Real Estate Consultant Direct: 928-713-7472 Abarewickenburghomes.com Fax: 623-243-1295 Email: sabare@awardrealty.com An Unlikely Star, Part 2 Girls Demand Excitement The Big Trail Above: Buck Jones poster with Duke's support Right: Tim McCoy poster featuring John Wayne