I first saw the cowboy toy pictured above a couple of years ago at Hollywood Mirror, a resale shop in Boystown that specializes in vintage clothing, funky decor and oddball toys and gifts. The cowboy and his horse were off in a dark corner of the store, standing on a table beneath a plastic lamp. The cowboy himself was in decent enough shape, though he lacked a gun (he had a holster for such and his right arm was cocked as if drawing on some desperado) and a hat (because all cowboys wear hats, right?), as was the horse he was sitting on (it had chips of plastic missing from its mane, but all four legs were there with no cracks or splinters).
Upon closer examination, I recognized the cowboy's face: It was clearly James Arness in his most famous role as Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, a show that still holds the record for the most years on the air for a prime-time drama, from 1955 to1975). (Arness returned to the role years later for a series of five made-for-TV movies from 1987 to 1994.) I later found out the the toy was made by a company called Hartland, which also produced figures of other TV cowboy stars of the 1950s (like Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger and Richard Boone as Paladin from Have Gun, Will Travel), and that the price Hollywood Mirror was asking was more than fair.
I didn't buy the cowboy on that occasion--I was broke and was just window shopping to stave off overwhelming boredom. The next time I wandered through, though, I did take the cowboy home, partly because he fit in well with the other vintage toys in La Casa del Terror, but also because I felt bad for him and the horse he rode in on--they'd both been knocked off the table and onto the floor beneath, where no one but me could see them, and that was only because I knew to look.
I mention the cowboy because James Arness died today. He'd been retired for some time (after the last of the aforementioned series of Gunsmoke movies aired in 1994), but had enjoyed quite a career beyond Marshal Dillon, including playing the title role in The Thing from Another World, fighting giant irradiated ants in Them!, and costarring with John Wayne a few times in movies like Hondo and Island in the Sky. Arness was 88 years old.
2 comments:
My mom loved Gunsmoke! I remember her watching the original in the early 1970s when I was really little.
I'm glad you gave the cowboy a home.
That's a cool toy. The horse's coloring is excellent.
Like Margo's mom, my dad loved Gunsmoke. He watched it throughout my childhood, and I was often to be found by his side, engrossed. Funny thing is, I cannot recall a single episode of the show today.
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