What was the premise behind the series Paladin? I know most of the others, but this one has always escaped me. The unusual name coupled with his escapades makes me wonder if he maybe was some kind of “spirit” assigned to help the downtrodden in the old West.
Thanks
Quasi
He was a bounty hunter, based out of San Francisco. One of the few good guys to wear a black hat. I think he was meant to be one of those flawed heroes, but TV being TV turned him into what you saw.
And welcome to SDMB! offers hand
Quasi
Actually, Have Gun Will Travel was considered one of the first “adult” (as opposed to children - not to be confused with adult as a paraphrase of X-rated) westerns on television. Previous to HGWT the good guys always wore white hats and did good things bad guys wore black hats and did bad things. Everybody else pretty much wore gray hats. Examples are: The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Red Ryder, Anne Oakley, and Wild Bill Hickcock.
Then Paladin (who was also one of the few western heros to sport facial hair - which was once again the symbol of a villian) came along dressed in black. He was more than a bounty hunter. He was a “hired gun” but one with a conscience. Do you remember the chess knight on his holster? According to Richard Boone (who played Paladin in the TV series) the chess piece was to symbolize a “knight errant” in a world in need of just such an individual.
In a way he was something of an avenging spirit, I suppose, but an extremely mercenary one. He attempted to do right, but at times he did not succeed and still he usually made a profit at it.
And welcome aboard YPOD.
As a little “Buckaroo” , Santa brought me the Paladin gun and holster set. The Knight chess piece was on it as well. I also had the Bat Masterson cane which shot Greenie Stick’Um Caps 
Thanks for your input. Why don’t westerns work any more on television, do you think? The last good one I remember was the one starring Bruce Campbell, the name escapes me at the moment… something County? I think there is also a Bonanza “prequel” series on PAX, but I haven’t had a chance to see it…
Thanks!
Quasi
“The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.”
I love that show.
Paladin, paladin
Where do you roam?
Paladin, paladin
Long way from home
A fast gun for hire is a man called
Paaladin
(from memory)
Also
Have Gun, Will Travel, the website.
I am indeed jealous. Although I do still have my autographed photo that Richard Boone gave me when he stopped in my hometown. He misspelled my name, but heck, I’ve got a signed picture of Paladin himself.
As for why there are no longer any Westerns. Maybe it was too long ago. When they were originally on the air, it was only a generation or so away. Many of our parents would have heard similar stories from their parents who probably would have seen something very similar themselves.
But that isn’t enough though, is it? I guess it comes down to good guys and bad guys and how it is harder to spot them now. Maybe it is more technical, harder to find good horsemen or people that can drive a team and wagon or handle a lasso. Maybe there is not enough open space. Maybe we are no longer a rural people so our heroes have to be urban along with he rest of us. Who knows? Maybe it is all of that stuff.
Paladin gun and holster? Check!
Bat Masterson cane? No, but I wanted one and used Stick’um caps to turn a stick into one. Those caps were a GREAT product but later production runs weren’t as nicely centered as the early ones so you’d get misfires.
Richard Boone autographed photo? No, but a Roy Rogers autographed photo. I always thought Roy was skewed a little young for me, but it was a present.
One problem with running Westerns today is that we know too much about the fellows. We know Wyatt Earp, Wild (not Wildest) Bill, and Bat Masterson to be self-promoting, alcoholic thugs. However, want a plot 35 feet from Wild Bill and Calamity Jane? Big enough to hold three! In centrally located (on the northern hemisphere) Deadwood, SD! Just the place to go if you want to get away from all but two of your nearest and dearest permanently.
Have any of you seen the new Bonanza* on Pax? Not as bad as I expected. Not as bad as the original. Not good, but you sometimes need a Western fix and Telefutura isn’t ALWAYS showing The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
If you like HGWT, check out The Rebel(if you can find it-Western Channel showed it briefly a few years back).Stars Nick Adams as Johnnie Yuma-an ex-confederate soldier trying to start a career as
a freelance newspaper writer as he travels around the west.
Cool theme song sung by Johnnie Cash.
As hard as it is to imagine;Richard Boone only got the role of Paladin on TV 'cause the guy (John Dehner) who originally played him on the radio version of Have Gun Will Travel couldn’t get
out of another contract.
Ah - I feel so cheated that I didn’t ever see “HGWT”. It was before my time, and they never seemed to show reruns of it in my area.
I am the biggest TV western fan. In fact, I was in a group art show (OK, ceramics show) where I displayed all my “cowboy” plates (you can see one of them here ). I created my own idealized cowboys, inspired by hours of watching TV western reruns as a kid. The gallery show was covered by the local newspapers, (including LA Times) and so all got to read about how my “art” was inspired by “Wagon Train” and “Big Valley”! (I painted one plate while watching “Wagon Train” tapes, so the cowboy looked suspiciously like Flint McCullough.)
I also loved “Maverick” and “The Virginian”. I drove HOURS out of my way on a visit to Wyoming, just to see Medicine Bow. (It turned out to be an itty bitty little town, but they had a “Virginian Hotel”, and a “Trampas Motel”!) Cool!
Just had to share…
Yosemitebabe, it is indeed a wonderful salute.
I also thought your visit to Medicine Bow was neat. I bet it would be a cool cross country trip to go from TV western site to TV western site. From the Paladin’s Hotel Charlton in San Francisco to the Cartwright’s Virginia City to Wyatt Earp’s Tombstone, to Lucas McCain’s South Fork, Matt Dillon’s (and Earp’s and Bat Masterson’s for that matter) Dodge City, etc.
Obviously you couldn’t go entirely across the country because at some point the “West” wouldn’t be there, but it would be interesting to see how far you would get. Of course you would have to pick up some memorabilia that makes at least passing reference to the television show at each stop.
… got any John Wayne’s?
e-mail me with a price if you do, okay?
Quasi
“Maverick is the legend of the west”
Showing my age here, but the theme songs to the westerns actually let you know about the character you were about to meet, and I consider that to have been an integral part of the show.
“Riverboat, ring your bell!”
Ghee Whiz! I’m having a serious nostalgia attack here! Who started this thread anyway???
Quasi
[hijack]I may open this in GQ. If the bad guys wore black hats, then why would Hoppy find it OK to do in 1935?[/hijack]
Yeah, I know that Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Ken Maynard and other cowboy heroes from the same time wore white hats. Hell, I watched them every Sat. morning of my life, along with stick mice and cats.
Wait! Didn’t Tom Mix wear a black hat? And that was before the 30’s. I guess I’m goin’ Googling.
Quasi: Sorry, no John Wayne plates! Thanks for all your kind words about the plate. I figured that something good ought to come of all the cowboy doodles I put in my school notebooks!
TV Time: Yes, I’d love to go on a “TV Western” pilgrimage. Any excuse to be on the road! (I love to go on road trips.) That trip to Medicine Bow was a…trip! It was literally in the middle of nowhere!
