# BTTF: What does 1885 Doc remember about 1955? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 20, 2004, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-what-does-1885-doc-remember-about-1955/270201 "2004-10-20T12:40:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-what-does-1885-doc-remember-about-1955/270201/21 "2004-10-21T02:19:55Z")
Oops. Accidentally posted that last post before it was finished. This was supposed to be on the end: … but I’m pretty sure it was the 1930’s. So, was there a guy named Roy Rogers who starred in cowboy movies and dressed (in those movies) in the style that Doc dressed Marty up in before sending him back to 1885? That would be the style of dress known to common folk like Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen as … what was it … “duded-up egg-sucking gutter trash,” I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-what-does-1885-doc-remember-about-1955/270201/22 "2004-10-21T02:43:10Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > was there a guy named Roy Rogers “Was there a guy named Roy Rogers?!” Were you even born when these movies came out, **chorpler**? ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-what-does-1885-doc-remember-about-1955/270201/23 "2004-10-21T02:49:00Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > “Now that Marty mentioned it, Doc could feel the new memories filtering into his mind. He even remembered why he had chosen this particular outfit – this was exactly the kind of thing that **[some movie star whose name I can’t remember]** always wore in all those B-movie westerns that Doc had watched as a kid in the 1930’s?” > > After hours of deep thought, I think the “some movie star whose name I can’t remember” may have been “Roy Rogers.” Does anybody know if that fits – was there a movie star named Roy Rogers who starred in cowboy movies in the 1930’s and/or 1920’s (I can’t remember exactly which decade Doc specified in the book, but I’m pretty sure it was Well, there’s no mention of it in the DVD, but they do mention a movie star…perhaps you’re confusing the two? > [@Back to the Future III](#): > > _(in 1955)_ > DOC: Do the clothes fit? > > MARTY: Yeah, everything except the boots, Doc. They’re kinda tight…I don’t know, are you sure this stuff is authentic? > > DOC: Of course! Haven’t you ever seen a Western? > > Marty: Yeah I have, Doc, and Clint Eastwood never wore anything like this. > > DOC: Clint who? > > Marty: That’s right, you haven’t heard of him yet… ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-what-does-1885-doc-remember-about-1955/270201/24 "2004-10-21T16:44:20Z")
> [@Fiver](#): > > “Was there a guy named Roy Rogers?!” Were you even born when these movies came out, **chorpler**? Heh heh … I’m not a western fan! I swear, it’s not just that I’m a moron. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-what-does-1885-doc-remember-about-1955/270201/25 "2004-10-21T16:53:23Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > Well, there’s no mention of it in the DVD, but they do mention a movie star…perhaps you’re confusing the two? No, I remember the part about Clint Eastwood in the movie – it was pretty significant, since that’s where Marty got his pseudonym later on. The part I mentioned came from the BttF3 novelization I read at scout camp right after the movie came out in theaters, and it involved Doc getting new memories as changes to the timeline filtered through, and his new memory including a reason he had dressed Marty that way – it was the kind of thing he saw somebody (Roy Rogers, I believe) wear in the old westerns he used to watch as a kid. I’m pretty sure it was Roy Rogers, now that I’ve had a chance to think about it and looked over his IMDb entry … but did he wear that kind of outfit in his westerns? If not, then it was probably some other western actor from the 1930’s. Hmmm … some of the photos of Roy Rogers on IMDb do look sort of like the way Marty was dressed, like, say, [this one](http://www.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1087/Mptv/1087/3187_520.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Rogers,%20Roy%20(I)). ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-what-does-1885-doc-remember-about-1955/270201/26 "2004-10-21T16:56:11Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > So, was there a guy named Roy Rogers who starred in cowboy movies … Well that name does TRIGGER some memories! :eek: And I can tell you why that word is significant, but I’ll have to whisper - I’m a little hoarse… 😕 ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-what-does-1885-doc-remember-about-1955/270201/27 "2004-10-21T17:12:45Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Well that name does TRIGGER some memories! :eek: > > And I can tell you why that word is significant, but I’ll have to whisper - I’m a little hoarse… 😕 \> **chorpler** rapidly searches IMDb and Google so as not to be proven an idiot again ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-what-does-1885-doc-remember-about-1955/270201/28 "2004-10-21T18:06:51Z")
Had Doc dressed Marty as [Tom Mix](http://www.liss.olm.net/buster/tommix.html), it probably would have been an improvement. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-what-does-1885-doc-remember-about-1955/270201.md?page=1)