ON THE TRAIL OF WAYNE MEMENTOS

“My father never looked back,” said Michael Wayne, as he recalled his famous father, John. “He always looked forward, ahead to the next project. Consequently, he never saved anything about his own films; the only photos he kept were family ones.”

In 1978, about a year before the actor’s death, Michael--the longtime chief of Batjac Productions, which produced many of Wayne’s later films--decided an effort should be made to preserve his father’s legacy. “I didn’t discuss it with him,” Wayne said. “He didn’t even know. I just started doing it.”

Unknown to Michael Wayne, restoration of his father’s work was also taking place in New York at the Museum of Modern Art. The result--the restored wide-screen version of “The Big Trail,” Wayne’s first starring film--screens tonight at 8 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills.

Unprecedented in its use of location photography and sound recording, the costly 70-millimeter “Big Trail” was not a commercial success when originally released in 1930.

As Michael Wayne recalls, it was not one of his father’s favorite films. It does have historical interest, however.

“It has such a tremendous sense of vista and scope,” Wayne said. “To think that they could mount this terrific production 55 years ago is really quite amazing.”

Also on display at the screening will be a number of original “Big Trail” lobby cards and posters.

In addition to these traditional artifacts from John Wayne’s best-known films, the actor’s son has uncovered foreign advertisements for other films (“the Belgian ones were always the best”), Mad magazine lampoons, John Wayne commercial endorsements of the ‘30s and ‘40s, a 1941 puzzle of the Duke with puzzle pieces in the shapes of various types of guns, and other memorabilia.

Archivist Ron Kowall has been assisting Wayne in amassing the collection, which encompasses 152 films during the actor’s four-decade career.

Wayne estimates his efforts have been costing him $1,000 a week. Ultimately, he said, the John Wayne collection probably will be donated to a major film archive or university.

Despite the cost, however, Wayne feels his work is necessary. “Because of his films, my father came to symbolize the American man throughout the world, whether he was wearing a soldier suit or a cowboy hat or a police uniform. The roles he played were generally larger than life, but the values they presented--honesty, integrity, independence--were qualities he had on and off screen.

“He wasn’t a cowboy or a rancher; he was a movie star. He wasn’t a hero; he was a movie star. But for many people, he was a symbol of America.”

What would his father think if he could see the Wayne collection today?

“I think he’d look at it and say, ‘That’s great,’ ” Wayne said, and then laughed. “And then he’d never give another thought to it.”

Admission to tonight’s screening of “The Big Trail,” which is open to the public, is $6.