"Eight Flags Over the Nursery"
John Wayne (1907-1979) was an actor best known for appearing in Westerns. Although he'd been active in movies since the mid 1920s, often in bit parts, he gradually became a cowboy star of movies and serials for low-budget studios (including the Three Mesquiteers series) before his breakout role as the Ringo Kid in John Ford's Stagecoach (1939).
Wayne would make many more movies with Ford (including The Searchers) and become synonymous with the Western genre (although he also starred in action or war films such as In Harm's Way). His distinctive vocal patterns were often imitated and represented a specific type of male machismo. Later work included frequent cameos as himself, introducing the first television episode of Gunsmoke and joking on Laugh-In, as well as his Academy Award-winning turn as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit in 1969.
References[]
- Archive footage of Wayne was used in the Muppet Babies episode "Muppets Not Included" during Baby Piggy's game show fantasy. In one instance he's made to "interact" with Mickey Rooney.
- Footage of Wayne also appears in "Nanny's Day Off" and as one of the stars in the movie ride in "Eight Flags Over the Nursery."
- A running gag on The Jimmy Dean Show involved Rowlf's admiration for John Wayne.
- In The Muppet Show episode 101, when Fozzie Bear prepares for a Western sketch, he asks Kermit the Frog if his deeper voice makes him sound like John Wayne.
- Rich Little does an impression of Wayne in The Muppet Show episode 204.
- Jonathan Winters does an impression of Wayne in The Muppet Show episode 416.
- Mickey Moose from The Muppet Show spoke with a Wayne-like twang in his voice.
- In the Farscape episode "Throne for a Loss," John Crichton says the deal with the Tavleks won't go through if Aeryn Sun does her "John Wayne impression." When Aeryn is confused about who John Wayne is, Crichton lists off several John Wayne movies, including True Grit, The Searchers, and The Cowboys. He also references Wayne's role as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror.