Along Came Jones*

Along Came Jones

Directed by Stuart Heisler. 90 mins. (1945)

Gary Cooper – Melody Jones

A mild-mannered saddle tramp drifts into a frontier town and is mistaken for a notorious outlaw, forcing him to play the part of a dangerous gunslinger while struggling to stay true to his gentle nature.

Also starring Loretta Young, William Demarest, Dan Duryea, and Frank Sully.

Gary Cooper’s first independent production through Cinema Artists Corp., and the only feature he produced during his career. In a playful twist on his screen image, Cooper gently parodies his own laconic cowboy persona.

MARIA’S NOTES

This film was my father’s first time wearing a Producer’s hat at the same time as acting in it. Judging by his personal comments about wearing 2 hats, I know he would be in huge admiration today for the multi-talented Clint Eastwood. My father hated being a Producer. Cooper portrays a character named Melody Jones, a quiet simple cowboy, who finds himself mistaken for a crook with the same initials, Monte Jared. Melody Jones does not even know how to handle a gun. He lives his life with humor, charm and naivete but his being mistaken for the outlaw changes the trajectory of his life as he tries to cope with having the same initials as the villain. His character lacked the skills of a typical Gary Cooper hero. Samuel Goldwyn chewed him out about that. Cooper kind of makes fun of the Western hero and Goldwyn said, “ You shouldn’t do that sort of thing – never play anything that lets the public down – your public.” The Producer Nunnally Johnson and my father got along very well even with some of the parody of the Western, Johnson said, “To me, Cooper was always The Western Man - eternally gallant, eternally defeated and the movie itself is one long bitter laugh at life.” But in the process, the picture gave Cooper a Saturday Evening Post cover painted by the great American illustrator Norman Rockwell. A special personal moment – my mother had given his saddle used in the film to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. It had carved into it in large letters the initials MJ for Melody Jones/Monty Jared. My husband Byron Janis and I were in Oklahoma City for a concert and we wanted to visit the museum and see where my father’s saddle was exhibited. So there I am standing next to his saddle with my current initial (Maria Janis) also represented! The saddle kind of leaped out at me saying a warm, “Hello.”

Maria Cooper Janis