Wild West Podcast
Welcome to the Wild West podcast, where fact and legend merge. We present the true accounts of individuals who settled in towns built out of hunger for money, regulated by fast guns, who walked on both sides of the law, patrolling, investing in, and regulating the brothels, saloons, and gambling houses. These are stories of the men who made the history of the Old West come alive - bringing with them the birth of legends, brought to order by a six-gun and laid to rest with their boots on. Join us as we take you back in history to the legends of the Wild West. You can support our show by subscribing to Exclusive access to premium content at Wild West Podcast + https://www.buzzsprout.com/64094/subscribe
Wild West Podcast
Unraveling the Vaquero's Legacy: A Deeper Look at the American Cowboy Culture
Prepare to journey through the raw, romanticized visions of the American cowboy. We're kicking the dust off the myths, winding through the stories, and riding into the heart of their gritty reality. Together, we'll unravel the hidden layers of this iconic figure, their deep, cross-cultural roots, and the pivotal role they played in shaping our nation.
In this captivating exploration, we take a deep dive into the undeniable influence of Mexican vaqueros on the American cowboy. As we peel back the layers of this cultural fusion, you'll discover how the Spanish and Mexican roots have left an indelible mark on the cowboy persona. From their practical attire and unique linguistic influences to the deeply ingrained traditions of open-range ranching, branding, and roundups, prepare to see the cowboy in a new light.
This episode takes you through the day-to-day reality of being a cowboy, exploring their attire, weaponry, and the often dangerous lifestyle they led. You'll find the true origins of their practical clothing, and how these evolved into the iconic cowboy image we know today. Get to know the real story behind cowboy pistols, and feel the dust, sweat, and exhilaration of a day in the life of these frontier warriors. So, saddle up and hold on tight - you're about to gallop into the heart of cowboy culture. It's a wild ride you won't want to miss! Stay with us after this episode as Mike and Brad further explore; cowboy attire.
Behind careless sang froid and beneath a rough exterior, god enthroned a genuine man who will bow to no superior the Court and the Spur Nature's Nobleman by Edgar Rai, the Honour's the World for Manly. Nobleman who's scorned to do an underhand trick to gain an advantage over an adversary, making the price of honor so high that dishonor forfeited the life of the Betrayer. And you may have created an impossible ideal. But go to the real old-time ranchman, who now perhaps is a banker or dealer in high finance, and ask him to tell you the characteristics of those bold, reckless daredevils that he used to employ on the range, who laugh while they fought the robbers and Indians. And he will tell you that nowhere on God's footstool were women and children safer than under the protecting care of the cowboys. They never failed to respond to an appeal for help when the lives and homes of the early settlers were in danger, the cowboy placed his life at their service, with his pony in arms, and boldly marched forth to victory or death. The Wild West podcast proudly presents Cattle Drives, cowboys and Cowtowns Part 4, the Culture of the Cowboy. Stay with us after this episode as Mike and I further explore Cowboy attire.
Speaker 1:If the history of America's Western Frontier is the nation's narrative, then the cowboy must be its principal character. But unfortunately the cowboy is just as formidable to portray as the frontier itself. Contemporary accounts of so-called cowboys offer a modern historian no help determining the mysterious creatures. Some claim they were mischief makers. John Clay, an old ranch hand who lived and worked among these men, described the cowboy as a devil. May care, the immoral, revolver-heeled, brazen, light-fingered lot who usually came to no good end. Others believe the cowboys were misconceived and misrepresented gentlemen. For example, cowboy author Raymond Adams swore in spite of all that's been wrote about him, those who knowed him best and lived with him found him to be good-natured and a rollick in the old soulfeller, quick to do a kindness and as quick to resent an insult. There is vast historical literature on the origins, development and impact of the cattle industry and primarily its cowboy employee, establishing who he was, how he worked, what tools he used in his trade, what songs he sang and what games he played, and how he lived on the ranches, on the trails and in the towns. In addition, historians have given us a more precise picture of the renowned cattle industry barons and the boys and men who played a notable role in herding cattle across the plains.
Speaker 1:The cow country was a man's country, wrote David Derry, and according to Syedah, cowboying was work for young men. Cowboys were part of a late-nineteenth-century rough-masculine frontier work culture in a rugged, wearying and sometimes dangerous occupation. Their work was dirty and the weather was often harsh. They faced dangers from storms, stampedes, river crossings, thieves, indian attacks and snakes. Trail drives could be lonely and boring and require skill, endurance, courage and bravado. As a result, cattle driving became an occupation dominated by young men. Below are excerpts from the memoirs of EC Teddy Blue Abbot describing the first cattle drives from the book entitled we Pointed them North.
Speaker 1:Those first trail outfits in the 70s were sure tough. It was a new business and had to develop Work. Oxen were used instead of horses to pull the wagon and if one played out they could rope a steer and yoke him up. They had very little grub and they usually ran out of that and lived off a straight beef. They had only three or four horses to the man, mostly with sore backs because the old-time saddle ate both ways. The horses back in the cowboy's pistol pocket. They had no tents, no tarps and damn few slickers. They never kicked because those boys were raised under just the same conditions as there was out on the trail Cornmeal and bacon for grub, dirt floors in the houses and no luxuries In the early days in Texas in the 60s. Then they gathered their cattle. They used to pack what they needed on a horse and go out for weeks on a cow hunt. They called it then. That was before the name Roundup was invented and before they had anything so civilized as mess wagons. And I say that this is the way those first trail hands were raised. Take her as she comes and like it. They used to brag that they could go any place a cow could and stand anything a horse could. It was their life.
Speaker 1:Walter Prescott Webb, a renowned historian, places the birth of the cowboy and ranching as we know it in the United States in a diamond-shaped area of Texas with San Antonio on the north, laredo on the west, indianola on the east and Brownsville on the south Webb states. In this region and on its borders were to be found the elements essential to the ranch and range cattle industry. The Nueces River on the border between Mexico and Texas runs through this region. By the 1730s, the south Texas missions owned large herds. There was vast open land and cattle had plenty of grass for grazing, which made Texas a great place to raise cattle.
Speaker 1:By the time American colonists arrived in Texas in the 1820s, there were large ranchos which hired expert horseback riders, known as vaqueros, to herd the wild cattle. The cowhands driving herds north owed much to Spanish and Mexican vaqueros. Vaquero from Unca, meaning cow, is the Spanish word for cowhand or cowboy. Vaqueros tended cattle on ranches in Mexico, california and the southwest. The vaquero traditions lingered, affecting the look, equipment and vernacular of what became the iconic American cowboy. Terms like lasso, lariat, mustang chaps and bandana became part of everyday speech and American cowboys adopted the Spanish traditions of open range ranching, branding and roundups. When Americans started to herd cattle, they learned how to ride rope and brand from vaqueros. Cowboys wore Mexican spurs and leather chaps that kept their legs safe from thorny shrubs. The broad brimmed cowboy hat came from the Mexican sombrero or hat that provides shade. Cowboys used a leather lariat or lasso to catch cattle and horses.
Speaker 1:The Texas Cowboys had a substantial role in the development of the cattle trade. The cattle drives would never have been made without their work on the ranches and the trail. The old-time Cowboys had very little knowledge or culture. Their chief interests were cattle and cow ponies. A Cowboy's life was filled with hard work. Perhaps no other class of working men ever had such long hours, suffered more hardships or put up with more deprivations. However, they never complained about their jobs. In those days no insurance company would ensure a Cowboy's life. His life was filled with too many dangers. After an arduous trip up the trail, most Cowboys enjoyed a spree in the northern cattle towns.
Speaker 1:Joseph G McCoy knew the Texas Drovers as few other men did. He had the following to say about them In person the Cowboys were mostly medium-sized men, as a heavy man was hard on horses, quick and wiry and, as a rule, very good-natured. In fact it did not pay to be anything else. But in character they're like, never was or ever will be again. They were intensely loyal to the outfit they worked for and would fight for it. They would follow their wagon boss through hell and never complain. I've seen them ride into camp after two days and nights on the herd, lay down on their saddle blankets in the rain and sleep like dead men. Then get up laughing and joking about some good time they had in Ogallala or Dodge City Living that kind of life. They were bound to be wild and brave. In fact, there were only two things the old-time Cowpuncher was afraid of a decent woman and being set afoot.
Speaker 1:Most Western historians agree that the Cowboy was not liberally educated but had a strong natural sense concerning the frontier and was thoroughly drilled in the customs of frontier life. The Cowboy further tended to empathize with his kind. His characteristics were an outgrowth of his early home life, for each grew up on a wild frontier with little or no schools. The Civil War further darkened this environment, a war that engendered hatred and suspicion in the lives of the Texans. Probably the most frequent reason that young men went west and became Cowboys was to escape from the control of authoritarian fathers. Teddy Blue Abbott flatly stated that this was his reason, and although Andy Adams did not say so, it was his reason as well. There was a certain irony in the fact that the Cowboy merely exchanged an authoritarian father for an equally dictatorial trail boss or cattle owner. His situation was mitigated by three things he was paid for his work, he could do as he pleased when not working and he could quit if he did not like his working conditions. Andy Adams further mitigated the Cowboy's life by depicting both owner and trail boss as fair-minded men such as the Cowboys who preferred their own fathers to have been.
Speaker 1:The Cowboy was a practical joker, a teller of tall tales and inclined towards alcohol. He had an innate sense of right and wrong and a quick and impulsive temper. He was quick to detect an injury or insult, not slow to avenge it nor fast to forget it. But above all he was free and easy and had little love for restraint. Joseph G McCoy spoke further on their character. The Trovers were fond of a practical joke, always pleased with a good story and not offended if it was of an immoral character. Universal tiplers, but seldom drunkards. Always shoveled a sleek herdeus to a modest lady. A strong sense of right and wrong, a quick, impulsive temper, great lovers of a horse and always good riders and horsemen, always free to spend their money, quick to detect an insult or injury and not slow to avenge it, nor quick to forget it. Always ready to help a comrade out of a scrape, full of life and fun, free and easy. The following is an excerpt from Joseph McCoy's historical sketches of the cattle trade, as he provides descriptions of ranches, cowboys, their lives and cattle towns of the late 1860s and early 70s, the period when the Old West was new.
Speaker 1:If anyone imagines that the life of a ranchman or cowboy is one of ease and luxury, or his diet to feast of fat things, a brief trial will dispel the illusion, as it is missed by the sunshine. True, his life is one of more or less excitement and adventure, and much of it is spent in the saddle. Yet it is a hard life and his daily fare will never give you gout. They do their own cooking in the rudest and fewest possible vessels, often not having a single plate or knife and fork other than their pocket knife, but gather around the camp kettle in true Indian style and with a piece of bread in one hand, proceed to fish up a piece of sowbelly and dine sumptuously, not forgetting to stow away one or more quarts of the most robust coffee imaginable, without sugar or cream. Indeed, you would hesitate of, judging from appearance, whether to call it coffee or ink.
Speaker 1:The life of the cowboy is one of considerable daily danger and excitement. It is complex and full of exposure, but wild and free, and the young man who has long been a cowboy has little taste for any other occupation. He lives hard, works hard and has but few comforts and fewer necessities. He has but little, if any, taste for reading. He enjoys a coarse practical joke or a smutty story, loves danger but abhors the labor of ordinary kind, never tires riding, never wants to walk, no matter how short the distance he desires to go. He would rather fight with pistols than prey. He loves tobacco, liquor and women better than any other trinity. He enjoys his pipe and relishes a practical joke on his comrades or a corrupt tale wherein abounds much vulgarity and animal propensity. His clothes are coarse and substantial, few in number and often of the gaudy pattern. The sombrero hat and large spurs are inevitable accompaniments. The rudest and most primitive modes of life seem to be satisfactory to the cowboy On the trail.
Speaker 1:Few cowboys lived up to the rough and rowdy drinking and brawling image popularized later in books, songs and movies. Instead, a cowhand had to be dependable under harsh conditions, quick to act and knowledgeable of longhorn instincts. The cowboy was often a hard-working laborer. Many were Hispanic or African American. Some women also made the journey, sometimes disguised as young men.
Speaker 1:In reality, cowboys came from all walks of life, from all parts of the United States and the world. Some cowboys had mustered out of the Union and some were rebel soldiers unwilling to return to their former homes and jobs. Some were former sailors, some were bums or beggars. Some were formerly enslaved people. One of every three cowboys was African American, mexican or Native American. According to Edward Dale, one range rider had recorded that during a year's work he did not see a woman for nine months. Winkler wrote that married cowboys were the exceptions and strong family ties were rare. Courtright estimated that the average age of cowboys was 23 or 24, and concluded that cowboys, in short, were lower-class bachelors, laborers and a risky and unhealthy line of work. They were members of a disreputable and violent subculture with its own rules for appropriate behavior.
Speaker 1:Most clothing worn during the golden years of cowboy culture had few decorative elements or cowboy clothing was functional for safety reasons. There were exceptions. Most of the shafts included some embellishments, but even these had practical applications. For example, fringes helped wick water away and ties were used to connect the outer legs of the shafts. Some shafts had tooled highly decorative leather belts, and cowboy boots have always been known for the colored stitching in the boot top. The straightforward, functional design was not necessarily the desire of the cowboys, but the low salaries they were paid limited the amount of decoration they could afford. Practically all of the cowboys wearing apparel had applicable purposes. Broad rimmed hats protected cowboys from the harsh sunlight of the treeless planes, as did bandanas tied around the cowboys necks. The wide brimmed five or ten gallon hat not only saved a cowboy's eyes from the sun and wind, but was used for everything from a fly swatter to a watering trough for his horse. Black hats were better for the white, sandy country as they absorbed more of the glare.
Speaker 1:Andy Adams established the outfits the cowboys wore on the trail. Most. All of them were Southerners and they were a wild, reckless bunch. For dress, they wore wide brimmed beaver hats, black or brown with a low crown, fancy shirts, high heeled boots and sometimes a vest. Their clothes and saddles were all homemade. Most of them had an army coat, a slicker cape and a blanket. Lay on your saddle blanket and cover up with a coat was about the only bed used from the Texas Trail. At first, a few had a big buffalo robe to roll up in. But if they ever got good and wet, you never had time to dry them, so they were not popular. All had a pair of bull hide chaps, or leggings, they used to call them. They were good in the brush and wet weather, but they were left in the wagon in fine weather. As the business grew, significant changes took place in their dress style, but their boots and cigarettes have lasted nearly the same for more than 60 years.
Speaker 1:In place of the low crowned hat of the 70s we had a high crowned white Stetson hat, fancy shirts with pockets and striped or checkered California pants made in Oregon City. The best pants ever made for riding in. Slickers came in too. In winter we had nice cloth overcoats with beaver collars and cuffs. The old 12-inch barrel of Colt pistol was cut down to 6.5 inch barrel with black rubber, ivory or pearl handle. The old big riled spurs with bells gave place to a hand-forged silver inlaid spurs with droop shanks and small rowls, and with that we had the cow puncher of the 80s when he was in his glory.
Speaker 1:Shaps, or chaparrajos as the Mexican ranch hands called them, were widely used on the ranch and cattle trails. They might be described as leather leggings that extended up to the hips or, as someone expressed it, the leather pants with no seat. In them, the shaps protected the rider's legs from brush, cactus, weather falls and even snake bites. Woolly shaps made of leather with the hair left on and initially developed in California were introduced to northern cowboys by Vicaros who drove cattle from Oregon to Montana mining camps during the 1860s. Woollies, as they were called, were particularly useful for professional riders. They were particularly useful for protecting cowboys from the coal that was part of the Northern Plains life.
Speaker 1:Other gear characteristics of the cowboy trade included boots with high slanted heels, designed to keep a cowboy's foot from sliding through the stirrup. The standard cowboy boots were reportedly developed in Coffeeville, kansas. A pair of boots with high heels was perhaps the most prized article of clothing owned by the cowboy. They too had many practical purposes. The range rider rode with his feet jammed through the stirrups as far as they could go and braced himself with the high heels. The heel also prevented the possibility of his foot slipping clear through the stirrup. Should he be thrown or his horse falls with him. In roping a bronc or a steer from the ground with no saddle horn to tie to, the cowboy could throw the end of his rope around his hips, digging his heels into the ground in front of him. With such a good brace he was often able to handle the animal.
Speaker 1:Andy Adams rode about the dress of the cowboy by stating the following One must acquire a glimpse of the cowboy on horseback as he gallops over the prairie. To see the cowboy in all his glory. But in the saddle he is at home, and the more spirited the horse, the better pleased the rider. The horse and rider seemed one like the centaur, so much in harmony are their emotions. The broad brimmed hat, leather leggings and six-shooter go to make up the uniform that distinguishes him from the rest of the world. His saddle, bridal and lasso form the most important articles of his outfit and are generally purchased with a view of display as well as for utility. These articles are often worth more than the pony that carries them. With a pair of blankets and an oil slicker, the average cowboy is prepared for all kinds of weather and will be absent for a month on a cowhunt without a change of clothing.
Speaker 1:Years of practice make the cowboy an expert rider, while his open-air life and freedom from restraint give him a careless and reckless appearance, often taken for a mere bravado. Therefore, those who know him are not disposed to quarrel with those who judge the cowboy from observation. Thus, even the cowboy was free to confess that in competition for public favor, he would be handicapped by his appearance. There was an unwritten decree in the kingdom where the cattle barons ruled, forbidding wearing any costume that carried the earmarks of social or commercial life, and the experience will prove that it is not prejudice but common sense that dictates the cowboy's outfit. A two-week trip after cattle will soon come to an end. A two-week trip after cattle will soon convince a man that a flannel shirt will hide dirt and stand the wear and tear of camp life much better than a white one, and one night around the campfire will convince him that ducking overalls are the only protection against grease and dirt. Consequently, the cowboys adopted a costume in harmony with their occupation.
Speaker 1:The large Mexican spurs that dangle at the cowboy's heels are the most potent persuader to his jaded pony and will accelerate his movements when all hope of touching his feelings with a court has failed. As an ornament, his spurs are sure to attract attention and when successfully manipulated by a full-fledged cowboy along the pavement of a city or town, can make as much noise as a hurdy-gurdy in full operation. Next in importance to his six-shooter, the cowboy considered his spurs a necessary appendage to his equipment, rarely taking them off even at a dance or social gathering. Revolvers were also part of every self-respecting Cowboys gear. The demands of the trail and the dangers naturally associated with the frontier rendered the daily use in carrying of some sort of firearms imperative. Hence the habitual association with the pistol or rifle resulted in many Cowboys becoming proficient sharpshooters. Unfortunately, they were often used in town more than on the range.
Speaker 1:One example of a cowboy firing his pistols within the city limits was reported in the Dodge City Times on July 26, 1878. Yesterday morning about three o'clock, this peaceful suburban city was thrown into unusual excitement, and the turmoil was all caused by a cantankerous cowboy who started the mischief by a two free use of his little revolver. In Dodge City, after dark, the report of a revolver generally means business and is an indication that somebody is on the warpath. Therefore, when the noise of this shooting and the yells of excited voices rang out on the midnight breeze, the sleeping community awoke from their slumbers, listened a while to the click of the revolver, wondered who was shot this time, and then went to sleep again. But in the morning many dreaded to hear the result of the war, lest it should be a story of bloodshed and carnage or of death to some familiar friend. But in this instance there was an abundance of noise and smoke, with no very terrible results.
Speaker 1:It seems that three or four herders were paying their respects to the city and its institutions, and is as usually their custom, remained until about three o'clock in the morning, when they prepared to return to their camps. They buckled on their revolvers, which they were not allowed to wear around town, and mounted their horses. When, all at once, one of them conceived the idea that to finish the night's revelry and give the natives due warning of his departure, he must do some shooting, and forthwith he commenced to bang away One of the bullets, whizzing into a dance hall nearby, causing little, no commotion among the participants in the dreamy waltz. In Quadril, wyatt Earp and James Masterson made a raid on the shootest, who gave them two or three volleys, but fortunately without effect. The policeman returned the fire and followed the herders with the intention of arresting them. The firing then became general, and some rooster, who did not exactly understand the situation, perched himself in the window of the dance hall and indulged in a promiscuous shoot all by himself. The herders rode across the bridge, followed by the officers. A few yards from the bridge, one of the herders fell from his horse from weakness caused by a wound in the arm which he had received during the pharacus. The other herder made good his escape. The wounded man was properly cared for and his wound, which proved to be a bad one, was dressed by Dr T L McCarty. His name is George Hoy and he is rather an intelligent looking young man.
Speaker 1:It should be noted that the photographs taken of cowboys working on the range show very few wearing revolvers, and reminiscences indicate that most cowboys left their firearms with their bedding while they were working cattle. The following is an excerpt from we Pointed them North Recollections of a Cow Puncher published in 1939 by EC Teddy Blue Abbott. But in the 70s they were a hard bunch and I believe it was partly on account of what they came from. Down in Texas in the early days every man had to have his six-shooter always ready. Every house kept a shotgun loaded with buckshot because they were always looking for a raid by Mexicans or Comanche Indians. What's more, I guess half the people in Texas in the 70s had moved out there on the frontier from the southern states and from the rebel armies and was the type that did not want any restraints. But there is one thing I would like to get straight. I punched cows from 71 on and I never yet saw a cowboy with two guns, I mean two six-shooters. While Bill carried two guns, and so did some of those other city marshals like Bat Masterson, but they were professional gunmen themselves, not cow punchers. The others that carried two guns were Wes Hardin and Bill Longley and Clay Allison, and them Desperados. But a cowboy with two guns is all movie stuff, and so is this business of a gun on each hip. The kind of fellows that did carry two would carry one in the scabbard and a hideout gun down under their arm.
Speaker 1:For 20 years it was the ambition of every Texas cowboy to go up the trail. Wages were about $30 a month. Sometimes the cowboys were paid slightly more if they furnished their own horses. Trail life was hard. Cowboys usually had to work 15 to 18 hours a day, 24 hours. If they had a bad night with restless cattle, and then they had to work the next day just as though they had slept all night, the trail boss took the position that they could sleep all next winter. A cow hand never thought of trying to collect overtime or calling for shorter hours and more pay. In view of all the hardships and dangers of trail life, why do they want to go up the trail.
Speaker 1:A cowboy did not feel that he had graduated in his art until he had made the Northern Drive. Many of them went year after year. From the end of the Civil War until the mid-1880s, tens of thousands of cowboys rode the cattle trails. Of course, not all cowhands made the trek northward, but as one, lockhart drover, put it, a man did not graduate from cowboy school until he lit out on at least one long ride. To be brevillequant to the culture of a cowboy we can say there is something romantic about the early cowboy. He lived on horseback, as does the Bedouins. He fought on horseback, as did the Knights of Chivalry. He went armed with strange new weapon which he used ambidextrously and precisely. He would swear like a miner, drink like a fish, wore clothes like an actor and fought like the devil. He was gracious to ladies, reserved towards strangers, generous to his friends and brutal to his enemies. He was a cowboy, a man of his times, a typical Western frontiersman.
Speaker 2:Brad, today we spent a lot of time talking about the culture of the cowboy and our focus during that time was on the dress or the attire of the cowboy. So let's extend that just a little bit about what we know about certain attire that the cowboy originally started with in the 1869 and then how it has expanded over time, and also in name too. We've talked a little bit about the hat, sometimes referred to as the cowboy hat, but really the cowboys did not refer to it as a cowboy hat, they just referred to it as a hat. Let's kind of expand for our audience a little bit about the cowboy attire.
Speaker 1:Well, mike, I think your little illustration there about the cowboy in his hat really does kind of hit the nail on the head not to use a hat joke there, I guess. But it really comes down to as we alluded to a few times in this episode, in simplicity and function If it wasn't functional, don't wear it. Your job is your life, your life is your job. Everything that you surround yourself with. It's basically the bare minimum. It's what you need to get the job done, no more and no less.
Speaker 1:That said, there was always room for play A cowboy who spent weeks, months out on the ranges, living, for most, most all accounts, a reasonably solitary life. So when they were in the company of others, whether it be on the drive itself, or especially when they reached one of the major northern cattle towns where they had the opportunity to just spend their hard earned wages to live in a more civilization, I guess whether various degrees of civilized I'll say it that way they like to show off a little bit too, and the bandanas, the wild rags, were a prime example of that. Many bright colors, something that could be seen from miles away, or certainly at least to attract some company, maybe of the feminine persuasion from across the bar. They like to show off Even that they're showing off. But also, any cowboy worth his salt could spot a greenhorn a mile away. The guys who came out and were duded up for what I mean? Even in the 1880s, really, especially early 1890s, when it really became more of a pop culture thing, folks would come out and do their best to dress like a cowboy. They were obviously, obviously not.
Speaker 1:And that's where, as you alluded, the joke that I've often used in the modern era there was no such thing as a cowboy hat to a cowboy it's just a hat. And you can always tell the difference between a real cowboy and a fake cowboy because, again, their hat boots, not a cowboy hat and cowboy boots. That's just, that's the job, that's their function, that's what they do, that's their dress. But to someone outside of that society it was very obvious who was real and who wasn't. I always tend to come back to that.
Speaker 1:The vision that I always think of a perfect example is from Back to the Future, part Three, where Marty McFly, a child of the 50s or the 80s, rather spent some time in the 50s and in the 1950s. We had that very, very Southern California Hollywood version of a cowboy with a brightly colored fringe shirts and the pink and yellows and the ridiculousness of it over the years that really went for many decades in popular culture and the entertainment industry on how they like to portray a cowboy the two guns strapped down, the droploop holsters. That's all modern, modern inventions.
Speaker 2:Well, Brad, with you saying that there is some debate, especially with historians, about the Hollywood version of the cowboy versus the cowboy of the 1870s, let's talk a little bit about the Hollywood version and how that has changed our culture's view of the cowboy.
Speaker 1:Well, mike, I think it is imperative that we remember that in the very earliest days of Hollywood, even the birth of the silent film era there wasn't really very far removed from the American West. I mean, at the time most of what is now inside Los Angeles was all ranch land cowboys everywhere. In the earliest days of Hollywood they weren't hiring actors to play cowboys, they were quite literally hiring cowboys to play actors. And even some of the real, what we now consider legendary characters guys like Emmett Dalton, wyatt Earp, were in fact consulted in their real life expertise on some of the earliest western movies. Tom Mix was not a cowboy, tom Mix was a Hollywood actor. However, he did become friends with Wyatt Earp in a story that has now become quite legendary even so. Much of the fact that Tom Mix was a pallbearer at Wyatt Earp's funeral.
Speaker 1:Two very, very different individuals from very different walks of life. But that's a perfect example of how they did kind of come together. Some of those oldest movies that they were making were there were so many westerns in the early days because they had the people to do it, they had the machinery for every one of those stagecoach stagecoaches driving over the edge of the cliff cliffhangers and those are old, early serials. Those weren't rebuilt props, they were using actual stagecoaches because they still existed. So the authenticity was there. But it was also becoming the Hollywood version of it because for most of the people who were going to see these early movies they did not have that basis in the real life of what the American West and the true cowboy really was. So they had to. They took the romanticism that was already surrounding the real cowboys and even going back to the 1880s it was becoming a very romantic ideal and then accentuated that, exaggerated that to the point where it even by the 1950s it had almost become cartoonish.
Speaker 1:Things like, like I mentioned earlier, the droplose holster or the tied down revolver. In the old West there were a few examples of that tying down your holster, ideally for a quicker draw. However, when you actually stopped to think about that, when you tie down the base of your, your sidearm to your thigh, but then you step up on a horse and the way your, then your thigh, your knees are shaping, that gun is pointed downward and out and it's just going to fall right out of your holster. So tying a weapon down all riding a horse was the most idiotic, ridiculous and not real thing you could possibly want to do, but that has so become part of our popular culture image of of the Western cowboy that it's almost impossible to escape. That's it for now.
Speaker 1:Remember to check out our Wild West podcast shows on iTunes podcast or Wild West podcastbuzzsproutcom. You can also catch us on Facebook at facebookcom slash Wild West podcast or on our YouTube channel at whiskey and westerns on Wednesday. So make sure you subscribe to our podcast listed at the end of the description text of this podcast to receive notifications on all new episodes. Thanks for listening to our podcast. If you have any comments or would like to add this series on cattle drives, cowboys and cattle towns, you can write us at Wild West podcast at gmailcom and we will share your thoughts as they apply to future episodes. Join us next time as we explore what it was like on a cattle drive.
