The Gene Autry Museum is in a class by its self. The Autry National Center uses photos, paintings, giant murals, statues, movies, displays, demonstrations and movie clips of Gene Autry, 'The Singing Cowboy.' And I think you'll agree they do it well. It's an experience you won't soon forget. For more information go to www.Autrynationalcenter.org phone 323 667-2000

Let's go to the Movies Part III

And the Rains Came to Flagstaff

Hot, dry and dusty they arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona. Not much of a town and not much choice of lodging but that didn't matter much. What did matter were those dark clouds that greeted their arrival. Not only did the sun shine less the rains came. The locals said not to fret; the rains will quit pretty soon. But the rain didn't quit. It rained and rained and rained. Days turned into weeks and still no sun. DeMille let Sam, Jesse and Arthur, back in New York; know how the relentless rain was washing their investment away. However, the locals kept up the litany, it's going to quit, it's going to quit. Back east, Goldwyn and the others had been gathering information to back an alternate location. By the middle of the sixth week with the thick black cloud bellies still hanging low over Flagstaff it was time to make a move. The New York office had heard of a few films, of the nickelodeon variety, being made in southern California. They weren't much in the way of classy pictures but at least they got made. DeMille eventually made the decision and told his people to pack up, we're going to Los Angeles, California.

Now some of you may be thinking that's not the way the story goes, and you might be right. DeMille's autobiography tells the rain part another way. Mr. DeMille said the story plot dictated the change from Flagstaff to Los Angeles. The Squaw Man had Wyoming as its locale. As he tells it, when their train pulled into the Flagstaff station, they had a quick discussion and concluded that this place just didn't remind them of Wyoming. Now this was done while the train took on water and by the time she was ready to head down the mountain toward the west coast, they jumped back onboard, paid the conductor and continued their trip. I'm not going to tell you which version to believe perhaps neither is true. As a writer and researcher, of historical fact, I know enough to be a skeptic. You try to develop a nose for the truth then take a look at several sources and try to come to a plausible conclusion. This was my dilemma as a writer; I had read several versions over the years and have also been to Flagstaff. I can tell you for sure that there are plenty of locations around Flagstaff, including ones you can see from a train, that resemble Wyoming. So why on that one point would DeMille have made that quick policy decision? If the version in DeMille's autobiography is true perhaps he never intended to stop in Flagstaff in the first place. Of course another possibility is memory or even one of those typical Hollywood battles of words that were always cropping up. It could have simply been some publicity or public relations person's slant on the story. But looking back at all the material I'm convinced the true reason was casting. After all they didn't have the leading lady with them and could they find the other major cast members in that small Arizona town? This is of course conjecture and your guess may be just as good as mine. However, I think we will all agree that they finally did make it to Los Angeles.

For that small band of film makers Los Angeles was sprawling, gaudy, and like the song says, "not much to look at," but it was dry and the beautiful sun was a welcomed sight. They found a nice hotel, the Alexandria, and recognized a number of film people from the east. DeMille's first job was to find the best location and rent some kind of studio space. He made inquires and listened to talk around the hotel. Two enterprising young men by the names of Burns and Revier got his attention by offering to show him around the area, hoping that the Lasky Feature Play Company would throw some business their way. These two gentlemen owned a small film developing laboratory and the good part, so they said, was its location, outside the downtown high rent district. It was also mentioned that a building near their lab might be suitable as studio space. DeMille asked, "Is the building for rent?" Burns said, "Don't know. Why don't we go and take a first hand look." Burns and Revier escorted the director-general to their model T Ford and after a few spins of the hand crank, the vehicle sprang to life and they were on their way. It was a gorgeous day as they headed out in a north west direction from downtown Los Angeles. They drove past the outskirts of the city and past numbers of eucalyptus trees and orange groves. The smell of pungent eucalyptus bark and leaves mixed with orange blossoms must have given life to positive thoughts of a promised land of make believe.

Writers Corner: Great artist's and writer's plumb experience from their subconscious. Mark Twain confided to the world on many occasions that he never worked a day in his life. All his humor and writings were due to the fact that he tapped the inexhaustible reservoir of his subconscious mind. Shakespeare might not have been aware of the subconscious, but he put it this way. 'Your thoughts write on the inside, which performs experience on the outside.' Hemingway goes a step farther in his little book 'A Moveable Feast' as he writes about his life in Paris during the 1920's. -- It was in that room that I learned not to think about anything that I was writing from the time I stopped writing until I started again the next day. That way my subconscious mind would be working on it.'

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter. Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

www.tombarnes39.com
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