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Post by Rich Curilla on Feb 23, 2015 22:27:45 GMT -5
Tonight is the 60th. anniversary of the first telecast of Walt Disney's DAVY CROCKETT AT THE ALAMO on his weekly show DISNEYLAND. This is indeed what started it all for me. Anybody else?
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Post by mjbrathwaite on Feb 24, 2015 0:16:31 GMT -5
Me too. We didn't have television in New Zealand then, but the feature version shown in cinemas here in the 1956 August school holidays was a huge hit, and for years after New Zealand boys wore "Davy Crockett" caps. We also carried bows and arrows, as Robin Hood was also a major hero in the British commonwealth, but I don't recall anyone getting shot!
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boba
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Posts: 36
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Post by boba on Feb 24, 2015 17:28:09 GMT -5
"Davy Crockett at the Alamo" was the monumental TV event of my 7 year old life.It led me to the Marx playset,the coonskin cap,the powder horn and my "Daisey Air rifle".It also led to a lifetime interest in The Alamo and American history in general.I recently watched all 5 episodes of the "Disney Treasures"DvD and it still measures up to any Alamo movie made.My 7 year old brain couldn't comprehend the hero being killed.I( expected Davy to somehow escape and survive but after Georgie got smoked ,I figured it was curtains for Davy.I finally made it to San Antonio in 1985 with 4 friends and spent a pleasant 4 days staying at the Menger hotel(didn't see any ghosts)and drinking massive quanities of beer on the river walk.Going into the chapel was almost a religious experience similar to going into St Patricks church in Manhattan .a very solemn feeling.I hope to someday revisit the Alamo and drink some more "LoneStar beer"
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Post by Bill Yowell on Feb 24, 2015 18:20:06 GMT -5
I remember it well. I was 10 years old and a fifth grader attending David Crockett Elem. in Sherman, Texas. Other than having the "Texaco" booklet on Texas History, I had no real idea who Davey was. There was a big picture of Crockett hanging outside the principals office, but I don't recall any discussions about his significance, or his part in the fight for Texas independence. The Disney production certainly peaked my interest, but when I read Lon Tinkles " Thirteen Days to Glory" as a seventh grader, I was hooked.
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boba
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Post by boba on Feb 24, 2015 20:07:59 GMT -5
Its funny that Bill mentions Lon Tinkles book"13 days to glory".That book and a book by John Myers Myers "The Alamo"really got my Alamo engine running.Then came "A Time to Stand "By Walter Lord,one of the best books ever written about The Alamo.BTW I found the Myers and Tinkle books in the paperback rack at the local bohack supermarket,a rare find by yours truly.I still have the Tinkle book.
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Post by Herb on Feb 24, 2015 22:47:32 GMT -5
Well, I haven't hit my 60th yet so I missed out on the original Crockett craze. But,it was Disney and Fess that started my fascination with the Alamo sometime in the early 1960s. My first book was Crockett's "autobiography" checked out of the library. My first purchase was a paperback of Lon Tinkle's 13 Days from the Alamo Gift Shop. Meyers & Lord were soon repeatedly checked out of the local library.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Feb 24, 2015 23:02:41 GMT -5
I think it was largely a function of the inadvertent timing of all these things. Same for me -- like stepping stones. Every addition to the Alamo phenomenon peaked my interest just as it MIGHT have diminished. And it was finally beginning to wear off for me at the turn of the century -- and then Michael Corenblith showed up at Alamo Village to scout for Ron Howard's movie and it all started again for me. Each time, it was on a newer and higher level, as if part of my growth process.
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Post by Phil Riordan on Feb 25, 2015 20:17:31 GMT -5
"Davy Crockett at the Alamo" remains my all-time favorite television drama. A recent viewing reaffirmed my opinion that it had a wonderfully written script: Ten minutes into the story, things get serious. By the third act, the situation looks mighty grim. Davy and Georgie's friendship also reaches a crisis before the story's exciting conclusion. One of my favorite scenes is when Davy visits Bowie in his room. Superbly written, beautifully underplayed. A second favorite moment (and I do mean "moment") is just before Davy's "Farewell to the Mountains" song. Davy sits down alongside Georgie and lets out a gentle sigh. (It's not in the theatrical version.) It's as if Davy is thinking, "What have we gotten ourselves into?" and accepting the consequences of his decision to stay. I truly feel that "Davy Crockett at the Alamo" is the best example of solid, economical story-telling of all the Alamo dramatizations.
Thanks for remembering, Rich!
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Post by Rich Curilla on Feb 25, 2015 23:36:09 GMT -5
Phil, I was equally amazed when I watched it for the umpteenth time two nights ago that Parker's subtle acting along with the sensitive script moved me deeply. You forget those little moments like the sigh -- or the cut-away to Bowie in his room listening as Crockett sings "the wife of my bossom, farewell to ye all....". We rewatch the show in part to relive our childhood moment-in-time, but, when one of those moments pops up unexpectedly, it is very moving.
Another powerful scene (cut to nothing in the theatrical version) in the Congress episode is after Georgie reads Davy the letter about his wife's death. That long long close dolly shot with Davy as he walks away from the frolic is just devastating. Today, a "children's film" would never put such an "adult" emotional rendering in the script, but I certainly "got it" when I saw it at the age of seven -- and it has been getting heavier ever since. THAT'S STAYING POWER!
The human condition is what Davy Crockett at the Alamo is all about, not the violence of battle.
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Post by loucapitano on Feb 26, 2015 18:04:33 GMT -5
To All: Ditto, ditto, ditto. I had every one of the emotions all of you have so eloquently described. Another moment I found particularly moving is Travis drawing the line. He put it so simply. "Men, the defense of the Alamo rests with us alone." (I hope I got the words right, I haven't seen it for more than a month.) "Those who'll stay, cross over the line." Somehow I knew at seven years old that Davy would be the first over the line. And Thimblerig, gulping hesitantly and finally crossing burned the scene into my soul.
Of course I went through all the merchandising we could afford for our little Brooklyn apartment. Most of all, I wanted the Mattel Alamo play set, but a friend down the block let me play with his. I had the rifle, a powder horn, my mother sewed me a bullet pouch and most the orange and green bubble gum cards. I still have them. Of course, I had the hat, which never made it to our move to Long Island, but I bought a new one at Disney World in 1979.
Lou from Long Island
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Post by Rich Curilla on Feb 26, 2015 20:03:21 GMT -5
I have the tail from the hat. I hated the hat (even at eight) because it was bare black felt on top with wool fur around the edge and the logo stamped on the crown saying something like "OFFICIAL Davy Crockett Coonskin Cap." I knew better. Davy's had fur all over! I never trusted the word "official" after that. But the tail was real.
Lou, don't you mean the Marx playset? If Mattel did one, I missed it. WAAAAAAAAA!
'
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Post by mjbrathwaite on Feb 27, 2015 0:16:26 GMT -5
In New Zealand we had rubber moulds for making plaster Davy Crocketts!
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Post by Rich Curilla on Feb 27, 2015 1:20:47 GMT -5
In New Zealand we had rubber moulds for making plaster Davy Crocketts! That's cool. Ole Davy loved to get plastered.  |
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Post by loucapitano on Mar 1, 2015 18:43:19 GMT -5
Marx, Mattel, who knew at age 7 the company that made the toy? All I know I didn't have one and my Dad couldn't afford one.
I turned my toy train cars upside down to look like a fort and called it the Alamo.
At least, my friend, who was also named Louis, always wanted us to play with his Alamo set. We would place my Alamo cards in order and act out each scene on that card. I haven't seen Louis in 58 years, but I'll be forever grateful to have him for a friend who probably still remembers the Alamo.
Lou from Long Island
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