Road by Agathlan Peak

John Ford

PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR One of the highest tributes that can be paid to anyone by the Navajo people is the presentation of a sacred ceremonial deer skin complete with ears, tail and legs. This rare honor has a deep Navajo meaning that would be difficult to interpret into everyday words of the whiteman. Such a presentation recently made to John Ford, while he was in Monument Valley to film his latest western classic, "The Searchers", was not dedicated to John Ford, the famous director but to John Ford, the man. His fame, great as it is, has little meaning on the vast isolated Navajo Reservation where most of the inhabitants have yet to see their first motion picture. But John Ford, the man had most certainly earned the devoted admiration and respect of the Navajo people during extended periods of close association over the past seventeen years when he had directed five major western pictures in their scenic land.

The Navajo is observing and they had long admired the John Ford sense of humor, his mind that spins like an eternal whirlwind constantly uprooting fresh ideas and thoughts, his physical endurance and vitality in their rugged land and his sincere humanitarian concern. They admired his use of psychology as he moulded actors like clay to bring out the best in them. They respected his nonassuming manner, his distaste for fanfare and publicity that relentlessly pursues great personalities. They were aware that the loyalty and devotion of all those who worked with him was in itself, the acid test. Natani Nez, they called him when they took him into their tribe many years before. Natani Nez (Tall Leader) was always welcome in their valley and in their hogans; he belonged. John Ford first became acquainted with Monument Valley in 1938 when, for United Artists Studios, he was preparing to direct a class A western on location, starring John Wayne. A rumor of these plans somehow drifted into Monument Valley and sparked Indian Trader Harry Goulding into action. After having weathered the depression of the thirties, Harry and his Navajo neighbors were in economic trouble. Visitors to the Valley had been scarce and there was no market for Navajo sheep or wool. Starvation lurked in many hogans. Harry reasoned, that if he could persuade United Artists to make their picture in Monument Valley, it would provide badly needed assistance for the Indians and at the same time attract more visitors to his land of monuments. With his wife, Mike, beside him, their last sixty dollars and a stack of Monument Valley photographs, he set out for California on a do-or-die mission to convince Hollywood that Monument Valley was an ideal setting for a western production. Getting an interview with the powers of Hollywood was no easy chore. Only after threatening to throw down his bedroll and camp in the United Artists front office until he was heard, did he meet the location director who stomped in with the fullest intentions of throwing one Indian trader out into the street. But Harry was prepared; he stood facing the director, a stack of enlarged photographs under each arm with choice monument pictures on top, strategically displayed in such a way that the irate studio official could not help but see them. Curiosity was stimulated immediately, the crisis passed, a friendly conversation followed. Moments later all the pictures were spread out in a private office and Director John Ford was called in along with production chief Walter Wanger. The conference lasted several hours. Then a decision was made, Monument Valley was the place. Before Harry Goulding could catch his breath, he was to learn that when Hollywood makes up its mind it can move fast. He was handed a check and sent back to Monument Valley with the almost impossible task of providing food and accommodations for the cast and a hundred technicians who would descend upon him in three days. With only the trading post and two small rock cabins to start with, Harry took the impossible in stride. At least the studio people had provided ample funds, so when they arrived on schedule, he was ready. The sunshine of good fortune had never smiled

makes another movie classic in Monument Valley

The John Ford way of making good pictures, requires an alert mind, a keen eye and almost constant activity. The examples shown here, top to bottom and left to right are but a few of the many sidelights in a days shooting: selecting a location, checking a wardrobe detail, demonstrating action wanted in an embrace, holding morale at high level with his natural sense of good humor, relaxing between scenes astride a fast horse and clowning with Navajo friends in a foot race.

OPPOSITE PAGE

"VIEW OF MONUMENT VALLEY FROM GOULDING'S LODGE" BY JOSEF MUENCH. From the ledge where Goulding's Lodge is located, guests have a sweeping view of Monument Valley. This photograph was taken when a sinking sun set fire to the red sandstone. brighter on Monument Valley. There were jobs for scores of Navajos, there was business for the trading post and out of all this, the world was given one of the all-time great westerns, the Academy Award winning "Stagecoach."

The die was cast, other studios recognizing the natural scenic splendors of Monument Valley for background shots used it in several westerns. In 1946 John Ford returned to the Valley, put up a $250,000 set and filmed "My Darling Clementine." The humanitarian side of Mr. Ford, in his desire to further help the Navajo people, obviously played a considerable part in his choosing Monument Valley for the Clementine location, as this picture did not require the monument backgrounds. It could, just as well and much more economically, have been made in the San Fernando Valley, right next door to Hollywood.

In 1947 Ford was back for the third time, with John Wayne for location shots of "Fort Apache." In 1948, Ford, Wayne and a large company came to do Monument Valley real justice in Technicolor, with a story of the U. S. Cavalry: "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon." This picture was another godsend to the Monument Valley Navajos, for just after the company completed location shots and left, a