Thursday 11 April 2013

Cowboys!

Cowboys!  I used to love watching cowboy series on tv when I was young!



The Virginian - anyone remember that tv series!  It ran from 1962-1971 and was all about a ranch called Shiloh, its owners and the cowboys who worked there.  The Virginian was one of the main characters, he was a bit mysterious and we never got to know his real name or much about his background.  He was played by the actor James Drury.  My favourite was Trampas, played by Doug McClure - I had photos of him on my bedroom wall.  Remember the theme music?

 
After that came The High Chaparral (1967-1971).  Ranch owner was John Cannon played by Leif Erickson and my favourite - his son Blue Boy, played by Mark Slade who had the most gorgeous blue eyes!  Yup, had pics of him on wall too!  Another favourite character was Manolito played by Henry Darrow - he was a bit of a rascal.

 
I also loved Alias Smith & Jones starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy - "two latter day Robin Hoods"!  I remember taping the titles and playing it over and over, How sad is that?!?!?  But the ultimate cowboys were, of course Butch and Sundance - swoon!

 
All these photos come from my Fab 208 Annual from 1971. 
 
Love, Liz

12 comments:

Plain Jane said...

Oh this brings back memories - it seemed like everything was cowboys back then. Mum was a huge John Wayne fan too (never saw it myself) so he used to be on alongside I don't know how many spaghetti western type films. Loooove the music too x Jane (PS - Ben Murphy was my 'best'!)

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness. Trampas was my first crush. I even contemplated naming my first born Trampas :) Loved Ben Murphy in Alias Smith and Jones too :)Thanks for taking me back down memory lane today :)

Fiona said...

I'm afraid to say that I do know all of them except the first bloke from High Chaparral who I don't recall.
Happy days.

Jan said...

Oh yes-I had the biggest crush on Doug McClure!!

serendipity said...

Oh yes, those were the days. It always seemed to be cowboys on Sunday afternoons. Loved all those ones too, Alias Smith and Jones were my favourite. I remember being very upset when Pete Duel died! xx

sky-blu-pink said...

I do remember those shows! Especially The Virginian. My parents bought me the LP of Great Western Movie Themes because I loved the music to The Big Country. I loved the pretty cotton dresses the ladies on the ranches wore, too, very Laura Ashley!

Vix said...

I remember it well - I loved Doug, too! x

gill said...

Your post brings back happy memories, we loved westerns in our house and my brothers and I were easily entertained by them. The men were so handsome and looking back now I can appreciate their looks even more!

Curtise said...

Pete Duel was the one for me! xxxx

Lynne-Aussie said...

I was never really into cowboys, except maybe for Sugerfoot,I also used to watch Robin Hood on our neighbours tv in England when it first started loved him, we recently bought the dvd series of Robin Hood, oh the memories!another thing isnt it funny how the cowboys were always clean even after falling off horses and such.

The Custards said...

I remember The Virginian very well indeed and thought Trampas was great! Snow white horses...

Best wishes
Jenny

Vintage Jane said...

I grew up with a lovely cowboy obsessed grandfather who watched Westerns every weekend and only read cowboy stories! I still love Westerns now although sadly they don't seem to screen many of the old ones anymore. M x