Loved all things Wyatt Earp as a 10-year-old. Comics for sure; not just the "Authorized" Dell run with Hugh O'Brian on the cover but the far more entertaining Charlton series as well. Had me the Stuart Lake book (which is 80% baloney; Wyatt spinning tall tales that Lake believed), a Wyatt school lunch box &, yes, a Buntline Special cap pistol. When Dad, a mining engineer, traveled to AZ and came home to Milwaukee with a gift for me of an issue of the still-weekly Tombstone Epitaph, I thought he's journeyed to some exciting, far-off, exotic place. And here I am, for the last 30 years having lived about 16 miles down the road from Tombstone. I've even picked up change working as both a gunfighter and a miner for the tourist trade! What a journey our lives can take...
I favorite of mine when I was a sprout. It was great to see this debut show. I guess he got his black suit and gold vest later, along with the Buntline Special.
According to the TV series, he received the Buntline Special while he was town marshal in Wichita. That was season 1, episode 16. By then, he was wearing the black suit and gold vest.
I've heard that Stuart Lake only interviewed Wyatt Earp a few times before Earp's death, and had to finish the book by interviewing people who had known him. Of course, since Earp had recently died, they all basically talked about how wonderful he was, so Lake's book comes across as mindlessly laudatory. So, Wyatt's reputation as a fearless marshal and his reputation as a self-aggrandizing fraud both come from Lake's book. I suspect the truth is somewhere in between.
Will Henry's "Who Rides With Wyatt" makes Lake's book look like a hatchet job.
Many accounts (books, articles, movies) state that Wyatt received the Buntline gun when he was a marshal in Dodge City. Most of them, though, rely heavily on Lake's book, so, consider the source.
The story goes that five Buntline Specials were presented to Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Charlie Bassett, Neal Brown, and Bill Tilghman.
That's the legend, anyway. I'll go along with it. :)
8 comments:
Watched this a lot as a teen. Love the theme song.
Or as we kids used to sing it: "Quiet Burp, Quiet Burp, grave, outrageous, and old..."
Loved all things Wyatt Earp as a 10-year-old. Comics for sure; not just the "Authorized" Dell run with Hugh O'Brian on the cover but the far more entertaining Charlton series as well. Had me the Stuart Lake book (which is 80% baloney; Wyatt spinning tall tales that Lake believed), a Wyatt school lunch box &, yes, a Buntline Special cap pistol. When Dad, a mining engineer, traveled to AZ and came home to Milwaukee with a gift for me of an issue of the still-weekly Tombstone Epitaph, I thought he's journeyed to some exciting, far-off, exotic place. And here I am, for the last 30 years having lived about 16 miles down the road from Tombstone. I've even picked up change working as both a gunfighter and a miner for the tourist trade! What a journey our lives can take...
Thanks, Wyatt. And thanks, Even, for the post.
Make that Evan!
Man, Hugh O'Brien was one good-looking fella.
I favorite of mine when I was a sprout. It was great to see this debut show. I guess he got his black suit and gold vest later, along with the Buntline Special.
According to the TV series, he received the Buntline Special while he was town marshal in Wichita. That was season 1, episode 16. By then, he was wearing the black suit and gold vest.
I've heard that Stuart Lake only interviewed Wyatt Earp a few times before Earp's death, and had to finish the book by interviewing people who had known him. Of course, since Earp had recently died, they all basically talked about how wonderful he was, so Lake's book comes across as mindlessly laudatory. So, Wyatt's reputation as a fearless marshal and his reputation as a self-aggrandizing fraud both come from Lake's book. I suspect the truth is somewhere in between.
Will Henry's "Who Rides With Wyatt" makes Lake's book look like a hatchet job.
Many accounts (books, articles, movies) state that Wyatt received the Buntline gun when he was a marshal in Dodge City. Most of them, though, rely heavily on Lake's book, so, consider the source.
The story goes that five Buntline Specials were presented to Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Charlie Bassett, Neal Brown, and Bill Tilghman.
That's the legend, anyway. I'll go along with it. :)
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