So, rest in peace, Fess Parker.
You younger folks don't even know what I'm talking about, but when I was seven years old, the brightest stars in the sky came diectly from Walt Disney and his new television program. Can you even imagine TV in black and white ?
Didn't matter, our imaginations made all the fireworks at the beginning of the show seem like they were in living color.
"When you wish upon a star,
makes no difference who you are,
when you wish upon a star,
your dreams come true."
Followed by, (after the inevitable commercial),
" Born on a mountain top in Tennessee,
greenest state in the land of the free,
raised in the woods so's he knew every tree,
kilt him a b'ar,
when he was only three.
Davy....
Davy Crockett,
king of the wild frontier."
Stupid Tennessee people calling a bear a bar, but I got past that.
And I knew a three year old couldn't kill a puppy, let alone a bear.
Lies, but whatever. Disney showing us what we better get used to here in good old America..
From Wikipedia:
“The Ballad of Davy Crockett” was introduced on the very first episode of “Disneyland” on Oct. 27, 1954, and was dashed together in about 20 minutes by Tom Blackburn, the script writer for the series, who had never written a song before, and George Bruns, the head staff composer for the Disney organization. Mr. Disney himself suggested that the words of the song be used to move the plot along. “The lyrics will pick it up for the kids,” he said. “It’s what I call a comic-book approach.”
The greatest program of all time was the Legend of Davy Crockett, presented by Disney, and starring Fess Parker as Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebson as his sidekick, Georgie Russell and premiered the day before my seventh birthday.
It was probably sponsored by Chevrolet.
"See the U S A,
in your Chev-ro-lay,
America's the greatest land of all.."
I wanted a coon-skin cap, but my folks wouldn't allow it. At least they let me spend the earnings that I got bicycling around Waltham picking up and redeeming two cent bottles and cans on Davy Crockett bubblegum cards. See, I've always been an entrepreneur. Looking back, and tying this dribble into business, that was when I learned about diversification in a collectible market. Before that I only collected baseball cards. But I digress.
Anyway, Davy could kick anyone's ass, and Georgie had his back. Sweet relationship. Man love. Yeah, I went for that at the age of seven. There were no stinky girls in this program.
Only truth, justice, and the American way........... Wait.. .....That was Superman.
I loved these two characters as though they were real. I lived outside of Boston, but these guys made me want to move to Tennessee, but back a hundred years, and be their third sidekick. Just give me a knife and a long rifle, I could live in the woods.
Maybe I should do just that right now, eat squirrels and birds and stop worrying about sales and money.
Again I digress. Call it stream of consciousness. Whatever, no one reads this anyway.
It was truly a great show, Sunday nights, and I was nothing less than ecstatic when I lay down on the floor in front of the TV to see it every week.
Those damn bloodthirsty Indians (they were evil in the 1950's, not nice like today when we need them for legal gambling) couldn't beat Davy and his crew. Mike Fink and his semi-amusing, but cut throat river pirate guys couldn't beat them in a fight or a race, even when the bad guys cheated, like we all knew they would. I drew endless pictures of those crazy looking boats and their crews poling it down the river.
Alas, finally Davy was overrun by Mexicans, but it took thousands of them, attacking the Alamo.
He had his chance to escape, but, by God, he stuck it out and fought for what was RIGHT.
Anyone see any parallels there to life on our southwest borders today ?
Fess Parker re-appeared a few years later as Daniel Boone in a new TV series, but I totally rejected it, refused to watch. How could Davy Crockett also be Dan'l Boone ? Ridiculous.
So, rest in peace, Fess Parker, my earliest childhood hero,
and say hello to my adult hero, George Carlin for me.
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