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Creature From The Black SaloonBy Leo BanksOLD TUCSON STUDIOS rose from the ashes this past January, and the re-opening prompts a thought about authenticity. Of all the rides, shows and shoot-outs that have taken place there since its construction in 1939, the April 24, 1995, fire that destroyed 40 percent of the park was its most authentic recreation. In real frontier towns, the greatest threat wasn't Indians, bad guys, or even the local gold mine drying up--it was fire. A drunk wobbles down the clapboard sidewalk, drops a 5-cent cigar, and, before long, one tinderbox building after another is going up. But pioneers knew work and hardship. They rolled up their sleeves and put everything back together, often, even better than before. It's a spirit we salute, whether it takes place in the 1880s or 1990s.
He defines Western movies, and like it or not, Western movies define us. Wayne made four pictures at Old Tucson: Rio Bravo, MCLINTOCK!, El Dorado and Rio Lobo. Doesn't sound like a lot, but guess what tops the list of best-selling memorabilia items at the theme park? Stills of Wayne from his movies. And it's impossible to spend an afternoon out there without seeing at least one middle-aged Izod cowboy from Ohio, kicking through the dust in his penny loafers, imitating the Duke's weird, hip-shimmy of a walk, while his wife looks away in mortal embarrassment. Consider this: A couple of years before the fire, Old Tucson was the third most popular tourist attraction in Arizona, after the Grand Canyon and Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. And why not? Many great Westerns have been filmed there--Gunfight at the OK Corral, with Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, Winchester 73, with Jimmy Stewart, Monte Walsh, with Lee Marvin, Dirty Dingus Magee, with Frank Sinatra, and Tombstone, with Kurt Russell. Not to mention Gore Vidal's Billy The Kid and the immortal Three Amigos. Well, they weren't all great. According to the latest word from beyond Gates Pass, the new Old Tucson is doing well. Attendance is back to a level close to what it was before the catastrophe. Sixteen new buildings stand on the site, including the 7,000-square-foot Grand Palace Saloon & Hotel, in which a dolled-up floozy belts out some good whiskey-rousers.
There's a new twist, too: The singers and actors stay in character
throughout the day to give visitors the feeling of a living Old
West town. They tip their Stetsons and talk cattle--and dang if
it doesn't work.
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Twenty-five buildings, or theme areas, were destroyed in the
blaze, including the McClintock Hotel, Rio Lobo Cantina and the
Mission in Mexican Plaza, all sites in which John Wayne worked.
You can scratch your head and ponder all day long trying to come
up with an explanation for why a place like Old Tucson is so popular.
But it all comes down to John Wayne.