Oklahoma City KEY - Cover Story

If the names John Wayne, Tom Mix, Barbara Stanwyck, and Ben Johnson or movie titles like The Great Train Robbery, The Virginian, True Grit and Dances With Wolves stir memories in your mind, you won’t want to miss the newest addition to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum – the Western Performers Gallery. The exhibit documents the development of the American film industry while tracing the creation of a fictional image of the cowboy popularized in radio, movies and television. As visitors journey through the exhibit, they will discover the “cowboy” most of them have come to know and love was created by Hollywood image makers.

Visitors to Oklahoma City will have the opportunity to explore the new gallery beginning April 12. It is the last of the major galleries to be completed in the expansive Edward L. Gaylord Exhibition Wing. The 4,000 square foot exhibition was designed by the 1717 Design Group of Richmond, Virginia. The same company designed the American Cowboy, American Rodeo and Joe Grandee Museum of the Frontier West, which opened at the Museum in 1999 and 2000.

The typical visitor now spends about four hours touring the Museum galleries. There are also four or five unique and interesting traveling exhibitions on view at the Museum each year. However, a question asked frequently by visitors is, “Where are the Western stars?” followed by, “Where is John Wayne’s collection?”

The Western Performers Gallery explores the shaping of an American icon, the movie cowboy and honors legendary western movie stars. The new gallery is adjacent to exhibitions on the “real West” the history of rodeo, the working traditions of the American cowhand, and our rich Native American heritage.

Dominating the center of the gallery is a re-created 1930s Saturday matinee theater. The theater’s colorful facade is the first thing to capture the visitor’s attention. Through the magic of Hollywood, the 1930s theater looks authentic, yet the ornate, two-dimensional, art deco facade is merely painted on canvas. Visitors’ eyes will be fooled by the talents of scenic artist David Crank. Even the ticket booth appears as if you could step up and buy a ticket.

Visitors will pass through richly curtained doorways to enjoy renovated period seating. Although the setting may take some individuals back to their childhood, the digital audio visual presentation narrated by Sam Elliott, on the heritage of the Western film genre, is state of the art.

Heroes of countless Saturday matinees will come alive again in the movie theater setting. Here the “B” Westerns and well-known high budget films, along with their stars, will be shown and recognized for their contributions to the western film genre. As a genre, the Western movie, which began with The Great Train Robbery (1903), celebrates its 100-year anniversary in 2003.

Careers and contributions of the legends of the silver screen are blended with colorful graphics exploring the fascinating history of the Western film genre. The gallery showcases the vivid imagery of those faces and voices synonymous with the West and shares hundreds of artifacts associated with these Western movie stars. Artifacts including a saddle of Tom Mix, the guns of John Wayne, and the black suit worn by Barbara Stanwyck in Big Valley, are used to emphasize the sights and sounds that “opened the West” in the imagination of the world.

Rare artifacts and posters include the early “outlaw” films of Al Jennings, Henry Starr and Marshal Bill Tilghman. A display on the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch documents its activity in the fledgling movie industry. Many of the silent cowboy stars came from the famous ranch and its Wild West show near Ponca City, Oklahoma.

The Roy Rogers family has lent early outfits from Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, along with a guitar Rogers used when he sang with the Sons of the Pioneers. Popular Western radio dramas bridged to television in 1949 on NBC with William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy. A collection of toy guns, lunch boxes, and children’s clothes will take many visitors back to the days when every child had to have a “Hoppy” badge from the cereal box.

In 1955, the radio program Gunsmoke moved to television on CBS, attracting a loyal adult audience. Portraits of the Gunsmoke cast are accompanied by an interesting collection of items from the set of this long-running series. One of Amanda Blake’s green dresses is elegantly presented while Doc’s director’s chair and the saddle Festus rode on his mule, Ruth, elicit other memories.

Gary Cooper’s saddle and chaps bring to life the young actor’s famous line, “When you call me that, smile” in The Virginian (1929), the first Western to feature scripted lines. Signature hats and related gear of Walter Brennan, Joel McCrea, Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson and Slim Pickens bring back memories of so many great films. Other items representing Richard Farnsworth and Sam Elliott mingle with Danny Glover’s cavalry outfit from Buffalo Soldiers (1997) and Tom Selleck’s saddle and rifle from Crossfire Trail (2001).

As a former Museum Trustee, John Wayne left his collection of movie memorabilia, guns and art to the Museum as part of his estate in 1979. In 2002, the Wayne family and American Costume generously donated Rooster Cogburn’s clothing from True Grit (1969) and Captain Brittles’ uniform from She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949) for this exhibition. A unique section of the gallery presents this collection with colorful graphic panels relating Wayne’s Hollywood journey.

The reappearance of classic Westerns on cable television has prompted a revival interest in the cowboy stars of the past. The new gallery will provide this generation and the next, an opportunity to remember and appreciate those performers who have given movie and television audiences so much pleasure. After visiting the Western Performers Gallery visitors will take away a whole new understanding of the “movie cowboy” and the “Western.”

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is located at the junction of I-44 and I-35 in the Adventure District. The Museum is open 9 am to 5 pm, seven days a week. For more information, visit the web site www.nationalcowboymuseum.org or call (405) 478-2250.

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