Is Your Stick Straight?

In a recent blog dealing with justification, I mentioned that Steven Judd's 'stick was straight,' and someone asked me what that meant.  Ironically, I got that term from a 1950 movie, Stars In My Crown, which stars Joel McCrea.  You may recall McCrea was the actor who portrayed Steven Judd.



Dean Stockwell, Joel McCrea and Juano Hernandez
in Stars In My Crown

 In the film, Ellen Drew (who always played a woman I wanted to marry) tells of how she had many suitors, and yet turned them all down.  Her mother became exapasperated, telling her of a child who went into the forest looking for a perfectly straight stick.  The child spent all day looking for this stick, never finding it.  All the child managed to do was become lost.  The mother told her, "You're looking for a straight stick."  Yet when she met Josiah Gray (McCrea), she knew she'd found her 'straight stick.'

Steven Judd's stick was justification, and he found it.  Others have different sticks.  With some it might be love, and others power.  A few, it might be a goal for a sports team.  Those particular sticks won't be straight, as rarely are they undefeated.  We need to be careful what we set as our sticks, our goals.  The phrase "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it," is more than an adage," but a pearl of wisdom.

What is your stick?  And is it one that when it's obtained, will it be a straight one?

More Than A Hobby

Scaramouche card

The other day I received in the mail a decent-sized package.  I opened it up, knowing full well what it was.  Checking the contents, I was quite happy, then put them in the bottom left drawer of my dresser.  You see, that's where that particular bit of merchandise goes.

Aha, you think.  He's just told us where he hides his Christmas presents.  Uh, no.  But that is where I put my non-Western movie memorabilia.  And these two lobby cards were from a 1962 re-release of Grand Hotel, which is anything but a Western.

Yes, I'm a movie memorabilia fanatic.  My family learned a long time ago to quit calling it 'stuff' or 'junk.'  The latter word always got a "tch, tch, tch," especially when they discovered what some posters were going for.  Alas, none of mine are in the astronomical range.

In that case, why own them?  Simple:  I like them. Now if I like the film and not the artwork, forget it.  A perfect example is the highly underrated 1956 Western Tension At Table Rock.  For a forgotten film, the memorabilia from this movie is astronomical.  And whoever designed the poster had to have been on LSD!  (Remember, it was legal then.)  Fortunately, the 1/2 sheet, which is 22x28 is wonderful and I found it for $4 in an auction.  I don't have a place to put it, but I have the money order going out in tomorrow's mail.

Several pieces of my memorabilia are signed:  A lobby card from True Grit is signed by Glen Campbell.  Henry Fonda's signature adorns a lobby card from The Rounders.  Robert Fuller not only autographed my soundtrack album from Return of the Seven, he'd never seen one before.  Joel McCrea signed my 1/4 sheet to Ride the High Country front and back.  (This is my favorite piece of memorabilia.)  An ad from The Comancheros has John Wayne's signature below it in the frame.

An entire wall of my study is adorned with lobby cards from Western films.  Every month, I change them out in order to showcase more cards. (I'm past due for this month.)  I do this in twenty-one different frames, and I have six posters on the wall, not counting the Ride the High Country one.   

One corner of my bedroom looks like a tribute to Scaramouche.  Janet Leigh has signed some things from that film.  Lesley Anne-Down has autographed some lobbies from The Pink Panther Strikes Again that are on the wall. 

Yes, it's an addiction.  But a harmless one.  And I do go through my collection, just like I did my baseball cards as a kid.  Sometimes, I'll go, "Wow.  I didn't remember having that German set," or, "Gee, that's in better shape than I realized," and I'll reminisce about the film or how I found the memorabilia.  It's a blast going through my collection. 

Everyone should have a hobby.  This is the one that helps to deplete my bank account.  But I enjoy it, and opening the package to see if that lobby card from the 1957 version of 3:10 to Yuma is as good as they say is always a thrill.  I know my friends and family think I'm a nut, but that's okay.  I'm just thankful they put up with me, quietly nodding as I get excited to see the mailman.