Original John Wayne Guest Book Off His Yacht Wild Goose Famous Signatures 1963-

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Original John Wayne Guest Book Off His Yacht Wild Goose Famous Signatures 1963-:
$331.50

I want to start off by saying that on a weekly basis I get questions from buyers asking if I split up family lots of diaries and sell them separately. So I thought I’d post something to ease everyone’s mind before they buy. I am very passionate about diary collecting and history and I can’t even imagine buying a diary lot from one particular family and then splitting them up and selling each separately. Its heart wrenching when I see this happening and you have my promise that if I have more then one diary, no matter how many I have, I will always sell family lots together in one sale. But I think it’s a good question you should always ask your sellers just in case you want to try and keep a lot together. And with that said…..

Then I need to put that it is illegal by ’s rules to copy all or any part of the description here for purposes of selling elsewhere. Their policy is listed here;

I have no problem at all with anyone purchasing my item and reselling it, however my description that I’ve worked hours on is not allowed to be copied by anyone for the above purposes. The main reason I write this is because I was contacted about a listing where someone had copied my exact sale and tried to sell a diary that they didn’t even have. It ended up being a fraudulent sale and I’m thankful they caught it in time. Thank you so much for your understanding.

What an exciting piece this was to discover and research. I usually try and read and research all the diaries and journals I list but was in a hurry with this one and decided against it. Then a wonderful acquaintance of mine said she had looked up a few of the names written on the pages of this journal and that they had quite the historical and prominent background. That of course triggered my interest and I decided to spend some time researching the piece and I am so very glad I did. What I learned was incredible and I was so pleasantly surprised. It was like a mystery that had to be solved and when I did, I couldn’t believe what I had.

This is the visitor’s journal or guest book that originally belonged to the great American actor John Wayne and was on board his yacht the “Wild Goose.” Now it doesn’t have the name of the ship or John Wayne’s signature anywhere however there are 4 ½ pages of original signatures (68 in all) and after researching extensively I’m almost 100% positive this was the original (or at least one of them) guest books from his yacht. Here is how I discovered all of this.

The dates represented in this journal are from the summer of 1963 to the summer of 1978. At the top of the columns is “DATE-NAME-ADDRESS”. The first and second pages of the journal have quite a few Spanish names written down and that confused me at first. You’ll also find several names of people from France, Portugal, Norway, and of course the United States. As I started to research each of the names I realized that many had a common thread; John Wayne. In fact the name that showed up more then once was “Wingfield (Marjorie, Geoffrey, Teddy, Anne)” and beside their name they wrote “Guevavi Ranch, Arizona”. When I went to look up the Wingfield’s I discovered that Guevavi was an incredible ranch that was known as a “Hollywood Hideaway”. The web site states that “Duke and many other movie stars frequently sought the peace and tranquility of this ranch so far away from the bright lights of Hollywood.” He became a very good friend of the Wingfield’s and they eventually named a room at the ranch after John Wayne.

[link removed by ]

Then on the third page “Aissa Wayne” and “Marisa Wayne” had written their names. When they listed their address, it was “2686 Bayshore” and sure enough that was John Wayne’s last home in Newport Beach. You can see it at the following web site, second photo down;

[link removed by ]

I still didn’t put two and two together as far as this being his yacht book because I had no idea he even owned a yacht. I thought perhaps this might be a famous lodge book or some kind of guestbook where the rich and famous stay. Then when I read the two notes on the last page which said, “Thanks to the “Duke and his great crew”, a light bulb went off in my head; for lack of a better term.

When I put into the Google search engines, “John Wayne” and “Yacht” everything started to make sense and I was getting an overload of information. Much of the information came from two different books that were written about John Wayne. The first is titled “John Wayne; American” and is written by Randy Roberts and James S. Olson. The second book and perhaps the best resource is a book titled “On Board With the Duke: John Wayne and the Wild Goose” written by Bert Minshall, captain on the Wild Goose. The book said that Minshall became a confidant, chronicler and crutch to Wayne, as well as companion to Wayne’s children. I decided to purchase both of this amazing books for research but also to sell here with this “Visitor’s Book.”

I’ve always loved John Wayne movies but was never really a fan until I started reading about this life in these books. What an amazing life he led and both books talk about how this yacht was one of the greatest loves of his life. The preface in the book titled “On Board With the Duke” says so much about Mr. Wayne and is intense love for this ship, and I quote……

“……The great, aging yacht was the actor’s proudest possession as well as a much cherished floating retreat and playground. She was the sort of ship you’d expect John Wane to own…big, rugged, comfortable, impressive. Few stars would have had the money or grit to take on such a formidable pain in the pocketbook. But to Duke, owning the Wild Goose capped a life that had been lived to the hilt. She was more than status symbol…she was an extension of himself. I helped raise Duke’s children Aissa, Ethan and Marisa aboard that wonderful old boat. Duke took me into his life and his family’s life. I was lucky and I knew it. Duke’s life and times aboard the Wild Goose, all the places he sailed in her, all the humor and drama and pleasures that took place on her decks, are known to only a handful of friends and crew members. It is largely unreported part of Duke’s life that I’ve felt for a long time should be told before there’s no one life to do so. I guess you could say this book is a combination adventure yarn and love story. The love, I unabashedly admit, is for Duke, his family and the shipmates who shared my good fortune over the years, and for the magnificent ship that made it all possible. I miss Duke and my life aboard the Wild Goose. This book and the pictures in it are a way for me to hold onto both, to keep them always with me. That is why this book is as much my personal diary as it is a record for those who want to know what it was like to sail with a man who has moved squarely into legend. It’s my life, and through the telling, a great part of Duke’s as well.”

This book is really fantastic and I’m including it and the other wonderful biography about John Wayne with the “Visitor’s” book. In fact in the book written by Roberts, on the second to last page he writes…

“Wayne refused to talk with anyone about his imminent death but he symbolically acknowledged it by selling the “Wild Goose” early in June. Although the boat had been expensive over the years, he had loved it dearly, especially the memories of going out to sea with his children and cronies. He had often talked about selling it in order to get rid of the upkeep bills or to generate some badly needed cash, but he could never bring himself to do it, at least not until he was on his deathbed and realized he would never see the Goose again.”

After spending time on this journal and learning about John Wayne that statements above, and browsing through these books with the incredible photos, well it brought tears to my eyes. I have a much greater appreciation for this great man.

The final thing that pulled everything together was the names and dates because they considered with so many of the stories and events within both of the books. Starting out with all the Spanish names. Again I’m quoting from Roberts and Olson….

“By summer it was time to return to full-time work. Duke had dreamed for years of sailing across the Atlantic, but his 75 foot yacht “Nor’wester” was too small for such a voyage. In 1962 he sold the Nor’wester and purchased the Wild Goose, a 135 foot converted U.S. navy minesweeper. Since Frank Capra’s “Circus World” his next film, would be shot on location in Spain, he had the perfect excuse. In September 1963 he sailed the Goose down the coast of Mexico, mooring at Acapulco for a week of fishing and relaxing. Merle Oberon hosted a party for the Waynes. They continued down the coast to Panama to visit the Arias brothers. Duke sailed the Goose through the Panama Canal and across the Caribbean to Bermuda, where he put Pilar, Aissa and John Ethan in a hotel. The Atlantic crossing was too risky. They stayed in a hotel until Duke called from the Azores, assuring them that the trip had been a success and telling them to come to Lisbon. Ralph and Marjorie Wingfield joined them on the Goose, as did Skip Hathaway, Henry’s wife” (Henry Hathaway was a film director and good friend of Wayne’s)

[link removed by ]

I underlined and highlighted the names above that are also written in the journal. It’s so interested too as you can see in the scans above, that the Wingfield’s names are written right before Skip Hathaway’s name. Now the names are written in the summer of 1963 and the above trip was taken in September so further research needs to be done.

Now as far as some of the other names (signatures) I discovered in the journal;

Temple Fielding: was a noted travel writer;

[link removed by ]

Robert M. Arnold: Seattle’s First National Bank executive, venture capitalist and philanthropist.

[link removed by ]

Edith Coogler: Women’s Editor of Atlanta Journal.

[link removed by ]

Geoffrey Wingfield: (I shared a site and some information above about the Wingfield’s and the ranch but Geoffrey’s information is so interesting:

[link removed by ]

Victorian Oliveras de la Riva: President of Real Club Deportivo Spanish.

Ernie and Myrna Saftig: Wayne’s long time production assistant and also crew on the yacht.

Jose De Franco: Wayne’s very close friend. He helped finance Jose’s company “Separation and Recovery System Inc.” Jose’s photo with Wayne standing in front of the Wild Goose is in the biography book and also the other book.

John and Mary St. John: Mary was Wayne’s long time assistant (personal secretary) right up until the day he died. Her name is all through the biography book and also a photo of Mary and John Wayne.

Jaime Arias: Journalist and Spanish Grand Prix’s press chief.

Polly McCaslin: I believe this is the wife of Lowry McCaslin of Pasadena. I found Lowry’s obituary and also found the tie in with Wayne. It looks like he went to USC and was a fraternity roommate of Wayne’s. Later he appeared as an extra in some of Wayne’s films. Was a big time California real estate developer. It said he was survived by his wife Polly.

And of course his two daughters who signed the book several times. There are others but I don’t have time to research this piece as it so greatly deserves. It’s really in great shape too and measures about 8” x 10”.

CONDITION OF ITEMS:

Handwritten items such as diaries and letters are never usually in mint condition. I try and describe my items the best way I can and post as many photos as I can. If a diary is tough to read for me I always say so in the description. If it is in bad condition I also say so and I usually describe the condition at the end of my descriptions. I have never, or I should say rarely, had a handwritten piece be in mint condition and there is a very good reason for that; they are made of paper, they’ve been carried around sometimes for 100’s of years and have been opened and shut hundreds if not thousands of times. So, please keep all of this in mind when purchasing diaries and letters from me..

MY BLOG: I’ve decided, finally, to start a blog site using the diaries in my personal collection. Over the years I’ve got so many amazing people emailing me asking me to share from my own personal collection of antique diaries. I’ve been trying to develop a web site but that is taking time so I thought I’d do this first and also facebook. There is also a page on the blog where I’ve written about why I collect. You can search for the blog by putting into one of the search engines (such as Google) the name; sallysdiaries (no apostrophe and all one word).

USUALLY I WOULD PUT THE LINK HERE WHERE YOU CAN JUST CLICK INTO MY BLOGGING WEB SITE BUT HAS DECIDED THAT THEY NEED TO REVIEW MY LISTINGS TO MAKE SURE I\'M NOT VIOLATING ANY OF THEIR LAWS BY PUTTING MY WORDPRESS WEB SITE HERE!!!. I TOLD THEM I WAS NOT SELLING ANYTHING ON MY BLOG BUT THEY WANT TO MAKE SURE BEFOREI CAN CONTINUE TO SHARE THE WEB ADDRESS IN MY LISTINGS. SO AGAINIF YOU WANT TO FIND IT JUST GOOGLE SALLYSDIARIES. SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION.

I’ve also started a facebook page and that is listed under Sally’s Diaries. The first diary I’ve been blogging about is from 1912 and is written by a woman who spends a romantic summer in England with her lover Henri. She also takes photos along the way. It’s one of the first that I’ve blogged about and have finished it but you can still find it by going back to the beginning of the blog. On another blog page I’ve started to quote from a 1927 diary from a man who just lost his wife to death. She was giving birth to their daughter who also died. I call it “John’s Grief Diary” and a link to that is on my main blog page. His entries are as deep and heartfelt as I’ve ever read.THIS IS ALSO UNDER SALLYSDIARIES2. (Note the “2” after Sallysdiaries)

Thirdly I have just started another one on my first blog site that was written by none other then EDITH VANDERBILT SHEPARD FABBRI. It’s her travel diary from the East to West Coast in 1887.

And finally on my facebook page, also located under Sallys Diaries, I started with another diary I have from 1937. This is an amazing diary belonging to the girlfriend of a New York Gangster. Crazy entries to say the least.

Thanks to all of you who have helped me through the years with such positive words of encouragement.