Hollywood the Hard Way: A Cowboy's Journey

by Patti Dickinson

Release Date: December, 1999

Edition: Paperback

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Excellent history that comes alive

Dickinson has done a skillful job of bringing twentieth century history alive through the life of an Oklahoma individual whose saga is fascinating. Well-written, I found this book to be a great way to enjoy popular history and learned many things I didn't know about the recent past and the people who moved through it.

Hollywood the Hard Way

Amazing true adventure story; a real page turner!

If your grandfather bet a Hollywood movie star cowboy that you could make a little ride to prove that real cowboys still existed and the ways of the old west were not dead, would you do it? Now imagine that in order to win you had to ride a horse 1500 miles from Oklahoma to Hollywood, CA in 50 days, would you? Oh yeah, and throw in barbwire fences, raging rivers, rattlesnakes, murderous robbers, a gunfight, suspicious police, Apaches, and getting lost in the Mojave Desert. Could you? Well, real life hero Jerry van Meter and his Osage indian pony, Fan, almost died doing it in 1946 as the old west was disappearing under post WWII development. He never profited by his adventure. In fact, his grandfather, cowboy legend Rolla Goodnight, never even told him what he bet!

Jerry was barely 20 years old when he made the ride. He is now 73 years old and lives in Kalispell, Montana. By chance, writer Patti Dickinson heard about Jerry when she stopped for a hamburger one day in Montana. It took her a year to track him down and verify his story. She tells it in a straight-ahead style that makes you feel that you are riding along with Jerry and Fan all the way. Thank you Ms. Dickinson for finding and preserving a fascinating part of our American history.