Maverick and the children at the border. (Or what would the Lone Ranger do?)

Maverick died today:  James Garner, the easy-going actor who came to his fame playing the easy-going gambler Maverick--one of the dozens of TV Westerns of the 1950s that Vicky and I grew up with--died at his home, survived by his wife of 58 years. 

What fond memories of 1950s television we have.  In my home, Tuesday night was "Westerns and Hamburgers" night.  My mother would make hamburgers and home-made french fries.  We would eat in front of the television.  What a treat!  And watch the westerns.  My mother and father sat on our green couch close to the TV, eating off of something really new--TV Trays.  (Are they still called "TV trays?"  I just checked on Amazon, and yes, some of them still are called TV Trays, although others are called "Tray Tables.")

Kathy and I sat farther back, off of the rug.  My recollection is that we were almost too far away from the TV to actually see it very well, but I think that's due to that effect of how everything seems larger in memory than it actually was.  When we went through Stillwater, Oklahoma last fall and stopped by the house where I lived as a child, and where we had Tuesday "Westerns and Hamburgers" night, I saw that the living room was pretty tiny.  Maybe it seemed to be so far away for us because our black and white Admiral TV was so small.

In one of my travels, I picked up on old TV schedule from the 1950s.  Although I am shutting down my 20-year Vintage-Toys business in just a couple of weeks, this is one of the items I am saving:

 

The Tuesday night lineup included Sugarfoot/Cheyenne (alternating weeks), Wyatt Earp, and The Rifleman.  Then there was the Red Skelton show, which we all loved too.

The Sunday night lineup was equally powerful, starting with Maverick, then Lawman, and Colt 45.  

Have Gun will Travel was on a different night, along with many others including The Rebel, Wagon Train, Wells Fargo, Wanted Dead or Alive, etc.  

The TV Westerns were somewhat different from many of the movie Westerns of the era in that they were almost all about conflicts among lawmen and lawbreakers.  Rarely were there Indians in these shows, and when there were, they were generally not presented in a terribly bad light, such as Broken Arrow with Michael Ansara as Chochise (before he became more famous as a Klingon on Star Trek shows).  Or Tonto.  

And then, of course, there was Annie Oakley, based (extremely loosely) on the real Annie Oakley who was a sharpshooter in the Buffalo Bill Wild West show.  Interestingly, her husband was the first sharpshooter, but after they realized that she was an even better shot, she became the star.  But there was a "cowgirl" for the girls on TV too, at least sorta somewhat.  When playing around her home with her brothers, Vicky thought of herself as Sacagawea--a leader helping a bunch of people through the wilderness by making new trails. 

Vicky and I both lived in areas where there was a lot of undeveloped land around us, and so we spent much of our childhoods exploring and playing in those areas.  Vicky had horses, and rode them a lot.  I had my trusty six-gun and protected Stillwater from outlaws.  All of us boys had our gun belts, and practiced our quick draw, so we could be like Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke.

As an adult Vicky continued to ride horses.  And now, retired, we both "roam the west" in our camper, seeing so many of the places where these western TV shows and movies were filmed.  We are getting pretty good at identifying movie locations from our travels, "that looks like New Mexico!"  We still love the outdoors, and roaming free in them, just as we did as children.  Just as the western cowboys and cowgirls did in our youth.  Just like Maverick did.

Can watching those shows all of those many hours create a certain view of the world?  As one of my friends mentioned to me once, the best advice for when you are facing a dilemma is to ask yourself:  "What would the Lone Ranger do?"  The TV western characters were not complicated--they always did what was right, using the methods of men who always did what was wrong.  Ah, if only life was that simple.  

Vicky and I had been hearing about this show called Game of Thrones for some time now, and decided we would give it a try.  Watched one episode, horrified.  We now call it Game of Naked Women and Beheaded Men.  I could also tell that there were no "good guys" in it (are there, now?  you know, like "good guys?"  Maverick-types?  Paladin?  Lone Ranger?).   Every once in awhile we wonder about whether we should get a satellite dish and get television, but then we watch Game of Naked Women and Beheaded Men and realize that we are spending our money better on other things, like new trash cans.  I prefer the pretend world of TV westerns to the pretend world of GNWBM.  There's no Bret Maverick in Westeros.

Like I said, I sometimes wonder if those TV Westerns framed my thinking in ways I haven't always realized.  That idea of there being a "good" answer even if the people with those answers are not always "good" may have had no more of an effect on me than just making me even more of a self-righteous pain in the ass at times than I was even naturally inclined to be.

And maybe not.  All of those TV western heroes protected the weak and the young.  None protected moneyed interests, like the Koch brothers.  They protected vulnerable people trying to make better lives in America.  Maybe it's why Vicky and I have always been Democrats, even with all of the downsides of the Democrat party.  Democrats, if they stand for anything, stand for protecting the weak and vulnerable.  They do, or at least should do, what the Lone Ranger would do. 

Today, instead of settlers trying to make better lives for themselves by courageously picking up roots and traveling to the west, 50,000 refugee children have, also with great courage, walked, stumbled, and swam to our country in trying to escape violence and have better futures.  So many Americans have screamed at them, bullied them, abused them.  Didn't these people watch TV Westerns in their youth?  Maybe they are too young.  But Vicky and I have the same reaction to them:  We are so ashamed.  What has happened to our country?  Where are the people brave enough to stand up to mobs?  In countless TV westerns, the sheriff stood in front of the jail, alone, preventing a mob from hanging an innocent man.  

The Lone Ranger would have stood up to those bullies.  And so would The Rifleman, and Wyatt Earp, and all of the rest.  And Matt Dillon?  Don't even think about trying it with Matt Dillon.  

Regarding those children, it is time for all of us to do what the Lone Ranger would do.

And Maverick would have emptied his pockets of his gambling winnings for them. Because if our country stands for anything, it has to stand for protecting the weak, the vulnerable, and the frightened.  The children. 

None of the guys in this photo would be yelling at children to go home.  They would be protecting them.  I want them back.  

Good by James Garner.  Good by Maverick.  Thank you for the memories.  You are missed. 

Who is the tall, dark stranger there?
Maverick is the name.
Ridin' the trail to who knows where,
Luck is his companion,
Gamblin' is his game.
Smooth as the handle on a gun.
Maverick is the name.
Wild as the wind in Oregon,
Blowin' up a canyon,
Easier to tame.

Riverboat, ring your bell,
Fare thee well, Annabel.
Luck is the lady that he loves the best.
Natchez to New Orleans
Livin on jacks and queens
Maverick is a legend of the west.

Riverboat, ring your bell,
Fare thee well, Annabel.
Luck is the lady that he loves the best.
Natchez to New Orleans
Livin on jacks and queens
Maverick is a legend of the west.
Maverick is a legend of the west.