Frances Hunter

blog of the author To the Ends of the Earth

 

Frances Hunter's Journal
December 2007

Winner, Violet Crown Award for Fiction

Silver Medal Winner, Independent Publisher Book Awards

Finalist, Foreword Magazine's Book of the Year Awards

 

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December 19, 2007: Trip Diaries Now Posted

I now have consolidated and created a permanent link for our two most recent Lewis and Clark trips. Check out Marching with George Rogers Clark and Lewis and Clark: From the Great Falls to the Bitterroots, or any of our older trips.

Book Review: The President's Lady

Rachel Jackson was the kind of woman for whom the word "long-suffering" seems to have been invented. Married to an abusive lout at age 18, Rachel was divorced by age 22. But Rachel's life was far from over. By age 30, she had proved herself to be a determined and capable businesswoman. Eventually she managed a small farming enterprise into The Hermitage, one of the most successful plantations in the South.

She also endured many of the storms of life familiar to women of any era, including depression, religious doubts, and unsuccessful attempts to have children. But as detailed in The President's Lady, the classic historical novel by Irving Stone, Rachel Jackson's true tragedy came when she met and married the love of her life, Andrew Jackson.

Stone paints a complex and realistic portrait of the love and marriage of Rachel and Andrew Jackson, based on obviously deep historical research (though some of what is known of the Jacksons has changed since the book was first published in 1951). First thrown together in the aftermath of her painful split from her first husband, the young couple received word that Rachel's husband had divorced her. They became man and wife. Two years later, they learned that the divorce had never been finalized. They were forced to agree to finalize the divorce on the grounds of adultery (Rachel's cohabitation with Jackson), and were then married again in a second ceremony.

This troubled time would haunt the Jacksons for the rest of their married life. Driven by a ravening ambition, Andrew would thrust himself into the spotlight, making powerful enemies through his brash behavior and mercurial personality. As Stone notes through Rachel's eyes, what happens to one spouse happens to the other. There were times when Rachel was Jackson's only, lonely supporter as he faced ruin. She helped him build again. And time and again, Andrew's enemies would attack him through Rachel, branding her an adulteress, a scarlet woman, even a prostitute.

In The President's Lady, Stone does a masterful job with point-of-view. The entire book is told from Rachel's perspective, from her nightmarish divorce to her immersion in her farm and husband to her heartbreaking trials as his fame grew:

Was she a different woman from the one with whom Andrew had fallen in love? From that instant she had heard the news of Lewis Robards' Harrisburg divorce, and learned that she was hopelessly trapped, her gay, warm, demonstrative nature had undergone a change, been replaced by the figure of the woman on horseback, riding across the fields alone at night to visit a cabin where someone was sick. The inescapable engulfment had turned her inward, banked the fires of her open, cheerful spontaneity, and in her self-consciousness made her search people's eyes to see if they thought her innocent or guilty. Would Andrew have loved her if she had been like this when he had first met her?

The historical details are wonderful, and the powerful message about the corrosive power of gossip is as current as the latest Britney Spears debacle. But the true greatness of The President's Lady is the glimpse Stone gives us into the vulnerable soul of Rachel Jackson. From youth to the cusp of old age, we experience Rachel's love for Andrew and her forgiveness of his shortcomings, her grief and her joys, her outrage and her heartbreak. I'm not ashamed to say that I shed a few tears at Rachel's worn and ragged last journey, which came as her husband was at last elected President of the United States.

Apparently Irving Stone, who died in 1989, shared an extremely close collaboration with his wife Jean. Perhaps this is why he is able to write of marriage so convincingly from Rachel's point of view. Whatever the inspiration, he did a wonderful job. The President's Lady is a page-turner, as compelling today as the day it was published more than 50 years ago.

There's a good website about the Jacksons at Rachel and Andrew Jackson: A Love Story.

December 12, 2007: Lewis & Clark at the Movies

For such an exciting adventure with themes of American triumph and undying friendship, the Lewis & Clark Expedition sure hasn't made much of an impact on the silver screen or TV. I know of only three theatrical movies that featured Lewis and Clark.

In 1955, Polish-born director Rudolph Maté helmed "The Far Horizons." A quick search of Maté's credits reveals no classics among his work, and "The Far Horizons" is, unfortunately, not a forgotten gem. Fred MacMurray stars as Meriwether "Merne" Lewis (oh the problem of that sissy first name!), who in 1803 finds himself on vacation courting Julia Hancock (Barbara Hale of Perry Mason fame). His old Army buddy Bill Clark (played with smoldering intensity by Charlton Heston) shows up and promptly steals Julia. Nonetheless, Merne soon gets words that the Louisiana Purchase has gone through, and the pair round up a bunch of men and are off to explore the new land.

Clark, who hates Indians, warns of the dangers they will face. But little does he dream that the biggest danger will be to his heart! Before long, a beautiful Indian maiden named Sacagawea (Donna Reed) saves the Corps of Discovery from attack by the Minnetarees, the mindless hostiles who kidnapped and enslaved her some years earlier.

Silly antics ensue for the rest of the movie, and making fun of it is hardly worth the effort. History goes by the boards, with the caddish Clark getting the credit for discovering the Great Falls, only to decide to chuck it all for his love for Sacagawea. About all you can say is that the attractive stars are all easy on the eyes. The only good scene in the movie is when Sergeant Gass (William Demarest, who would later play Uncle Charley on MacMurray's "My Three Sons") reads Lewis & Clark the riot act for their childish behavior.

There's nothing in "The Far Horizons" that would make anyone excited about the Lewis & Clark Expedition or think that it was a worthwhile part of American history. The same is true of "Almost Heroes," a 1998 spoof that was the brainchild of veteran comedy director Christopher Guest. In this outing, two dimwits form their own expedition to try to beat Lewis & Clark to the Pacific. Matthew Perry of "Friends" plays the Lewis role, and crazy "Saturday Night Live" fatman Chris Farley takes on the Clark part. I was surprised to see how much of the real expedition was spoofed in this movie. Many of the jokes would only be appreciated by real Lewis & Clark buffs and lost on most of the target audience. Like most of Guest's movies, it's worth a smile, but "Almost Heroes" doesn't have enough of an edge to be really funny.

While I wouldn't really recommend "The Far Horizons" or "Almost Heroes" to anyone but the Lewis & Clark completist, the same can't be said of "Lewis & Clark: The Great Journey West." This short film, presented at IMAX theaters, is by far the best celluloid presentation of the Expedition. It's an exciting, beautiful, and historically accurate reenactment of the Expedition, with simple, touching performances by the attractive young actors. I saw this movie in 2002 and have been hooked on Lewis & Clark ever since. As you might expect from a movie produced by National Geographic, this is a really wonderful film that is suitable for all ages, and especially thrilling on the big IMAX screen.

Personally, I think "To the Ends of the Earth" would make a great movie! But so far we're still waiting for Hollywood to come calling. Supposedly, an HBO miniseries is in the works that will be based on Stephen Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage" and will finally do justice to Lewis and Clark. I hope this project gets off the ground.

I wonder why Disney never pursued a Lewis and Clark movie or TV show back in their Davy Crockett/Daniel Boone years? Could it be that "Merne" Lewis just isn't a Walt Disney kind of a guy?

December 6, 2007: Ulm Pishkun and Home

The last day of our great Lewis & Clark vacation was crisp, and sunny. We took a nice walk along the beautiful Missouri next to the hotel and were thrilled to see some Canada geese, honking and flying in formation overhead!

Our last event of the trip was a visit to Ulm Pishkun State Park, home of an archaeological site that is possibly the largest buffalo jump in North America. (Shortly after our visit, the park changed its name to First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park.)

The pishkun, or buffalo jump, is an imposing cliff rising over gently rolling hills in the yellow plain. At the visitor center, the park ranger gave us a brief orientation about how the Indians hunted here for hundreds of years. Archaeologists believe the site was in use as a buffalo jump from 900-1500 AD; they are unsure why it fell into disuse, though it apparently continued to be a gathering place. Until recent years, a huge number of bones and evidence of the hunt could be found at the base of the cliff. Unfortunately, they were gathered up and used for fertilizer and were mostly gone by the time of World War II. Some artifacts remain and a sampling from recent digs can be seen in the visitor center.

View from the top of the Ulm Pishkun. Aaaaaah! Splat!

A small but very interesting set of displays explained the deep interdependence of the Indian and the buffalo. It could truly be said that it is impossible to say where one ended and the other began. Besides the many uses of the buffalo, we learned about the exploits of the buffalo runners, the use of cairns as both spiritual symbols and runway markers, and the great feasts and celebrations that took place after a successful buffalo run. Sadly, the story has to end with the quick demise of the buffalo culture and the near-extermination of the buffalo, a tale which never loses its power to shock no matter how many times you hear it. On a brighter note, we learned about the seven reservations in the area and the people's attempts to bring the buffalo back. They're trying hard to be themselves and make it as Indians in a white man's world.

Next we rattled up a steep gravel road up to the top of the pishkun itself. The cliff is about 300 feet high and steep, and commands a sweeping view of the prairie and Square Butte, often featured in the works of Charlie Russell. It's easy to visualize the courageous buffalo runners and the terror of the thundering herds as they plunged to oblivion.

Prairie dog. These little critters were first discovered for science by Lewis & Clark.

The pishkun is also inhabited by one of the larger towns in Montana -- a prairie dog town, that is! Thousands and thousands of prairie dog holes stretch for a vast space, and the citizenry pops in and out of the holes constantly, standing up and "barking" in alarm if you try to approach them. It was adorable! It was fun to remember the time that Lewis and Clark spent hours trying to capture a prairie dog to send back to Mr. Jefferson.

Back down at the visitor center, we had a picnic, which was also attended by a jack rabbit and an aggressive hornet. It was then time to saddle up for the Great Falls Airport. Wah! Time to say goodbye to Lewis & Clark country for another visit. "But none complain, all go cheerfully on."

Lewis and Clark were delayed at the Great Falls, and we unexpectedly followed in their mockersons in this respect. We got back to Austin some 20 hours past our originally scheduled arrival due to a series of events too tedious to relate, except for this: we ended up spending the night in Helena again, this time at the Barrister, a great bed and breakfast! What a lovely place with great hospitality. The owner, Nick, even came and got us at the airport at 12:30 at night, which makes him a prince in my book. The next time we're in Helena, we will definitely be staying at the Barrister again!

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