Postcard Blitz & Dipstick Legends

August 5, 2014

   Got the garage cleaned out enough to accept a very large palette of books. Want to knock it back one more layer tomorrow, but if the truck shows up, I'm ready. Here's a sleeper cartoon I found in my New Times files:



 
Daily Whipout: "Cover Me, I'm Going In"

   This was an illustration paired with a news report that local police needed a warrant to search a young woman they suspected of hiding drugs in her bra.
 
Al Bell Two Fisted Pump Jockey, New Times cover, June 23, 1982

   Inside the feature is a little racier than I opted for in the book (maturity?).

 
The Dip Stick Legend, 1982


The Triple B Postcard Blitz
   I also lined up three different 66 Kid postcards from my series and targeted several big TV media outlets with a one, two, three blitz. They get one postcard, then another one comes a day later and a third a day after that. The pitch starts soft, goes gonzo and finishes with me asking (actually begging) for the order. It's a long shot, but it's so hard to break wall that today on the big shows. We'll see.



 
BBB Postcard Blitz ready to go

"In this business you either sink or swim or you don't."
—David Smith

Mr. Gecko Head

August 4, 2014
   Back in the day (1973) I had a cartoon strip about a redneck cowboy who battled hippies who could turn themselves into lizards. I think it had to do with peyote but I don't remember.



Daily Whipout: "The Doper Roper Takes On Mr. Gecko Head" 



    Jeremy Rowe has the most amazing old photos of Arizona, including this shot taken near Camp Beale Springs near my hometown of Kingman in 1873 (really early). This photo and many others appear in his new book, "Arizona Stereographs, 1865-1930."



 
In-dins and scouts near Camp Beale Springs, 1874



 
Camp Verde Scouts, 1874

"One good thing about being a man is that men don't have to talk to each other."
—Peter Cocotas

Trash & Treasure From The Triple B Garage

August 3, 2014
   Down to the wire. Got a big truck steaming my way even as I type this, with a large palette of "The 66 Kid" hard bounds (500). The problem is, I keep finding little treasures in the trash heaps. Like this:



Daily Whipout: "Billy's Last Gasp"

This is the original pen and ink drawing, framed but dusty and the price on the back is $300 but I wouldn't sell this for $30,000. It's one of the best illustrations of Billy I have ever done, and, as you know, I've done plenty. It breaths, it's him and it's authentic to the evidence. I can't believe no one bought this when it showed at Suzanne Brown's Gallery in Scottsdale in 1992. Anyway, this was worth the cleaning right here.

I keep unearthing tons of postcards in various boxes. Here is just a small sample of the hundreds of postcards I have found so far, in my garage:


Postcard City From The Triple B Garage

Yes, that's a postcard for the play "True West" at bottom, left, the stage play by Sam Shepard. The funniest card is the Brokeback Mountain, upper left, second card down. On the back is a note from PH that says, "Sure looking forward to seeing you in a couple weeks! Yee Haw!" Of course PH is the Top Secret Writer, also known as Paul Andrew Hutton. The postcard, just above the Brokeback card, is the card for Dreamscape Desperado, the very successful museum show on Billy the Kid that Paul Hutton curated way back in 2007.

Here are some sketches from my college fine art classes from about 1968, or, they could be later, when I took classes at The Scottsdale Artist's School in the 1980s.


Brokeback Model, Series 69


Nude Descending A Staircase To Heaven

Found this heavily patina laden mono-print of a certain dentist at a certain street fight:


Daily Whipout: "Doc Waits His Turn"

I must say the garage and the packrats worked to give this a certain grungy bonified treasure aspect. Found this, below, in my Famous Faces file. What do Desmond Tutu and Evan Mecham have in common?


Daily Whipouts: "Desmond Tutu The Fiery Orator vs. Evan Mecham The Flaming Governor"

There's a ton more, but I've got to get back to cleaning, or I'll never finishing in time for that truck to unload.

"Trying to run a brand with a cold iron don't save no time."
—Old Vaquero Saying

Hells Bells: Bob Bell Texas Ranger or Bob Bell Black NFL Lineman?

August 2, 2014
   I'm still cleaning and sorting in the garage. I know, I know, it's been eight weeks but it gets too hot after nine a.m. and, well, I get distracted.

   For example: this morning I found this framed photo in a dusty corner, behind a very large stack of layout boards for my many New Times pieces:



Texas Rangers, Company D

   This is the famous frontier division of the Rangers, and the price tag was still on it ($75), but what caught my eye is the caption. Turns out the first guy, seated at left, is Bob Bell.

   Well, this struck a chord because I was just thinking about all the Bob Bells I keep bumping into. starting with Bob "Bozo" Bell, the semi-famous Chicago clown who many think I stole my handle from. And, although it's tempting to think this is true, I didn't know about the guy until I was in college, about three years after I started using the name as a professional nom de plume. And, then there was Bobby Bell, the Kansas City Chief's lineman who later had a Bar-B-Q sauce called Bobby Bell's Bar-B-Q Sauce. Somewhere I still have a bottle of it (probably in the garage!)

   When I was finishing "The 66 Kid" book I discovered, in a centennial book about Swea City, Iowa, that one of the previous owners of the Ford dealership there was a guy named Bob Bell. It was Gabby Motors when my dad sold cars for them in late 1955, and I had never heard this, but it made me laugh at the way researchers I know find stuff like this and twist it to suit their nefarious and selfish uses.

   A certain Billy the Kid researcher found a census from the Bonita, Arizona area from the 1870s and jumped on the name William Kidd, and made the leap of imagination that this was, in fact, Billy the Kid (who at the time was going by the alias Kid Antrim and really wasn't known as Billy the Kid until almost four years later). Based on this logic, one can easily imagine some researcher in the distant future jumping on the Swea City Ford deal and spinning out a story about how Bob Boze Bell once owned a Ford dealership in Swea City, Iowa and this proves that he was not an artist but a cheesy, used car salesman. That, my friend, is only half true.

"The problem with this world is everyone is about half right."
—Bob Bell, former Ford dealership owner

BBB Lands In Wild West?!

July 30, 2014

   Well, here's something I would never have predicted: I landed on the pages of our competitor, Wild West in the current issue.




   Johnny Boggs interviewed me last March while we were both at the Tucson Book Festival and he said it was for Wild West magazine and I said, "Well, I'll believe that when I see it."

   Well, not only did they run it, but it's a very nice piece and I'm accurately quoted. Plus, they gave a plug for my art website and the True West site. Amazing. A very classy move on Eric Weider's part (he's the owner of the Weider Group that owns Wild West and several other history titles).

   Chose ten paintings and drawings for the Powerhouse Museum show. All are featured in "The 66 Kid." Drove them down to Michael Feldman's Frame & Art Shop on Glenday at noon today. Here's a sneak peek at one of them:

Eye On The Sky (Division Doubletruck, pages 17—18), 24 X 18:, gouache



Still cleaning and filing. Found some groovy stuff in the garage a couple days ago:



 
Rolling Stone October 25, 1973 issue

   Read with interest the Gram Parsons obit which gave some of the sordid details of how two of his roadies kidnapped his coffin from Los Angeles International Airport then took the body out to Joshua Tree and burned it. They told the authorities they were off duty hearse drivers and they "had a girl all ready someplace to f**k them out of their mind; so they played that out to the guy." It actually worked and they signed with the name "Johnny Nobody." Allegedly, they were peeved because Gram's stepfather [Robert Parsons] had arranged a funeral in New Orleans and didn't invite any of Gram's band friends (that would be the dudes who kidnapped the body). Other little gems from the article: Mick Jagger allegedly wrote "Wild Horses" for and about Gram Parsons. Aslo, the cops didn't know what to charge the body snatchers with, but one of them called it "Gram Theft Parsons."

   By the way the issue is 80 pages, with covers, and it sold for 75 cents. it really is much closer to New Times than the slick mag it is today.

 
Matching Rolling Stone covers: one from the U.S. and the other from Argentina

"Eve!" he called and I sat with him as he ordered round after round of tequila. I think it must have been Gram who introduced Sauza Commemerativa {sic?) into rock & roll because Gram always knew quality when it came to f**king yourself up."
—Eve Babitz,  who comes off as major groupie-ish, in part of the obit commentary

Getting to The Truth About Jack Slade

July 30, 2014
   I am often asked how we can find the truth when there is so much bad history in print and especially online. Well, here is a perfect example of exactly how we strive to ferret out the truth.

   I wanted to do a Classic Gunfight in our October Art Issue that somehow connected to a Western artist, preferably Charlie Russell. As I went through my extensive Charlie Russell book collection I came across a pen and ink illustration Russell did of Jack Slade shooting Jules Reni (also styled as Beni). I knew a little bit about Slade from my research for Bad Men (1999), but it had been awhile and my take on the shooting was a bit hazy. So my first query was to Marshall Trimble and Mark Boardman, asking them who they think is the best resource on the truth about Jack Slade. Here is Mark's reply:

BBB,
   Try Death of a Gunfighter: The Search for Jack Slade by Dan Rottenberg
—Mark Boardman

   An hour later, Marshall chimed in with the same book and the same author. Now we had to track Mr. Rottenberg down. And with Google, it wasn't that hard. I sent my rough draft of the gunfight and a sidebar on Slade's most famous kill—Jules Reni.

   Based on the research in house and online (yes, Wikipedia was one of the sources) a problem emerged:

Meghan,
   The Jack Slade CG layout looks wonderful but we have a problem. Slade supposedly killed Jules Reni, but all of my text about this has disappeared. Not sure how this happened, but I had commentary about Reni getting the drop on Slade and shooting him with a shotgun and leaving him to die. Supposedly, Slade said he would track down Reni and cut off his ears and wear them as a watch fob. Slade did survive and later his men captured Reni at a spring and Slade went to Fort Laramie and met with the officers about what to do. Then rode to where they had Reni tied to a corral fence. Slade allegedly tortured Reni, shooting off his fingers and cutting off his ears before putting a bullet in his brain. THAT's where the watch fob ears came from.
—BBB

   And then, I got Dan Rottenburg on the telephone and we talked at length, I sent him our copy and this exchange happened:

Bob,
   Thanks for asking, and for your concern for truth. Here are the most likely facts about Jules Beni’s demise in August 1861:

   Slade had offered a $500 reward to anyone who captured Jules and brought him in alive. Two of Slade’s Central Overland employees wounded Jules in a gunfight, captured him and bound him to a packhorse to bring him to Slade. To their dismay, Jules died en route. Rather than lose the posted reward, they bound Jules to a post in a sitting position and insisted to Slade that Jules was still alive. Slade, who was skeptical, tested their veracity by cutting off Jules’s ears, without response from Jules.

   The details are on page 229-230 of my book, Death of a Gunfighter.

   Slade did supervise the hanging of at least two murderers and one horse thief. Whether these can strictly be defined as killings is a matter of definition.

Best regards,
Dan

   So I rewrote the sidebar in question and came up wit this:

A Fearsome Reputation Based on Scant Evidence
   Before Wild Bill Hickok, Jack Slade was the gunfighter everyone in the West knew and feared. Mark Twain wrote in Roughing It that “...Slade was a man whose heart and hands and soul were steeped in the blood of offenders against his dignity; a man who awfully avenged all injuries, affront, insults or slights, of whatever kind—on the spot if he could, years afterward if lack of earlier opportunity compelled it; a man whose hate tortured him day and night till vengeance appeased it—and not an ordinary vengeance either, but his enemy’s absolute death—nothing less; a man whose face would light up with a terrible joy when he surprised a foe and had him at a disadvantage."

   Twain is probably referring to the death of Jules Reni, the corrupt station keeper at Julesburg, Colorado. Slade had fired Jeni (also styled as Beni) and in March of 1860 Jules ambushed Slade and left him for dead. Remarkably, Slade survived and in August 1861 Slade's men captured Jeni and legend says Slade went to the scene of his capture and while Beni was tied to a corral fence, tortured him, shooting off his fingers and cutting off his ears for a watch fob, before putting a bullet in his brain.

   In spite of Twain’s rhetoric, Slade has only one other kill that can be documented. While division superintendent, he shot and killed Andrew Ferrin, one of his subordinates who was hindering the progress of a freight train, in May 1859. Slade’s fame apparently had much to do with his handle. As Twain wrote, “There was such magic in that name, SLADE!”

   And then in came this:

BBB,
   Incidentally, the more likely last name for Jules is Beni, not Reni.
Dan

   Okay, change made. And then this:

   As I just pointed out in my previous e-mail, Slade didn’t kill Jules, and Jules’s last name was Beni (you have it as Jeni once below).

   Mark Twain wasn’t referring to the shooting of Jules. Twain’s only meeting with Slade occurred on August 2, 1861. The killing of Jules occurred in late August 1861.

   Twain’s description that you quote below wasn’t intended as a portrait of Slade, but as a reflection of the hyperbolic rhetoric Twain heard from Slade's stagecoach employees, to contrast it with the courteous Slade he actually met upon arriving at Slade’s station.

   Slade was thought to be vindictive, but actually he wasn’t vindictive at all— quite the contrary. After being ambushed by Jules and left for dead in March 1860, he didn’t pursue Jules. Instead he sent word to Jules to stay out of Slade’s territory, even though Ben Holliday, the stagecoach owner, urged him to seek revenge.  Slade didn’t take action against Jules until Jules returned to Slade’s territory in April 1861. It’s all in my book.

   Sorry to be so picky. As the late Chicago newspaper editor Harry Romanoff used to say, “Any story will blow up in your face if you ask too many questions.”  :)

Best regards,
Dan

   I responded thus: Are you kidding?! We love this. Thank you, sir. We want to get it right.

   And now you know how we get as close to the truth as we can.

 
Charlie Russell

 
Dailly Whipouts: "Jack Slade Slips Away In The Clouds"

"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please."
—Mark Twain

Can You Spot The Final Charlie Russell Cover?

July 29, 2014
   We're working very hard on a special issue featuring the original cowboy artist—Charlie Russell. Our art director, Dan Harshberger, has done a dozen different cover designs. Here are the final nine. Can you spot the final cover design?

 
The 9 finalist layouts for our special issue on Charlie Russell (October, 2014)

"I have throwed my last leg over a saddle, the old pump is about to quit."
—Charlie Russell, age 62, two days before he died of a heart attack

The Back Way Around The Mountains

July 28, 2014
   Drove back from LA yesterday by myself. Took the back way through Riverside and up over the mountains to Palm Desert. Enjoyed seeing that rough country.

   I especially enjoyed seeing my grandson Weston stylin' with his 1-year-birthday lid:

 
Weston and his father Mike



 
Weston stylin' while holding his favorite toy car

   Last Saturday night, I took the kids down to visit Carson Mell in his humble adobe near Hollywood. My son Thomas and Carson go way back. Here they are yucking it up before we walked to a Salvadorian restaurant.



 
Carson Mell and T. Bell

Answering The Mail
   In the August issue, page 23, BBB writes about his grandmother. He mentions that she (grandmother) said "Wyatt Earp was the biggest jerk who ever walked the West". He, BBB, never addresses the issue of WHY she said that about Wyatt Earp. Can you explain why she said it and what she meant?

—Dr. Ron Nierenberg, Marietta, Ga

Dr. Ron,
   Yes, my grandmother was from a ranching family near Steins Pass, which is about 90 miles from Tombstone and when she was growing up in the early 1900s, mere decades after the OK Corral fight, she heard the cowboy side of things. And Marshall is correct, the Earps were Yankees from Iowa and the cowboys were mainly from Texas and the Earps left Arizona after a short stay. So my grandmother had no love for the Earps . This was quite intriguing to me because I loved the TV show so much. it was that contradiction that ultimately led me to being in the history biz.

—BBB

"They say they climb mountains because they are there. I wonder if it would astound them to know that the very same reason is why the rest of us go around them."
—S. Omar Baker

Tommy Taco Hoppiing

July 26, 2014
   Went out with my son Thomas Charles taco hopping this afternoon in Pasadena. He knows his way around the barrio. Here he is with the goods from La Estrella (he also stopped at Baja Ranch and got some green chile guisado and a couple buche tacos). The dude knows his Mexican street food.



Thomas Charles on the All Mexican All The Time Tour

   We're meeting Carson Mell tonight, for Mexican food, of course. Meanwhile, Weston has been enjoying a dog in the house.



Weston Smothers Hurley as his aunt and uncle laugh like crazy

   But the coolest scene was sitting in the back yard as my son read an advance copy of "The 66 Kid" and pointed out a photo of his father to Weston.



T. Charles points out his father to Weston Bortscheller

"The child is father to the man."
—Old Vaquero Saying

Weston Digs Hurley And The All Mexican All the Time Tour

July 26, 2014
   Here we are in Pasadena walking down the sidewalk on our All Mexican All The Time Tour.


Grand Marmita, Weston, T. Charles and Deena somewhere in Pasadena.

   T. Charles and his wife Pattarapan are on their way to Thailand and my son wants one final binge on the food he loves (In our family he's known as The Mole Man). And yes, Weston is smiling. He digs his uncle.

   The little Man of the West also loves Hurley, Pattarapan's dog. Here they are this morning waking up. The kids slept in the living room and the grandparents got the spare bedroom.



Weston grooves on Pattarapan's Thailand bound dog, Hurley.

  Our destination was Burrito Express for breakfast. We ate outside because it's a beautiful morning with the temperature in the mid-seventies.



Pattarapan, Deena and T. Charles digging in on the huevos rancheros at Burrito Express.

   We ate at El Patron in Altadena yesterday and T. had the "drunken margarita" which comes with an upside down cerveza attached. Quite clever and effective.



T. Charles with a "drunken margarita." Have two of these and the title is reversed.

   While at the Burrito Express this morning I gave the family a humor assignment. I'm sending "66 Kid" postcards to various media outlets with the goal of landing a guest spot, or getting some ink. I wondered aloud how to thread the needle between asking for the order and trying to get past the gatekeepers (something I know a little about at True West). Kathy came up with "I'll make a good guest," and since we always consider the opposite of whatever anyone comes up with, Deena posited, "Don't Google me."

   Ah, my clever daughter—that is how the next batch is going out, with that warning. I will tally the success rate and report on it when the results come in.

"Luck is the residue of design."
—Branch Rickey

Weston Digs A Bigger Hat!

July 25, 2014
   On the road from Vidal, California to 29 Palms, highway 62 parallels railroad tracks for about ten miles. the entire stretch has rock and wood tributes along the rail roadbed. Pretty amazing.

Roadbed graffiti along Highway 62 between Vidal, California and Iron Mountain

Drove into San Berdu, Glendora, Arcadia and Pasadena on old Route 66. Landed at Deena from Pasadena at about 11:30 and immediately got to playing with a certain grandson.



Weston looks like just maybe he'd like a bigger hat?



Okay, it's official: Weston totally digs the bigger hat.

Tom Bell, his wife and their dog, are coming in from the LAX and we're meeting them for Mexican food. T. Charles says it going to be All Mexican All The Time, until he leaves on Sunday for a teaching gig in Thailand.

"You can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy."
—Old Vaquero Saying

Wyatt Earp's Road to His Happy Days Mine

July 24, 2014
 After our stop in Earp, California, yesterday, which is just across the Colorado River from Parker, Arizona, Kathy and I motored west, past Wyatt Earp's Happy Days Mine (which lies north from the highway in the foothills of the Whipple Mountains).



Highway 62

 I assume this is the route Wyatt and Josie took from their winter home in LA, out through San Bernandino, Redlands, Joshua Tree and 29 Palms, in a wagon, of course. Hard to believe they traversed this desert with miles and miles of soft sand in every direction.

One of the reasons I took this back route to Cal was to take advantage of the summer heat to study highway heat waves. Got a couple pictures of the phenom.



I took this route for scenes like this: floating cars in the highway heat waves.

 Noticed an amazing phenom along the railroad tracks that parallel the highway for many miles. People have created mini-signs with their names on them, girlfriends, etc. by utilizing rocks and wood. This goes on for miles and miles. It's hard to believe that many people have even used the road. We only met maybe four cars on the entire 100 mile stretch.

Motored up through Crazy Woman Valley and saw a ruined little ranchito. Stopped to take a couple photos. Heat really blasting (110 degrees) but had to get a couple shots of the ranchito ruins.



Ranchito Ruins #1



Ranchito Ruins #2

 Stopped in Joshua Tree, the town, for lunch. Found a groovy little cafe, The Natural Sisters Cafe, which I would highly recommend. Brewed iced tea is the new standard for me. Fewer cafes bother any more and I can't stand instant. Tastes like water sifted through cat litter to me.



Natural Sisters Cafe in Joshua Tree: great guacamole burgers and brewed iced tea

 Then headed up the mountain for Bear Lake. Temperature dropped about five degrees every mile. Kathy and I had a bet about how far it would go down. Kathy bet 84 and I guessed 87. When we pulled into a pine nestled destination the thermometer said 87.

 "In hell, women are even more right."
 —Wonderful Russ sent me this from a dude who goes by @dafloydsta

The Earp Postcard Vendetta

July 23, 2014
 Got up this morning at six and drove to the Earp, California post office so I could mail some "66 Kid" postcards with the Earp postmark. Several people on my mailing list are going to be very surprised.



"The mailing has commenced. Either get to telling me how much you want a postcard with an Earp postmark, or get away from me."
 —BBB

Mickey Free Rides Across The Ledge of Death!

July 22, 2014
   Found a painting in my discard file and took a couple stabs at it. Finally added the rider this morning before I came into work.

 
Daily Whipout: "Mickey Free Rides Across The Ledge of Death"

   Whipped by an evil wind, the fire hop scotches the dry tundra and follows Mickey Free as he rides hell bent for leather out on the ledge of death.

   Just got the first advance copy of "The 66 Kid" from Cindy Laun at Voyageur Press in Minneapolis. Fed Ex rocketed the book from Minneapolis to Cave Creek in less than 24 hours (I received the book at 11 a.m.) How do they do this? Cost $92, but it's worth it. The printer is in Hong Kong and they evidently Fed Exed the publisher a copy. The rest of the shipment is coming on the proverbial slow boat from China and will arrive at the end of this week on the California coast. From there they will be trucked to the publisher in Minneapolis, then back to me in Arizona. Kind of crazy, this publishing business.

"I've heard some tall tales, but this one takes the cake. And, I love cake!"
—Hugh O'Brian, star of The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp (back cover blurb)

Billy vs. Brush Bill

July 21, 2014
   Working hard now on sorting art into categories. Here's a spot illustration done for Arizona Highways and ended up in "The Illustrated Life & Times of Billy the Kid."



 
Daily Whipout: "Billy vs. Brushy Bill"

   Lots and lots of New Times cartoons. I did a doubletruck worth of cartoons (six to 12 illustrations per) every week for over a decade. Found lots of decent stuff, like this:

Monsoon Fashion Month
   It's that time of year when Arizona celebrates Monsoon Fashion Month. In late July and most of August, Zonie women who love fashion are challenged to stay current and clothed.

 
Daily Whipout: "Monsoon Mama"

   Found the promotional postcard for the opening of Honkytonk Sue's, the short-lived niteclub on Scottsdale Road.

 
Honkytonk Sue's, 2003 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, Arizona

   The opening offered free drinks from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on February 27, 1981, promising, on the back, "We're going' to have one hell of a good tam." Yes, time was spelled "tam." At first the club was a raging success with wall to wall dancers and wannabe cowboys, but then, over time, the main dancers would dance all night, nursing a coke, and all the good bands charged $1,000 (if memory serves me correctly) and then when the club tried to institute a two drink minimum, all the good dancers went up the street to Handlebar J's or points north. Ah, the club business. Not the easiest thing in the world to make a success.

"Anybody who thinks of going to bed before 12 o'clock is a scoundrel."
—Samuel Johnson

Gunslingers Scores Again!

July 20, 2014
   Okay, here is the good side of cronyism and being in a bad, rock band with a crony. I guess this makes me the croner?

Dave Walker Dishes A Juicy Review of "Gunslingers"

And here we last week, after I got off the stage at The Television Critics Association confab at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.



The Survivors
We're both drummers (in the same band!) and we both survived working for Mike Lacey.

"Between us, we have over 10,000 hours of Gloria—Louie Louie frequent flier miles."
—BBB

Home Is Where The Art Is

July 20, 2014
   I have a secret agenda. My daughter lives in Pasadena and often talks about how she could never "go back" to Arizona to live. She loves Southern California. My son is on his way to Thailand this week where he will be teaching at a University. He claims he has no intention of returning to Arizona either. He wants to see the world.

   Kathy and I smile when they talk trash about our home and we never challenge them on it. It would be dumb to even try. However, sometimes I send along a photo, like this one which I took on my morning walk, to each of them, with a simple, subtle caption:



Home.

Here is the actual article in The New York Times from yesterday:

TELEVISION | TELEVISION REVIEW

Sass and Slow-Motion Bullets

‘Gunslingers,’ an American Heroes Channel Docudrama Series

By NEIL GENZLINGERJULY 18, 2014

Photo

Gunslingers Stafford Douglas, left, in this mini-series debuting Sunday on the American Heroes Channel.CreditAmerican Heroes Channel

You can always learn something by watching television. On Sunday night, it’s this:

“Do not take a drunk dentist to an arrest.”

Those words to live by come from one of the engaging talking heads in the first installment of “Gunslingers,” a spunky six-part series that begins on Sunday on the American Heroes Channel. The dentist is Doc Holliday, who tagged along with his pal Wyatt Earp to the notorious gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

This tale in the first episode and most of the others in this series have been told again and again on the big and small screen, but the treatment here makes the revisiting enjoyable for admirers of the Wild West and of history cheekily conveyed. The episodes are executed sort of like many hourlong TV docudramas, combining re-enactments (which are especially slick here) with explanatory comments from assorted experts and others. One is Kurt Russell, who played Earp in the 1993 film “Tombstone.” But Earp himself joins in the narration (via an actor’s voice), and some amusing camera tricks add to the fun. Love those slow-motion bullets.

The experts are not the usual dry academics. That crack about Holliday comes from Bob Boze Bell, the man behind True West magazine. They dress like people who have a genuine affection for the subject matter. You could stock a Western hat store with what’s on their heads.

The only problem with the series is that it means that the channel may have already outgrown its new name. It switched only a few months ago from “the Military Channel,” hoping “American Heroes Channel” would acknowledge that not all heroics are performed by people in the armed services. But future installments of this series look at Billy the Kid and Jesse James, among others. Heroes to some, maybe, but outlaws by definition.

Gunslingers
American Heroes Channel, Sunday nights at 10, Eastern and Pacific times; 9, Central time.
Produced for the American Heroes Channel by Castle Pictures Inc. For Castle Pictures: Christopher Cassel, executive producer. For the American Heroes Channel: Max Culhane, executive producer; Sara Kozak, senior vice president of production; Kevin Bennett, general manager. Henry Schleiff, group president of Investigation Discovery, Destination America, the American Heroes Channel and Discovery Fit & Health.

This article was forwarded to me from Casey Tefertiller who is also on the show. Casey just couldn't help himself and added this little dig: "Holliday probably was not drunk, but it does make for attention."

I replied back: "Thanks for sending me the article. Having an alcoholic father growing up, I think it's safe to say Holliday had a full head of steam by 2:30 in the afternoon."

 "Academics are so vicious because so little is at stake."
—Old Historian Saying

The Curious Journey of A Random Doc Holliday Quip

July 19, 2014
   "Do not take a drunk dentist to an arrest." I originally said that line into the blind eye of a movie camera in May of 2013 at Pioneer, Arizona. It was in reference to Doc Holliday and the O.K. Corral fight and was one of dozens of quips and quotes I provided to my interrogator, Christopher Cassel, the director of a TV documentary shooting in Arizona and New Mexico.

   Fast forward, the "drunk dentist" quip appeared last week on the sizzle reel for the American Heroes Channel at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.


BBB at the Getty photo shoot in the Beverly Hilton Hotel, July 9, 2014

   And today it appears in the New York Times.



   And tomorrow night it appears on the new TV series, "Gunslingers." And now you know the curious journey of a random Doc Holliday quip.

"When the legend becomes fat, try to crack wise."
—Old Talking Head Saying

Gunslingers Premieres This Sunday

July 18, 2014
   Got this message from the folks at Castle Pictures (the company that made the TV series "Gunslingers"):

This is Nevena with Castle Pictures. I wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that the Gunslingers series is Premiering this Sunday, July 20th at 10:00pm/9C. And also to thank you again very much, for being a part of the program, and sharing with us all your expertise and insights on western history. Your help both with your interviews and archive research was invaluable, and we are grateful you joined us for this series.

The network (now known as American Heroes Channel, formerly Military Channel) is absolutely thrilled with the series, and has put a big marketing push behind it. If you watch any of the Discovery networks, you may have seen the promos running for the past couple of weeks. And I wanted to let you know all the air dates, if you are interested in the other episodes as well.  After this Sunday premier, new episodes will follow each Sunday at the same time slot.



7/20 Wyatt Earp: The Tombstone Vendetta

7/27 Jesse James: The South’s Last Rebel

8/3  Billy the Kid: The Phantom of Lincoln County

8/10 Wild Bill Hickok: Marksman… Marked Man

8/17 John Wesley Hardin: The Dark Heart of Texas

8/24 Tom Horn: Grim Reaper of the Rockies

Here is a link to the network's home page for the series

Gunslingers!

"This fight has commenced. Get to fighting, or get away."
—Wyatt Earp

What If Groucho Rode With The Daltons?

July 18, 2014
  Found some more old New Times illustrations this morning. This one answers the question: What if Groucho Marx rode with the Daltons?

 
Daily Whipout: "What If Groucho Rode With The Daltons?"

   I also answered this question: What if James Butler was a "Wild AND Crazy Guy?"

 
Daily Whipout: "One Wild AND Crazy Bill Hickok"

"I refuse to rob banks with any outlaw gang who would have me as a member."
—Groucho Marx