By Roland
Schaefli
“This is
crazyâ€, Ethan Wayne whispered, as the bids in the auction started to climb way
over the estimates. The youngest son of movie legend John Wayne and other
members of the Wayne clan were present at the Beverly Hills auction on Oct 6th,
announcing that this would be the once in a lifetime shot for fans to get a
piece of the Duke, “and we’re not going to do it again†– and still, they could
not imagine that the fans would dig so deep in their pockets to collect their
father’s artifacts. The total of the two day sale eventually exceeded $5.4
million, a portion of the proceeds of which will fund the John Wayne Cancer
Foundation.
Only
weeks after John Wayne passed away in 1979, his house in Newport Beach was
sealed, an intensive inventory was taken of the Duke's personal items. Michael Wayne, then head honcho of
Wayne Enterprises, locked it all up. The boxes were transported in a warehouse almost to be forgotten for three decades, a la The Lost Ark. When
Michael passed away, Ethan (named after Wayne’s character in ‘The
Searchers’) took over running Wayne Enterprises. Michael had often mentioned his plans to open a John
Wayne museum, and it was well known among collectors that he had retained many of his father's film costumes. Why then, after all
this time, does the family allow the personal property – over 700 items - to be
scattered all over the world? “Michael had 30 years to do it – so why didn’t
he?â€, Ethan makes his point to Cinema Retro. His explanation why he feels great
about the auction is as simple as it is touching: “My father inspired people
through his films. And people have been calling the office for 32 years, asking
for a hat, a vest, a shirt. Because they have this strong connection. So for
me, I look at all these items, and they're going to go all over the world, and
they're going to inspire people. So all that attitude of John Wayne will be out
there living with these items, all over the globe.â€