Sims: We have a Johnny Cash mural. How about a downtown museum?

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Johnny Cash’s fans know the Man in Black’s story walks a line straight through London.

But documentary filmmaker Jonathan Holiff, son of Cash’s late manager Saul Holiff, has a big idea for a permanent stop for both country and rock fans who revere the legendary singer and performer.

It’s a museum. An interactive museum. A permanent installation in London’s downtown.

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“I think it’s a great idea and I think it would make London world famous and it would put London at the top of this UNESCO world music city list,” Holiff said in an interview from his home base in Victoria, B.C.

This is still an idea, but an interesting one. He just needs someone to listen.

Next week, on Wednesday, June 26, he’s coming to London, specifically the McKellar room at Western University’s community centre, to give Londoners a sneak peek of his new documentary about Cash and his dad and to make a pitch for the Cash-driven tourist attraction.

Holiff, who made a  2012 documentary called My Father and the Man in Black, has been putting the finishing touches on Johnny Cash and the Lost Tour of Newfoundland, set for full release in 2026. The film explores the early tumultuous days of the Cash-Holiff partnership, a 10-day tour of Newfoundland, a successful moose hunt and the emergency arrival of June Carter as a replacement for Cash’s “girl singer.”

The follow-up documentary was sparked by a surprising Newfoundland garage sale find of 50 photo negatives taken by Life magazine photographer Richard Friske, who had tagged along on the tour that starred Cash,  the Tennessee Three, Johnny Western (who co-wrote the theme song for TV show Have Gun, Will Travel) and singer Rose Maddox.

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The discovery, including shots of the moose hunt, made Holiff re-examine some of the conclusions of the first documentary, and return to the hefty archive of audio and photos his father left after his death. He came to understand it was Johnny Western who had encouraged Cash to take Holiff’s dad, who managed the Canadian productions, on as full-time manager at the time of the tour.

The handshake agreement happened in Gander, Nfld., on Oct. 9, 1961. Holiff realized the first hotel room Cash ever trashed and his first arrest for his carousing were in Newfoundland.

It was also when Cash earned the nickname of  No-Show Cash, because of his addictions. He barely got past the first song at each show and the antics were so outrageous  Maddow quit because “the boys are just too wild for her.”

Holiff said his father suggested  June Carter as a replacement. Cash knew Carter in passing, Holiff said, and told his father, “I’ve always been a fan of hers.”

“It was my dad who introduced them,” Holiff said. He can remember Cash and Carter were in London at least once a year in the 1960s at their Jarvis Street home. Often, they would borrow his parents’ bicycles to ride through Springbank Park.

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And, of course, there was the proposal. Immortalized in a beautiful mural on the north side of the Budweiser Gardens is the proposal, the moment the greatest love affair in country music history was solidified when Cash asked Carter to marry him on stage in front of 7,000 people at the London Gardens in February 1968.

Holiff said he was in a conversation with a visual effects friend and was sent a photo of the mural, sparking the idea for the museum, not a place for dusty LPs and posters, but an interactive experience unlike the Cash Museum in Nashville.

And he wants it in his hometown, his dad’s hometown. “This is not to make money, this is not some sort of scheme. I make movies, I don’t make museums,” he said.

His idea was shot down by people familiar with the state of downtown.

“A ghost town,” was what Holiff heard, with a serious issue with unhoused people.

So, his idea is that gross proceeds for the first year and 15 per cent annually for the next decade would go to programs supporting the homeless.

Holiff is discouraged. He’s been thinking about cancelling the event. Only about half the tickets have been scooped up and he can’t get anyone who might be interested in his pitch to pick up the phone.

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He wants to hear from the mayor, the Grand Theatre, possible benefactors, property owners, anyone who is intrigued by the idea. The remaining tickets for the documentary are available for free, with a limit of 10 per person.

Mayor Josh Morgan’s office said they are interested and want to hear more.

So does Tourism London general manager Cheryl Finn. “ Absolutely,” she said. “He can call me.”

The lyrics of Cash’s song, The Man in Black, say: I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,

Livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town.

A Cash exhibit downtown might make some sense. This can be done One Piece at a Time.

The Line can stop here.

jsims@postmedia.com

IF YOU GO

What: Johnny Cash Movie (Sneak Peek) at Western University.

When: Wednesday, June 26 from 4 p.m. to midnight.

Tickets: Free, available at whenjohnnycashgothismoose@gmail.com

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