 |
| Source |
The 1950s was an amazing time for many reasons. Too many reasons that can be numbered. There is one that may have changed the face of modern culture:
The Television
Willie Nelson always delivers.
About 3 minutes long
My memories of television programming of that time were COWBOY SHOWS!
Oh boy howdy. I loved them. I still do. High Noon, Stagecoach, The Magnificent Seven, The Searchers---So good.
But it was the TV shows that were the candy for children. How many can say they know of or have seen Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, The Rifleman, Have Gun--Will Travel, Rawhide, Wagon Train, and others?
Why did they impact so many generations? Heroes, we wanted heroes. Not just heroes, but these were from a glamorized era called the Wild West.
Heroes rode horses (hi-ho Silver, Let's get 'em Trigger), cooked over a wood fire, slept on the ground, called women "Ma'm" and treated them protectively and with respect, and mostly didn't drink. Heroes had high standards of behavior, which the bad guys didn't. Heroes shot shiny guns, only because they had to. Heroes sometimes had gunfights, which they always won.
Heroes rode horses (hi-ho Silver, Let's get 'em Trigger), cooked over a wood fire, slept on the ground, called women "Ma'm" and treated them protectively and with respect, and mostly didn't drink. Heroes had high standards of behavior, which the bad guys didn't. Heroes shot shiny guns, only because they had to. Heroes sometimes had gunfights, which they always won.
Gunsmoke ran for twenty seasons! The opening of the show:
James Arness was 6'6" tall.
I watched this every week. Now that it is on cable, Gunsmoke is available for another generation of young cowboys to hitch up their horse and ride off into the sunset.
 |
| Bill Peck: 1955-1999 |
My brother Bill Peck with his horse Sonny.
This is Bill, all 6'4" of him. He grew up to be a cowboy in Texas with his own horses, a scraggly dog, a shiny gun, and a few acres of land. Oh. I miss him so.
