Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 23, 1990 TAG: 9007230198
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A/8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
In fact, Houston has organized groups of film fans practically everywhere he has gone. And now those groups in Southwest Virginia and northeastern Tennessee are coming together to hold a three-day film festival Aug. 16-18.
They are billing it as the world's only free film festival. Donations will be accepted to help defray expenses, but there will be no admission charge. The films are being furnished by collectors, many of whom became interested in the hobby through Houston.
Now retired and living in Johnson City, Tenn., Houston was well into his film-collecting hobby during his years as pastor of Wytheville's West End Methodist Church. He said the idea behind the free festival is to share the collectors' love of old-time westerns with others who remember them and with a new generation that has seen them only on TV, where they are heavily edited to make time for commercials.
One of the stars of westerns in the 1940s and 1950s, Lash LaRue, will be the guest star during all three days of the festival at the Wytheville Community Center.
LaRue, who disdained the white-hatted hero image, dressed entirely in black and rode a black horse in his series of B-westerns, but his trademark was the bullwhip he used to pull the bad guys off their horses or snap pistols from their hands.
He started his western movie career as a co-star with singing cowboy Eddie Dean. But soon, he had his own series and his own comic sidekick, former Keystone Kop Al St. John - better known for his screen characterization of "Fuzzy Q. Jones." The two retired from movies after the demise of the B-western in the mid-1950s, although LaRue went on to appear in various television shows such as "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" and "Judge Roy Bean."
And in recent years, LaRue has returned to the screen in occasional independently produced movies such as "The Dark Power," a horror film.
In Wytheville, he will visit with film fans all three days and attend a matinee Aug. 18 at the Millwald Theatre, where one of his westerns will be shown on the big screen along with a Charles Starrett "Durango Kid" feature. The movies at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. will be followed by panel discussions featuring LaRue and moderated by Craig Allison, one of the film collectors drawn into the hobby by Houston.
The festival will be dedicated to the memory of Sunset Carson, another western star, who died in May and had planned to attend.
The entire community will have a western motif during the three days. A townwide sale at Wytheville stores will be held in connection with the festival, with employees dressing in western attire.
Early arrivals will have a chance to attend a double-feature sneak preview Aug. 15 starting at 7 p.m. at the community center.
For the following three days, both big-budget and B-westerns will be shown in three rooms at the center from 10 a.m. to midnight, featuring practically every cowboy star who appeared in movies from the '30s to the '50s.
There will also be some rarities seldom shown at western film festivals, such as John Wayne's "Hondo," Alan Ladd's "Whispering Smith," Harry Carey's "Law West of Tombstone" which introduced a young Tim Holt and Allan Lane, "Roaring Frontiers" which teams Bill Elliott and Tex Ritter, George O'Brien's "Renegade Ranger" with a rising starlet named Rita Hayworth, and more.
Before each film, a chapter from a movie serial and a preview trailer will be shown. Also planned are a "Lone Ranger" TV episode and a feature version of a 1940s "Dick Tracy" serial.
A room will be provided for up to 40 collectors who will be offering thousands of collectibles, such as films, videotapes, photos, books and movie posters, for sale or trade. Further information on the festival is available by writing Free Western Film Festival, 1640 W. Main St., Wytheville 24382, or by telephoning 228-3212.
by CNB