Somewhere around here I still have my coonskin cap. When I was a kid-I slept in it. He was every kid's hero back then.![]()
Our younger posters can't possibly comprehend the impact that Parker had as Davy Crockett (he certainly couldn't). It was the early days of TV and he made just three one hour episodes for Disney--and became an instant, mega celebrity. Perhaps the arrival of the Beatles in '64 was comparable. He was just huge, gigantic, the theme song became a #1 hit, and about 10 artists covered it. I didn't have a coonskin hat, but I surely wanted one.
While I loved Davy Crockett, and certainly had my genuine coonskin cap, I still think of Parker as about 50% Crockett and 50% Daniel Boone. The Daniel Boone TV series was later, but it ran for a lot of years. I guess the two iconic frontier characters almost run together into one. They sure dressed alike!
You're right, of course. But Boone was only possible because of the culture shaking impact of Davy. For whatever reason I wasn't in to the caps and other merchandise, but I surely watched those three (only three!) episodes. I'm guessing no three episodes of any program ever had such a cultural impact. Like Dr. says, Disney rushed in some prequels and stitched the episodes together to make a theatrical release film. And that song--all day everyday, everywhere. Remember, Davy died defending liberty at the Alamo, very big concept in pre-Vietnam America.
edit: I didn't have a coonskin hat but I do remember (how?) a Life magazine article talking about women selling their old fur coats to the manufacturers to keep up with the demand. Nowdays, they'd have to fly to Peking to make the sale.
My earliest recollection of Fess Parker though was a bit part in the movie THEM(with the giant ants and James Arness). He played a pilot who they thought was crazy after he reported seeing some flying giant ants.
My earliest recollection of Fess Parker though was a bit part in the movie THEM(with the giant ants and James Arness). He played a pilot who they thought was crazy after he reported seeing some flying giant ants.
HA! Love those old monster movies.
THEM! was by far the best of the bunch. With really good actors. James Whitmore, James Arness and Edmund Gwenn (who won an oscar as Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th street). Usually the actors in these things were working part time jobs in the Dog n Suds to make ends meet.
slightly different genre but my fav is "The Day The Earth Stood Still"
Me too-and Godzilla
So we've named 3 films out of about 300 as being worthy. hahaha. The 3"creature" films come to mind, with the dude in the suit with a visible zipper. This genre gives "b" movies a bad name. Bad scripts, incredibly bad actors, lousy to non-existent special effects and awful cinematograpy.
On the other hand, they did give the dudes at Mystery Science Theatre lots to rip on years later. As a kid, I probably watched all 300 of 'em.
edit: another pretty good effort from that era: The War of the Worlds. Good special effects for that time and Gene Barry was a decent actor. Scared the pizz outta me.
So we've named 3 films out of about 300 as being worthy. hahaha. The 3"creature" films come to mind, with the dude in the suit with a visible zipper. This genre gives "b" movies a bad name. Bad scripts, incredibly bad actors, lousy to non-existent special effects and awful cinematograpy.
On the other hand, they did give the dudes at Mystery Science Theatre lots to rip on years later. As a kid, I probably watched all 300 of 'em.
edit: another pretty good effort from that era: The War of the Worlds. Good special effects for that time and Gene Barry was a decent actor. Scared the pizz outta me.
If you recall the first three were The Indian Wars, Going to Congress and The Alamo. They were so incredibly successful that Disney brought him back to star in 2 more episodes (or prequels to the Alamo episode) where he battled Big Mike Fink and the River Pirates. I had all the bubble gum trading cards that came out, the hat and even a fake rifle.
I think I got that Mike Fink Davy Crockett movie floating around on VHS around here.
Yeah, somewhere in the neighborhood of $150,000 as it was a copy that mom made.Probably worth something-it is a collector's item.![]()
http://us.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/24/obit.robert.culp/index.html?hpt=T2
"I Spy" actor Robert Culp.