My first cowboy was Hop-Along Cassidy appearing daily on a 4 inch TV screen surrounded by a humongous wooden box. Those were the days of test patterns, tv snow and rolling screens. Sometimes a slight adjustment, actually a slight twist of the fine tuning knob would stop the roll. I quickly learned from the old cowboy movies that I didn't want to be yellow-bellied or a tinhorn, a varmint or a cowardly side-saddler. I never understood the disdain for sheep farmers, because I actually liked sheep. In the real world of corner grocery stores, a roll of caps for a six-gun went for 5 cents when I was a kid. Without a capgun you simply rolled the red tape out on the sidewalk and hit the little pockets of gunpowder with a rock to make a bang. It wasn't a duel at high noon but it was a nickle's worth of fun.
Problem solving was the forte of the Lone Ranger and his wise native American companion Tonto. I identified more with Tonto, just as I did with James Fenimore Cooper's Chingachgook, men who could smell the scent of a deer, guides who relied on their wits and knowledge more than gun powder and bolt action. Cowboys and so-called Indians, lawmen and outlaws. It was all a fantasy, acted out again and again in the minds of children. Adding to the fun was that frequently cowboys were also singers. "Happy Trails to You" by Roy Rogers was known by most kids my age as was "Back in the Saddle Again" by Gene Autrey.
But, during the same era of Gene Autrey, Roy Rogers and Hop-Along, Mexico had its charros and movie industry featuring their stars: Jose Alfredo Jiminiez, Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete, Antonio Aguilar and Vicente Fernandez. If it wasn't exactly a parallel universe, it was a concurrent one. Pedro Infante was said to be a ladies man, on screen and off. He is known for his bolero Amorcito Corazon, his movies, but also his love of flying and Harley-Davidsons.
His counterpart may have been Jorge Negrete, known for an almost Mexican national anthem Mexico Lindo y Querida, the film La Madrina Del Diablo and at least 43 other films. One of his co-stars and real life love interest was the beautiful Gloria Marin. The patriotic songs of Negrete were said to have "helped heal a Mexico still suffering from the aftermath of the Revolution by extolling the virtues of virility, courage and family.
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These movies and songs played throughout Mexico, and, of course, in Brownsville, charros likely overlapped cowboys; two fantasy worlds of gunfire, dust and leather chaps where no one got hurt, unless you count broken hearts. Someday when either the Majestic or the Capitol is restored, perhaps busloads of school children can get acquainted with some of these classics of charro and cowboy fantasy.
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These movies and songs played throughout Mexico, and, of course, in Brownsville, charros likely overlapped cowboys; two fantasy worlds of gunfire, dust and leather chaps where no one got hurt, unless you count broken hearts. Someday when either the Majestic or the Capitol is restored, perhaps busloads of school children can get acquainted with some of these classics of charro and cowboy fantasy.
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You missed one of the greates cowboys - Duncan renaldo, AKA "The Cisco Kid" on TV. Duncan's real name was Renaldo Duncan (ha ha ha) and he was actually from Romania. But early westerns paid such things no mind. Michael Ansara, an Italian, played every Indian from Cochise to Geronimo in those halcyon days. Renaldo died in 1980, as did, eventually, his trusted steed, Diablo. In Brownsvile, the lasting figure of cowboymania was a former Herald reporter named Dan McLanahan. He covered BPD as if a cop, and who knows what his horse's name was. Unlike Cassidy, Roy Rogers and Elfego Baca, Dusty Dan McLanahan did not get the horse & the gal in the end. Greatest Mexican cowboy was a gent named Juan Pistolas, not to be confused with Juan Cortina or Juan Montoya or Juan Corona...
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I wish I could say "the Cisco Kid was a friend of mine."
DeleteJim: Check this out. It debuted here at the Capitol Theater in 49.
ReplyDeleteSouth of St Louis is a Western film created in 1949. It was directed by Ray Enright and starred Joel McCrea. The film chronicles the friendship between three ranchers, whose ranch is destroyed by raiders led by the infamous Luke Cotrell.
The plot revolves around three ranchers: Kip Davis (Joel McCrea), Charlie Burns (Zachary Scott) and Lee Price (Douglas Kennedy) who are run out of business by the guerilla raider Luke Cottrell and his goons. In retaliation Kip, Charlie and Lee run Cottrell out of Texas, initially working under the guise of a Yankee renegade, Cottrell defects to the Confederate cause supplying weapons to them from out of Mexico. Lee joins the Confederate army, while his two friends compete with Cottrell in the gunrunning business. Davis unwittingly distances himself from his fiancรฉe Deb (who works as a nurse tending to casualties of the American civil war), leaving her alone on long periods: the absence of Kip allowing her to fall into the arms of Lee (who eventually rises from the rank of sergeant to lieutenant in the Confederate army).