Here is a little clip from the outstanding panel discussion at the Memphis Film Festival with Henry Darrow, Don Collier, and Linda Cristal via speaker phone. There were about 200  people in the audience to listen to their heroes. In this clip Linda tells how she got the part of Victoria Cannon.

Ray Nielsen, director of the festival, is the moderator of the discussion. Besides the HC cast members, other members of the panel are Peter Brown and Anne Helm.


June 5, 2009 Panel Discussion at the Memphis Film Festival with Don Collier, Henry Darrow, Peter Brown, Anne Helm, and Linda Cristal via speaker phone.

        

In this 1947 movie, Leif Erickson plays a character very unlike Big John Cannon and very reminiscent of Manolito Montoya. Listen to his smooth dialog in this clip. Leif really makes this jungle movie something special.

        

Here is a scene from the TV Western series "Tate" with a baby-faced Ted Markland  (along with Martin Landau) as a guest star. This episode, "Tigero," and was broadcast on August 3, 1960.

        

Here is a Cowboy Christmas poem as told by Don Collier.

Played: 82 | Download | Duration: 00:00:00

        

Here is a Christmas poem as told by Don Collier.

Played: 48 | Download | Duration: 00:01:15

        

Here are two scenes from the Thanksgiving episode of The High Chaparral.

        

There are only 46 shopping days until Christmas. Susan McCray has recorded a wonderful promo with a great gift idea for all music lovers.

Played: 51 | Download | Duration: 00:01:38

      Warm Heart Cool Hands

 

        

On this day (November 8) in 1887, John Henry "Doc" Holliday died from tuberculosis. In his honor, here is a scene from The High Chaparral episode, "The Doctor From Dodge."

        

The following article appeared in a 1970 edition of the Tucson Citizen. The epsiode for which the babies were being cast was "A Matter of Survivial" from the 4th season. Watch the clip here to see Linda Cristal with the lucky baby who won the role (referred to in the IMDB as "the Glass twins").

Note the mention of Frank Kennedy. Attenders of the 2007 High Chaparral Reunion will remember meeting Frank's son Michael at the event.

See the actual article on the High Chaparral Reunion website here.

Tucson Daily Citizen WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1970
Five Pairs Good For TV Openers By Don Schellie

The "High Chaparral" brass waded into the room ready for the showdown.

Except for Henry Wills.

He tippy-toed into the room, sneakily skirted its center and folded quietly and wisely onto in out-of-the-way corner chair — far from the action. Which seemed like a chicken thing for Henry to do because he is action director of the NBC-TV series and usually is in the thick of things. But Henry's action means gunfights and falling from horses and tumbling off cliffs and barroom brawls of the knock-down, drag-out variety.

That forenoon last week, though, the action was of a different sort. The room — a Hilton Inn-banquet room — was knee-deep in babies and that action needed more of his direction. Somebody had written a baby into a Chaparral script to be filmed at Old Tucson, beginning this week. That meant - identical twins must be hired for the role so the tykes could spell one another before the camera.

Frank Kennedy, who operates a casting service here in Tucson, rounded up five sets of twins ranging from nine months to a year old. An assortment-of mothers and fathers, grandmothers, aunties, friends, brothers and sisters was seated around the room, juggling diaper bags, nursing bottles and toys and rattles that jingled when you shook them.

And clustered on the carpeting in the center of the room were the babies —10, count 'em, 10 — and that's where the action was. "Now, watch where you step," said Jim Schmerer, producer of the series, as he led the group into the room.

So production manager Kent McCray, director Bill Wiard and assistant director Ray DeCamp watched where they stepped. That's when Henry Wills tippytoed off to his quiet place in the corner.

McCray dropped to his knees and crawled into the throng. Jennifer — or maybe it was Janette — offered him a rattle.

Wiard, who will direct the baby segment, folded his fingers into a frame and squinted at babies through its knuckly aperture.

Kimberly (or Kelly?) took off at a fast crawl for the open doorway and DeCamp outdistanced her and pulled it shut. There were squawls and screeches and shrieks of delight. A mother wiped at a candidate's drool with Kleenex and explained simply, "Teething."

James and Joseph faced each other down and Leah Ann — or Lisa Ann — tried to scale the heights of Kent McCray. The Chaparral brass stepped back, away from the babies and parents, and held a whispery conference. Larkelyn followed them but Lynnelyn stayed behind with the other twins.

Somebody flung a nursing bottle and somebody else cried. One baby yanked a rattle from another baby's mouth and started gumming it herself. A mother made a quick grab — wiped the rattle — and handed it back to its owner. "Usually, she's not this fussy," another mother explained. "But it's almost nap time."

The director nodded knowingly. They returned to the floorful of matched sets. Schmerer hunkered and eyed a fat-cheeked baby and the baby crawled over and put out her arms to be picked up. The producer lifted her and tickled her under the chin.

Wiard picked up one baby and placed her beside her twin and studied them together as somebody else's twin crawled between the director's legs. A little miss in a polka-dotted sunsuit pulled herself up, walked an unsteady couple of steps and flopped to the floor. She cried.

McCray was back on his hands and knees again, crawling, looking from little face to little face, doing funny noises to make the babies laugh. 

There was another hush-hush conference and then the Chaparral men said their thank-yous and told the parents they'd be in touch with them. And the producer and director and production manager and assistant director left the room.

Action director Henry Wills left his quiet corner and followed them.

There was a look of relief on his face as he tippy-toed out.

        

The following wire story appeared in newspapers around the country on August 29, 1970:

Rudy Ramos wins part so easily
Rudy Ramos is the new boy on TV's "The High Chaparral." Rudy is a 19-year-old Mexican-Indian from Oklahoma. The show's casting director was looking for that type, but couldn't find him. Then Rudy wandered to and, after he read, he was quickly told that he had the part. At first, he didn't believe it -- it was all too sudden -- but when he was convinced that it all had really happened, he had a reaction they still talk about in the program's office. He went over to the casting director's pretty secretary and said, "Do you mind if I put my arms around you? I just had something incredibly wonderful happened to me, and I have to hold on to someone." Rudy is a good-looking boy, so Suzie said, "Be my guest," and he stood there, with his arms around her and his head on her shoulder for a full minute.

Do you suppose the Suzie mentioned in the article is Susan McCray?

Click here to see the actual article.