# Goodbye, Davy and Dan'l (Fess Parker) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936 "2010-03-18T21:06:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/21 "2010-03-19T02:45:40Z")
Sorry! Guess I didn’t do my “homework” about the coonskin cap. I should have thought (at the time) how many raccoons gave their lives so that I could become a better American. It’s okay to remember stuff which he might have done we didn’t know about, it sure is. We do it daily and seem to revel in what we find out and _point_ out to the rest of us (sometimes spectacurately) what we’ve done wrong. I hope you can change the minds of all those who didn’t know or realize what happened _at that time! (The 50’s)_ Would we accept a man wearing the skin of a deer on his body and fur of a raccoon on his head _these_ days??? Of course not, and neither would I. And, as to your argument about the winery hotel? That’s fine. It’s okay, even though I didn’t know it. I just looked at what the man represented, and, like John Wayne, what he gave me _at the time I received it_, was fine. Why? Even though I didn’t know it, we’re _all_ playing a _part_, whether we want to or not. Fess Parker was cast (or cast himself, who knows?) as a historical figure/legend and made us/me believe it. I don’t know how well I defended my position here, but I do know what my heart feels, and, at the time of my youth, I thought my heart would burst with pride, playing “Davy” in my coonskin cap and my “buckskins”. I know I sound “snarky”, but I take responsibility for that, and will stick by what I have written. Bill ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/22 "2010-03-19T02:57:33Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > I should have thought (at the time) how many raccoons gave their lives so that I could become a better American. Killing cute animals is The American Way! 😃 > [@Quasimodem](#): > > Would we accept a man wearing the skin of a deer on his body and fur of a raccoon on his head _these_ days??? I wear beavers on my head. (Their fur is made into felt that made one of my fedoras – and one I’m still waiting for – and a Western hat.) ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/23 "2010-03-19T03:19:53Z")
Make sure you think of that next time you initiate the cyclic, collective, and yaw, **“Flyboy”** , and make sure your rotor is clear of Alvin, Simon and Theodore who may just be on a “suicide mission”, mah brotha’! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Your pal, Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/24 "2010-03-19T03:29:46Z")
Thanks for always being around to pick my sorry ass out of the gutter, bro! Smiles are important, and the friends who deliver them at just the right time are… well… _priceless_!😃 Thanks, Q ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/25 "2010-03-19T03:52:14Z")
I remember having a couple records with Fess Parker fighting against “Injuns” in the 1970’s. I loved them. His wines left something to be desired, but he’s an American icon to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/26 "2010-03-19T05:59:13Z")
My friend **SFG**! Just _always_ there for me, aren’t you? Thanks, and you’re 100% correct: I don’t wanna see McCartney with jowls! I want to see him with those eyebrows and that dazzling smile and bending those knees like he’s supposed to!.. But I’m glad we still have him and Ringo, and I have already got ALL The Beatles’ stuff, the Lennon stuff, The McCartney stuff and of course, my sweet George’s stuff! On CD AND DVD! We don’t WANT to let them go, and we ALWAYS want them to look like they’re “supposed to”, right? I think that’s why we grieve: A part of us goes with them, and we don’t know if we can “carry on” without them. Never mind that they got “old”! How _dare_ they??? And that’s why we/I hurt so badly: They leave us, and they didn’t even give _notice_! Well, maybe they _did_, but surely they were only kiddin’, right? Right? Q ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/27 "2010-03-19T12:11:56Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > … > > And that’s why we/I hurt so badly: They leave us, and they didn’t even give _notice_! > > Well, maybe they _did_, but surely they were only kiddin’, right? > > Right? > Q Hey, **Quasimodem** , one thing that really, really helps (me, at least) is what **aceplace57** said earlier in this thread: He had a good life. And you know what? Fess really did! Sometimes the good guys really do win. 🙂 I’ll miss him, too. Too few of his kind around to lose one. Think I’ll raise a glass of wine to him tonight. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/28 "2010-03-19T13:00:56Z")
Bye, Fess…and say hello to George Russel!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/29 "2010-03-19T14:11:10Z")
An interesting bit of trivia, it was his winery where the infamous spitbucket scene in “Sideways” took place. In the movie it was called something like Frass Valley. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/30 "2010-03-19T14:31:49Z")
About ten years ago, I remember seeing a newspaper interview with Fess Parker, in which he said, with some amusement, that fifty-something year old executives regularly fell to pieces in his presence! Fess would be having a business meeting, regarding his winery, and the middle-aged lawyer or accountant he was dealing with that would just start blubbering, “Oh my God, I’m working with DAVY CROCKETT!!!” And getting any real work done would be near impossible. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/31 "2010-03-19T14:37:11Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Had a winery, too – I’ve had the wine… One of the best wines I’ve had was a Pinot Noir he bottled exclusively for Disneyland’s Club 33. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/32 "2010-03-19T16:05:17Z")
“Kil’t him a b’ar when he was only three” What’s a barstool? Something Davy Crockett stepped in. RIP, Fess. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/33 "2010-03-19T16:07:03Z")
I missed the coonskin cap craze by about a decade, and saw the _Davy Crockett_ TV series in re-runs. For a long time I thought Davy Crockett was a myth, like Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan. Boy, was I shocked to find he was a real person at one point in school! Still later in life, my parents-in-law moved to Morristown Tennessee, where the Crockett family lived and owned a tavern in the 1790’s. Of course, one does get a little confused what with everything (it seems) named “Crockett Ridge” and “David Crockett Drive” and what not, but at least there’s an “Andrew Johnson” highway for variety (Which thrills a nephew of mine of the same name). I’m still not clear if the “Crockett Tavern” is a restoration or a replica. Anyhow - I’m sad to see yet another actor go. It seems this is nostalgia week for me, what with watching old children’s movies and strolling down memory lane. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/34 "2010-03-19T16:10:19Z")
I mean, how many people in history have inspired little kids to wear a raccoon rumpy on their heads? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/35 "2010-03-19T18:41:38Z")
Coonskin cap… check. Pop gun… check. Cried during Old Yeller… check. Thanks, Fess, for the memories. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/36 "2010-03-19T19:31:50Z")
This quarter’s shipment from the Fess Parker Wine Club just arrived. Tonight we’ll raise a glass or three of 2007 American Tradition Vineyard Syrah and toast the man that made it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936/37 "2010-03-19T19:44:55Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Had a winery, too – I’ve had the wine. > > And he had a bit part in **Them!**. I was involved in a conference which met every year in his hotel on the beach in Santa Barbara. A beautiful, well-run place, where you can have dinner in his courtyard and look out at the ocean. We went to his winery one year as part of a three winery crawl - I’m not sure we were in any shape to be good wine tasters by the time we got to it. Never saw him, alas, but the people at the hotel seemed to genuinely like him. This was an EE conference, so it was for for us older native born Americans explaining to those born elsewhere why being at Fess’s hotel was incredibly cool. I saw Davy Crockett either the first time it ran or during an early rerun on Disney. What a great guy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-davy-and-danl-fess-parker/532936.md?page=1)