“If you’re gonna to use that gun, you better start on me.”
The morning is beautiful with a bright sun and a blue sky, but that pesky cool breeze is still with us and will bring the temperature down to the high 40’s tonight. Standing outside in the sun is warm and cozy, but the shade is a might chilly.
When I went to get dog food yesterday, I brought my list of flowers so I could buy a couple more and be finished buying for the season. Well, that was a mistake. I bought one or two of each flower on the list. My trunk was filled and some of the taller plants went in the back seat. I have never heard of most of these flowers. I found their names on line when I read about making a country garden. The author said add herbs so I have some Russian sage and hyssops. I bought blanket flowers and I don’t remember what else, but they are lined up on my walk waiting to be planted later today. When I went to get the papers, I noticed the garden is dry so I hauled out my watering can and watered a few which looked a bit wilted. I’ll have to get my irrigation system turned on as I’d hate to lose any flowers, and the grass too is looking a bit needy.
Matt Dillon died on Friday. I know he was really James Arness, but for years and years he was the marshal of Dodge City, and that’s how I remember him. I can still see in my mind’s eye the opening of Gunsmoke when Matt shoots the bad guy with that long pistol. That was in the heyday of TV westerns. I think we watched one every night. I had some favorites and Maverick topped the list, but the The Wild, Wild West wasn’t far behind.
We sat around the small black and white TV and watched Have Gun Will Travel, Yancy Derringer, Wagon Train, Cheyenne and so many others. I learned what a paladin is by watching TV. I also learned that good guys win though that truth has weakened over time. I, however, still keep hope.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: flowers, garden, Gunsmoke, James Arness, Television
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
June 4, 2011 at 12:39 pm
The TV western popularity in the 1950s and early 60s was an extension of the cold war and our fear of the Russian bear. In TV westerns the good guys always won and wore white hats. The passing of James Arness may be the final closure of that era.
He was preceded in death by his brother Peter Graves. Graves starred in the series Mission Impossible. This TV series and the movies that followed are spin offs of the James Bond spy movies. All of which also had their roots in our competition and fear of Communist domination. Having grown up in the era of duck and cover and worrying about the bomb, I was amazed at how quickly Communism fell apart in 1989.
June 4, 2011 at 1:42 pm
Bob,
I think that the cowboy and the white hatted good guy was also a part of the western serials of the 1930’s, but I also think the cold war had a part in the resurgence of the western on TV.
I knew Arness and Graves were brothers, and I always watched Mission Impossible-loved the opening.
I didn’t think of it at the time, but you are so right about Communism, at least in Europe.
June 4, 2011 at 12:46 pm
He is known as James Arness over here so I got a bit confused and thought the Young guy with the name Matt Dillon had died 🙂 🙂 🙂
He was loved here by his part in The Macahans.
Sunny and hot here today, we reached 86 for a while but a nice breeze cooled things down. All in all it´s been a nice day here 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
June 4, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Christer,
He is also James Arness here, but he played Matt Dillon so long he took on that persona.
Gunsmoke ran from 1955-1975 so it is easy to understand why I think of James as Matt.
June 4, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Line spoken by Chester in every Gunsmoke episode – “Marshall Dillon, Marshall Dillon, there’s been a killin!”
June 4, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Bill,
I remember him limping over to Matt with that weird limp he assumed. I missed him when he left the series.
June 4, 2011 at 3:21 pm
We must have been cut from the same cloth. Every show you cited we watched too and Gunsmoke was high on everyone’s list. Matt Dillon was the he man of westerns and did ya know that John Wayne turned the role down?
June 4, 2011 at 4:28 pm
Z&Me,
When I was looking up some Gunsmoke stuff today, I found a Gunsmoke page which said, “According to the book by the Barabases (called Gunsmoke), this rumor is just that – a rumor. It didn’t really happen. The book quotes Charles Marquis Warren (the producer of the first season) as saying that he never offered the job to Wayne, and that Wayne did the intro to the first show as a favor to Warren.”
Here is that introduction:
June 4, 2011 at 3:47 pm
Hi Kat,
My massage therapist will be devastated to learn that Matt Dillon has died. I think he watches Gunsmoke every night on the Western Channel.
Cisco Kid was one of my favorite cowboy shows as well as one that I remember as the Sundance Kid but was actually Hotel something. He wore a back hat with a mirrored hat band. There was also Sugarfoot who was very very cute.
Cold here. I’m wearing a winter sweater and I think I will turn the heat back on this evening. I’m not complaining. It will be hotter than summer on Mercury soon enough. 🙂
June 4, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Hi Caryn,
I have a DVD of all the old westerns and The Cisco Kid holds up pretty well given its age. We did a western night last summer, wore cowboy hats and ate grub from the chuckwagon. We watched several of the old shows. It was a fun night, partner!
48° here tonight. I’m wearing a sweatshirt, am back to my winter slippers and have closed all the windows. I’ll take it, though, for the same reason you said.