A Word on Westerns: John Wayne! The Saga of HONDO!

[Marshal Halloway]

John Wayne's 3-D feature film "Hondo" (1953) was a Box Office smash helping launch Louis L'Amour's best selling first novel, "Hondo," and a television series of the same name from writer/producer Andrew J. Fenady (Oct 4, 1928 - April 16, 2020). 

In this 2015 interview, A.J. recalls his first meeting with John Wayne, who was a big fan of Fenady's TV series "The Rebel" (1959-61), which Fenady produced and co-created with star Nick Adams. 

Fenady, of course, was a huge fan of Wayne's and created a way for them to work together. They partnered on the TV version of "Hondo" (1967) and later, on "Chisum" (1970), written and produced by Fenady. 

Find out how their friendship began and how they used another major Hollywood star to help launch the "Hondo" TV series.  On that, and his other series, "The Rebel" and "Branded," A.J. always made sure to hire as many Hollywood veterans both in front of and behind the camera. 

He continued that trait on a series of hit TV movies including "The Man with Bogart's Face," "The Sea Wolf" and the annual holiday hit, "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus."  This is a compilation of an interview done in September 2015.

[DB Books]

Now that's one heck of a story! I remember also how Coronel Potter on MASH was always reading Louis Lamour western novels in his off time. Last of the Plainsmen wound up in that time capsule they buried. I also ordered a few western DVD's on amazon yesterday. This John Wayne collection of greats, Hondo included, is one of them;

[DB Books]

I also have Louis L'Amour's book and more coming in sometime this afternoon. Looking forward to reading it. There are also two more books in this batch Tom Selleck did movies of. Do you know which two?...