No Justice For John Wayne and No John Wayne Justice
Marion Morrison on the USC gridiron
On This Date In History
John Wayne got fired on this date in 1931 by Fox studios. Wayne had been born in Iowa but moved to Glendale, CA as a child. He was a star football player at Glendale High School and went to USC on a scholarship. He quit school after two years and in 1928 signed on with Fox after working there doing manual labor. I guess the honchos at Fox didn’t see much in his small roles, so they canned him. He had been using the name Duke Morrison. His real name was Marion Morrison and he took the name of his family dog as a first name. A director at Fox, Raoul Walsh claims he “discovered” Wayne and suggested he use Anthony Wayne, after a Revolutionary War Hero. Fox studios thought it sounded “too italian” so Walsh suggested John Wayne. He had befriended John Ford early in his career and after making several lousy movies for several years for Lonestar/Monogram pictures, including parts as a singing cowboy, Ford cast him in Stagecoach in 1939. The legend of John Wayne was born.
Dern as the Notorious Longhair
Duke Gives Dern ("Longhair") Some Real Justice
In short, Fox blew it. But they can claim to have at least given him his final name. See, he was initially given the name Marion Robert Morrison. But his parents had another child and they wanted to call him Robert. So, they changed Marion’s middle name to Michael. Then he became Duke and finally John Wayne. I suppose Fox probably trumpets that they gave John Wayne his name and Raoul Walsh claims he “discovered” Wayne but the truth is that Fox fired a treasure, both in culture and at the box office, and John Ford created Wayne. In my book, Fox Studio chief Winfield Sheehan and Bruce Dern and the bartender in The Shootist are all linked together in the netherworld. Sheehan fired John Wayne, Bruce Dern shot him in the back in The Cowboys as did the bartender in The Shootist. The trio are definitely the biggest scoundrels in cinematic history!!!
Invaders Posed Before Going on Warpath
Bad Guys Even Lynched Ella Watson!
You’d Never See This Type of Justice in a John Wayne Movie:
By the late 1880′s, cattle ranching in the west had already gone corporate. The business was monopolized by companies headquartered in New York and London. The big operators controlled the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and regularly grazed their cattle on government lands, which was illegal, and put the squeeze on the small, independent ranchers. The Association used their money for political influence and gained the support of both US Senators and the acting governor as well as the state legislature. The state passed the Maverick Law, which said that any unbranded cattle that was found became the property of the Association. That allowed the cattle barons to run around seizing the little guy’s cattle that was unmarked. So, the ranchers retaliated by rustling the barons’ cattle. After a pretty tough winter that killed lots of livestock, the Association hired “cattle detectives” who went out to “exterminate” the rustlers, meaning the small ranchers. On this date 1892, these “detectives” went out into Johnson County, Wyoming with a few dozen Texas gunman as part of their firepower. The Johnson County Range War was on.
TA Ranch Served As Fort
The first stop was the ranch of Nick Champion who had organized a homesteader round-up of maverick cattle. Champion watched as his friend, Nick Ray, was gunned down and then held off the motley crew for several hours until they set fire to a wagon and sent it into his cabin. Champion tried to flee but was cut down in a hail of gunfire. Two down, more to go. The mob went to the Johnson County seat of Buffalo. But, Sheriff Red Angus got word of the impending onslaught and so he did what any good sheriff would do…he raised a posse! The posse met the barons’ marauders head on and forced them into a make-shift fort at the TA ranch. Other settlers came to the aid of the posse and soon there were 300 guns surrounding the holed up “detectives.”
Angus Had a Great Moustache
Now, remember, the barons had lots of cash and influence. So they got word to their Senators who in turn went in the middle of the night to roust President Benjamin Harrison from bed and tell him to send the cavalry. Naturally, Harrison acquiesced and sent the cavalry to bail out the invaders. Just as Red Angus’ men were moving toward the fort with a load of dynamite, the cavalry arrived. The barons and their band of gunmen got thrown in jail. But, the political power of the barons had the trial moved to Cheyenne, which was an Association stronghold. People who witnessed the killing of Ray and Champion were taken out of the state prior to the trial and Johnson County ran out of money after paying for the invaders detention in jail. Out of funds, the charges were dropped and the barons and their henchmen were set free. As I said…this never would have happened in a John Wayne movie.
Sunday Convective Outlook SPC
I told you so
Weather Bottom Line: Forecast continues on track. Saturday was beautiful, though we only made it to the low 60′s. Wall to wall sunshine though made it a great day to get out. I guess the economy isn’t bad for people if they have a job because the mall parking lots were full. When your in a position like me though…you simply drive by the stores. Anyway, I’ve been telling you all week that the SPC would change their tune and start acknowledging the severe risk for our area and, in fact, they finally are getting with the game. The indecies all week on the vertical profile model runs have been quite impressive. As I had mentioned earlier in the week, the timing of this system will be much better than the previous events which came as the sun was setting or had already set. This one will come in the afternoon so I suspect the storms will be on the upswing, not dying out. One possible inhibiting factor may be that there will not be ample time for a return of moisture which helps make the atmosphere more bouyant. However, there should be sufficient moisture and warmth to provide some instability and potential energy to work with strong wind dynamics aloft to support strong storms.
I’m using the 18Z runs from Saturday for this analysis and it probably won’t change much for the later runs. If the GFS is correct, then we get hammered. It has a SWEAT index of 563, Lifted
SPC Sunday Tornado Probabililty
Index of -5.3, Total Totals of 59 and a CAPE of 1164. It brings the action in the afternoon. But the NAM is far less aggressive. It doesn’t bring the action in until sunset and the SWEAT index is a formidable, but far less menacing 432. The other indecies with the NAM are also less ferocious. My guess is that we will be somewhere in between with the activity getting here prior to sunset and therefore stronger than the NAM suggests. However, I doubt if the CAPE gets that high. There is pretty decent veering going on an a strong vertical wind gradient so we might see some tornado warnings but most likely hail and high winds will be the most prevalent danger. While the veering is decent overall, as I had mentioned yesterday or the day before, there are some key areas in which it seems to be more unidirectional and I betcha these storms will be hauling ass at about 40 or 50 mph to the northeast while the line moves east at about 25 mph. In any event, I would expect a tornado watch for Sunday afternoon and evening and suggest that you stay tuned to your favorite channel or the radio just in case it gets out of hand. Remember, it’s Palm Sunday and I’ve told you about the tornado magnetism of Palm Sunday.
SPC Sunday Damaging Wind Probability
After that, the GFS and the NAM want to throw out snow showers for much of Monday into Monday night. It will be chilly but I don’t think that the ground will be cold enough to allow for much accumulation. It may be tough to get to 40 though on either day, especially Monday. Tuesday maybe low 40′s but by late Thursday into Friday, it would appear we may be in the mix for another round of strong storms.
DAY 1 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1243 AM CDT SUN APR 05 2009
VALID 051200Z – 061200Z
…THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS ACROSS THE OH/TN VALLEY…
SPC Severe Hail Probability
…THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE GULF
STATES AND SC…
…SYNOPSIS…
ANOTHER STRONG UPPER TROUGH AND ASSOCIATED SFC CYCLONE WILL EVOLVE
OVER THE MID MS/OH VALLEY REGION DURING THE DAY1 PERIOD WHILE AN
ACTIVE SRN STREAM WILL LIKELY ENHANCE ANOTHER BOUT OF STRONG
CONVECTION ACROSS THE SERN U.S. THE PRIMARY COMPLICATING FACTOR IS
THE ABSENCE OF SIGNIFICANT BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE ACROSS THE WARM
SECTOR. EVEN SO…STRONG/SEVERE CONVECTION WILL LIKELY EVOLVE
PRIMARILY IN A BIMODAL FASHION DUE TO AFOREMENTIONED LARGE SCALE
PROCESSES.
…OH/TN VALLEY…
STRONG MID LEVEL JET…H5 100KT+…WILL EJECT ACROSS AR INTO WRN
TN/KY BY LATE AFTERNOON SUNDAY WHICH WILL ALLOW UPPER LOW TO MOVE
EAST INTO IL WITH SIGNIFICANT MID LEVEL COOLING ALONG CYCLONIC SIDE
OF JET AXIS. MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT THAT BOUNDARY LAYER WILL
WARM RAPIDLY AHEAD OF COLD FRONT/SFC LOW OVER THE TN/OH VALLEY SOUTH
OF WARM FRONT. THIS WILL PROVE INSTRUMENTAL IN CONVECTIVE
DEVELOPMENT BY 18Z ALONG ADVANCING COLD FRONT AS WHAT LITTLE
INHIBITION IS OBSERVED EARLY IN THE PERIOD WILL BE REMOVED
QUICKLY…ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE STRONG FORCING WITHIN THE EXIT REGION
OF THE JET. FORECAST SOUNDINGS SUGGEST STRONG SWLY SHEAR VECTORS
WILL SUPPORT STORM MOTIONS IN EXCESS OF 45-50KT…CLEARLY SUPPORTIVE
OF DAMAGING WIND GUSTS GIVEN THE STEEP LOW LEVEL LAPSE RATES…IN
ADDITION TO LARGE HAIL GIVEN COOL PROFILES. AT THIS TIME IT APPEARS
CONVECTIVE MODE WILL BE PRIMARILY LINEAR IN NATURE…THOUGH AN
ISOLATED TORNADO CAN NOT BE RULED OUT…ESPECIALLY NEAR THE WARM
FRONT.
…GULF COAST/CAROLINAS…
AN ACTIVE SRN STREAM WILL ONCE AGAIN ENHANCE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY
ACROSS THE GULF STATES TODAY AS BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE RETURNS
QUICKLY ACROSS SRN MS/AL/NRN FL INTO GA. GFS/NAM ARE IN SOME
DISAGREEMENT REGARDING THE EVOLUTION OF MCS THAT INITIATES OVER AL
EARLY IN THE PERIOD DUE TO STRENGTHENING LOW LEVEL WARM ADVECTION.
NAM INSISTS THIS CLUSTER WILL SPREAD EWD ACROSS SRN GA INTO SRN SC
WHILE GFS IS A BIT FARTHER NORTH ACROSS GA/SC. EITHER SCENARIO IS
CERTAINLY POSSIBLE BUT WILL ACCOUNT FOR SLIGHT NWD EVOLUTION…THUS
NWD EXPANSION OF CURRENT SLIGHT RISK INTO CNTRL GA. OF SOME CONCERN
WILL BE THE POTENTIAL FOR DESTABILIZATION IN THE WAKE OF THIS MCS
DURING THE LATTER HALF OF THE PERIOD AHEAD OF SURGING COLD FRONT.
LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE WILL NOT BE PARTICULARLY STRONG ALONG WIND
SHIFT…BUT STRONG WLY FLOW AND GRADUAL HEIGHT FALLS SUGGEST AN
ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OR TWO COULD EVOLVE AFTER MIDNIGHT.
GIVEN THE WEAK MODEL SIGNAL WILL OPT TO KEEP LOW PROBABILITIES
ACROSS NRN AL/GA. ADDITIONALLY…SEVERE THREAT SHOULD REMAIN
MARGINAL ACROSS NC UNTIL EARLY IN THE DAY2 PERIOD AS BUOYANCY
SPREADS NORTH QUICKLY AHEAD OF UPPER TROUGH. DAMAGING WINDS AND
LARGE HAIL ARE THE GREATEST RISKS WITH MCS CLUSTER OVER THE GULF
STATES…THOUGH ANY DISCRETE UPDRAFTS CERTAINLY WILL TRY TO ROTATE
AND ISOLATED TORNADOES CAN BE EXPECTED WITH SUPERCELL STRUCTURES.
..DARROW/JEWELL.. 04/05/2009
Hey Mr Symon,
What time do you expect these storms to come through?
Guess here is between 4 and 6.
I like John Wayne movies. Sure the acting is second rate for the most part (John Wayne was usually the best actor) but in his movies the good guys usually won and the bad guys usually got theirs in the end. I know that real life doesn’t work that way–but it should! I guess that’s why I like John Wayne movies.
Yep, you’ve been saying Sunday had the potential to be ugly pretty much all week. It sure feels humid outside now and the sun is shining. If the storms do come through as schedule it seems like the ingredients for nasty weather are all in place. Let’s hope no one gets hurt and the power stays on!
From the 60′s on, John Wayne had a stock of actors who were in all of his movies. He gave guys like Bruce Cabot a job, though he was in Diamonds Are Forever.
Engaging web site=) Will definitely visit soon=D
I am a great admirer of John Wayne since my college days in 60s. I have with me some of his memorable movies in DVDs and enjoy them immensely.
where was this image taken and if in a movie witch one
Not sure which photo you are speaking about. The one’s down below are from The Cowboys… Wil Anderson (Wayne) is whippin up on Longhair (Bruce Dern) right before Dern ends up on the bowels of Hollywood when he shoots John Wayne in the back. The one from the top look suspciously to me like the opening or closing shot from Chisum, though I do not recall the sky being a sunset on either of those shots…though I may be mistaken and the last close up was with that type of sky. But, the pose and the clothes look just like John Chisum on his horse looking over his spread.