TCB NEWSLETTER FOR
DECEMBER 1999


This is a monthly newsletter for communicating information about Then Came Bronson, Michael Parks, and related items of interest, to the general public. It is not affiliated with MGM, TNT or any other company or organization.

Below is a list of short-cuts to various sections of this page. Although you may want to read the page through from top to bottom the first time, I put these in so that, if you want to find something later, you can go right to that section (by clicking on the hyperlink).


FROM MY DESK...
FROM THE FOLKS PUTTING OUT THE NEW MICHAEL PARKS CD...
OTHER NEWS ON THE MUSIC FRONT...
CONVENTION STUFF...
CYCLES...
BIBLIOGRAPHY ADDITIONS...
FROM TCB FANS EVERYWHERE...
FILMOGRAPHY, ETC...
BRONSON ITINERARY (SCENE LOCATIONS)...
BRONSON TRIVIA...
MISCELLANEOUS & JUST FOR FUN...



FROM MY DESK...

Not much new to report. I'm just trying to stay warm, now that winter is upon New England. Noticed a big decrease in email lately, except for the people wanting to see TCB on TV or videotape - get tons of these every month.

There'll be a couple of TCB site surprises in January, assuming the world is still around after the Y2K date change! In the meantime, I'm working on making the site compliant with Y2K. One glitch still to be solved: when I advance the computer's clock to January 1, 2000, all the Harley images turn into Hondas.

FROM THE FOLKS PUTTING OUT THE NEW MICHAEL PARKS CD...

[Here's their site address, with email function:]

http://www.michaelparks.com

OTHER NEWS ON THE MUSIC FRONT...

To email me, click here!

Jim Hendricks photo James Hendricks had a CD out in 1995, singing Long Lonesome Highway, Ride 'Em Cowboy, and Softly And Tenderly - three songs that had been previously sung by Michael Parks on his own albums (and seven other cowboy-type songs). It is called A Cowboy's Prayer/Under The Western Sky (Stories of the Range...Sung by Jim Hendricks). Produced by Hendricks, it was released by Benson Music Group, Inc., distributed by Benson Music Road, Inc., of Nashville, Tennessee. Product #84418-4057-2. If you're a fan of country music, you might like this CD. Click on the album cover (small image).



Click here
Two scans from inside the CD: (inside image #1) (inside image #2)

By the way, it was James Hendricks who wrote that great song, Summer Rain, sung by Johnny Rivers in 1968: http://www.summer.com.br/~pfilho/html/lyrics/s/summer_rain.txt

The song, "Long Lonesome Highway", sung by Michael Parks, has been released on a compilation CD called "Love, Peace and Folk Rock - Hits of the 60's and 70's", a 3-CD set for $25 at the Record Town chain (code # FI-12-C2); released by BMG Special Products, a unit of BMG Entertainment, c. 1999. It has no BMG item #, but the UPC code is 4-00008-23773-4. LLH is the last song (song 17) on disc one.

Another compilation CD with LLH on it (available from http://www.ampie.com/):
Hey Look What I Found Vol 9 (482-4509)
Red Sails In The Sunset (Tab Hunter); Boppin' In A Sack (Lane Brothers); Can't Get You Out Of My Heart (Al Martino); To A Soldier Boy (Tassels); Baby Talk (Tom & Jerry); Customary Thing (Johnny Rivers); Apple Green (June Valli); Someone Loves You Joe (Singing Belles); Sho' Know A Lot About Love (Hollywood Argyles); Teacher (Falcons); Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair (John Buck/ Blazers); Don't Go (Vince Everett); Midnight Beach Party (Santo & Johnny); Winkin' Blinkin' And Nod (Simon Sisters); Remember Me (Rita Pavone); Like Columbus Did (Reflections); I'm Sorry (Pete Drake); Fortune Teller (Dale Ward); Crusher (Novas); Love Means You Never Have To Say You're Sorry (Sounds Of Sunshine); Mame (Louis Armstrong); Cinderella Rockefella (Esther & Abi Ofarim); Competition Ain't Nothin' (Little Carl Carlton); Witchi Tai To (Everything Is Everything); Big Bruce (Steve Greenburg); Long Lonesome Highway (Michael Parks); TwelveDays Of Christmas (Steve Irvings)

It is also available at: http://www.gocontinental.com/classic3.htm

Web site with lists of "road songs" (including LLH): http://kingsfield.com/route40/roadsong.htm

CONVENTION NEWS...


To email me, click here!

None. Sorry. No word from the Easy Rider convention folks. (I think I might just go out to California next summer, and anyone who wants to meet me there, you're welcome.)

CYCLES...


To email me, click here!

Visit Kirk Kelley's Sportster parts site, Sporty Specialties (714-879-0500), in Fullerton, CA. He may even be able to help you with your Bronson Sportster customization project: www.sportyspecialties.com

Click here Visit Motodirectory.com (click on the image), "the Rider's Masterlink to the Web". (They have kindly put a link to this site on theirs, and will be putting info regarding this TCB site into their monthly cycle publication, Motodirectory. Thanks, Luis!)

Click here Visit 2 Wheels Directory (click on the image), a "Directory of Motorcycle & Bicycle Manufacturers, Dealers, Retailers and Services (clubs, magazines & more), Over 23,000 companies in 87 countries, Classified by countries, cities and search terms". (They also have kindly put a link to this site on theirs.)

[The following item comes from an email that is also included in the TRIVIA section, at the bottom of the newsletter. I repeat it here because of it's relevance to the Bronson cycles. - jonpf]

Episode 20, "Mating Dance For Tender Grass", right after the scene where Buffy Sainte-Marie sings, the camera fades to Bronson walking along and behind him in plain sight is, are you ready for this, the Bud Ekins built Sportster with side car used for the camera rig!!! Complete with the "all seeing eye decal" , but no sissy bar. Speaking of sissy bars, that was the reason I watched this episode because one of the Indians in one scene is carrying Bronson's parts and you can see the sissy bar. I was trying to figure out how it was mounted to his bike. It's mounted underneath the fender support by long extensions on both sides that parallel the fender support.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ADDITIONS...


To email me, click here!

The last 5 images from the February 1970 issue of Harley's publication, The Enthusiast! The images are all from the episodes (you can tell because the bike has a mirror - the bike in the pilot movie didn't).

Click here Click here Click here Click here Click here



Here are two pages from the paperback, TV70, by Dave Kaufman, first printing September, 1969; 280 pages of tv show and movie write-ups scheduled for the 1969-70 season. It also mentions Parks in the Universal Studios movie, Perilous Voyage (later called An Act Of Piracy), which also starred William Shatner, and the (pilot?) movie, The Young Lawyers, which also starred TCB actors Keenan Wynn and Anjanette Comer.

Click here Click here

Photo from the tv magazine of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of Sept. 14-20, 1969: Click here

A photo of Michael Parks was in LOOK magazine, Dec. 13, 1966 (sorry, no photo on this web site, but I'll try to come up with one in a future newsletter): http://a-better.com/lk661213.htm
Here's the listing of the contents, including images of Faye Dunaway and George Maharis, who starred with MP in The Happening, a 1966 movie (so maybe these photos are tied in with that):
The farmer's Grand-daughter, (p 108)
produced by Jack Hamilton, photographed by Douglas Jones
Pinup Girl of 1967, Faye Dunaway (8 photos)
actor, Robert Walker Jr.
actor, George Maharis
actor, Michael Parks
director, Elliot Silverstein
actor, John Phillip Law


Portion of an interview with Terry Southern about the LA scene in the late 1960s: http://altx.com/interviews/terry.southern.html

Q: Wasn't there also a social circle in Los Angeles concurrent with the one you moved through in London with Nicholson, Fonda and Hopper?

A: Yes, there was an interesting scene with the hub being Robert Walker Jr. You know, the actor in Strangers In A Train, well that was his son. He looked very much like him. He got involved in a commune-type thing. He was the most spiritual of all those people. He was extraordinary. He was the first person I knew to practice Tai Chi. He was in the commune scene in Easy Rider. I remember seeing him in a few films and he was very good, very sympathetic. Every Sunday, Walker and his wife, Ellie had this wide open pad on Malibu Beach. It was very comfortable and people would just drop by. Ellie was a wonderful Earth mother type, except she was very vivacious and cute, so she was great. There were various people who came to these Sundays. Nicholson was one of them and Michael Parks was another. He was there a lot. Peter was there. Dennis wasn't very much. When he was in town, Roger Vadim would come there. There were a few houses along in the area of people who were kindred spirits.

FROM TCB FANS EVERYWHERE... (thru Nov. 30)


To email me, click here!

(Anonymous, unless requested otherwise. Some emails are in other sections of this newsletter, where appropriate.)
I was a fan of the show and lived at Seaside, Ca., during one season of the filming that often was in that area and Big Sur. My wife saw him shooting at a gas station near our apt. there while I was a reluctant warrior in the Army.
Jay
================
[Further email from Jay:]
Sorry, but as excited as she [his wife] was at the time, it's all too vague at this late date. We lived in Seaside [CA] and I was a student at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. We were there from 9/69 to 9/70 and I would guess it was about half way through. Probably I have the address somewhere of the apt. complex and she just remembered seeing him sitting on his bike, like on a break. She was coming home from shopping and got to stop only briefly as the traffic was blocked off. I can't recall the station but it was in the middle of town. If I get the address, I'll get it to you. I guess that's not much help. I actually picked up another LP today with you in mind. I don't have the one here at the computer that I listed, and the one I got today is "Closing the Gap" with a close up of him in a denim jacket and it is a gatefold cover by MGM with several black and white pix of the record being produced. It and the other could go for $5 each and are nice.
Thanks and stay in touch.
Jay.

[Jay has a couple of Michael Parks lp's for sale, if anyone is interested. - jonpf]

There has been one thing really bugging me. Maybe you can help. I distinctly remember one line from whatever episode (I thought it was from The Forest Primeval - but it wasn't) in which Jim was asleep in the woods and when he woke up, it was very beautiful and peaceful and he said "Thank you God for letting me wake up another day". I know I say distinctly, but don't quote me. Help! Do you remember this from any of the episodes? If so let me know.

Anyhow, your site is very comforting to me. I enjoy it very much and thank you for all the time and effort you devote to it. As you can see, it touches many people out there in internet land. Take care.
Sincerely,
D.

Hi Jon!
Another great newsletter!!
Here is something for your Trivia page... [See Trivia section.]

I have decided to sell my 1999 Bronson replica anyway. I plan to find a 1968-1970 XLH Sportster to try to replicate the Bronson bike as close as possible. If anybody is interested please give them my E mail. If it works out would you like me to send you pics as I do this all over again on the real mc coy?
Which reminds me, I was channel surfing and came accross an episode of the tv show The McCoys, (I think that's what it was called; any way, there was MP playing a hick that got everybody else to do his work for him.
Anyway,
Thanks again!
Tom H.

[The episode was called George's Nephew. - jonpf]

i ran across your tcb site last night...good job! i too was a big fan, all be it, i was only 11 years old in 1969. i got my first taste of the motorcycle bug a few years earlier when steve mcqueen jumped or failed jump over the barbed wire in the great escape. seems like a life time ago. i started early with motorcycles, i now own a 1971 h-d super glide (night train) and my most recent purchase, a 1966 bmw r69s. i love bikes and bronson's was always a model to customize from. i do have a question...i remember watching one episode when bronson comes into a small town and meets up with a black friend who owns a white flh dresser. which episode was that?
i didn't get any discription of that show after reading the episode section. thank you in advance...and when you get a chance to answer let me know.
keep up the good work,
woodie,
aka jim bronson wannabe

[The episode was episode 12, A LONG TRIP TO YESTERDAY. - jonpf]

Hope everything's going well. I am still checking your website on a regular basis.
A long time rock & roll fan, I have recently become hooked on CMT-Country Music Television. Some of the videos are really cool, and the music is good too. If you get a chance, please try to catch George Jones' video The Cold Hard Truth. See if you agree with me that the actor in the video resembles MP, until they do a close-up, but even then I had to look twice. MP probably wouldn't like the comparison; I think he's better looking than this guy, who could be his older brother. And he plays a pretty sleazy guy in the video.
Other than that, it's work, work, work. You keep up the good work.
T.D.

enjoyed the theme movie write-up. i was a real "then came bronson" fan with just getting my first motorcycle. nowadays i appreciate the philosophy of the series. i wish they would do a reunion show.
in 1991 i even named a stray cat we took in "BRONSON" because we already had "SLINGSHOT" and "THEN CAME BRONSON"
THANKS
this really made my day
randy

=============================

Just wanted to thank you for your website. TCB was probably my favorite show of all time and have sang the words to "Long Lonesome Highway" inside my helmet for almost 30 years. I believe the words are described as Leather Poetry.
The show went much deeper than mere entertainment, it pointed out a more simple way of life, telling you to stop and smell the roses. Funny thing now is, I work in the stress filled office world during the week and escape to motorcycle riding on the weekends. TCB sparked my interest in motorcycle camping, my favorite passion. Of course, I don't have that magic ditty bag MP had which seemed to hold everything but the kitchen sink. (How did he carry that iron skillet for cooking scrambled eggs?)
Anyway thanks again and please put me on your mailing list.
Randy

Dear Jon, Please add me to your e-mail list. I to am a die hard Bronson fan, and would really like to see the pilot movie again.

Just discovered your website...reading your stuff...I also just bought my first bike a well maintained 73 harley sportster stock...looking forward to riding it...I was searching the web for old harley pics...and I discovered this web site and I remembered watching the show a long time ago...I'm single again and I remember and can relate to the solitude and independence and freedom the show depicted...maybe someone should mention to Michael Parks that the show epitomized something...it's not about idolatry over Bronson...but about a quest for discovering something. that made us appreciate the show.....maybe who we are...and doing it on a motorcycle puts us closer to the surrounding environment as we travel...unlike a car...I don't idolize anyone...though I can admire some people...anyway just my thoughts...please put me on your email list...

Jon,
I thought I was the only person who would like to get a copy of the original TCB movie. Fooling with the WEB I came across your site. Keep me updated on any news about a TV brodacast or if the movie goes to print again.
It's neat to know that TCB was enjoyed by so many people.
Thanks
Doug (California)

Hey, I'm having a hard time to see the old series "then came Bronson" , why? Is it that kids today have to hold someone's hand to do things, crazy things that they do in school today.
Like to see it again, remember the one when Parks rides and all of a sudden his wheels are on oil slick and he is in the water. He had to take the bike apart to fix it. Well, if u got a bike you'd understand.
Just me and my HD 74 superglide.

ARE WE EVER GOING TO GET THEM BACK ON TELEVISION? MAYBE ON TV LAND. LOVE THE INFO ON THEN CAME BRONSON. MISS THE SHOW.
BILL, FLTC HARLEY RIDER

FILMOGRAPHY, ETC...


To email me, click here!



The Idol, starring Jennifer Jones and Michael Parks:
http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/idol.html

"The Adventure of the Wary Witness" episode of Ellery Queen:

Michael Constantine, Dwayne Hickman, Sal Mineo, Michael Parks, Cesar Romero, Dick Sargent

"One of the most serious episodes of the series, and one of the best. Can Ellery help the accused find the missing witness who can prove he didn't kill the mobster? The clues are discreetly, but fairly, dropped, and the twists nicely devious. Sal Mineo was killed shortly after this episode filmed." http://members.aol.com/davdgideon/episodes.html

Billy The Kid movie (1989), costarring Michael Parks, directed by William Graham, who also directed the TCB pilot movie:
http://www.kzone.anickoftime.ca/btk/btk-main.html

Web page with Michael Parks filmography: http://fp.image.dk/fpemmg/gilmartin_film/cv/cv-mp.htm
including one movie I didn't have in the MP filmography:
"A Time for Killing"
If it is chronological, it would be between The Bible (1966) and The Happening (1967).
I checked IMDB, and it gives the following (but doesn't mention Michael Parks in the cast or credits):
Time for Killing, A (1967) ...aka Long Ride Home, The (1967)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0062373

http://us.imdb.com/Credits?0062373

The following comes from a web page from TVParty.com, and mentions the Route 66 show with Michael Parks; it must have been the episode "Cries Of A Person Close To One":

Looking for Route 66? According to my email, a LOT of you are: "Back in 1963 or 64, the show filmed in my town, Daytona Beach, FL", a typical Route 66 lover writes, "it was an episode where guest Michael Parks played a young prize fighter. My girlfriend and I skipped school to watch the filming, and even got to be "extras" in a few crowd-onlooker scenes. Some of our friends were hired to portray local youths who got into fights with Michael Parks. There's one scene where my face - at age 16 - can be seen clearly, though if you blink you'll miss me! I would love to have a copy of this show to share with my friends and family!" http://www.tvparty.com/columbia.html

A web site for the Johnny Cash Show, that includes info the show with the appearance by Michael Parks on March 25, 1970, "Taped At The Ryman Auditorium, Nashville Tenn.", singing "Oklahoma Hills (duet with Michael Parks)."
PS: I already asked - he doesn't have tapes of the show!

http://www.stevenmenke.com/JCTVShowsNo4%20.htm

Here's another movie that wasn't in the IMDB.com's list of MP movies:
From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money

BRONSON ITINERARY (SCENE LOCATIONS)...

To email me, click here!

I've always been interested locating the scene where Bronson and the bride first meet. The TCB fan who goes camping at Big Sur (Lime Kiln) mentioned that it as Pfeiffer Beach. While browsing at the local library, I found a couple of books on California, with good sections on the coastal areas. In a book called Hidden San Francisco And Northern California (p. 289), by Ray Riegert, there is a description of Pfeiffer Beach in the Big Sur area. It mentions that one of the beach scenes in the movie The Sandpiper (starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) was filmed on this beach. So I rented the movie and watched for the scene. Sure enough, there it was, with the hole in the rock that the waves come crashing through.
The movie was ok, too, from the point of view of a low-key 1960s examination of morals and temptation.
The book's directions say to "Follow Route 1 for about a mile south past the entrance to Pfeiffer BIg Sur State Park. Turn right onto Sycamore Canyon Road, which leaads downhill two miles to the beach." It goes on to describe it as "Of Big Sur's many wonders, this may be the most exotic. It's a sandy beach littered with boulders and bisected by a meandering stream.... Just offshore loom rock formations into which the sea has carved tunnels and arches."
By the way, the Fernwood Park Campground, where the bride slaps Bronson at the gas pumps, is just north of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park a mile or two. If you can't get there by bike, car or thumb, take a Monterey Public Transit bus.

BRONSON TRIVIA...


To email me, click here!

TCB Trivia from Tom H.:

At the end of the last episode, "What's An Ark Without Centaurs", as Bronson is leaving, they show him kick start his bike (for the last time), only it's not him, it's the mechanic that prepped his bike in the pilot movie before he leaves SF. The mechanic is wearing overalls and brown leather boots. They spliced that in [from the pilot movie] for some reason.

In the episode "The Circle Of Time", after he buries the old lady, he ends up running away from Abner; in one shot he has his sunglasses on while running down a hill, but in the next he doesn't, and then he has them on again!

Episode 20, "Mating Dance For Tender Grass", right after the scene where Buffy Sainte-Marie sings, the camera fades to Bronson walking along and behind him in plain sight is, are you ready for this, the Bud Ekins built Sportster with side car used for the camera rig!!! Complete with the "all seeing eye decal", but no sissy bar.

Speaking of sissy bars, that was the reason I watched this episode because one of the Indians in one scene is carrying Bronson's parts and you can see the sissy bar. I was trying to figure out how it was mounted to his bike. It's mounted underneath the fender support by long extensions on both sides that parallel the fender support.

MISCELLANEOUS (& JUST FOR FUN)...

To email me, click here!

Check out what's at Sharper Image (looks even better in person):
http://store.yahoo.com/sharperimage/ts150.html

A battery-powered kiddie's riding motorcycle! Goes up to 3 mph! For $299.00! (That's less than $100 per mph!!!)
Goin' down that long lonesome sidewalk...

By the way, I just saw that Fisher Price (toy manufacturer) has also put out a battery powered riding motorcycle for the kiddies!

Got a match? (Just don't burn the redwoods!)



[Got this non-TCB email from one of my computer friends:]

True story from a computer company customer service agent:
Caller: "Hello, is this Tech Support?"
Tech: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?"
Caller: "The cup holder on my PC broke off and I am still within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?"
Tech: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?"
Caller: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer."
Tech: "Please excuse me if I seem a bit stumped, It's because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotion at a trade show? How did you get this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?"
Caller: "It came with my computer, I don't know anything about a promotion. It just has '4X' on it."
At this point the Tech Rep had to mute the caller, because he couldn't stand it. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder.

Have you sent emails to TNT and Columbia House (from my site)? If we can get TNT to show it again, we can all see it again. And if we can get somebody like Columbia House to sell it on video, they might get better copies of it (from master tapes, and no commercials)! Anyway, if you haven't already sent emails to TNT and Columbia House, here are their addresses (for most browsers, just click on them):

TNT

TBS

COLUMBIA HOUSE

To email me, click here!



Click here to go to the beginning page of the site: Intro page ; or click on the following to go directly to these pages: main_page ; pilot_movie ; episodes ; records ; cycles ; plastic_model ; Bronson_paint ; TCB novels ; newsletter_start_page.

This page created December 13, 1999 . . . . . . . . . this web page copyright 1999 jonpf@thecia.net, except for certain copyrighted images and text