Is This John Wayne?

Well my friends, it seems that Richard M. Roberts, the self-aggrandizing "film historian" who found it necessary to puff out his over-sized belly and attack the content of The New Frontier website (see the previous blog post), has not ceased his attack. Rather than dwell on the most recent rants to be found on his closed forum (and they are ranting even as I write this, which proves the old adage, "he who shouts loudest is the most guilty"), however, I will focus only on the post which is directly related to the question at hand - Is This John Wayne?

One of the pages on The New Frontier website, is titled, Is This John Wayne? As many Wayne fans are aware, John Wayne was involved in a number of films that have never made it into any printed filmographies. The primary reasons for this are 1) Wayne's admission that he worked on so many films back in his early days in Hollywood that he could not remember them all, and 2) the lack of screen credit for each and every extra or crew member (remember, Wayne also did prop works, stunts, lighting, electrical, and more on several films). In the interest of honest research and a desire to attempt to locate some of his previously unknown work, a good number of old films that he may have worked on are being reviewed, often one frame at a time. When a possible sighting of John Wayne is made, a screen shot is taken and those screen shots are posted on The New Frontier.

As you no doubt noticed in the previous blog post, Mr. Roberts has taken exception to the theory that John Wayne appeared in the Lloyd “Ham” Hamilton comedy short, Careful Please. Several screen shots where posted. Mr. Roberts stated that not only did John Wayne not appear in any of those screen shots, but that he actually owned the only existing print of Careful Please, that it was “razor-sharp,” and that all digital prints (DVD’s) of Careful Please had been made from his “razor-sharp” print, but were all unfocused and difficult to see. The obvious question here is, since all the DVD’s were made from his “razor-sharp” print, then why aren’t they “razor-sharp” as well?

I made the point that if Mr. Roberts was so all-fired sure that John Wayne is not shown in the screen shots, then why not post screen shots from his own “razor-sharp” print, and lay to rest any doubts about Wayne’s appearance. Mr. Roberts stated that he did not have a digital copy of his print (from which all existing digital copies had been made), but that he would be will to sell a digital copy of his “razor-sharp” print. (Hmmmmm?) Less than 24 hours after Mr. Roberts posted this, he posted another commentary in which he stated that he had forgotten that he actually did have a digital print of Careful Please, and he promptly posted screen shots. What is very interesting (at least to me), is that the screen shots Mr. Roberts posted to support his claim that Wayne did not appear in the film, all come from the Slap Happy series that Mr. Roberts not only wrote, but was intimately involved with. Now, one would imagine that since he was so involved with the Slap Happy series, that he would ensure that the digital print made from his “razor-sharp” print would be just as clear and just as crisp as his print. Obviously.

So at this time, I will leave you, my friends, to make the decision. Is This John Wayne? Look close and compare the inferior, out-of-focus, blurry screen shot that appears on The New Frontier website, with the “razor-sharp” screen shots provided by Mr. Roberts.

Inferior screen shot that appears on The New Frontier (click to enlarge)

Inferior screen shot that appears on The New Frontier (click to enlarge)

"Razor-Sharp" screen shot provided by Mr. Roberts (click to enlarge)

"Razor-Sharp" screen shot provided by Mr. Roberts (click to enlarge)

"Razor-Sharp" screen shot provided by Mr. Roberts (click to enlarge)

"Razor-Sharp" screen shot provided by Mr. Roberts (click to enlarge)

 Now, to be fair, Mr. Roberts did say that the screen shots he posted from his "razor-sharp" master print may appear to be a little blurry because they are action shots, as are the screen shots used on The New Frontier website. There are also some comparison photos that are known to be of John Wayne on The New Frontier website with which to compare these screen shots. http://dukefanclub.weebly.com/is-this-john-wayne.html