112-743: Thomas Edwin Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix ; January 6, 1880 – October 12, 1940) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western films between 1909 and 1935. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent films . He was one of Hollywood's first Western stars and helped define the genre as it emerged in the early days of the cinema. Thomas Hezikiah Mix was born January 6, 1880, in Mix Run, Pennsylvania , approximately 62 miles (100 km) north of State College , to Edwin Elias Mix and Elizabeth Heistand. He grew up in nearby DuBois , where his father,
224-734: A film producer , was born there. While in Burlington, Parsons saw her first motion picture , The Great Train Robbery (1903). When her marriage broke up, Parsons moved to Chicago . In 1912, she had her first taste of the movie industry working for George K. Spoor as a scenario writer at the Essanay Company in Chicago, selling her first script for $ 25. Her daughter, Harriet , was billed as "Baby Parsons" in several movies, which included The Magic Wand (1912), written by Louella Parsons. She also wrote
336-592: A "Monument to the Stars" was erected on Beverly Drive (where it intersects Olympic Boulevard and becomes Beverwil) in Beverly Hills . The memorial consists of a bronze-green spiral of sprocketed "camera film" above a multi-sided tower, embossed with full-length likenesses of early stars who appeared in famous silent movies. Those memorialized include Douglas Fairbanks , Mary Pickford , Will Rogers , Conrad Nagel , Rudolph Valentino , Fred Niblo , Harold Lloyd , and Mix. There
448-549: A "mythic vision of the plains and deserts of the American West". Specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways, wilderness, and isolated military forts of the Wild West. Many Westerns use a stock plot of depicting a crime, then showing the pursuit of the wrongdoer, ending in revenge and retribution, which is often dispensed through a shootout or quick draw duel. The Western genre sometimes portrays
560-536: A "vicious and irresponsible attack on a great man". As a result, Hearst sent Parsons a letter complaining that he had learned about Citizen Kane from Hopper and not her. On the warpath, Parsons then demanded a private screening of the film and threatened RKO chief George Schaefer on Hearst's behalf, first with a lawsuit and then with a vague but powerful threat of consequences for everyone in Hollywood. On January 10, Parsons and two lawyers working for Hearst were given
672-424: A 12-acre (4.9 ha) shooting set called Mixville. Loaded with western props and furnishings, it has been described as a "complete frontier town, with a dusty street, hitching rails, a saloon, jail, bank, doctor's office, surveyor's office, and the simple frame houses typical of the early Western era". Near the back of the lot an Indian village of lodges was ringed by miniature plaster mountains. The set also included
784-408: A PR campaign decrying Bergman for being pregnant out of wedlock and carrying a married man's child. Parsons had allegedly received the tip from Howard Hughes who was incensed at Bergman for being unable to shoot a film for him as promised. Reportedly, whereas Hopper was more inclined to see their much-publicized antagonism as funny and good for business, Parsons took it personally and saw Hopper as
896-672: A book titled How to Write for the Movies . In 1914, Parsons began writing the first movie gossip column in the United States for the Chicago Record Herald . William Randolph Hearst bought that newspaper in 1918 and Parsons was out of a job, as Hearst had not yet discovered that movies and movie personalities were news. Parsons then moved to New York City and started working for the New York Morning Telegraph writing
1008-548: A financial contribution from a distant German relative. While still in college, Parsons obtained her first newspaper job as a part-time writer for the Dixon Star . In 1902, she became the first female journalist in Dixon, where she gossiped about Dixon social circles, making a step towards her Hollywood career. She and her first husband, John Parsons, moved to Burlington, Iowa . Her only child, Harriet (1906–1983), who grew up to become
1120-528: A group of 50 horsemen led by Seth Bullock , which included several former Rough Riders . Years later, Hollywood publicists muddled this event to imply that Mix had been a Rough Rider himself. Mix went to Oklahoma and lived in Guthrie , working as a bartender and other odd jobs. He was briefly night marshal of Dewey , in 1911. He worked at the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch , one of the largest ranching businesses in
1232-447: A horse and is armed with a revolver or rifle . The male characters typically wear broad-brimmed and high-crowned Stetson hats, neckerchief bandannas , vests , and cowboy boots with spurs . While many wear conventional shirts and trousers, alternatives include buckskins and dusters . Women are generally cast in secondary roles as love interests for the male lead; or in supporting roles as saloon girls, prostitutes or as
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#17328757881771344-446: A mutually beneficial arrangement. Hopper was then a moderately successful actress, and according to Parson's successor, Dorothy Manners, "if anything happened on a set—if a star and leading man were having an affair—Hedda would give Louella a call." In return, Hedda was guaranteed a few lines of copy under Louella's increasingly influential byline. After MGM canceled her contract, Hopper struggled to maintain her career as an actress. She
1456-476: A number of occasions, famous examples being Support Your Local Sheriff! , Cat Ballou , Mel Brooks 's Blazing Saddles , and Rustler's Rhapsody . George Lucas 's Star Wars films use many elements of a Western, and Lucas has said he intended for Star Wars to revitalize cinematic mythology, a part the Western once held. The Jedi , who take their name from Jidaigeki , are modeled after samurai, showing
1568-450: A planned community called Yavapai Hills, where there is a street named Bar Circle A Road. Mix's salary at Fox reached $ 7,500 a week. Gossip columnist Louella Parsons wrote that he had his initials in electric lights on the top of his house. His performances were realistic with action stunts, horseback riding, attention-grabbing cowboy costumes, and showmanship. At the Edendale lot, Mix built
1680-452: A popular art form. Western films commonly feature protagonists such as cowboys, gunslingers, and bounty hunters, who are often depicted as seminomadic wanderers who wear Stetson hats, bandannas , spurs, and buckskins , use revolvers or rifles as everyday tools of survival and as a means to settle disputes using frontier justice. Protagonists ride between dusty towns and cattle ranches on their trusty steeds. The first films that belong to
1792-549: A private screening of the film. Horrified by what she saw, Louella rushed out of the studio screening room to cable Hearst, who telegraphed back the terse message "Stop Citizen Kane". Soon after, Parsons called Schaefer and threatened RKO with a lawsuit if they released Kane . She also warned other studio heads that she would expose the private lives of people throughout the industry and reveal long-suppressed scandalous information. When Schaefer—who had also been threatened by Hearst with legal action—announced that Citizen Kane
1904-498: A rival in every possible way. Hopper also referred to Parsons' husband, Harry "Doc" Martin , as "that goddamn clap doctor", which infuriated Parsons. It has been suggested that Hopper was set up as a columnist by Louis B. Mayer (with the blessing of other studio chiefs) to offset Louella's monopolistic power. Gossip columnist Liz Smith , stated that: "The studios created both of them. And they thought they could control both of them. But they became Frankenstein monsters escaped from
2016-565: A setting, where it tasked players to lead a party of settlers moving westward in a covered wagon from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. The game only grew popular in the 1980s and 1990s as an educational game. The first video game Westerns to engage the mass public arrived in arcade games focused on the gunfighter in Westerns based on depictions in television shows, films and Electro-mechanical games such as Dale Six Shooter (1950), and Sega 's Gun Fight (1970). The first of these games
2128-678: A sheriff in fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming . Originally aired on the A&;E network from 2012 to 2014, it was picked up by Netflix in 2015 until the show's conclusion in 2017. AMC and Vince Gilligan's critically acclaimed Breaking Bad is a much more modern take on the Western genre. Set in New Mexico from 2008 through 2013, it follows Walter White ( Bryan Cranston ), a chemistry teacher diagnosed with Stage III Lung Cancer who cooks and sells crystal meth to provide money for his family after he dies, while slowly growing further and further into
2240-405: A similar movie column, which attracted the attention of Hearst after he saw her interview of his mistress and protégé Marion Davies . Parsons had encouraged readers to "give this girl a chance" while the majority of critics disparaged Davies. Parsons showered the former chorus girl with praise which led to a friendship between the two women and led to an offer from Hearst in 1923 for her to become
2352-551: A simulated desert, a large corral, and (to facilitate interior shots) a ranch house with no roof. Mix threatened to move to Argentina to make films or to join the circus, but eventually he signed with FBO , which he then left for Universal after salary disputes with FBO studio head Joseph P. Kennedy . He called Kennedy a "tight-assed, money-crazy son of a bitch". Mix became friends with Wyatt Earp , who lived in Los Angeles and occasionally visited Hollywood western movie sets. He
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#17328757881772464-479: A sister, Rae. In 1890, her widowed mother married John H. Edwards. They lived in Dixon, Illinois . Parsons decided to become a writer or a reporter during high school. At her 1901 high school graduation, she gave a foretelling speech, titled "Great Men", after which her principal announced that she would become a great writer. After high school, Parsons enrolled in a teacher's course at a local Dixon college. She received
2576-539: A stable master for a wealthy lumber merchant, taught him to ride and love horses. He spent time working on a local farm owned by John DuBois, a lumber businessman. In April 1898, during the Spanish–American War , Mix enlisted in the Army under the name Thomas E. (Edwin) Mix. His unit never went overseas, and Mix later failed to return for duty after an extended furlough when he married Grace I. Allin on July 18, 1902. Mix
2688-645: Is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States , particularly the Southwestern United States , as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada . The frontier
2800-581: Is a genre of literature set in the American Old West, most commonly between 1860 and 1900. The first critically recognized Western was The Virginian (1902) by Owen Wister . Other well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey , from the early 1900s, Ernest Haycox , Luke Short , and Louis L'Amour , from the mid 20th century. Many writers better known in other genres, such as Leigh Brackett , Elmore Leonard , and Larry McMurtry , have also written Western novels. The genre's popularity peaked in
2912-509: Is a series of seven books that meshes themes of Westerns, high fantasy , science fiction, and horror. The protagonist Roland Deschain is a gunslinger whose image and personality are largely inspired by the Man with No Name from Sergio Leone's films. In addition, the superhero fantasy genre has been described as having been derived from the cowboy hero, only powered up to omnipotence in a primarily urban setting. The Western genre has been parodied on
3024-443: Is a war film, but its action and characters are Western-like. The character played by Humphrey Bogart in noir films such as Casablanca and To Have and Have Not —an individual bound only by his own private code of honor—has a lot in common with the classic Western hero. In turn, the Western has also explored noir elements, as with films such as Colorado Territory and Pursued . In many of Robert A. Heinlein 's books,
3136-503: Is also a Tom Mix museum in Dewey, Oklahoma . Additionally, from 1986 to 2002 there existed another museum in his birthplace of Mix Run, Pennsylvania . Between 1980 and 2004, 21 Tom Mix festivals were held during the month of September, most of them in DuBois, Pennsylvania . Tom Mix was often portrayed in comic books , primarily during the heyday of Western-themed comics , the 1940s and 1950s. He
3248-544: Is depicted in Western media as a sparsely populated hostile region patrolled by cowboys , outlaws , sheriffs , and numerous other stock gunslinger characters. Western narratives often concern the gradual attempts to tame the crime-ridden American West using wider themes of justice , freedom, rugged individualism, manifest destiny , and the national history and identity of the United States . Native American populations were often portrayed as averse foes or savages . Originating in vaquero heritage and Western fiction ,
3360-413: Is maintained predominantly through relatively impersonal institutions such as courtrooms . The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a seminomadic wanderer, usually a cowboy or a gunfighter. A showdown or duel at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns. In some ways, such protagonists may be considered
3472-753: Is the place to go for music (raucous piano playing), women (often prostitutes ), gambling (draw poker or five-card stud), drinking ( beer , whiskey , or tequila if set in Mexico), brawling, and shooting. In some Westerns, where civilization has arrived, the town has a church, a general store, a bank, and a school; in others, where frontier rules still hold sway, it is, as Sergio Leone said, "where life has no value". Author and screenwriter Frank Gruber identified seven basic plots for Westerns: Gruber said that good writers used dialogue and plot development to develop these basic plots into believable stories. The American Film Institute defines Western films as those "set in
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3584-412: Is usually punctuated with a Western music score , including American folk music and Spanish / Mexican folk music such as country , Native American music , New Mexico music , and rancheras . Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid , desolate landscape of deserts and mountains . Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting
3696-635: The Los Angeles Examiner folded in 1962 her column was switched to the Hearst afternoon paper, the Los Angeles Herald-Express . This meant she lost an edge to Hopper's appearances in the morning Los Angeles Times . She continued her column until December 1965 when it was taken over by her assistant, Dorothy Manners, who had already been writing the column for more than a year. When Hedda had initially come to Hollywood, she and Parsons had
3808-697: The Los Angeles Times had also gotten the story. When she received a tip that Clark Gable was divorcing his second wife Ria, Parsons essentially held Mrs. Gable hostage at her home until she was sure that her story was speeding across the wire ahead of any other service. Her unofficial title 'Queen of Hollywood' was challenged in 1938 by newcomer Hedda Hopper , to whom she was initially friendly and helpful. However, they came to be fierce rivals. Parsons also appeared in many cameo spots in movies, including Without Reservations (1946), and Starlift (1951). In contrast to her arch-rival Hedda Hopper, who
3920-1331: The Atari 2600 and Gun Fight (1978) for the Bally Astrocade were derivative of Midway's Gun Fight . These early video games featured limited graphical capabilities , which had developers create Westerns to the most easily recognizable and popular tropes of the gunfighter shootouts. Western radio dramas were very popular from the 1930s to the 1960s. There were five types of Western radio dramas during this period: anthology programs, such as Empire Builders and Frontier Fighters ; juvenile adventure programs such as Red Ryder and Hopalong Cassidy ; legend and lore like Red Goose Indian Tales and Cowboy Tom's Round-Up ; adult Westerns like Fort Laramie and Frontier Gentleman ; and soap operas such as Cactus Kate . Some popular shows include The Lone Ranger (first broadcast in 1933), The Cisco Kid (first broadcast in 1942), Dr. Sixgun (first broadcast in 1954), Have Gun–Will Travel (first broadcast in 1958), and Gunsmoke (first broadcast in 1952). Many shows were done live, while others were transcribed. Westerns have been showcased in short-episodic web series. Examples include League of STEAM , Red Bird , and Arkansas Traveler . Within
4032-523: The Grand Canyon , Yosemite , and the giant redwoods , due in part to exhibitors' inability to switch over to widescreen during the Great Depression . After renewed commercial successes in the late 1930s, the popularity of Westerns continued to rise until its peak in the 1950s, when the number of Western films produced outnumbered all other genres combined. The period from 1940 to 1960 has been called
4144-503: The University of Southern California , Mix helped him find work moving props in the back lot of Fox Studios. That was the beginning of Wayne's Hollywood career. Mix made 291 movies throughout his career. As of 2007, only about 10% of these were known to be available for viewing, though it is unclear how many are now considered lost films . The 1937 Fox vault fire lost most of the archive of his films made with Fox. For his contribution to
4256-457: The space opera series Firefly used an explicitly Western theme for its portrayal of frontier worlds. Anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop , Trigun and Outlaw Star have been similar mixes of science-fiction and Western elements. The science fiction Western can be seen as a subgenre of either Westerns or science fiction. Elements of Western films can be found also in some films belonging essentially to other genres. For example, Kelly's Heroes
4368-419: The "Golden Age of the Western". It is epitomized by the work of several prominent directors including Robert Aldrich , Budd Boetticher , Delmer Daves , John Ford , and others. Some of the popular films during this era include Apache (1954), Broken Arrow (1950), and My Darling Clementine (1946). The changing popularity of the Western genre has influenced worldwide pop culture over time. During
4480-626: The $ 200-a-week motion-picture editor of his New York American . Her perpetual praise of Davies did not go unnoticed by others as well. The phrase "Marion never looked lovelier" became a standard in her column and a tongue-in-cheek cultural catchphrase. There was persistent speculation that Parsons was elevated to her position as the Hearst chain's lead gossip columnist because of a scandal about which she did not write. In 1924, director Thomas Ince died after being carried off Hearst's yacht, allegedly to be hospitalized for indigestion. Many Hearst newspapers falsely claimed that Ince had not been aboard
4592-432: The 1960s and 1970s, Spaghetti Westerns from Italy became popular worldwide; this was due to the success of Sergio Leone 's storytelling method. After having been previously pronounced dead, a resurgence of Westerns occurred during the 1990s with films such as Dances with Wolves (1990), Unforgiven (1992), and Geronimo (1993), as Westerns once again increased in popularity. When television became popular in
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4704-416: The 1960s, due in part to the shuttering of many pulp magazines, the popularity of televised Westerns , and the rise of the spy novel. Readership began to drop off in the mid- to late 1970s and reached a new low in the 2000s. Most bookstores, outside of a few Western states, now only carry a small number of Western novels and short-story collections. Literary forms that share similar themes include stories of
4816-454: The 1970s. These games and drew on the imagery of a mythic West portrayed in stories, films, television shows, and other assorted Western-themed toys. When game developers went to the imaginary West to create new experiences, they often drew consciously or unconsciously from Western stories and films. The 1971 text-based, Mainframe computer game The Oregon Trail was first game to use the West as
4928-573: The American West that [embody] the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier ". Originally, these films were called "Wild West dramas", a reference to Wild West shows like Buffalo Bill Cody's . The term "Western", used to describe a narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in Motion Picture World magazine. Most of the characteristics of Western films were part of 19th-century popular Western fiction , and were firmly in place before film became
5040-557: The American frontier, the gaucho literature of Argentina , and tales of the settlement of the Australian Outback. A number of visual artists focused their work on representations of the American Old West. American West-oriented art is sometimes referred to as "Western Art" by Americans. This relatively new category of art includes paintings, sculptures, and sometimes Native American crafts. Initially, subjects included exploration of
5152-483: The Army Medical Corps during World War I and World War II. His specialty was venereal diseases and he advanced to the post of Twentieth Century Fox 's chief medical officer. He was also known as a heavy drinker. They remained married until Martin's death on June 24, 1951. After Martin's death she dated songwriter Jimmy McHugh , a fellow Catholic who introduced her to many of the new teenage musical sensations of
5264-513: The Catholicism she began to practice in middle age. She alleged that her first husband died on a transport ship on the way home from World War I, leaving her a widow instead of a divorced single mother. Her second marriage to Jack McCaffrey and eventual divorce is omitted. Parsons was married three times. First, to real estate developer and broker John Dement Parsons, whom she married in 1905. From this union, they had one daughter named Harriet who
5376-645: The Eastern Bloc, or action films involving the Russian Revolution , the Russian Civil War , and the Basmachi rebellion. Many elements of space-travel series and films borrow extensively from the conventions of the Western genre. This is particularly the case in the space Western subgenre of science fiction. Peter Hyams 's Outland transferred the plot of High Noon to Io, moon of Jupiter. More recently,
5488-504: The Edendale studio. They married in 1918 and had a daughter, Thomasina (Tommie) Mix, in February 1922. Mix made more than 160 cowboy films throughout the 1920s. These featured action-oriented scripts contrasted with the documentary style of his work with Selig. Heroes and villains were sharply defined and a clean-cut cowboy always saved the day. Millions of American children grew up watching his films on Saturday afternoons. His horse, " Tony
5600-699: The Gods park in Chatsworth. Also in 1935, Texas governor James V. Allred named Mix an honorary Texas Ranger . Mix returned to circus performing, working with his eldest daughter Ruth Jane Mix, who had also appeared in some of his films. In 1938, he went to Europe on a promotional trip, leaving Ruth behind to manage the circus. Without him, however, the circus soon failed, and he later excluded her from his will. Mix had reportedly made over $ 6 million (equivalent to $ 133 million in 2023) during his 26-year film career. In 1933, Ralston Purina obtained his permission to produce
5712-513: The Prairie , McCloud , The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams , and the short-lived but highly acclaimed How the West Was Won that originated from a miniseries with the same name. In the 1990s and 2000s, hour-long Westerns and slickly packaged made-for-TV movie Westerns were introduced, such as Lonesome Dove (1989) and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman . Also, new elements were once again added to
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#17328757881775824-566: The United States, covering 101,000 acres (41,000 ha), hence its name. The ranch had its own touring Wild West show in which Mix appeared. He stood out as a skilled horseman and expert shot, winning national riding and roping contests at Prescott, Arizona , in 1909, and Canon City, Colorado , in 1910. Mix was a Freemason. Mix began his film career as a supporting cast member with the Selig Polyscope Company . His first appearance
5936-419: The Western formula, such as the space Western , Firefly , created by Joss Whedon in 2002. Deadwood was a critically acclaimed Western series that aired on HBO from 2004 through 2006. Hell on Wheels , a fictionalized story of the construction of the first transcontinental railroad , aired on AMC for five seasons between 2011 and 2016. Longmire is a Western series that centered on Walt Longmire ,
6048-801: The Western genre are a series of short single reel silents made in 1894 by Edison Studios at their Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey . These featured veterans of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show exhibiting skills acquired by living in the Old West – they included Annie Oakley (shooting) and members of the Sioux (dancing). The earliest known Western narrative film is the British short Kidnapping by Indians , made by Mitchell and Kenyon in Blackburn , England, in 1899. The Great Train Robbery (1903, based on
6160-622: The Western states and cowboy themes. Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell are two artists who captured the "Wild West" in paintings and sculpture. After the death of Remington Richard Lorenz became the preeminent artist painting in the Western genre. Some art museums, such as the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Wyoming and the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, feature American Western Art. With anime and manga ,
6272-472: The Wild West and modern technology like cars and cellphones, while also focusing primarily on being a Crime drama makes the show a unique spin on both genres. Walter's reliance on the desert environment makes the Western-feel a pivotal role in the show, and would continue to be used in the spinoff series Better Call Saul . The neo-Western drama Yellowstone was streamed from 2018-2024. Western fiction
6384-574: The Wonder Horse ", also became a celebrity. Mix did his own stunts and was frequently injured. In 1913, Mix moved his family to a ranch he purchased in Prescott named Bar Circle A Ranch. Some of his movies were filmed in his Prescott home. During this time, Mix had success in the local Prescott Frontier Days rodeo, which claims to be the "world's oldest rodeo". In 1920, he took first prize in a bull-riding contest. The Bar Circle A Ranch has been developed into
6496-418: The biggest hits of the year. Released through United Artists, Stagecoach made John Wayne a mainstream screen star in the wake of a decade of headlining B Westerns. Wayne had been introduced to the screen 10 years earlier as the leading man in director Raoul Walsh 's spectacular widescreen The Big Trail , which failed at the box office in spite of being shot on location across the American West, including
6608-439: The biggest scoop of her career to be the divorce of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Mary Pickford , at that time the most famous couple in Hollywood. Parsons had learned of the split from Pickford herself, who had made the mistake of counting on the columnist's discretion. Parsons sat on the story for six weeks, hoping that they would reconcile and concerned that the news might damage the film industry, but published once she heard that
6720-449: The boat at all and had fallen ill at the newspaper mogul's home . Charlie Chaplin 's secretary reported seeing a bullet hole in Ince's head when he was removed from the yacht. Rumors proliferated that Chaplin was having an affair with Hearst's mistress Davies, and that an attempt to shoot Chaplin may have caused Ince's death. Allegedly, Parsons was also aboard the yacht that night but she ignored
6832-613: The classic comics of the late 1940s and early 1950s (namely Kid Colt, Outlaw , Rawhide Kid , and Red Ryder ) or more modern ones as Blueberry ), cartoons, and parodies (such as Cocco Bill and Lucky Luke ). In the 1990s and 2000s, Western comics leaned towards the fantasy , horror and science fiction genres, usually involving supernatural monsters, or Christian iconography as in Preacher . More traditional Western comics are found throughout this period, though (e.g., Jonah Hex and Loveless ). Video game Westerns emerged in
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#17328757881776944-752: The conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature in the name of civilization or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original, Native American, inhabitants of the frontier. The Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice–"frontier justice"–dispensed by gunfights. These honor codes are often played out through depictions of feuds or individuals seeking personal revenge or retribution against someone who has wronged them (e.g., True Grit has revenge and retribution as its main themes). This Western depiction of personal justice contrasts sharply with justice systems organized around rationalistic, abstract law that exist in cities, in which social order
7056-428: The culture, such as spaghetti Westerns (Italy), meat pie Westerns (Australia), ramen Westerns (Asia), and masala Westerns (India). Being period drama pieces, both the Western and samurai genre influenced each other in style and themes throughout the years. The Magnificent Seven was a remake of Akira Kurosawa 's film Seven Samurai , and A Fistful of Dollars was a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo , which itself
7168-458: The dry climate, then to Los Angeles , where she decided to stay. With the disease in remission, she went back to work, and Hearst suggested she become a syndicated Hollywood columnist for his newspapers . As she and the publishing mogul developed an ironclad relationship, her Los Angeles Examiner column came to appear in over seven hundred newspapers the world over, with a readership of more than 20 million, and Parsons gradually became one of
7280-407: The earlier British film A Daring Daylight Burglary ), Edwin S. Porter 's film starring Broncho Billy Anderson , is often erroneously cited as the first Western, though George N. Fenin and William K. Everson point out (as mentioned above) that the "Edison company had played with Western material for several years prior to The Great Train Robbery ". Nonetheless, they concur that Porter's film "set
7392-463: The early 1960s, and their replacement by hour-long television shows, increasingly in color. Traditional Westerns died out in the late 1960s as a result of network changes in demographic targeting along with pressure from parental television groups. Future entries in the genre would incorporate elements from other genera, such as crime drama and mystery whodunit elements. Western shows from the 1970s included Hec Ramsey , Kung Fu , Little House on
7504-530: The film lost money. Parsons was by no means alone in her campaign against Citizen Kane but Welles never quite recovered his position in Hollywood afterward. In the early 1950s, the Los Angeles Examiner ran on its front page, above Parsons's byline: "Ingrid Bergman Baby Due in Three Months at Rome". Bergman had left her husband, neurologist Peter Lindström, to live in Italy with director Roberto Rossellini but
7616-470: The genre popularized the Western lifestyle , country - Western music , and Western wear globally. Throughout the history of the genre, it has seen popular revivals and been incorporated into various subgenres. The classic Western is a morality drama , presenting the conflict between wilderness and civilization . Stories commonly center on the life of a male drifter , cowboy , or gunslinger who rides
7728-426: The genre tends towards the science-fiction Western – e.g., Cowboy Bebop (1998 anime), Trigun (1995–2007 manga), and Outlaw Star (1996–1999 manga). Although contemporary Westerns also appear, such as Koya no Shonen Isamu , a 1971 shonen manga about a boy with a Japanese father and a Native American mother, or El Cazador de la Bruja , a 2007 anime television series set in modern-day Mexico. Part 7 of
7840-459: The harshness and isolation of the wilderness, and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Western films generally have specific settings, such as isolated ranches, Native American villages, or small frontier towns with a saloon. Oftentimes, these settings appear deserted and without much structure. Apart from the wilderness, the saloon usually emphasizes that this is the Wild West ; it
7952-466: The heroes of Westerns frequently rescue damsels in distress . Similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many characteristics with the ronin in modern Japanese culture. The Western typically takes these elements and uses them to tell simple morality tales, although some notable examples (e.g. the later Westerns of John Ford or Clint Eastwood 's Unforgiven , about an old contract killer ) are more morally ambiguous. Westerns often stress
8064-401: The illicit drug market, eventually turning into a ruthless drug dealer and killer. While the show has scenes in a populated suburban neighborhood and nearby Albuquerque , much of the show takes place in the desert, where Walter often takes his RV car out into the open desert to cook his meth, and most action sequences occur in the desert, similar to old-fashioned Western movies. The clash between
8176-762: The influence of Kurosawa. The character Han Solo dressed like an archetypal gunslinger, and the Mos Eisley cantina is much like an Old West saloon. Meanwhile, films such as The Big Lebowski , which plucked actor Sam Elliott out of the Old West and into a Los Angeles bowling alley, and Midnight Cowboy , about a Southern-boy-turned-gigolo in New York (who disappoints a client when he does not measure up to Gary Cooper), transplanted Western themes into modern settings for both purposes of parody and homage. Louella Parsons Louella Rose Oettinger , (August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) known professionally as Louella Parsons ,
8288-540: The influence of her powerful mother. After her retirement, Parsons lived in a nursing home where she died of arteriosclerosis on December 9, 1972, at the age of 91. Her funeral mass was attended by individuals from the movie industry with whom she had maintained genuine friendships. A convert to Roman Catholicism , she was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California . Parsons has two stars on
8400-419: The labs." Hopper and Parsons had a combined readership of 75 million in a country of 160 million. Parsons' memoir The Gay Illiterate (1944), published by Doubleday, Doran and Company , became a bestseller. It was followed by a second volume in 1961, Tell It to Louella , published by G.P. Putnam's Sons. In her personal histories, she expunged significant bits of her history in order to align her life with
8512-406: The larger scope of the Western genre, there are several recognized subgenres. Some subgenres, such as spaghetti Westerns , maintain standard Western settings and plots, while others take the Western theme and archetypes into different supergenres, such as neo-Westerns or space Westerns . For a time, Westerns made in countries other than the United States were often labeled by foods associated with
8624-788: The late 1940s and 1950s, Television Westerns quickly became an audience favorite. Beginning with rebroadcasts of existing films, a number of movie cowboys had their own TV shows. As demand for the Western increased, new stories and stars were introduced. A number of long-running TV Westerns became classics in their own right, such as: The Lone Ranger (1949–1957), Death Valley Days (1952–1970), The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961), Cheyenne (1955–1962), Gunsmoke (1955–1975), Maverick (1957–1962), Have Gun – Will Travel (1957–1963), Wagon Train (1957–1965), The Rifleman (1958–1963), Rawhide (1959–1966), Bonanza (1959–1973), The Virginian (1962–1971), and The Big Valley (1965–1969). The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
8736-480: The literary descendants of the knights-errant , who stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the Arthurian romances . Like the cowboy or gunfighter of the Western, the knight-errant of the earlier European tales and poetry was wandering from place to place on his horse, fighting villains of various kinds, and bound to no fixed social structures, but only to his own innate code of honor. Like knights-errant,
8848-461: The major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns, leaving the genre to smaller studios and producers. These smaller organizations churned out countless low-budget features and serials in the 1930s. An exception was The Big Trail, a 1930 American pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh. The epic film noted for its authenticity
8960-663: The manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is based in the American Western setting. The story follows racers in a transcontinental horse race, the "Steel Ball Run". Golden Kamuy (2014–2022) shifts its setting to the fallout of the Russo-Japanese War , specifically focusing on Hokkaido and Sakhalin , and featuring the Ainu people and other local tribes instead of Native Americans, as well other recognizable Western tropes. Western comics have included serious entries, (such as
9072-588: The most powerful voices in the movie business with her daily allotment of gossip. Beginning in 1928, she hosted a weekly radio program featuring movie star interviews that was sponsored by SunKist . A similar program in 1931 was sponsored by Charis Foundation Garment. In 1934, she signed a contract with the Campbell's Soup Company and began hosting a program titled Hollywood Hotel , which showcased stars in scenes from their upcoming movies. The stars appeared for free which did not please rival broadcasters or all of
9184-645: The motion picture industry, Mix has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street. His cowboy boot prints, palm prints and the hoof prints of his horse, Tony, are at Grauman's Chinese Theatre , at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard. In 1958 Mix was inducted posthumously into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma . In 1959,
9296-557: The nearby gully is known as " Tom Mix Wash ". The marker bears the inscription: "In memory of Tom Mix, whose spirit left his body on this spot and whose characterization and portrayals in life served to better fix memories of the old West in the minds of living men." Tom Mix was the acknowledged "King of Cowboys" when Ronald Reagan and John Wayne were young, and the influence of his screen persona can be seen in their approach to portraying cowboys. When an injury caused football player Marion Morrison (later known as John Wayne) to drop out of
9408-449: The news that she might be pregnant was met with some skepticism. Bergman was well known for the angelic role of Sister Benedict in The Bells of St. Mary's . Hopper, who had been a public supporter of Bergman, had believed the actress' denial of the pregnancy, and printed a fervent repudiation of the rumor. However, Bergman was indeed pregnant and Hopper, enraged at being scooped, launched
9520-510: The outskirts of Los Angeles. The site was known for its huge sandstone boulders, and one of them later became known as "Tom Mix Rock" when it was discovered it had been used in The Miracle Rider . In one episode, Mix was filmed descending from the top of the rock, with boot holes carved into it to assist him in making the descent. The rock and the boot holes, although unmarked, is in the Garden of
9632-432: The pattern—of crime, pursuit, and retribution—for the Western film as a genre". The film's popularity opened the door for Anderson to become the screen's first Western star; he made several hundred Western film shorts. So popular was the genre that he soon faced competition from Tom Mix and William S. Hart . Western films were enormously popular in the silent film era (1894–1927). With the advent of sound in 1927–1928,
9744-497: The radio series Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters , which, but for one year during World War II, was popular throughout most of the 1930s through the early 1950s, well after Mix's death. Mix never appeared on these broadcasts (his voice, damaged by a bullet to the throat and repeated broken noses, was not fit for radio) and was instead played by radio actors: Artells Dickson (early 1930s), Jack Holden (from 1937), Russell Thorsen (early 1940s) and Joe "Curley" Bradley (from 1944). Others in
9856-629: The settlement of other planets is depicted in ways explicitly modeled on American settlement of the West. For example, in his Tunnel in the Sky , settlers set out to the planet New Canaan, via an interstellar teleporter portal across the galaxy, in Conestoga wagons , their captain sporting mustaches and a little goatee and riding a Palomino horse—with Heinlein explaining that the colonists would need to survive on their own for some years, so horses are more practical than machines. Stephen King 's The Dark Tower
9968-655: The stars but they did not complain in case of reprisals. Her opening line of the show was "My first exclusive of tonight is...", which became feared. The show was cancelled after the Screen Actors Guild demanded payment for its members. Warner Bros. paid her $ 50,000 to appear in a filmed version in 1937, but the film flopped. Parsons saw herself as the social and moral arbiter of Hollywood and many feared her disfavor more than that of movie critics. Parsons had informants in studio corridors, hairdressers' salons, and lawyers' and doctors' offices. Her husband Harry Martin
10080-580: The story in her columns. The official cause of death was listed as heart failure . Parsons was a founding member of the New York Newspaper Women's Club , and was elected president of the organization for one term in 1925. In 1925, Parsons contracted tuberculosis and was told she had six months to live. She spent a year in Palm Springs, California , which led to it being a popular resort for Hollywood movie stars. She moved to Arizona for
10192-631: The supporting cast included George Gobel , Harold Peary and Willard Waterman . The Ralston company offered ads during the radio program for listeners to send in for a series of 12 special Ralston–Tom Mix comic books available only by writing the Ralston Company by mail. Most of Mix's radio work has been lost over the years; recordings of only approximately 30 scattered episodes, and no complete story arcs, survive. On October 12, 1940, after visiting Pima County Sheriff Ed Echols in Tucson , Arizona, Mix
10304-406: The time, including Elvis Presley . The couple were a fixture at parties, premieres, and such nightspots as Dino's Lodge on Sunset Strip. Harriet would later follow her mother's passion for writing, and would find employment as a writer for a popular California magazine. She also became one of the few female producers in the Hollywood studio system although she still struggled in this role despite
10416-555: The unchallenged "Queen of Hollywood gossip" until the arrival of the flamboyant Hedda Hopper , with whom she feuded for years. Parsons was born Louella Rose Oettinger in Freeport, Illinois , the daughter of Helen (nee; Stine) and Joshua Oettinger. Her father was of German Jewish descent, as was her maternal grandfather, while her maternal grandmother, Jeanette Wilcox, was of Irish origin. During her childhood, her parents attended an Episcopal church. She had two brothers, Edwin and Fred, and
10528-486: The wives of pioneers and settlers . The wife character often provides a measure of comic relief . Other recurring characters include Native Americans of various tribes described as Indians or Red Indians, African Americans , Chinese Americans , Spaniards , Mexicans , law enforcement officers , bounty hunters , outlaws , bartenders , merchants , gamblers , soldiers (especially mounted cavalry ), and settlers ( farmers , ranchers , and townsfolk). The ambience
10640-414: The word out than potentially disappoint her readers. She became known in Hollywood for assuming an air of goofy vagueness in order to snap up material without people suspecting she was listening or otherwise letting their guard down. After the death of Hearst in 1951 and with the rise of stars becoming producers, Parsons's influence diminished. She began to show signs of physical deterioration and when
10752-439: Was Midway 's Gun Fight , an adaptation of Taito 's Western Gun (1975) which featured two players against each other in a duel set on a sparse desert landscape with a few cacti and a moving covered wagon to hide behind. Atari 's Outlaw (1976) followed which explicitly framed the shootouts between "good guys" and "outlaws" also borrowing from gunfighter themes and imagery. Early console games such as Outlaw (1978) for
10864-578: Was a financial failure due to Depression era theatres not willing to invest in widescreen technology. By the late 1930s, the Western film was widely regarded as a pulp genre in Hollywood, but its popularity was dramatically revived in 1939 by major studio productions such as Dodge City starring Errol Flynn , Jesse James with Tyrone Power , Union Pacific with Joel McCrea , Destry Rides Again featuring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich , and especially John Ford's landmark Western adventure Stagecoach starring John Wayne , which became one of
10976-826: Was a pallbearer at Earp's funeral in January 1929. The newspapers reported that Mix cried during his friend's service. Mix appeared with the Sells-Floto Circus in 1929, 1930, and 1931 at a reported weekly salary of $ 20,000 (equivalent to $ 355,000 in 2023). Meanwhile, the Great Depression (along with the actor's free-spending ways and many wives) reportedly wiped out most of his savings. Mix and Forde divorced in 1931, and in 1932, he married his fifth wife, Mabel Hubbell Ward. Universal Pictures approached him in 1932 with an offer to perform in " talkies ," which included script and cast approval. He acted in nine films for Universal, but because of injuries he received while filming, he
11088-520: Was a urologist and Hollywood physician, and it was thought that he passed on information he learned in his position as a studio doctor. She worked from her Beverly Hills home with a staff consisting of a secretary, her assistant reviewer ( Dorothy Manners , who worked with Parsons for thirty years), a "leg" man who gathered news, and a female reporter who covered the cafés . She had three telephones in her office. She also had former silent-movie stars on her payroll to help them financially. She considered
11200-637: Was an American gossip columnist and a screenwriter. At her peak, her columns were read by 20 million people in 700 newspapers worldwide. She was the first writer of a dedicated column on motion pictures in the United States, writing one in 1914 for the Chicago Record-Herald . She later started a similar column for the New York Morning Telegraph , being lured away by William Randolph Hearst 's New York American in 1924 because she had championed Hearst's mistress Marion Davies . She subsequently became an influential figure in Hollywood and remained
11312-498: Was born on August 23, 1906, in Burlington City, Des Moines County, Iowa. Parsons divorced John in 1914. A year later, she married second husband John McCaffrey Jr. in 1915. The couple later divorced. She pursued singing as a hobby, and took voice lessons with Estelle Liebling , the voice teacher of Beverly Sills . Her third marriage was to Los Angeles surgeon Dr. Harry Martin (whom she called "Docky") in 1930; Martin served in
11424-718: Was first featured in 11 issues of Dell Comics ' The Comics from 1937 to 1938. The Ralston Purina Company , a sponsor of the radio series, produced nine issues of Tom Mix Comics in 1940–1941, and three issues of Tom Mix Commandos Comics in 1942. The 36-page comics were available by mail order, for two boxtops of any Ralston cereal. Fawcett Comics published 61 issues of Tom Mix Western from 1948 to 1953. Comics featuring Tom Mix were also published in Sweden, Germany, Canada, Australia, and Great Britain, including L. Miller & Son 's Tom Mix Western Comics , which ran 85 issues from 1948 to 1951. Western (genre) The Western
11536-903: Was in a short film, The Cowboy Millionaire , released on October 21, 1909. In 1910, he appeared as himself in a short documentary film, Ranch Life in the Great Southwest , in which he displayed his skills as a cattle wrangler. Shot in Dewey, Oklahoma with Selig studio cameramen, the film was a success, and Mix became an early motion picture star. Mix performed in more than 100 films for Selig, many of which were filmed in Las Vegas, New Mexico . While with Selig he co-starred in several films with Victoria Forde , and they fell in love. He divorced Olive Stokes in 1917. By then, Selig Polyscope had encountered severe financial difficulties, and Mix and Forde both subsequently signed with Fox Film Corporation , which had leased
11648-465: Was inspired by Red Harvest , an American detective novel by Dashiell Hammett . Kurosawa was influenced by American Westerns and was a fan of the genre, most especially John Ford . Despite the Cold War , the Western was a strong influence on Eastern Bloc cinema, which had its own take on the genre, the so-called Red Western or Ostern. Generally, these took two forms: either straight Westerns shot in
11760-402: Was involved with a Mayo Clinic nurse, from his wife, Betsey . The story became front-page news across the country. When rumors began to surface that Orson Welles debut film Citizen Kane was inspired by Hearst's life, Parsons lunched with the director and believed his evasions and denials. Hopper arrived uninvited to an early screening of the film and wrote a scathing critique, calling it
11872-654: Was killed when his car overturned while he was taking a detour 18 miles (29 km) south of Florence , Arizona . He was 60 years old. His funeral took place at the Little Church of the Flowers in Glendale, California , on October 16, 1940, and was attended by thousands of people. He is buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery . A small stone memorial marks the site of his death on State Route 79, and
11984-546: Was listed as AWOL on November 4, 1902, but was never court-martialed . His marriage to Allin was annulled after one year. In 1905, Mix married Kitty Jewel Perinne, and this marriage also ended within a year. He next married Olive Stokes on January 10, 1909, in Medora, North Dakota . On July 13, 1912, Olive gave birth to their daughter Ruth . In 1905, Mix rode in President Theodore Roosevelt 's inaugural parade with
12096-418: Was notorious for her column's crass tone, Parsons' writing style was often described as "sweetness and light" or "gooey". She received criticism for her casual chatty tone and casual regard for dates and places. She countered that "the best gossip" is informal and that the speed at which she needed to complete her daily column did not allow for much rewriting or polishing. She stated that she would rather get
12208-482: Was offered a position as a Hollywood columnist by the Esquire Feature Syndicate due to a recommendation by Andy Hervey of MGM 's publicity department. One of the first papers to pick up "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood" was the Los Angeles Times , a morning paper like Louella's Examiner . Hopper first publicly scooped Parsons with the divorce of the president's son Jimmy Roosevelt (a Goldwyn employee), who
12320-544: Was reluctant to do any more. Around 1933, Mix appeared with the Sam B. Dill circus, which he reportedly bought two years later (in 1935). Mix's last screen appearance was a 15-episode sound Mascot Pictures serial, The Miracle Rider (1935), for which he received $ 40,000 for the four weeks of filming. Outdoor action sequences for the production were filmed primarily on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, on
12432-403: Was scheduled to premiere in February 1941 at Radio City Music Hall , Parsons contacted the manager of Radio City Music Hall and advised him that exhibiting the film would result in a press blackout. The premiere was canceled. Other exhibitors were fearful of being sued by Hearst and refused to show the film. As a result, despite support from Hearst adversaries as Henry Luce , on release overall
12544-515: Was the first Western television series written for adults, premiering four days before Gunsmoke on September 6, 1955. The peak year for television Westerns was 1959, with 26 such shows airing during primetime. At least six of them were connected in some extent to Wyatt Earp : The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp , Bat Masterson , Tombstone Territory , Broken Arrow , Johnny Ringo , and Gunsmoke . Increasing costs of American television production weeded out most action half-hour series in
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