What a bummer when I looked at the paper to see Davy Crockett died.
Most people aren’t old enough to remember Fess Parker in his coonskin cap being intrepid out in the wilderness fighting Indians, befriending Indians and, in general, abhorring evil behavior among settlers against Indians. As a little boy it was exciting and, honestly, it kind of taught us good values and right versus wrong and crap like that.
In his day, the 6-foot-6 Texan Fess Parker was king of the wild frontier. Parker, who died last week at 85 of natural causes at his home in California, turned the coonskin cap into a must have accessory (at one point, 5,000 coonskin caps were sold a day) playing Alamo icon Davy Crockett in the mid-1950s (I only got to see reruns of this) and then he became Daniel Boone, in an NBC series of the same name from 1964 to 1970.
How awesome is it he got to be both Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone.
(both theme songs are indelibly etched into an entire generation of guys)
As a real person Davy Crockett was truly bigger than life having represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and dying at the Battle of the Alamo.
Lastly. After being king of the wild frontier on TV for over two decades he turned his attention to real estate and building a successful vineyard and winery in California’s Santa Ynez Valley next to Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. I would have to say I wish he would have donned the coonskin cap and grabbed the ole Daniel Boone musket and conveniently missed a squirrel in the backward and hit Michael but if wishes could come true I would be a wealthy man.
Anyway. Goodbye Davy Crockett/Daniel Boone. A generation of boys will miss you.