John Wayne — Another Gary? (1931) 🇺🇸
“Do you mind if people tell you you look like Gary Cooper?”
“No, ma’am, not if they smile when they say it,” answered John Wayne, the new young actor of “The Big Trail” who has jumped from an unknown ‘prop’ boy to a famous star overnight — just because he needed a hair cut!
by Mary Howard
Wayne is the spittin’ image of Gary Cooper, even to the little curl that hangs over his forehead. He’s six feet tall, blue-eyed, brown-haired, with a tan an inch thick, a shaggy head, and a big body. His hands and feet seem to go places and do things without the bidding of his head. He’s that young! John is extremely modest, talks with a drawl, wears a ten-gallon gray hat, pioneer boots — leather affairs with fancy stitching and high heels — and a long, flowing black tie. The only remnant of his collegiate days when he attended the University of California is the fact that he doesn’t wear garters — not even with low shoes!
“Since I got that five year contract I figure I’m about the luckiest person in the world,” Wayne confided as his big awkward body sprawled all over a none too stalwart wing chair. “I was just a ‘prop’ boy in the Fox Studio when I got this chance. I was in debt, a little bit sick about not being able to go back to the University for my third year, and generally blue. One day. I saw a friend of mine, Eddie Grainger, talking to Raoul Walsh, the director, over on the lot, and kind of glancing over at me, but I didn’t think anything. A week later, our fraternity, the Sigma Chi, was giving a banquet. I’d been needing a hair cut something awful for about ten days so I dropped over to the barber shop and sat down in the chair. Just as the barber picked up his scissors, Eddie Grainger rushed in.
“‘For Pete’s sake, don’t!’”
“‘Don’t what?’” I asked.
“‘Don’t have your hair cut. That’s why Walsh wants vou. He says you’re just the type for the lead in The Big Trail. Come on over to the studio. He’s going to give you a test.’”
“I didn’t stop for my hat but ran over with Eddie. They gave me the test, but didn’t say anything afterwards except: ‘Instead of working in the “props,” you’ll be out here next week, learning to throw knives.’ I didn’t want to be curious so I said ‘all right.’ I didn’t hear any more for ten days, when Mr. Walsh came over one morning and said: ‘You’d better get your clothes packed, we’re leaving tomorrow for Arizona.’ They’d given me the lead in The Big Trail and I had never acted in my life.
“We left the next day and covered nearly every state in the extreme west — Arizona, California, Montana, Oregon, Colorado — for locations. It’s a swell picture of covered wagon days, made entirely outdoors except for one shack and one saloon sequence. We used a thousand buffalo, a lot of elks, more horses and cows than I ever saw before, Indians, horse wranglers, dogs, cats, birds, and a flock of long-haired girls. There’s a lot of fighting in it, a rainstorm, a sandstorm, and a great scene where everybody spills into the Snake River. And about the nicest thing about this picture is, nobody was killed. In every big film, usually one or two men are killed, but we didn’t even kill a horse.”
John loves to fight better than anything. After that, he likes to eat, “I like meat. Plenty of it. Almost raw,” he said. “It seems I can never get enough to fill up this big carcass of mine. I’m crazy about swimming, too. I spend all my free time on Malibu Beach, just in a pair of trunks. I’m a real sun baby. I enjoy riding and watching all kinds of sports, particularly football. I used to play a little on the California team,” he explained shyly. “I like girls, too. In fact, I’m just getting to the age where I like ‘em all. But when I get married, the first thing I’m going to look for in a girl is a sense of humor. I hate ‘em thick.”
“Had you ever had any picture experience before?” I asked.
“Not a bit. And I never was so scared in my life as when I made my first entrance. If Mr. Walsh had made me act, I would have been lost. But he didn’t. He just said, ‘Go on and do it like you were home.’
“My first speech was the longest one I had to make in the whole film. I’m scared to death of cameras, anyway, and when I went on the set, there were eight of them.
To make it worse, my first entrance was on horseback. And in addition to speaking my piece, I had to keep that horse absolutely still in one spot so he wouldn’t get out of focus! I’d been kind of sick, too. A lot of us had. Stomach on the Fritz from change in food and water. I was so frightened I’d be too ill to work that it made me sicker. But I got on the horse somehow and here I am.
“But don’t let’s talk about me any more. Let’s talk about New York. This is my first trip here. First time I ever saw the Atlantic Ocean. And, gee, when I looked up at that Empire State Building — you know, the one where the Waldorf-Astoria used to be — well, honest, I haven’t got any words. It’s so tall I had to take off my hat to see it.”
“What are you going to do next when you get back to California?”
“I don’t know what film I’ll make. They haven’t decided. But I’ll tell you one thing I’m going to do. I’m going to keep practising throwing knives,” he laughed — “if I ever get married — I’ll be prepared.”
John Wayne was asked if he minded being told he looked like Gary Cooper. “Not if they smile when they say it!” retorts this young blue-eyed giant, hit of The Big Trail.
What does Gary Cooper think of the advent of young John Wayne? He says nothing but he is working harder than ever before, opposite Dietrich in “Morocco” and their newest, “Dishonored.”
Collection: Screenland Magazine, January 1931
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