May 11, 2004
A correction on Jennifer’s Connelly’s first movie. I thought it was The Rocketeer but Wendy e-mailed me to set the record straight: “Jennifer's first starring role in a movie was in Labyrinth, with David Bowie and a host of Brian & Wendy Froud's clever, Jim Henson-created goblins and fairy tale creatures. Not incredibly great theater, but fun, and definitely a great hit with my family (Mom & Dad included).

Bart Bull came in yesterday afternoon and we had a good talk with Robert Ray about upcoming production opportunities. One of Bart’s suggestions is that we should produce a stand-alone special on the HBO series Deadwood, highlighting all the major historical characters on the show, publishing photos of the real Calamity Jane compared to the actress, the real Seth Bullock, etc. With our extensive, incomparable photo archives and back issues (we have done hundreds of articles on Deadwood in our 51 years of publishing), it really is a natural.

And speaking of Deadwood, here’s Jim Hatzell’s take on the show:

“I finally got a chance to see the first episodes of Deadwood (I don't get HBO— a friend taped it for me ) to see what all the fuss was about. The production values are first rate, the characters are well written and the story line compelling and historically accurate. I don't even mind the cussing but one thing bugs me about the show is Seth Bullock's hat!
“This is something I know about. Back in 1992 I was hired by the producers of the Unsolved Mysteries TV series to provide horses,saddles, props, extras and wardrobe ( It was one stop shopping ) for a segment they did on the haunting of the Bullock hotel by Mr Bullock and an Indian. Segments included Bullock meeting Theodore Roosevelt for the first time, during Teddy's Dakota ranching days, and a segment showing Seth as a town marshal in Deadwood. I had to supply the actor playing Seth Bullock with two sets of costumes. One was black, and an identical costume in white for the ghost stuff. Doing research I noticed that in every photo I could find of Seth Bullock, young or old , he always had his hat creased the same way. My guess is he took his hat off by grabbing it by the crown with his right hand creating the distinctive dimples. Taking your hat off by grabbing the brim was a blue collar practise that would damage it.
“I also wanted you to know that since your June issue on Custer came out I've been getting a lot of hits on my website and yesterday I sold a photo. Thank you for that!”

Buddy Boze Bell ate another hat of mine. This time he got one of my Tom Mix Stetsons ($375 in 1980’s money) and I really got mad at the little canine twit.

Kathy got four cats at the feedstore to help eradicate an invasion of pack rats in and around our adobe. Of course when the food chain conga line gets to cranking, the cats attract coyotes and it ends up being an all-you-can eat buffet, open 24-7. I’ll give the cats six weeks, tops.

“The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.”
—Lee Iacocca