Back in 1973, RCA Records put out a patriotic spoken-word record album by John Wayne called, America Why I Love Her.
In it, Wayne recites patriotic poetry set to music and a choir. But did you know that the poetry was written by actor Robert Mitchum's younger brother John Mitchum?
Yes, the John Mitchum, who played detective Frank DiGiorgio in the first three Dirty Harry movies with Clint Eastwood.
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| Above, John Mitchum in El Dorado. |
On Christmas Eve in 2016, my cousin Ralph gave me a copy of the LP.
How did this album come about?
According to Wikipedia:
The idea for the album came about when actor Forrest Tucker heard John Mitchum recite his poem "Why Are You Marching, Son?". Tucker and Mitchum were on location with Wayne, shooting the 1970 Western film Chisum. Tucker asked him to read it for Wayne, and halfway through the reading, Wayne had tears in his eyes. Wayne reportedly told Mitchum, "I've never recorded anything in my life, but I'm going to record an album of your poetry".
On the album, Wayne reads Mitchum's poetry with backing from an orchestra and choir. Billy Liebert arranged and conducted the orchestra and also produced the album.
In an interview upon the album's release, Wayne explained his attraction to the material: "John Mitchum thinks like I think and writes like I wish I could". Wayne added that he hoped that the album would cause "a little bit of rapport between everybody in our country".
For his performance on the album, Wayne was nominated in 1974 for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album.
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| Above, my cousin Ralph (far left) after giving me the record album on Christmas Eve 2016. |
This wasn't the first time John Mitchum collaborated with a star musically. In early 1957, Adventures of Superman star George Reeves recorded two songs, "Las Altenitas" and "The Riddle" at Radio Recorders. The recording session was attended by Gig Young and Elizabeth Montgomery.
One of the backup singers on the two songs was...John Mitchum.
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