And Action Reviewed in Roundup Magazine
Sleep in day. Beth up and off to Hall. I up 5:45 - shower and dress. Breakfast with Sunday paper. Trim beard. Beth home and we talk. She takes and makes phone calls while I work in office. Fix lunch and we eat. I down for nap. Beth works around house. Up and feed girls. Watch a little football. Beth does my pill boxes while we chat. Into office and write. Got a nice review in Roundup Magazine recently - here it is:
LODGE, STEPHEN.
And….Action!.
Mirage Books. Paperback,
248 pps., $24.95. ISBN 978-1-4357-
1204-1.
In the 1940s, 50s,
and early 60s, the
magic of the Western
genre in movies and
television permeated
screens both small
and large. Growing up in California
with an extended family who worked
in the motion picture industry,
Stephen Lodge became besotted with
the horse opera at age five when his
father brought home their first
television. In this volume, he chronicles
his enduring love affair of Westerns
with photographs and memories
of a lifetime spent in the entertainment
field.
This is not an in-depth look into
Western movies or television, nor
is it a detailed biography of Lodge’s
life. It is, rather, a series of stories
giving a personal look at the inside
of the industry by a man whose jobs
ranged from actor, producer’s assistant,
stuntman, and costumer to screenwriter.
Lodge’s adventures begin with
a loveable 1950s mom driving down
rocky dirt roads, searching for movie
locations so her boys could meet their
favorite Western stars. Because of
her efforts, he met actors like Gene
Autry and Roy Rogers who took their
positions as role models seriously and
paused to hand out words of wisdom
to young Lodge.
Through Lodge, we see the locations
with their false store fronts; meet the
salty, but friendly, horse wranglers and
stuntmen. As Lodge grows older, we
feel his disillusionment when he finds
one of his favorite stars has fallen into
debilitating old age and alcoholism.
Later, he gives an unusual and touching
portrayal of a beleaguered Sam
Peckinpah showing unexpected kindness
to a young aspiring actor.
Several studio-type photographs
sprinkle the book, but the majority of
them come from personal collections.
Although most exhibit fair quality,
others are fuzzy. However, because
they are fresh and add to the intimacy
of the storytelling, any defects can
easily be forgiven. The pictures of an
overweight, beautifully garbed, Andy
Devine sprawled in a director’s chair
made twice the normal width, with his
arms thrown around the young Lodge
boys, is simply “divine.”
Toward the end of the book, Lodge
has a tendency to skip around
chronologically,
causing some confusion to
the reader. It also lacks a much needed
index. Even so, Lodge never loses his
thread— the great love he has for
Westerns and the people who make
them. Despite its minor flaws, and
because unique little gems of information
litter his stories, this book would
be of assistance to researchers of early
California, the movie and television
business during the 1950s and 1960s,
especially those Westerns shot on location,
and some of the individuals that
comprised the industry during that
time. To the layman, it is a charming
memoir of a love affair that never grew
dim.
—Vicky Rose
Fix dinner and we eat while watching baseball playoffs. I to office while she continues to watch baseball - even after we've gone to bed. God Bless America! - Later ~
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