All Blog Posts (2,606)

May 29, 2012

Worked this weekend on new images of the James Gang in Minnesota. Working on a big sucker called "They Took The Whole Road," portraying the James-Younger crew riding into Mankato (their original target for a bank raid). Here it is, a work in progress:

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     The San Antonio and San Diego mail line (The Jackass) received its nickname after being insulted in the San Francisco papers in 1859.  I am trying to find out when the association to mule back travel started. 

OK, you True West experts, aficcionados, fanatics, mavens and historians, here's a new little quiz for you. The winners get a hearty virtual high-five. What is a "foot-pad" in old West parlance?

TO ALL WHO HAVE SERVED IN THE MILITARY:  HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY AND THANK YOU FOR SERVING!

This month's Cottonwood Clarion is out; and it's awesome as ever!

Check it out here!  http://securenetgate9.com/campaign.php?coid=2462147&cid=1432#

 And be sure to sign up to receive a copy in your email!…

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH OR THE MOTHER LODE, I WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST THE FOLLOWING:  OTHETO WESTON'S MOTHER LODE ALBUM, GIL RICHARDS' HISTORIC SITES OF THE CALIFORNIA MOTHER LODE, OLAF JENKINS' GEOLOGIC GUIDEBOOK ALONG HIGHWAY  49, SUNSET MAGAZINE'S GOLD RUSH COUNTRY { 1957 AND 1972  EDITIONS ], AND LESLIE KELLY'S CALIFORNIA'S GOLD RUSH COUNTRY.  SHORTLY AFTER I FOUND KELLY'S BOOK, I COMPARED LOCATIONS IN THE OTHERS WITH WHAT WAS IN KELLY'S AND WAS DELIGHTED TO FIND…

IN THE MIDDLE OR LATE  1980S, I VAGUELY REMEMBER SEEING REFERENCES THAT CLAIMED QUANTRILL SURVIVED THE WAR AND LIVED FOR A GOOD MANY YEARS ON AN ISLAND IN WASHINGTON STATE.  I BELIEVE THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE MAY HAVE APPEARED IN AMERICAN HERITAGE OR AMERICAN WEST.  I DO NOT REMEMBER IF I SAW THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE, BUT DO VAGUELY REMEMBER SEEING SOME FEEDBACK.  I HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO FIND REFERENCES TO THIS IN PERIODICAL INDEXES.  THIS MAY WELL BE NOTHING BUT FLIM-FLAM.  HAD ANYONE EVER HEARD OF…

May 25, 2012

I know some have been talking about this, but we just got official word that Tom Cruise is interested in doing a remake of "The Magnificent Seven." The article quotes our very own Henry Cabot Lodge as suggesting Cruise should play Calvera, the bad guy who Eli Wallach played in the 1960 version.

Here's the actual paragraph, written by Graham Fuller:

One assumes Cruise would play Vin (the Steve McQueen character) or Chris (Yul…

May 25, 2012

Working this morning on several fronts. In the middle of a James Gang painting that I need to deliver to Iowa next month. Also angling to complete the Wyatt Earp time travel.

Just approved Dan The Man's new cover for August. Dan pitched us on the idea of Photoshopping the heads of the real Butch and Sundance onto the bodies of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in their iconic death charge. I told him I thought it would never work and for good…

May 24, 2012

Working on finishing our train issue. I have a pet peeve about horseback riders attacking a train, as they invariably do in the movies (think Shanghai Noon where Owen Wilson channels Led Zeppelin and rides down a hill with other outlaws to rob a train). Most horses hate trains and want nothing to do with riding up next to them, EVEN when they're standing still! Think about it: the train is made of metal. The engineer can duck down. They don't…

This week's Cowboy Loreand Legend, The Cattle Drive,Part 4, Heading Out ~ Find it and this week's cartoons at the blog! http://stanlyndeauthor.com/?page_id=2889

May 23, 2012

One of the reasons I considered myself the director at the shoot on Monday is because I drew the storyboards for the sequences. Here's the one for the George Warren horse race:

The cell phone videos I posted yesterday were depicting the last three…

May 22, 2012

It was a scorcher yesterday, and me and my crazy friends, spent the day shooting video out at Pioneer, Arizona. Thanks to Dr. Buck Montgomery and friends we had some good looks and good actors to choose from. It was a very ambitious shoot with a shot list that topped more than a dozen set ups.

We started at eight sharp and shot in doors without AC in the morning, so we wanted to get those done and "in the can" first. Taped Jana…

It is not just cowboys who can look the same and whose faces and stamping grounds we can muddle up. Have you ever confused Mary Colter and Mary Colton?

Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton (1889-1971) was a leading member of the early resident artist community of Arizona which was comprised mostly of talented and adventurous women.  After visiting AZ several times since 1912, she moved with her husband to AZ in 1926. 1928 they founded the Museum of Northern…

Now, there's no question whether or not, cowboys verbally used swear words 130 years ago. The real question is, what were the favorite ugly words of that time period? I watched the complete first season of the HBO series, "Deadwood" a few weeks back. And I can certainly tell you they used some darling little words. I couldn't help but think, maybe they sounded a little too modern. So, does anyone know what colorful language was genuine and original to the Old West?

May 20, 2012

Got a big video shoot in the morning. Getting prepped for that.

Meanwhile, we had 2000 fires last year (a record) and it appears we are off to a roaring start this year. We've got a big one burning not far from Cave Creek, in the Bradshaws, threatening Crown King, the tiny town with the mining past. I believe it's part of the same fire that's decimated Battle Flat (site of a famous 1860s gunfight we just covered in True West). This one is…

DURING THE 1970S AND 1980S, I READ A LOT OF THE WESTERN MAGAZINES:  TRUE WEST, OLD WEST, FRONTIER TIMES, REAL WEST, THE WEST, WESTERNER, FRONTIER WEST.  I NOTICED THAT ONE WRITER--MAURICE KILDARE--WAS A VERY PROLIFIC WRITER.  I LEARNED SEVERAL YEARS AGO THAT HIS TRUE NAME WAS GLADWELL RICHARDSON AND THAT HE USED A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT NAMES IN HIS WRITING, MUCH THE SAME AS FREDERICK FAUST USED A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT NAMES--THE BEST KNOWN BEING MAX BRAND.

In reading some of Bob Boze Bell's posts on his new home of Cave Creek, I'm moved to tell him of my experiences as a boy.  My dad was a pipeline contractor out of Phoenix (Arizona Welding Works on the corner of 2nd ave and Jackson).  He started this business in 1915, sold it, then repurchased it in 1925 after a stint in the shipyards in Seattle during the war.  I would often be with him in his 1935 Dodge pickup, with his welding tanks in the back.  Every time we went thru Cave Creek, the…

IN HIS HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE OUTLAW WEST, PATTERSON MENTIONED A HIRAM BEBEE OF UTAH WHO WAS CONVICTED OF MURDER AND DIED IN THE STATE'S PRISON AT AN ADVANCED AGE.  THERE HAS BEEN SPECULATION THAT HE WAS ACTUALLY THE SUNDANCE KID.  I BELIEVE KERRY BOREN ALSO WROTE AN ARTICLE ABOUT HIM ABOUT  30  YEARS AGO.  PATTERSON USED A BOOK BY KIRBY AS A REFERENCE.  THERE HAS ALSO BEEN SPECULATION--SOME OF IT FOSTERED BY BUTCH CASSIDY'S RELATIVES AND A BOOK BY POINTER--THAT BUTCH ACTUALLY SURVIVED AND…

May 18, 2012

Gave a history talk to the Rotary Club at the Anthem Country Club this morning. great group. Very funny crowd, lots of laughs all around.

Last week, Ken Amorosano and I motored up to Prescott Valley to see the new bronze "Not-So-Gentle Tamer" at Bronzesmith. And speaking of the sculpture and the inspiration for it, here is my grandmother Louise Guess with her husband Robert Guess and their first born, Sadie Pearl. Photo taken in 1915…