Movies - TV
John Wayne Borrowed A Tank To Answer A McQ Challenge From The Harvard Lampoon
By JEREMY SMITH
In the early 70s, the Ivy League bully pulpit of The Harvard Lampoon challenged John Wayne to visit them and screen his film "McQ." They probably didn't expect the Duke to accept their challenge, but he did and came out on top, just like in his movies.
They dared Wayne to set foot on "the most intellectual, the most traditionally radical, in short, the most hostile territory on earth." The Duke returned fire: “I shall be most happy to stop by your campus on my way to London to visit the original college whose name you have assumed and whose breeding and manners you haven't been able to buy.”
When Wayne descended on the Lampoon's headquarters, he did so in a U.S. Army tank, and once he took the stage for a Q&A, he gave as good as he got. "They thought I was a horse's ass," said Wayne, "but when they saw I was as honest about what I thought as they were about their beliefs, they came around.”