The Rodeo and Hollywood

The Rodeo and Hollywood
Author: Jim Ryan
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2024-10-17
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1476603146

At rodeos in the 1940s, Gene Autry sang and jumped his horse, Champion, through a flaming hoop. In 1960s rodeo arenas, Lorne Greene and Dan Blocker acted out a skit from their hit television show Bonanza. In the same era familiar rodeo personalities like Hoot Gibson and Slim Pickens could be seen in movies or television shows. This book profiles performers who crossed over between film studio and rodeo arena when Hollywood and the rodeo circuit were closely linked. The first part traces the careers of rodeo participants who also contributed to film or television. The next two sections describe rodeo appearances of Western screen stars who entertained at rodeos. Some appeared solo and others with a television co-star or two. A fourth section summarizes rodeo-related films. Appendices introduce golden age rodeo personalities and outline rodeos known for presenting Western stars.

Black Cowboys of Rodeo

Black Cowboys of Rodeo
Author: Keith Ryan Cartwright
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2021-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1496229495

They ride horses, rope calves, buck broncos, ride and fight bulls, and even wrestle steers. They are Black cowboys, and the legacies of their pursuits intersect with those of America’s struggle for racial equality, human rights, and social justice. Keith Ryan Cartwright brings to life the stories of such pioneers as Cleo Hearn, the first Black cowboy to professionally rope in the Rodeo Cowboy Association; Myrtis Dightman, who became known as the Jackie Robinson of Rodeo after being the first Black cowboy to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo; and Tex Williams, the first Black cowboy to become a state high school rodeo champion in Texas. Black Cowboys of Rodeo is a collection of one hundred years of stories, told by these revolutionary Black pioneers themselves and set against the backdrop of Reconstruction, Jim Crow, segregation, the civil rights movement, and eventually the integration of a racially divided country.

Fred Hayman, the Extraordinary Difference

Fred Hayman, the Extraordinary Difference
Author: Rose Apodaca
Publisher:
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2011
Genre: Beverly Hills (Calif.)
ISBN: 9780615431833

"Under the landmark yellow and white striped awnings of Giorgio Beverly Hills, he transformed a sleepy, ordinary main street of an otherwise well-heeled "village" into one of the top platinum shopping attractions among the international jet set"--Publisher's web site.

My Rodeo Years

My Rodeo Years
Author: Yakima Canutt
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0786458194

Rodeo legend, actor and stuntman Yakima Canutt blazed a trail as a champion bronco buster and rode to fame as a collaborator with John Wayne, who claimed to borrow his on-screen persona from Canutt's real one. This memoir, as told to John Crawford, relates Canutt's years on the rodeo circuit, his roles in silent westerns, and his craftsmanship in movie stunts on such epics as Stagecoach and Ben-Hur, as well as his family life and friendships.

Bucking Hollywood

Bucking Hollywood
Author: Susan Robertson
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2019-04-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1644248018

A unique and gifted actor once bucked the system in Hollywood. This is the life story of movie and TV actor Dale Robertson, told by the person who knew him best: his wife, Susan. Susan says she is not a professional writer but wanted to write this book totally herself with her own thoughts, ideas, time frame, and no ghost writer. She laughs when someone says, "Well, you are a writer now." As she states in the book, Dale would joke when someone would approach him to do his autobiography. He'd say, "Not now." It was because he did not know how it ended. Also he would remind them of all the thousands of interviews he had done over the years and to "let the younger actors do these interviews now." Because the autobiography had not been done, Susan wanted to do it to help in some way to preserve his legacy. Susan now resides in San Diego, California, to be closer to family and hopes folks will enjoy the book. She knows her husband better and that he did not compromise himself in the film industry and in life.

The Rodeo and Hollywood

The Rodeo and Hollywood
Author: Jim Ryan
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2006
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN:

"This reference book provides career profiles of both types of performers who crossed over between acting and cowboying . Chapters trace the careers of notable rodeo stars who appeared on film or TV, detail the rodeo appearances that made their names in electronic entertainment first, and list the cowboy, western adventure and related films from the era"--Provided by publisher.

Hillbilly Hollywood

Hillbilly Hollywood
Author: Debby Bull
Publisher:
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2004-11-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9780974159904

'Hillbilly Hollywood' is the first serious look at the origins of country & Western style in California in the 1930s and '40s and the stories of the tailors Nudie and Turk. We may think of Nashville as the country & Western capital of America, but L.A. had more hillbilly singers at work in the early years--in the movies, at the recording studios and on C&W radio shows. The style adopted by these music pioneers, a colorful mix of cowboy and show business, still defines fancy Western wear. Book cover has real rhinestones on a black cowboy-shirt-like cloth background and a die-cut frame over vintage photograph. Winner of many design awards.

Call Me Lucky

Call Me Lucky
Author: Mike Farris
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2012-11-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0806185740

“Do you think you could teach Rock Hudson to talk like you do?” The question came from famed Hollywood director George Stevens, and an affirmative answer propelled Bob Hinkle into a fifty-year career in Hollywood as a speech coach, actor, producer, director, and friend to the stars. Along the way, Hinkle helped Rock Hudson, Dennis Hopper, Carroll Baker, and Mercedes McCambridge talk like Texans for the 1956 epic film Giant. He also helped create the character Jett Rink with James Dean, who became a best friend, and he consoled Elizabeth Taylor personally when Dean was killed in a tragic car accident before the film was released. A few years later, Paul Newman asked Hinkle to do for him what he’d done for James Dean. The result was Newman’s powerful portrayal of a Texas no-good in the Academy Award–winning film Hud (1963). Hinkle could—and did—stop by the LBJ Ranch to exchange pleasantries with the president of the United States. He did likewise with Elvis Presley at Graceland. Good friends with Robert Wagner, Hinkle even taught Wagner’s wife Natalie Wood how to throw a rope. He appeared in numerous television series, including Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Dragnet, and Walker, Texas Ranger. On a handshake, he worked as country music legend Marty Robbins’s manager, and he helped Evel Knievel rise to fame. From his birth in Brownfield, Texas, to a family so poor “they could only afford a tumbleweed as a pet,” Hinkle went on to gain acclaim in Hollywood. Through it all, he remained the salty, down-to-earth former rodeo cowboy from West Texas who could talk his way into—or out of—most any situation. More than forty photographs, including rare behind-the-scenes glimpses of the stars Hinkle met and befriended along the way, complement this rousing, never-dull memoir.

The Nicest Fella - The Life of Ben Johnson

The Nicest Fella - The Life of Ben Johnson
Author: Richard D. Jensen
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2010
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1440196788

This is the amazing story of Ben Johnson, the cowboy who grew up in the tall grass prairie of Oklahoma, rode to Hollywood in a boxcar full of horses and became an Oscar-winning actor. Johnson co-starred in some of Hollywood's greatest Western movies of all time, alongside John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, Marlon Brando, Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Burt Reynolds, Alan Ladd, and many more. Known as "Son" to his family and friends, Johnson was the son of a three-time world champion rodeo cowboy also named Ben Johnson. Dividing his time between the world of movies and the world of rodeo, "Son" Johnson became one of the greatest rodeo cowboys of all time, winning the 1953 RCA World Championship for team roping. A man of principle who believed in the value of "honesty, realism and respect," Johnson managed to forge a successful career in the film industry without becoming a part of the excesses of Hollywood. He often paid dearly for his integrity, enduring a blacklist by famed Western director John Ford for refusing to allow Ford to verbally abuse him. Johnson's career lasted more than 50 years, with many highs and lows, but through it all he always stayed true to the cowboy code. When he won his Oscar for The Last Picture Show in 1972, Johnson took the stage and, in his typical "aw shucks" way, said, "This couldn't have happened to a nicer fella." The Nicest Fella is a must read for fans of Ben Johnson, rodeo fans, Western movie buffs, Hollywood fanatics, and anyone who still believes in the American dream! With 30 pages of never-before-seen photographs from the Johnson family collection and a complete filmography.

Bull Riding

Bull Riding
Author: John Hamilton
Publisher: ABDO Publishing Company
Total Pages: 34
Release: 2013-08-15
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1624013430

This title introduces readers to bull riding, rodeo's most dangerous event. Readers will learn the rules of competition, such as how long a rider must stay on the bull and safety equipment such as leather chaps and helmets are covered. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. A&D Xtreme is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.