June 23, 2007
Big day at End of Trail yesterday. Sold a bunch of books and another giclee. The guy who bought the "Get Out of Dodge" art print took it over to Hugh O'Brian, who was sitting to my right, and asked the legendary TV star if he would do him the honor of signing it. Hugh said he would but he hoped that he would be generous and compensate him for the honor. Hugh got $10 for the signature plus the $40 cut he hornswaggled out of us last night! Just amazing to watch.

Classic Gunfights, Volume III took me and my staff literally months to produce (and if you count how long it took us to produce each gunfight for the magazine I could make an argument it took at least a year to compile, edit, layout and print), and for this we collect $30 for a softcover edition. Hugh is sitting next to me selling laserprint photos of himself for $30 each! And the fans don't even flinch. "Okay, give me this one and that one, and I'll take two of those, and will you sign them for me?"

For a price. Ha.

Hugh is also a legendary bachelor, and he's known for taking liberty with the ladies. A woman in Tombstone allegedly slapped his face at a recent event and a good friend of mine told me about a banquet dinner at the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, where Hugh was the MC, and a female tablemate of my friend went up to receive an award. She came back fuming and finally blurted out that the entire time she was at the microphone trying to give her acceptance speech, Mr. Buntline Special had his hand gripping her buttocks. Ha. I know this is supposed to be awful, but there is a caddish, Irish, Diva, movie star aspect to all of this that just makes if funny.

He is definitely a character. He's told me a bunch of stories about Wyatt and John Wayne and I'll try to relate those later. I'm spending the day again with him in the big top. Should be a hoot. Maybe I'll learn a thing or two. One thing's for certain, he's definitely:

"Brave, courageous and BOLD!"
—Theme song for The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp