Well, that is true. What I meant to say was that the actor who played Davy Crockett is dead. Fess Parker died at age 85 today. It was his wife’s birthday. They had been married for 50 years. Parker also played Daniel Boone, but Davy Crockett was the idol of every kid in America in the 50s.
Parker appeared on Disney Hour as well as in the film Davy Crockett. He was a tall man, 6 foot 6 inches tall and every young male wanted to be Davy Crocket. Even the girls wore coon skin caps. There were lunch boxes, figurines, buckskin shirts, rifles, and of course there was the song, the Ballad of Davy Crockett:
Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, greenest state in the land of the free. Raised in the woods so he knew every tree, kilt him a barr when he was only three…(be impressed, that was from memory.)
Nancy Reagan has expressed her condolences over the death of Fess Parker and has stated that he was certainly a good friend to her and Ronnie. RIP Fess Parker. You certain rocked the world of a lot of little baby boomers.
I do indeed remember that last scene in the Disney series. Davy Crocket swinging his empty musket in all directions, the last man standing as Santa Ana’s soldiers came over the walls of the Alamo. And then the scene just faded away, leaving you with an empty feeling — like you had just lost a friend whom you thought was invincible. But I guess Walt Disney was smart enough not to let the kids actually see a scene in which their hero died.
Don’t forget Daniel Boone!
Daniel Boone was a man,
Was a Biiiig man!
And he fought for America
To make all America free!
That’s also from memory.
I guess you are reliving that same memory today, Wolverine. That empty feeling….
Starry, I am impressed. I don’t remember Daniel Boone….the song. I guess my brother didn’t play THAT song 300 times a day. 😉
Ah yes, never saw him in color on TV, but I do remember having some of the related toys as a kid. Back in the day when honor and respect were king. That’s the kind of person the boomers would try to emulate, now days it’s some rapper or thug that half are trying to copy. Freedom of speech and all that, but don’t tell me that what kids watch doesn’t have an impact on the way they develop. This was a prime example of how values could be instilled through media. Now the kids get to watch grown men shout at each other and call one another liars, and that’s just on C-span!
Wait. There was a time when we didn’t have color tv??? 🙂
Wow, I watched Davy Crockett too. Although, somehow I don’t remember the last scene of the series – that Wolverine describes in really good detail.
I do however remember the Daniel Boone song very well! Not only the words but the melody to it.
As to color TV’s – my parents got their first color TV in 1965 when I was in kindergarten. I remember at the time, most commercials were in black and white, but some shows were in color. The big show to watch in color in those days was Lassie on Sunday nights, followed by the Walt Disney show. Somehow at the time, we may have been one of the few on the block with a color TV (not sure why – my parents were definitely solidly middle class and no richer or poorer than anyone else on our street). Anyway, several kids from the down the street would come over to our house on Sunday nights to watch Lassie and the Disney show in color!
That’s my first memories of color TV.
Of like Fox News?
I remember his more as Daniel Boone. Loved that show. Still remember some scenes.
We need more shows like that now.
We definitely do. The quality of TV shows today compared to ones like that – just aren’t the same.
married 50 years, how do you continue to live your life when a major piece of it has disappeared? It must be so hard.
@Second-Alamo Exactly what day was that second alamo? Before or after civil rights? Having clearly acknowledged there has been no perfect time, I totally agree that television, video games, computers, etc distract us from our families. It isn’t just the quality its the quantity.
Even if the entire story of Crockett or Boone was only urban legend, it doesn’t hurt kids to see those values portrayed.
Welcome back Second Alamo. Good to see you. Have you even been here since we got a new name? I expect this story tugged at your heart strings because of the Alamo.
Starry Flights, were you reading my mind? Thanks for saving me from having to say it.
I still don’t remember the Daniel Boone song so I looked it up on youtube. The first one I listened to was in Spanish. How funny. Maybe Hispanic parents want to instill some values in their kids also. I just don’t remember watching this one like Davy Crockett. Which came first? Maybe some of you youngers know.
Anyway, here is Daniel Boone.
Here is one of the reasons that Davy Crockett should be a national hero: Not Yours To Give
http://www.juntosociety.com/patriotism/inytg.html
Also, in a somewhat related Davy Crockett subject, if there are any rich shooter out there:
http://www.caywoodguns.com/davy_crockett_replica.htm
You can buy a firing replica of Crockett’s first rifle.
As to Mr. Parker….there is now another Marine guarding the Gates of Heaven. Semper Fi.
I remember when we got our fist color television, too, in the 70’s. It was one of those huge wooden consoles. And I used to know that Daniel Boone song by heart.
You can probably see the Davy Crockett show on TV Land.
I think I have noticed Davy Crockett on TV Land when I’ve flipped the channels.
My parents color TV set bought in 1965 was a large wooden console too – it was a Sears model TV.
@Gainesville Resident
We were a little late getting color in our house….blue collar and all. Our first second-car was a 1970’s Chevy Chevette. My first car was a 1979 Ford LTD.
Wow. I am feeling old AND poor today! LOL!
My first car was a 1981 Chevy Chevette – what a piece of junk that thing was. I got it new when I graduated from college. The worst car I ever owned.
LOL! Yeah, those were tin cans. Our didn’t last long.
I learned to drive on a 1979 Ford Grand Marquis. Holy Moly what an ark!
Chevy Chevette? Me too! My mother traded a Duster for it.
Man! She was PO’d about that car. She had to use the lemon laws to get it fixed it was so bad. She PINED for that Duster.
Traded that in for our first foreign car, Toyota Tercel. Great car. Haven’t looked back since….
Mine lasted exactly 4 years. It had a computer in it that regulated the emissions, but the thing was so poorly designed that every time you went over a bump, the computer had some kind of glitch and the car would belch ugly rotten egg smelling stuff. I took it in a bunch of times under warranty, and they never were able to fix that computer. The good old check engine light came on whenever you went over the slightest bump, which was a signal to hold your nose as the rotten egg odor from the sulphur fumes were going to be coming shortly. It was very fortunate back then that Virginia didn’t do emission inspections – as that car would have definitely flunked and I’d have had to shell out major money getting it fixed.
On the way to the dealer to trading the car in for my next car – the check engine light came on again a few times – and I remember thinking to myself – good riddance to this miserable car. It also had the unique feature that in the winter there seemed to be no way to turn off the heat – and you could bake yourself to death even on the coldest days. Or, your only other choice was to switch the tempeature to cold, and then you’d get frozen out. So you alternated between baking and freezing in the winter.
That car was so much fun, but at the time it was cheap and all I could afford when I graduated from college.
The Tercel is an awesome, quality made, efficient car. They last forever.
That Chevette sure was popular and hated, eh?
Wow, that’s funny that there’s so many former Chevy Chevette owners on here. I doubt there’s anyone who owned one, who has anything good to day about it! I think it ranks right up there with some of the worst cars ever made!
There were indeed a lot of them on the roads in the late 70’s/early 80’s. And I think they were universally hated!
I also traded mine in on a foreign car – a Honda CRX which was a sporty version of the Honda Civic at the time, and a 2 seater. That was a great car. I’ve only ever had one other American car since then – a 2001 Saturn SC2, which actually was a fine car and when I traded it in – it was 8 years old and had 120K miles on it – and really had just routine maintenance and oil changes done to it. Otherwise, the Chevette experience pretty much soured me on American cars so I’ve mainly stuck to foreign cars. Although, all cars I’ve owned since the Chevette I’ve really had great experience with – the Chevette was the only car that was always in the shop – and never really worked right from almost right in the beginning. I hope I never end up with a car even remotely as bad as that – ever again in my life. So far since that first bad experience, I seem to have been lucky in picking good reliable well made cars.
Actually, I got that wrong – my Saturn SC2 wasn’t the car that had 8 years and 120K miles on it – it was the car before it – a 1992 Mazda MX3. Still, my Saturn I got 6 years and 90K miles on it so I had no complaints about that car either.
I expect to hear Little Duece Coupe in a minute or 2. 😉
Speaking of odd. I listened to Davy Crockett last night and didn’t even blink. I just listened now and thought how perfectly hideous the song lyrics were as far as American Indians are concerned.
That probably isn’t a value I would want my kids to have. There was very little respect for Indians during the 50’s. Tanto was sort of a native version of Falstaff. In cowboys and Indians, the Indians were always the bad guys. It really shouldn’t have taken so long to remove that stereotype. Ira Hayes had even done his thing on Iwo Jima by then. Jim Thorpe had made his mark. Hiawatha and Pocahontas were good. Tha’t pretty much it. Wait! I forgot to mention Princess Summerfall Winterspring. Howdy Doody.
Somehow, that wouldn’t be a very fitting song for the Chevy Chevette – even though with all this car discussion (which this thread sort of morphed into) it might be appropriate for this thread. I’d have to think of some song for falling apart junk cars – to find a more appopriate song for the Chevette!
Anyway, I’d much rather talk about Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone than the Chevy Chevette – so better to steer this thread back in that direction!
A lot of stuff those days wasn’t very “PC” and would shock people these days. You can point to a lot of old TV shows and find some very “un-PC” stuff. I guess the Davy Crockett song is no exception to that!
@Gainesville Resident
Sorry! I was getting sentimental. : )
I listened to Amos and Andy when I was a youngster. That is as Un PC as it gets. You know, I loved that show and never even thought about them being black. They were just people, as I recall. But those kinds of shows are insulting to many people. The shows about ditzy women are insulting to me. I expect the Beverly Hillbillies are insulting to Appalachians.
GR, how about Mustang Sally?
So was I. When you get to be a certain age, you get that way! I think I was the one who started the car dicussion – but then again I don’t think anyone minded it too much!
What was amazing to me about the song Davy Crockett is I hadn’t thought about it or sung those words in YEARs and I am not going to say how many. I sang it last night, I listened to it last night, and it never occurred to me how really insulting the song was….I went right along with it last night, because of childhood conditioning.
Now that might be a little more appropriate! I forget exactly how that song goes – I’ve heard it, but not as familiar with it as “Little Deuce Coupe” as I like a lot of the Beach Boys music.
By the way – I did a search to see if Daniel Boone was on TV as I thought I’d seen it on TVLand from time to time too. It isn’t apparently on now, but believe it or not the whole series has been released on DVD if anyone is interested.
Just go to Amazon.com for example = but you can buy it from many places.
Actually, here’s a link to the first season DVD on Amazon.com in case anyone is interested –
http://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Boone-Season-Fess-Parker/dp/B000GH3CDO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1269020772&sr=8-4
Scroll to the bottom and that page has links to the other seasons.
Similarly, for Davey Crockett they have a two movie set – for the low price of just $14.99 (if you can find something else to order and get you order up to $25 – for those that don’t know – Amazon won’t charge any shipping and they don’t charge any sales tax).
The link for that set is http://www.amazon.com/Davy-Crockett-Two-Movie-Set/dp/B0001I55WO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1269020956&sr=1-1
Of course, I wonder if Netflix has any of that on Instant View – or if not I’m sure they have it for rental!
Too bad – not available for Instant View on Netflix, but of course is available for rental (both the Daniel Boone TV series and the Davey Crockett movies). Well, just about any DVD is available for rental on Netflix. However, a lot of old TV shows are available for instant view – so that’s why I thought Daniel Boone MIGHT be.
I dont understand the netflix rotation.
For those Twilight fans, the second movie is now out on dvd. If you buy it at Amazon pre-order you can watch it tonight at midnight. New Moon.
Its a far cry from Davy Crockett. Thanks for that information, GR.
One scene I remember from Davy Crockett was the Alamo part. Buddy Ebsen was talking to Davy and Davy showed him that Buddy was creased by a shot across his cheek. Amazing what you can remember.
Our TV in the olden days was a large cabinet taller than I was at the time with about a 6 inch b&w screen in the middle of the top–how’s that for dating yourself? I also remember that you could order a plastic covering for your screen that would give you “color”. Of course, it was only color if you liked blue or red or something. It was the color of the plastic. 🙂
I think our first color tv also came from Sears. We were “first on our block”. I think it was still in my dad’s house when he died in 1998.
Also, when our tv would go out, we would open the back, and see which tube wasn’t lighting up and take the tube to be tested at the drug store. You could then replace the bad tube.
Sort of like a bad Christmas tree light?
Moon, have you forgotten “Straight Arrow”? Lots of fans among the kids in our generation. And when Michael Ansara came along with his television portrayal of “Cochise”, the old attitudes about American Indians went out the window for sure. Actually, I don’t remember the old attitudes as all that bad. When the kids played “Cowboys and Indians”, an awfully lot of those kids wanted to be Indians. And I can still remember when you got your very first bow and arrow. I also remember when the local public library gave you a feather for every book you read, and some kids wound up proudly wearing war bonnets.
I was all p.o.’ed because I had to be a Pilgrim instead of an Indian in the first grade play.
Maybe we were on the cusp of enlightenment during the 50’s. I was just sort of shocked at the words to the Davy Crockett song…not because they were there but that I hadn’t even noticed because of childhood conditioning.
I don’t understand the Netflix rotation either – but someone else on here in another thread seemed to have figured it out, and speculated on movies it had to do with just having rights to have them on for a limited time on Instant View. Whatever, I still really think Instant View is great – there’s some old classic sci-fi shows on there that I haven’t seen in many years that occaisionally I enjoy watching on there. The TV shows seem to stay on pretty much indefinitely – the movies, not so much.
I have not seen those “New Moon” movies – I think there’s two of them out now – although I know roughly what they are about. I know they are really big with the teenage crowd.
I think we had the same experience with the Sears TV. I was only 6 years old when we got it – and it was definitely taller than me! I forget what size it was. And, it worked well and was in the den of my parents’ house well past 1981 when I moved out after graduating from college. I want to say they replaced it with a newer set in 1985 – but I may be off a couple of years, and it might even be more like 1988!
They don’t make sets that last like that these days…. Although, my father was good at fixing electronics, and that set did have problems from time to time and over the years he’d take it apart and find out what part needed to be replaced, and get it working fine again. I still say though – they don’t build TV sets like they did back then! It did have a really beautiful wood cabinet too!
Ah yes, you are exactly right. I used to love going with my father to the hardware store (that’s where the tube tester was near us) and I thought that was really neat to plug the tube into the tester and see if it was really bad!
I always liked looking at vacuum tubes anyway – my father was an electronics technician and had amassed a huge collection of them in all different sizes – and I always enjoyed going through them and looking at them.
And, who can forget the smell of the tubes when they were lit – they gave off a very distinctive smell. Plus it was neat to see them light up!
Of course, who can forget having to let the TV warm up – it wasn’t like today when you turn the TV on and it is on instantly. Those tubes took 2 minutes or so to warm up to the point where you got a good picture!
I like the Twilight series because it involves vampires, (big Angel fan over here) and because the setting is Forks, Washington. The first film as great when they flew.