Life in the Old West

I just finished watching an episode of “The American Experience” which puts Buffalo Bill Cody in good perspective, highlighting the complexity of the man as genuine American “hero” mixed with heavy doses of showman. The episode I’m talking about is “The American Experience: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.” (The title is a pun of sorts, playing off of William F. Cody’s creation of his “Wild West” show that toured the world in the 1880s and of the role he played in “inventing” much of what we know of as the Old West of popular culture.)

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Nothing much to say here, except a very, very Merry Christmas wish to all of you who choose to spend any of your time hanging out here. If you take a good look around and read our “About” page, you’ll understand that life in the Old West, both all the fables and true tales about real people, are a lifelong interest of mine. (You’ll also find a brief explanation of why I use the name “Old Hoppy” here.)

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I would bet there’s never been a television or radio Western LESS like life in the real Old West than “The Lone Ranger,” but that was perfectly okay to a generation of us growing up back in the 1940s and ’50s and carefully, breathlessly following actor Clayton Moore’s every masked move.

Clayton Moore became the Lone Ranger, just as Native American actor Jay Silverheels (who actually was a Canadian by birth) became his faithful sidekick, Tonto. Moore and Silverheels, who were paired in more than 200 episodes of “The Lone Ranger” on television from 1949-57, both had many other roles in television and movies. But unless you’re a real Moore or Silverheels fan, I’ll bet you can’t name one for either man.

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