Walk Tall - 8-29

Walk Tall, continuing the saga of ATT-highlighted movies, is a 1960 western about a lawman intent on bringing an outlaw to justice.  A fairly conventional concept, this film tells the story of Ed Trask, portrayed by Willard Parker, chasing down Kent Taylor's villain, Ed Carter.  Carter exacerbates his troubles when he antagonizes a Shoshone Indian tribe, who support Trask's efforts and assist him in the hunt.

Prior to starting his career as an actor, Willard Parker, originally Worster Van Eps, was a meter reader and a tennis pro.  He was predominantly seen on television, but his movie roles gave him the opportunity to play opposite Gene Kelly and Leo G. Carroll.

Question:

American audiences have been enamored with the western since the dawn of film technology.  Considered one of the first westerns ever filmed, the 1903 movie The Great Train Robbery was twelve minutes long.  Where did actual filming for the movie occur?

a) New Mexico

b) California

c) Arizona

d) New Jersey

e) Colorado

Answer Below

Today in History

Tensions come to a head in the new United States of America in 1786, when a group of Massachusetts farmers, incensed over high debts, tax burdens, a lack of hard currency, and a number of other financial pressures, first took up arms against local courts on August 28th.  This event was called Shays Rebellion, after one of their leaders, Daniel Shays.  When the Shaysites attempted take over the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts, militia forces were called to stop them and, aside from scattered protests, the fighting ended.  This was a leading cause for the abandonment of the Articles of Confederation, which inspired the creation of a new Constitution the next year.

WEAF-AM, a radio station located in New York City, broadcast the very first advertisement over the airwaves on this date in 1922.  This NBC station broadcast a ten-minute precursor to the infomercial dedicated to selling real estate in an apartment building in the Jackson Heights district of the city, near a newly-constructed elevated train line (now the number 7 line).

Births

On this date in 1898, beloved film director Preston Sturges was born in Chicago.

Despite making such classic Hollywood films as Sullivan's Travel, The Lady Eve, Unfaithfully Yours, and The Palm Beach Story, the only Academy Award that Sturges ever won was for writing the screenplay for The Great McGinty in 1940.

Quote:

The most incredible thing about my career is that I had one.  -- Preston Sturges

Answer:  d)