Jr. Patriot Report - April 2026

John Stumpner

Motorcycling as Therapy

Marlon Brando was a great movie star of the second half of the 1900's. He appeared in many movies, including dramas and westerns. He also appeared in plays and on TV. Brando received many nominations and awards for his acting ability, including two Academy Awards for Best Actor. He was also included in Time magazine's 1999 list of the “100 Most Important People of the Century.” In addition to his acting, Marlon Brando was also an inventor (he has several patents for new ways to tighten drumheads) and civil rights activist. And Marlon Brando was an avid motorcyclist.

Marlon Brando had a lot of trouble growing up. His father was a traveling salesman and his mother an actress, both were rarely home. In school, Brando was disobedient and a chronic prankster. While he excelled at sports and acting, he failed miserably in all other subjects. He was expelled from one high school and, due to his bad behavior, dropped out of another. He spent a summer digging ditches and finally followed his two older sisters to New York to study acting. He appeared in several plays with some different theater troupes and went on to the big screen in Hollywood.

Although Marlon Brando excelled at acting, he was known for being difficult to work with. He would refuse to learn his lines, often relying on cue cards. Many of Brando's movie roles allowed him to play “bad boy” characters. In one of his early movies, The Wild One, he played “Johnny,” the leader of a motorcycle club that causes a disturbance in a small town. In this movie, Johnny complains that he's really not a bad person, people don't understand him, and he doesn't like being pushed around. Marlon Brando made this “misunderstood bad boy” type character famous. Other actors and entertainers like Elvis Presley and James Dean copied this and became famous stars as well.

To help cope with his personal life and the emotional stresses of being at the top of the acting profession, Marlon Brando would go motorcycle riding. “Ride to Work Day” was not an occasional thing. He often rode his motorcycle to the stage and studio. In The Wild One, Brando rode his own personal 1950 Triumph Thunderbird 6T. When living in New York, he would often go riding at one or two o'clock in the morning. He said it helped him think and write better. Later, when he wanted to relax from the pressures that come from being famous, he would go to the desert southwest and ride his 1969 Harley Davidson Electra Glide for miles and miles.

People have many different reasons for riding motorcycles. All agree that it is a fun, exciting and relaxing way to travel. Perhaps, this combination of exhilaration and relaxation is what gives motorcycling the calming effect it has on many riders. Being out in the wind and one with the environment just seems to make everything else less important. This freedom of the road and the relaxing exhilaration of motorcycling is what ABATE of Wisconsin is all about and why ABATE works so hard to preserve the biker lifestyle.

John