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Here’s another magazine article I thought you’d enjoy.
It’s a particularly good look at the history of the books from Dad writing on the kitchen table as a teenager to the movies and all the turns on the track along the way. You never know where that “little idea” may take you! Jennifer Meyer does a great job of capturing what interested Walter Farley most – that intangible something that happens between a horse and rider.
My friend Elizabeth McCall wrote this fascinating article about Elvis Presley and his love of horses. It’s going to be out in the next issue of “Cowboys & Indians” magazine but you can have a sneak peek – right here, right now!!
I always liked Elvis in “Blue Hawaii” something about living on an island ranch, I guess :)
Enjoy the memories and maybe we’ll all meet up sometime at the barn in Graceland!
Have a fabulous weekend and take a minute to remember our firefighters and soldiers on this hot Fourth of July holiday.
tim farley
All The King’s Horses
Few outside his innermost circle knew Elvis Presley had a heart for horses.
BY ELIZABETH KAYE MCCALL
Elvis on Rising Sun, his golden palomino, and Bear, his black Tennessee Walking Horse.Photography: Courtesy Elvis Presley Enterprises inc.
The world knew Elvis for his music, his movies, and even for his motorcycles. People close to him knew him for his love of horses. A rich part of his personal life that largely escaped public view, his equine devotion opened to the world in 2009 when the stables at Graceland opened to the public in Memphis, Tennessee.
“Actually, Elvis was a little bit afraid of horses at first because of something that happened on a movie set,” says Alene Alexander, Graceland’s stable supervisor. She’s referring to the time a horse ran away with the actor during production of Flaming Star, in which Elvis plays Pacer Burton, the son of a Kiowa mother and Texas rancher father who ends up caught between both worlds. But after buying wife Priscilla a black quarter horse named Domino, Elvis had a change of heart about riding.
“After he saw Priscilla ride, he became interested in owning a horse,” says Alexander, a former schoolteacher who has become the King’s de facto equine historian after 30 years at Graceland. Not just any horse — he had to have a golden palomino. “He would take the guys [in his entourage] and Priscilla, and they would go out and literally knock on people’s doors who had horses, looking for a golden palomino.”
It was often 3 in the morning when he took those horse-hunting trips. “Elvis couldn’t travel during the day. If he did, the world would be following him. …
WILD THING: Spike Jonze, with a friend from Where the Wild Things Are, wonders if anyone could make a a film like The Black Stallion anymore.
Carroll Ballard’s The Black Stallion is a legendary piece of visual filmmaking. Spike Jonze studied it for Where the Wild Things Are, and explains how Ballard effortlessly tells a rousing story with few words.
By Rob Feld
He’s a rare filmmaker with such a delicate touch,” says Spike Jonze, settling in to watch Carroll Ballard’s The Black Stallion. “He’s like Terrence Malick in a way: very patient and confident.”
Jonze has chosen to screen the film about a boy and the horse he loves because of the influence it had on his last movie, Where the Wild Things Are. Maurice Sendak, who wrote the children’s book it was based on, had suggested he see it again. “I remember loving this movie as a kid,” says Jonze. “When I re-watched it, I was astounded by the beauty of the relationship. The first 45 minutes, with almost no dialogue, is always what gets me. It captures the point of view of a boy observing the world.”
Ballard’s treatment of Walter Farley’s novel follows Alec Ramsey (Kelly Reno), who saves, and in turn is saved by, a powerful black stallion. The boy is traveling with his father (Hoyt Axton) on an ocean liner, and Ballard introduces the boat as a wonderland inhabited by strange characters. “One of the great things about the film was the casting, the specialness of the boy Ballard found, and the way he worked with him,” says Jonze. “The boy had never acted before, but the movie wouldn’t have worked if they didn’t have this kid who’s face you could hold on in silence for long scenes, and understand what he’s feeling.”
