1. I had
a chance to watch the greatest western of all time last week with my
two oldest daughters. Haleigh, Abby, and I watched LONESOME DOVE. This is the
fourth time I have seen it; the last time was 1998.
I
had forgotten how good the cinematography was in this mini-series. The actors’
work with the horses and cattle, and the stunt persons’ work was phenomenal.
Of
course, this series is where Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall sealed their
legends. Still, others in the ensemble cast such as Danny Glover, Ricky
Schroeder, Diane Lane, and Chris Cooper gave strong performances.
None
of that would've mattered without a strong story. Larry McMurtry's novel
deserved the Pulitzer Prize it won back in 1985. If you know me you know that I
don't normally read fiction, but I made an exception years ago, in this case. I
found the book to be an enormously pleasant read.
I
am glad to say that my girls enjoyed the miniseries as well. I would like to
thank my wife for allowing Haleigh and Abby to finally watch this miniseries.
2.
A couple of years ago, the magazine TEXAS MONTHLY did a retrospective look at
Lonesome Dove in commemoration of its 25th anniversary. The piece was
entertaining, but one of my favorite lines came from a friend of Larry
McMurtry, who was commenting on how long it took for the literary elite in New
York City to accept McMurtry as a peer: “People in
New York have extremely narrow horizons. The parochialism (narrow-mindedness)
of the center is always greater than that of the provinces. In the provinces,
they keep an eye on the center, but in the center they just gaze lovingly at
themselves with both eyes.” I think that is an outstanding observation.
3.
One of the great stories from the magazine article began with Tommy Lee Jones
noting, with amusement, that an executive from CBS (the network which was going
to broadcast Lonesome Dove) called one of the producers of L.D. to ask, “Do we
have to use cows?”
It
turns out that CBS was astonished by the cost of the using cattle in the
series. A meeting was called, and Bill Wittliff, one of the producers attended.
At
the conference, an executive asked him, “Bill, listen to this. What if they
start the drive and right away there's that storm and the cattle scatter?
You're the writer; why not let the cows go and have [Captain] Call (Tommy Lee
Jones’ character) say, ‘Let's just keep going.’ Then you have all those guys
going to Montana, doing all that stuff, but we don't have to pay for the
cattle.”
Wittliff
was stunned. Intending to show subtle sarcasm, he responded, “Here’s a
thought: why don't we just forget the cattle and get a herd of Angora goats?
They can be the first guys to drive a herd of goats to Montana.”
To
his dismay, one of the executives snapped his fingers and said, “Yeah, goats!”
Then Wittliff was forced to admit, “No, that's a joke.”
Fortunately,
saner heads prevailed, and the cattle stayed in the series. The rest is
history.
Let's
be honest: would you have tuned into the Lonesome Dove had it been about driving
a herd of Angora goats all the way from Texas to Montana? Me, either.
4.
One last story on Lonesome Dove. In September of 1998, Judy, Haleigh, Abby, and I were
vacationing. We stopped at Archer City, TX–the hometown of Larry McMurtry. This
was my family's concession to me. Knowing how much I liked books, the family
dropped me off at one of Larry McMurtry’s bookstores in Archer City (he had
four huge stores there at the time.)
I
was looking around at the books when lo and behold, I spotted the great man
himself. He was sweating profusely unpacking boxes of books. (This was
definitely one hands-on owner.)
Sitting
near him was a young man, in his 20s, holding a pen and a note pad. He was a
graduate student working on his Ph.D. in English. He obviously wanted to take
notes.
He
peppered McMurtry with dozens of questions attempting to infiltrate the
McMurtry's mind. This young man was hoping to discover the hidden meaning
behind Lonesome Dove.
McMurtry
was clearly disinterested. He may have even been a little irritated. As I
recall, McMurtry at one point looked at the student and said something to the
effect of, “People are always asking me about the metaphors and symbols of
Lonesome Dove. There are none. It's just a book.” He then went back to
unpacking his books.
I
continued my browsing and the young student left a few minutes later. A short
time later, Judy and the girls dropped by to pick me up. I told Judy, “You are
not going to believe this, but Larry McMurtry is inside the store. Let me bring
the girls inside. Maybe he will let me take a photo with them.”
At
that time, Haleigh was five and Abby was three. I approached Mr. McMurtry and
asked, “Mr. McMurtry, would you mind if I take a photo of you with my two
girls.”
His
whole demeanor changed. “I would be glad to,” he smiled. He could not have been
nicer. I took two or three photos just to make sure I got one that turned out
well.
Somewhere in our
collection of photographs, I have a picture of my two oldest girls standing
next to one of the great American authors of the 20th century.
5.
I think I mentioned recently that I have started listening to William
Manchester's first volume in his biography on Winston Churchill—THE LAST LION.
It’s been good so far. One of the best lines was when Manchester quoted
Churchill’s colorful description of what it was like to write a book–“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an
amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it
becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled
to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.”
I
did not find this to be true with the one book that I wrote years ago. I liked
the process very much. Of course, to this day no company has wanted to publish
that book. Maybe that is why.
On
the other hand, I have found his description to be very accurate describing my
experience writing a doctoral thesis. I am proud to say there are five bound
copies of that earth-shaking work in this world—spread out over five different
locations. If terrorists for some reason target all five locations, it is safe
to say the world will be deprived of a great labor of literature.
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