The Silver Screen Oasis

I tried checking their schedule, but January isn't up yet. When they started CHEYENNE they started with a 24-hour marathon on New Years Day beginning with the first episode. I wonder if they'll do that with WAGON TRAIN. It was one of my favorite westerns, especially the episodes with Ward Bond.

This news about adding Wagon Train to their schedule is on the Encore Western Channel as of this morning. It looks as though it is going to begin with a 24 hour marathon on New Year's Day. Gee, I sure hope they show the episodes with such guests as Robert Ryan, Linda Darnell, Sterling Hayden, Marjorie Main, and Claude Rains.

http://www.starz.com/series/wagontrain

Looks like my DVRs are going into meltdown mode on New Years Day. It use to be a staple in our house on Wednesday nights as my dad was a huge western fan. Having not seen most of them since the 1960s it will almost be like watching them for the first time. Can't wait to checkout the guest stars.

I had forgotten that ABC moved it to Mondays for the 1963-64 season and expanded it to 90 minutes. I hope Encore got those in the package too.

Be on the lookout for The Mary Halstead Story !!

I saw a promo for it this morning.

I've been reading Chuck Roberson's autobiography and John Ford wasn't too happy with Bond going to television. Bond apparently knew it. At a point where Bond was finally going to visit Ford Bond had his fatal heart attack. This came not long after Ford lost one of his favorite stunt men on "The Horse Soldiers."

I've read, I believe in it was in " Searching For John Ford ", by McBride that Ford encouraged Bond to agree to The Wagon Train deal. If my memory serves me it gave Ford the to call Bond the dumbest Irishmen that I've ever met. Ford had also called Bond a " dumb mick " when Bond invited Ford to attend a pro Joe McCarthy rally in Los Angeles.

You know, Ken, I imagine that Bond learned an enormous amount from his years in the John Ford Stock Company as the old man's favorite whipping boy, but I bet it might have given Ward Bond some satisfaction that he could actually achieve something away from Ford's supervision, don't you think? (Yes, I know Ford is supposed to have dropped by the set and helped out on Wagon Train for at least one credited episode. Something tells me that it was an honor Bond could've lived without--but Bond probably knew how John Wayne felt on the set of The Alamo when Ford showed up to help). My favorite Ward Bond performances are not in Westerns, though one is part of a Ford pic. The first one I like is when Bond is half of Burt and Ernie in you-know-what, and one of the few Ford movies that hasn't gotten as much obsessive attention as most: The Long Voyage Home. Bond is just great in that movie.

Btw, I know actors are citizens and have all the rights as the rest of us, but whenever I hear that people listen to actors on the left, on the right or in space cadet territory to help them make any political choices, I have to agree with Ford.

Looks like {b]Wagon Train[/b] isn't replacing The Virginian when it joins the Encore Westerns schedule.

Color me happy as I am enjoying watching The Virginian from the beginning.

And I look forward to Wagon Train!

"Wagon Train" is replacing "Cheyenne" in the late afternoon. "Cheyenne looks like it is going to the morning "Gunsmoke" slot and there will still be an evening "Gunsmoke."

Yep.
(To quote Gary Cooper.)