December 17, 2009
Lots going on both here at the True West offices and at home. Went home for lunch and worked some more on dust storm effects. What would it look like if a group of refugees were trudging across a dry lake, coming towards us and behind them is a sun, or, a bright light source? Would the light source show up as a sphere, or as a tear in the dust? Hmmmmm:

Still not where I want it to be, but it's getting there.

Meanwhile, Dan The Man sent up a batch of train covers. Here are my two favorites:

And my second favorite:

Dan really captured the color and lettering, now we need to work on the bottom of the poster. Needs more action, train robbers attacking the train, like this, perhaps:

And it might be cool to have the train go between her legs? Or, is that too much?

Meanwhile, we need a list of stars who have appeared in movies that utilized the Durango & Silverton Railroad in their movies. I sent out the call to our contributing editors:

We are going to emulate those grand 1940s movie posters and we want a short paragraph to say something like:

Starring! Paul Newman, Robert Redford, John Wayne, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Stewart, Jason Robards, Rory Calhoun and a bit player named Marilyn Monroe!

Something like that, but we want names that will ring the chimes of our readers.

Meghan has the names of the movies that the railroad claims were filmed there. I assume Paul Hutton knows the list better than they do, and perhaps there are others not listed? I got Marlon Brando from Viva Zapata and John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Jason Robards from How The West Was Won. Who am I missing? We want a really solid list of A stars. Are there more women besides Marilyn who should be on the list? Help me guys! Thanks.
—BBB

Got this back almost immediately:

• Barbara Stanwyck in Maverick Queen.

• Joel McCrae and Virginia Mayo in Colorado Territory.

• Walter Brennan and Ann Baxter in Ticket to Tomahawk.

• Anthony Quinn in Viva Zapata.

• Aaron Spelling had a secondary role in Three Young Texans.

• James Cagney and Ernest Borgnine in Run for Cover.

• Noel Coward, John Gielgud, Charles Boyer and David Niven in Around the World...

• James Garner, Suzanne Pleshette and Jack Elam in Support Your Local Gunfighter.

• Kris Kristofferson in The Tracker.

• Whoopi Goldberg in Golden Dreams.

And who could forget the legendary Zasu Pitts in Denver & Rio Grande?

—Mark Boardman

“Sam Elliott had a small role as ‘Card Player #2’ in Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid. Katherine Ross was one of the stars. I’d rather ride the river with her than Marilyn Monroe any day. Debbie Reynolds was in How the West Was Won."
—Marshall Trimble

“BBB: Tim McCoy was featured in the western section of Around the World in 80 Days. Virginia Mayo is almost as luscious as Marilyn in Colorado Territory (which is a western remake of High Sierra). I certainly hope you will not neglect my written and coproduced (with Bill Kurtis) episode of Investigating History on Butch and Sundance (featuring, among others, Thom Ross, Rusty York, Johnny Boggs and the stunning Tracy Hutton as Etta). The train must have been used in countless TV shows. I'll check my film stills.”
—Paul Hutton

Okay, now to fashion a paragraph of names that will make someone go, "Wow! What is this about?" Who should be on that final list? Should be about seven to ten names, both superstars and weird ones, perhaps Zasu Pitts, or Johnny Boggs.

Just kidding on the Boggs part, although it would be real funny to about 60 people (my kind of audience).

"If you want to build a wagon train, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless desert."
—Old Vaquero Saying