Paul Colt's Blog - Posts Tagged "action"
Sidekicks
We idolized our western heroes from B Westerns to the big screen and on to the little screen in the 50’s and 60’s. They came to us mounted on co-star quality horses with looks, smarts and tack fit for a parade. Many of them came along with a sidekick, a partner playing a comic counter point to the dashing, daring good looks of our hero. So who were these supporting characters who made our heroes look good? A little prowling along our back trail shed some light on the answer to that question.
Sidekicks came in all shapes, sizes and shticks. From Slim Pickens to Jingles Jones you set the bar pound for pound. Little Beaver took the prize for kid kicker while looking up to Tonto. Take your comedic choice between Smiley Burnette and Pancho. Festus come along after Chester limped off. Surprised he found his way to the set. We forget Buddy Ebsen got his start side-kicking. So did Walter Brennan, carving out a crotchety niche along with the quintessential kick George “Gabby” Hayes. There are a few more lesser-knowns we’ll try to track down.
Sidekicks came mounted one way or another. Usually their horses didn’t have the star quality of their hero’s. Generally they were a pretty non-descript lot, though there were exceptions – Tonto’s Scout, Dale Evans’ Buttermilk, Pancho’s Loco. Pat Buttram showed up in a Jeep named Nelle Belle – how else you going to keep up with Trigger?
All things considered they’re a colorful cast of characters, which I suppose is the point of side-kicking. They followed our heroes through thick and thin, usually out of step or a step slow. They might get there in the nick of time to help our hero save the day; or just as well take a prat fall for a laugh that said everything’s gonna be OK. Let’s relive some of those laughs in coming weeks with this series. How better to start next week than with . . .
Next Week: Gabby Hayes
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Sidekicks came in all shapes, sizes and shticks. From Slim Pickens to Jingles Jones you set the bar pound for pound. Little Beaver took the prize for kid kicker while looking up to Tonto. Take your comedic choice between Smiley Burnette and Pancho. Festus come along after Chester limped off. Surprised he found his way to the set. We forget Buddy Ebsen got his start side-kicking. So did Walter Brennan, carving out a crotchety niche along with the quintessential kick George “Gabby” Hayes. There are a few more lesser-knowns we’ll try to track down.
Sidekicks came mounted one way or another. Usually their horses didn’t have the star quality of their hero’s. Generally they were a pretty non-descript lot, though there were exceptions – Tonto’s Scout, Dale Evans’ Buttermilk, Pancho’s Loco. Pat Buttram showed up in a Jeep named Nelle Belle – how else you going to keep up with Trigger?
All things considered they’re a colorful cast of characters, which I suppose is the point of side-kicking. They followed our heroes through thick and thin, usually out of step or a step slow. They might get there in the nick of time to help our hero save the day; or just as well take a prat fall for a laugh that said everything’s gonna be OK. Let’s relive some of those laughs in coming weeks with this series. How better to start next week than with . . .
Next Week: Gabby Hayes
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Gabby Hayes
George Francis Hayes ran away from home at seventeen to join the circus. He got his start in vaudeville, married entertainer Olive Ireland and became successful enough to retire in 1928 at the age of forty-three. The market crash of ’29 put a crimp in the retirement plan. Olive convinced him to try his hand at film.
The couple moved to Hollywood where George found his way into a B Western role as Hopalong Cassidy’s sidekick Windy Halliday in 1935. The persona we know, love and remember today began to emerge from there; but first George had to learn to ride a horse. He was about as eastern as any westerner had ever been. William Boyd’s Hoppy and Windy rode together until George left Paramount for Republic in 1939.
Republic dubbed George “Gabby” for an eighty-six film run between 1939 and 1946. Besides the name change Republic polished the image we know as Gabby Hayes. Polished may not exactly capture the essence of the make-over. The beard never say barber. The well-spoken easterner learned a whole new range of expression, “Dagnabit”, “dadgummit”, “durn tooin’”, “whippersnapper” not to mention “persnickety female”, a derogatory reference to a woman, predating political correctness.
Along the way Gabby sidekicked with Roy Rogers for over half of those eighty six films, also appearing opposite Gene Autry, Wild Bill Elliott, Randolph Scott and the immortal John Wayne. Following his film career, Gabby made a move to the small screen, hosting the Gabby Hayes Show from 1950 to 1956. His appearances on the show were limited to whittling an introduction and an occasional shaggy dog yarn.
Gabby retired after his TV run. Olive passed away the following year. They had no children. Gabby died twelve years later of heart disease at the age of eighty-three. You can find his stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame along with his place in the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
Next Week: Jingles Jones
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
The couple moved to Hollywood where George found his way into a B Western role as Hopalong Cassidy’s sidekick Windy Halliday in 1935. The persona we know, love and remember today began to emerge from there; but first George had to learn to ride a horse. He was about as eastern as any westerner had ever been. William Boyd’s Hoppy and Windy rode together until George left Paramount for Republic in 1939.
Republic dubbed George “Gabby” for an eighty-six film run between 1939 and 1946. Besides the name change Republic polished the image we know as Gabby Hayes. Polished may not exactly capture the essence of the make-over. The beard never say barber. The well-spoken easterner learned a whole new range of expression, “Dagnabit”, “dadgummit”, “durn tooin’”, “whippersnapper” not to mention “persnickety female”, a derogatory reference to a woman, predating political correctness.
Along the way Gabby sidekicked with Roy Rogers for over half of those eighty six films, also appearing opposite Gene Autry, Wild Bill Elliott, Randolph Scott and the immortal John Wayne. Following his film career, Gabby made a move to the small screen, hosting the Gabby Hayes Show from 1950 to 1956. His appearances on the show were limited to whittling an introduction and an occasional shaggy dog yarn.
Gabby retired after his TV run. Olive passed away the following year. They had no children. Gabby died twelve years later of heart disease at the age of eighty-three. You can find his stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame along with his place in the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
Next Week: Jingles Jones
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Jingles Jones
Andy Devine grew up in Arizona and followed his acting dreams to Hollywood after college and a brief swing at semipro football. Andy was one of those unique talents who could move back and forth between character roles and serious parts; though we know him best for his sidekick side.
He spent fifteen years at Universal Studios and made over four hundred films alongside stars like Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne in movies like Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and How The West Was Won. He got his start as a sidekick, replacing Gabby Hayes as Cookie Bullfincher in nine films with Roy Rogers. (Never knew Cookie’s last name before researching this piece. Not sure I’m better off for having found out. Bull-fincher? Really?)
Devine hit his stride as a sidekick playing Jingles Jones to Guy Madison’s Wild Bill Hickok on the 1950’s TV series by the same name. You can almost hear that raspy wheezy noise he passed off for a voice. Said to be caused by childhood throat injury, Andy’s voice nearly cost him his career. He broke into silent pictures. No one thought that scratchy high pitched ‘fingernails-on-a-blackboard’ sound would make it in talkies. Undaunted Devine did. He made it his trademark. He even had it insured by Lloyds of London for half a million dollars. That voice and Betty Grabel’s legs? Go figure.
Andy Devine never went Hollywood. He and his wife Dorthy remained happily married ever after their vows. They raised two boys safely tucked away from movie tinsel and glitz. Andy Devine died of leukemia February 18, 1977 at the age of seventy-one. You can find his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Next Week: Smiley Burnette
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
He spent fifteen years at Universal Studios and made over four hundred films alongside stars like Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne in movies like Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and How The West Was Won. He got his start as a sidekick, replacing Gabby Hayes as Cookie Bullfincher in nine films with Roy Rogers. (Never knew Cookie’s last name before researching this piece. Not sure I’m better off for having found out. Bull-fincher? Really?)
Devine hit his stride as a sidekick playing Jingles Jones to Guy Madison’s Wild Bill Hickok on the 1950’s TV series by the same name. You can almost hear that raspy wheezy noise he passed off for a voice. Said to be caused by childhood throat injury, Andy’s voice nearly cost him his career. He broke into silent pictures. No one thought that scratchy high pitched ‘fingernails-on-a-blackboard’ sound would make it in talkies. Undaunted Devine did. He made it his trademark. He even had it insured by Lloyds of London for half a million dollars. That voice and Betty Grabel’s legs? Go figure.
Andy Devine never went Hollywood. He and his wife Dorthy remained happily married ever after their vows. They raised two boys safely tucked away from movie tinsel and glitz. Andy Devine died of leukemia February 18, 1977 at the age of seventy-one. You can find his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Next Week: Smiley Burnette
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Slim Pickens
Slim Pickens arrived in the world as Louis Burton Lindley Jr. June 29, 1919 in Kingsburg California. He became an accomplished horseman as a child and took to bronc riding and steer roping rodeo competition in his teens. Louis’ father objected to his rodeo participation. To keep it secret, he adopted the pseudonym “Slim Pickens” after a rodeo manager, accepting his entry fee predicted that for his chances of success. Slim rode the name to winning that day.
Slim Pickens had a twenty year career as a rodeo performer, much of it as a clown before Hollywood called. He was a natural for western films, handling all his own horse work, much of it riding his own horses.
His work as sidekick to Rex Allen led to character roles in high profile feature films opposite some of Hollywood’s brightest stars. He appeared in One-Eyed Jacks with Marlon Brando, Major Dundee with Charlton Heston, The Cowboys with John Wayne and Tom Horn with Steve McQueen. Stanley Kubrick cast Pickens as a comically ‘Gung-ho’ B-52 pilot in Dr. Strangelove. The role changed the trajectory of his career, leading to a wider range of more substantive roles.
TV beckoned with appearances in episodes of Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, The Lone Ranger, The Tall Man, Maverick, Bonanza, The Virginian and How the West Was Won. It wasn’t all western work either after Dr. Strangelove. Pickens appeared in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Hee Haw and Love Boat.
Slim Pickens died in 1983 following treatment for a brain tumor. He was inducted into two Halls of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, one for Western Performers and the other for Rodeo performers.
Next Week: Max Terhune
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Slim Pickens had a twenty year career as a rodeo performer, much of it as a clown before Hollywood called. He was a natural for western films, handling all his own horse work, much of it riding his own horses.
His work as sidekick to Rex Allen led to character roles in high profile feature films opposite some of Hollywood’s brightest stars. He appeared in One-Eyed Jacks with Marlon Brando, Major Dundee with Charlton Heston, The Cowboys with John Wayne and Tom Horn with Steve McQueen. Stanley Kubrick cast Pickens as a comically ‘Gung-ho’ B-52 pilot in Dr. Strangelove. The role changed the trajectory of his career, leading to a wider range of more substantive roles.
TV beckoned with appearances in episodes of Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, The Lone Ranger, The Tall Man, Maverick, Bonanza, The Virginian and How the West Was Won. It wasn’t all western work either after Dr. Strangelove. Pickens appeared in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Hee Haw and Love Boat.
Slim Pickens died in 1983 following treatment for a brain tumor. He was inducted into two Halls of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, one for Western Performers and the other for Rodeo performers.
Next Week: Max Terhune
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Matt Dillon
This post started out focused on Dennis Weaver’s sidekick role as Chester Goode. It was to be followed by a second post on Ken Curtis sidekicking as Festus Haggen. A funny thing happened on the way to this orderly little plan. We were reminded Matt Dillon had five different sidekicks over the shows two decade run.
In the early 50’s Denis Weaver had a nascent acting career withering on the vine with an assortment of day-jobs to feed his family. In 1955 he landed the role of Chester Goode as sidekick to James Arness’s Matt Dillon. Chester gimped into the role with an affected stiff leg to enhance his secondary character. His work as Chester received the 1959 Emmy for Best Supporting Actor. Weaver left the show in 1963 to pursue a wider range of career opportunities. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Dodge City Trail of Fame and a place in the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. An environmentalist and philanthropist Weaver died of cancer in 2006.
Weaver’s departure from the show opened the sidekick revolving door. Burt Reynolds joined the cast as “half-breed” blacksmith Quint Asper. He played the role from 1962 to 1965 bridging Weaver’s departure and the arrival of Ken Curtis as Festus. Along the way the sidekick spotlight was shared with Roger Ewing as Thad Greenwood (’66-’68) and Buck Taylor, Dub Taylor’s son, as Newly O’Brien (’67-’75).
Ken Curtis found his way into the role of the irascible back county Festus Haggen following four guest appearances in the series. He came to the role with quite the resume. Son-in-law by one of his marriages to legendary director John Ford, Curtis played roles in Ford classics including Rio Grande, The Searchers, The Horse Soldiers, The Alamo and How the West Was Won. His Festus grated our ears with a fingernails-on-the-blackboard scratchy, nasal quality voice Curtis created. In real life, Curtis sang with the Tommy Dorsey band and the Sons of the Pioneers where he hit it big with the classic Ghost Riders in the Sky. Ken Curtis has his place in the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. He died of a heart attack in1991.
Next Week: National Barn Dance
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
In the early 50’s Denis Weaver had a nascent acting career withering on the vine with an assortment of day-jobs to feed his family. In 1955 he landed the role of Chester Goode as sidekick to James Arness’s Matt Dillon. Chester gimped into the role with an affected stiff leg to enhance his secondary character. His work as Chester received the 1959 Emmy for Best Supporting Actor. Weaver left the show in 1963 to pursue a wider range of career opportunities. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Dodge City Trail of Fame and a place in the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. An environmentalist and philanthropist Weaver died of cancer in 2006.
Weaver’s departure from the show opened the sidekick revolving door. Burt Reynolds joined the cast as “half-breed” blacksmith Quint Asper. He played the role from 1962 to 1965 bridging Weaver’s departure and the arrival of Ken Curtis as Festus. Along the way the sidekick spotlight was shared with Roger Ewing as Thad Greenwood (’66-’68) and Buck Taylor, Dub Taylor’s son, as Newly O’Brien (’67-’75).
Ken Curtis found his way into the role of the irascible back county Festus Haggen following four guest appearances in the series. He came to the role with quite the resume. Son-in-law by one of his marriages to legendary director John Ford, Curtis played roles in Ford classics including Rio Grande, The Searchers, The Horse Soldiers, The Alamo and How the West Was Won. His Festus grated our ears with a fingernails-on-the-blackboard scratchy, nasal quality voice Curtis created. In real life, Curtis sang with the Tommy Dorsey band and the Sons of the Pioneers where he hit it big with the classic Ghost Riders in the Sky. Ken Curtis has his place in the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. He died of a heart attack in1991.
Next Week: National Barn Dance
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
The National Barn Dance
The National Barn Dance premiered on WLS Chicago in 1924. WLS had a monster AM signal that could be heard all across the Midwest and at night, all the way to Canada. The broadcast reach gave credibility to a ‘National’ claim to fame. The show in fact had national syndications with NBC from 1933 – 1946 and ABC from 1946 – 1952. It continued to air on WLS until 1960 when the station went to the Rock ‘n Roll format I remember listening to as a teen. The National Barn Dance moved to the other Chicago powerhouse WGN where it ran until 1968.
Besides longevity National Barn Dance had at least two distinguishing claims to fame. It was the forerunner of, and likely inspiration for, the Grand Ole Opry. The Barn Dance originated from Chicago’s Eighth Street Theater beginning in 1931. Though that setting never achieved the iconic stature of the Opry’s Ryman Theater both programs share something of a common bond.
The Barn Dance had a connection to Western films and eventually TV. The root of that connection – the singing cowboy. Rex Allen and Gene Autry were both National Barn Dance regulars before Hollywood wooed them away to the silver screen. Next came the ‘sidekick connection’ which started us on this side trip.
Rex Allen came up through the Barn Dance. He had sidekicks we covered in this series, Buddy Ebsen and Slim Pickens. Neither of them have roots in the Barn Dance. The sidekick connection with the National Barn Dance belongs to Gene Autry. When Hollywood decided that cowboys should sing they plucked Gene off the National Barn Dance program. When he needed a sidekick, one with musical talent seemed like just the ticket. The call went out to Barn Dance regular Smiley Burnette. Later they called up Pat Buttram. Pat worked with Gene briefly before hitching his wagon to Roy Rogers. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Next Week: Reprise: A Cowboy Code
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Besides longevity National Barn Dance had at least two distinguishing claims to fame. It was the forerunner of, and likely inspiration for, the Grand Ole Opry. The Barn Dance originated from Chicago’s Eighth Street Theater beginning in 1931. Though that setting never achieved the iconic stature of the Opry’s Ryman Theater both programs share something of a common bond.
The Barn Dance had a connection to Western films and eventually TV. The root of that connection – the singing cowboy. Rex Allen and Gene Autry were both National Barn Dance regulars before Hollywood wooed them away to the silver screen. Next came the ‘sidekick connection’ which started us on this side trip.
Rex Allen came up through the Barn Dance. He had sidekicks we covered in this series, Buddy Ebsen and Slim Pickens. Neither of them have roots in the Barn Dance. The sidekick connection with the National Barn Dance belongs to Gene Autry. When Hollywood decided that cowboys should sing they plucked Gene off the National Barn Dance program. When he needed a sidekick, one with musical talent seemed like just the ticket. The call went out to Barn Dance regular Smiley Burnette. Later they called up Pat Buttram. Pat worked with Gene briefly before hitching his wagon to Roy Rogers. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Next Week: Reprise: A Cowboy Code
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Reprise: A Cowboy Code
Some years ago I was asked to address the graduating class of a program for at-risk middle school kids. The program taught kids life lessons built around learning equine skills and studying the cowboy code; or code of the west as some call it. That invitation gave birth to this series. It’s the only series we’ve ever repeated on these pages. Why run it again you ask? Two reasons. The life lessons are timeless and as relevant to young people today as they were back in our day. The problem is, where do young people go to learn these values today? The second reason follows the first. There is a real hunger to impart these values today. Both times we’ve run this series, it reached over sixty thousand readers a week. Reasons enough to do it again.
I started organizing my thoughts for that little talk with some research. Imagine my surprise when I discovered there isn’t one cowboy code, there are lots of them. Like many of you, growing up my heroes had names like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, Lone Ranger and more. Many of those heroes had their own version of the cowboy code.
Each code comprised a list of ten things that make up a cowboy way of doing things. While they had similarities, they were all different. That bothered me at first. How can you have a different code for every cowboy and still call it a cowboy code? It had to be the similarities. Ten things also struck me as a lot. Surely you could summarize the similarities in the various lists to come up with some more economical number than ten. I took six codes and lined them up side by side. The similarities in the six codes summarized into . . . ten things that make up a cowboy way of doing things. So much for economy. Moses ended up with ten too. I guess they’re all important.
My generation learned life lessons from family, home, church, school and those heroes who rode horses. I found myself asking: where do kids today learn those lessons? Sadly for many kids, home and family aren’t what they used to be. Broken homes and families are all too common. Religious influence has declined with church attendance. For too many kids, schools have deteriorated from respected educational institutions to day-care centers, featuring social promotion and participation academic standards. Kids drop out or find themselves on the threshold of graduation, unable to read or do basic mathematics.
Popular culture doesn’t offer up heroes as role models either. Kids get a steady diet of digital noise, from violent games, music and a culture that glorifies alcohol, drugs, sex and violence. They idolize celebrity in glamourous walks of life, who set examples by lying, cheating, stealing and every moral depravity the mind can summon; because it’s all cool. Anything goes. If it feels good, do it. What are the chances a kid is going to come out of that sewer with the kind of moral and ethical standards of behavior a civilized society is predicated on? Small wonder civil discourse is so coarse. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one worried about the problem.
Cowboys aren’t defined by boots and hats, or horses and cattle. You don’t have to be a cowboy to benefit from the cowboy code. The things that make a cowboy come from the heart. The cowboy way of doing things offers all of us life lessons we can use to navigate today’s cultural turbulence. Those who learn the code and live it, find there’s a little cowboy in all of us. With that in mind let’s use this series to look at the values that make up a cowboy way of doing things. If you’ve got a young person you’d like to share these musings with, feel free. They don’t have to be at-risk kids to benefit from positive life lessons.
RETURN TO FACEBOOK to comment.
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
I started organizing my thoughts for that little talk with some research. Imagine my surprise when I discovered there isn’t one cowboy code, there are lots of them. Like many of you, growing up my heroes had names like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, Lone Ranger and more. Many of those heroes had their own version of the cowboy code.
Each code comprised a list of ten things that make up a cowboy way of doing things. While they had similarities, they were all different. That bothered me at first. How can you have a different code for every cowboy and still call it a cowboy code? It had to be the similarities. Ten things also struck me as a lot. Surely you could summarize the similarities in the various lists to come up with some more economical number than ten. I took six codes and lined them up side by side. The similarities in the six codes summarized into . . . ten things that make up a cowboy way of doing things. So much for economy. Moses ended up with ten too. I guess they’re all important.
My generation learned life lessons from family, home, church, school and those heroes who rode horses. I found myself asking: where do kids today learn those lessons? Sadly for many kids, home and family aren’t what they used to be. Broken homes and families are all too common. Religious influence has declined with church attendance. For too many kids, schools have deteriorated from respected educational institutions to day-care centers, featuring social promotion and participation academic standards. Kids drop out or find themselves on the threshold of graduation, unable to read or do basic mathematics.
Popular culture doesn’t offer up heroes as role models either. Kids get a steady diet of digital noise, from violent games, music and a culture that glorifies alcohol, drugs, sex and violence. They idolize celebrity in glamourous walks of life, who set examples by lying, cheating, stealing and every moral depravity the mind can summon; because it’s all cool. Anything goes. If it feels good, do it. What are the chances a kid is going to come out of that sewer with the kind of moral and ethical standards of behavior a civilized society is predicated on? Small wonder civil discourse is so coarse. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one worried about the problem.
Cowboys aren’t defined by boots and hats, or horses and cattle. You don’t have to be a cowboy to benefit from the cowboy code. The things that make a cowboy come from the heart. The cowboy way of doing things offers all of us life lessons we can use to navigate today’s cultural turbulence. Those who learn the code and live it, find there’s a little cowboy in all of us. With that in mind let’s use this series to look at the values that make up a cowboy way of doing things. If you’ve got a young person you’d like to share these musings with, feel free. They don’t have to be at-risk kids to benefit from positive life lessons.
RETURN TO FACEBOOK to comment.
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
Cowboys Tell the Truth
Truthfulness is basic to honesty, yet we live in a society where truthfulness is often in short supply. We have institutionalized deceit in our culture. From the highest offices in the land to our mass media and social media, lying is an accepted form of discourse. If there is no penalty for lying what does that say about the value of honesty in our society? To an impressionable observer like a young person, it appears honesty is for suckers.
How are young people to learn the value of telling the truth when pop-culture, political correctness, fake news and ‘the end-justifies-the-means’ ethics all condone parsing words, shading meaning, spinning wrongs, twisting truth and ignoring inconvenient fact? It starts with parents who expect kids to tell the truth and have the courage to expose deceit wherever they find it. That’s a tough assignment these days when so much of society and media inundate kids with falsehood and deceit.
It helps if kids have heroes and role-models who reinforce the value of honesty. For many of us who grew up in the fifties and sixties our heroes were straight talking cowboys. They practiced a code of conduct that became quintessentially American. We revered and respected heroes who stood for honorable values. Who are the heroes our young people look up to today? Rock stars? Super star athletes? Cartoon characters? The video game actors under their thumbs? What code of conduct do these ‘role models’ stand for? Chances are when you catalog a kid’s heroes today, you won’t find a cowboy among them. Maybe we should hold a few up.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us find it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth.
RETURN TO FACEBOOK to comment.
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
How are young people to learn the value of telling the truth when pop-culture, political correctness, fake news and ‘the end-justifies-the-means’ ethics all condone parsing words, shading meaning, spinning wrongs, twisting truth and ignoring inconvenient fact? It starts with parents who expect kids to tell the truth and have the courage to expose deceit wherever they find it. That’s a tough assignment these days when so much of society and media inundate kids with falsehood and deceit.
It helps if kids have heroes and role-models who reinforce the value of honesty. For many of us who grew up in the fifties and sixties our heroes were straight talking cowboys. They practiced a code of conduct that became quintessentially American. We revered and respected heroes who stood for honorable values. Who are the heroes our young people look up to today? Rock stars? Super star athletes? Cartoon characters? The video game actors under their thumbs? What code of conduct do these ‘role models’ stand for? Chances are when you catalog a kid’s heroes today, you won’t find a cowboy among them. Maybe we should hold a few up.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us find it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth.
RETURN TO FACEBOOK to comment.
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
A Cowboy's Word is His Bond
A Cowboy’s word is his bond. Think about that in the context of today’s culture. How often do we look up to idols, icons and leaders only to find they say one thing and do another? It is yet another form of cultural deceit. ‘I tell you what I think I should; or what I think you want to hear’; but that doesn’t mean I back it up in what I do. Until I get caught. If I get caught, I apologize, cry, blame somebody or something else, claim I made a mistake and beg forgiveness. The mistake of course is getting caught.
We see this sort of behavior time and again from celebrities, politicians, athletes and all manner of media figures. What are young people learning from idols, icons and leaders who engage in behavior like this? Words don’t matter? Deceit and hypocrisy are acceptable as long as you get away with it? Where are the heroes who say what they mean and mean what they say? Where do we find stand-up role models who look you in the eye, shake your hand and give you a word you can take to the bank? Imagine a world with a little more of that. We’d all be better off . . . well maybe not trial lawyers.
Instinctively we still admire that brand of heroism we call trustworthiness when we encounter it. We just don’t encounter it as often as we once did. Neither do our young people. Where do they learn the value of making their word matter? Maybe we should let a bit of cowboy rub off on them by making our word a bond; and make sure our young people know it.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us show it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth
2. A Cowboy’s Word is His Bond
RETURN TO FACEBOOK TO COMMENT
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
We see this sort of behavior time and again from celebrities, politicians, athletes and all manner of media figures. What are young people learning from idols, icons and leaders who engage in behavior like this? Words don’t matter? Deceit and hypocrisy are acceptable as long as you get away with it? Where are the heroes who say what they mean and mean what they say? Where do we find stand-up role models who look you in the eye, shake your hand and give you a word you can take to the bank? Imagine a world with a little more of that. We’d all be better off . . . well maybe not trial lawyers.
Instinctively we still admire that brand of heroism we call trustworthiness when we encounter it. We just don’t encounter it as often as we once did. Neither do our young people. Where do they learn the value of making their word matter? Maybe we should let a bit of cowboy rub off on them by making our word a bond; and make sure our young people know it.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us show it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth
2. A Cowboy’s Word is His Bond
RETURN TO FACEBOOK TO COMMENT
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
Cowboys Play by the Rules
Today media and popular culture bombard us with example after example of people looking out for number one. People trying to get an edge. Behaviors run the gamut from athletes using performance enhancing drugs, to inside-traders cheating the market on Wall Street, to fraudulent marketing scams or cheating on exams. Those who engage in these behaviors excuse them in the misguided belief: The end somehow justifies the means. The idea that a person is responsible for self-discipline in abiding by rules seems idealistic and naive. Rules are made to be broken. Fair play is for losers. Nice guys finish last.
Once again we find the need to ask; where do our young people learn the value of playing by the rules? Their heroes tend to be those society holds up to celebrity. Who are the heroes they are given to admire as persons of integrity? Maybe we should make sure a bit of the cowboy code rubs off on them by helping them find heroes whose integrity they can admire. Maybe it’s a teacher. Maybe it’s a coach. Maybe it’s you. Integrity is its own reward, if you practice it.
The first three values in my cowboy code describe a person of integrity. You can find people of integrity in our culture today; but you have to look for them. Few of them are stars or popular idols. Those who are, enjoy their celebrity from some other achievement in athletics, entertainment or professional excellence. Integrity is incidental to celebrity. We don’t celebrate integrity in ordinary walks of life, it’s expected. When it comes to human behavior, reward something and you get more of it. Ignore something and it’s not important.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us show it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth
2. A Cowboy’s Word is His Bond
3. Cowboys Play by the Rules
RETURN TO FACEBOOK TO COMMENT
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
Once again we find the need to ask; where do our young people learn the value of playing by the rules? Their heroes tend to be those society holds up to celebrity. Who are the heroes they are given to admire as persons of integrity? Maybe we should make sure a bit of the cowboy code rubs off on them by helping them find heroes whose integrity they can admire. Maybe it’s a teacher. Maybe it’s a coach. Maybe it’s you. Integrity is its own reward, if you practice it.
The first three values in my cowboy code describe a person of integrity. You can find people of integrity in our culture today; but you have to look for them. Few of them are stars or popular idols. Those who are, enjoy their celebrity from some other achievement in athletics, entertainment or professional excellence. Integrity is incidental to celebrity. We don’t celebrate integrity in ordinary walks of life, it’s expected. When it comes to human behavior, reward something and you get more of it. Ignore something and it’s not important.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us show it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth
2. A Cowboy’s Word is His Bond
3. Cowboys Play by the Rules
RETURN TO FACEBOOK TO COMMENT
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
