Here is a picture of a man named Max Evans, the man who wrote The Rounders, The Hi-Lo Country, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, and many others. This convention is dedicated to him for the great body of work he has written. A panel discussion this morning had him up front with several supporting panelists, and it was great to listen to the stories, especially the one surrounding movie-making. Some of the names appearing with him were L. Q. Jones, a character actor who has appeared in about 150 films; Peter Ford, the son of Glenn Ford; a lady I don't know her name but is the daughter of Slim Pickens; screen writers, etc.
Many names were dropped throughout the say such as directors Sam Peckinpah, Martin Scorcese, Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott, Slim Pickens, etc. They discussed who were the best horsemen in Hollywood and two names agreed on were Glenn Ford and Ben Johnson. At that point Slim Pickens daughter stood up and said don't forget my dad. Apparently Slim Pickens did some bull fighting with Brahmas that no one else would tackle because after a couple of passes on the cape that breed wisened up and got the bullfighter. Not Slim, he could outguess the bull.
Peter Ford said his dad Glenn Ford was not the best father, and when it got time to teach the birds and the bees he hooked young Peter up with a bunch of stuntmen who took him to a pornography show. His dad left Peter's mother for Rita Hayworth.
So many movies were mentioned that it makes me want to go back and see them again. Slim Pickens was in Blazing Saddles and his daughter laughed as how there was something in it to offend everybody. A picture of that nature could not be made today without a howl arising from some offended group.
Max Evans had a hard-scrabble beginning and finally settled on being an artist and said he was doing pretty well at it when he got the notion to start writing. His wife reacted to that saying "We just got so we could eat, now we're gonna start starvin' again!" I like his style. I went up with a couple of his books to have him autograph. People were coming at him from every direction, but he knew where I stood in turn and ignored the others to honor my request. Great gentleman!
