Wyatt Earp special on PBS

[Allen Wiener]

"American Experience" on PBS is airing a program about Wyatt Earp tonight (may not be on in all areas). I think this is a new program; at least I've never seen it.

Allen

[Tom Nuckols]

I watched it. It focused heavily on Wyatt's personality and individual motivations, but also included some excellent and (as far as I know) hitherto not-widely-known historical detail. It was very good. For a broader historical perspective, read "And Die in the West" by Paula Mitchell Marks.

[Allen Wiener]

Better still, read Casey Tefertiller's "Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend," the most up to date and accurate account of his life, the Tombstone gunfight and the events that followed. Marks's book relied too heavily on evidence and literature that has now been discredited, although I understood she did some revisions to her subsequent editions.

I thought the show was good for what it was and probably the best of the Earp TV documentaries. Well balanced, but somewhat "shorthand" and over-simplified in places, which is inevitable when you try to cover someone's life in 50 minutes. There was a lot more to the buildup to the gunfight, for example, than was shown. Also, let's remember that this was titled "Wyatt Earp" and was supposed to focus on his character and life, which I thought it did pretty well. As with most TV, however, this should lead interested people to the bookshelf for a more thorough understanding. In addition to Casey's book, take a look at Allen Barra's "Inventing Wyatt Earp" and Gary Roberts' "Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend."

Allen

[rriddle3]

In addition to the books by Tefertiller and Marks, I have 'The Truth About Wyatt Earp' by Richard E. Erwin and 'The Earps Talk' by Alford E. Turner which is a collection of the transcripts and court records from the Tombstone shoot-out and later activities in Wyatt's life.

[Allen Wiener]

One that I forgot to mention, but which is ESSENTIAL to this topic, is "Murder in Tombstone: The Forgotten Trial of Wyatt Earp" by Steven Lubet. It is the only book I know of that thoroughly covers the Wells Spicer hearing that followed the Gunfight in Tombstone. Turner also has a book out on the inquiry (it, technically, was not a "trial" per se), but I have not seen it.

Allen

[Allen Wiener]

For those who missed it, or if you'd like to see it again, here is a link to the PBS American Experience program "Wyatt Earp":

www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/wyatt/

Allen

[sloanrodgers]

I'm not a big Wyatt Earp fan, but I enjoyed seeing this documentary for the first time here. It seems to be more factual than a lot of romantic stuff on the Earp Gang. Usually Wyatt
and his brothers are portrayed as chivalrous defenders of law and order, but this film shows a little of their dark side. I've never understood why Wyatt has been put on a pedestal as
a great law man and gunfighter. He claimed that he personally killed notorious pistoleros Johnny Ringo and Curly Bill Brocius, but I find these statements debatable.

[Allen Wiener]

It's been a while since I saw the PBS special, but I recall it being good and balanced. There is a ton of good literature on Earp, Holliday, Tombstone, etc., since the old, hagiographic bio by Stuart Lake, "Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal," which inspired the Hugh O'Brian TV series and much of early Hollywood interpretations. The best bio of Earp is by Casey Tefertiller; the best on Holliday is by Gary Roberts. "Murder in Tombstone" by Steven Lubet focuses on the hearing (or "trial") that followed the OK Corral gunfight and is a very good take on the whole thing.

The problem with people like Earp is that they've been set up as strawmen by earlier portrayals, particularly by Hollywood, that painted them as plaster saints. There are no plaster saints, only people. The real Earp is worth getting to know, just as other famous, if flawed, historical figures are worth getting to know. He was an interesting guy who reflected much about the time and place in which he lived and the kind of people who were around then. By all accounts, the guy was fearless, if imperfect, and typically ambitious for young men of the time. Earp could never turn his ambition into a big payday or success, but he never stopped trying, traveling throughout the country, into Alaska, mining, gambling, running saloons, and finally ending up shmoozing with the very Hollywood crowd that turned him into the celuloid saint. He never really made any money at any of it, but lived into his 80s and had quite a bit to talk about.

The best scholarship confirms that he did, in fact, kill Curly Bill, and he never claimed to have killed Johnny Ringo, who may have died by his own hand. There are more stories saying Holliday killed Ringo and Hollywood has elevated that myth quite a bit.

Bat Masterson, a crony of Earps, is another interesting guy; best book on him is the bio "Bat Masterson" by Robert K. DeArment.

[mjbrathwaite]

That's useful, thanks, Allen: now I know what I want for Christmas! I'm currently reading "Digging Up Butch and Sundance".

[gtj222]

Thanks for that post, Alan...you have sparked me to find those books.

[Allen Wiener]

Glad to help; I hope you like the books! "Digging Up Butch and Sundance" is the best book to date on them; well written with incredible research. Talk about going the extra mile! If they ever re-run the NOVA program about that on PBS, do not miss it.

Happy reading!

[sloanrodgers]

Balance is a good word for the documentary. I don't know about straw, but Wyatt Earp certainly had feet of clay. I honestly haven't
read any of those books on Wyatt or Doc Holliday. I'm pretty knew to them, but have enjoyed the recent films and several magazine
articles (True West, Wild West, etc.) on the Earp/ Cowboy Conflict. I'm sure you know that several characters in the old Tombstone
drama have taken hits or demotions with Wyatt in the legendary western gunfighter hierarchy and some really deserve it. A few were
supposedly famous or infamous Texas gunmen (Holliday, Ringo, Brocius, etc.) prior to the O.K. Corral/ Vendetta, but apparently a lot
of these stories originated with rumors and tall tales, which later generations ate up. Wyatt and Doc were molded into larger-than-life
heroes over the decades, so I guess their fans decided they needed comrade and enemy equals. I agree that the real or documentary
Wyatt Earp is more interesting than the fanciful frontier lawman image of him and believe this will certainly spur more research on him.

So far as devilish Curly Bill's celebrated demise at the hands of Wyatt Earp and his avenging angels, I really don't think we know enough
about Brocius and the ambush incident. Historians aren't even positive that his last name was Brocius. It may have actually been Graham
or something else. I think most of the contemporary newspaper accounts simply called him Curly Bill and that was enough. Initially reports
on the ambush were contradictory in the Tombstone newspapers with the Earp side stating that Curly Bill was killed and the Cowboys side
saying he was still alive. The number of participants, the actual location of the Cowboys' camp and other details are inconsistent. The first
named location was Burleigh Springs, then unnamed location, Iron Springs, Mescal Springs and recently Cottonwood Springs. I'd hate to be
the Tombstone coroner on that investigation. Apparently the city and county authorities had no obtainable body, no exact cause of death,
no exact time of death, no exact location of death and few named witnesses unlike other contemporary Tombstone homicide events. Curly
Bill had also been killed the previous year in the local press with a shot to the neck or head and survived. Who can say for sure, when and
where he died? Probably only Curly Bill knows the truth and he ain't telling. I also don't believe Wyatt or any of the posse members denied
the contemporary reports that Curly Bill survived the 1882 ambush or Wyatt's shotgun blast. Only Earps were that tough.

I think a few of Wyatt Earps' friends stated that he told them that he shot Johnny Ringo and their stories were consistent with each other,
not the published coroners' report. I've heard those stories about Doc Holliday killing Ringo, but I don't recall him making the claim and Doc
seems to have been in Colorado at the time of Ringo's death. Personally I believe everything in the coroner's report points to the suicide of
a drunk, depressed and strange man, who suddenly found himself alone among folks that might try to kill him. What a way for a supposedly
notorious outlaw and gunfighter to find a bullet.

* Spelling correction

[Allen Wiener]

It's been a while since I read this stuff, but as I recall the suicide accounts seem the most convining re: Ringo's death.

Earp remains mercurial and writers seem to see what they want to see in him. I'd recommend reading the Tefertiller bio before making up your mind about him. The trouble with most of the pulp/magazine stuff is that authors tend to line up entirely on one side or the other (the so-called "Earp worshippers" and "Earp bashers"), ignoring or just missing the nuances and forgetting they are dealing with a human being. Like history, people are almost never black or white; they're gray. There is much to admire about Earp, given the time and places in which he lived, and some things that will disappoint; like most people.

[sloanrodgers]

When one weighs Ringo's temperament, coroner's report and his situation against the people that merely claimed they killed
him, suicide seems like the most likely scenario.

Wyatt Earp is certainly hard to truly know or understand because there are so many conflicting contemporary opinions of him and his actions
that authors can abuse. I have read a few good Wyatt/ OK Corral articles and several bad ones over the years. It seems like there's an Earp/
OK Corral/ Tombstone/ Vendetta/ story in the various western magazines almost every month, which seems like a lot of overkill. This month's
Wild West has two pieces as does True West. I'll admit I'm a bit fatigued and confused by all the media exposure (movies, books, newspaper/
mag. articles, websites, etc.) Wyatt and other Tombstone gunmen have, when there are so many other equally tough and interesting western
characters. I'm still sitting on the fence, so far as the real Wyatt Earp. As a lawman and human being, I don't think Wyatt always made good
decisions, but he was a man for his time and place. There were probably better frontier lawmen and certainly worse examples (Deputy Holliday
being one), but Wyatt had the unique characteristics that made him a western star.

* Spelling correction

[sloanrodgers]

Incidentally, I hear two separate movies on Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday are in pre-production to depict the
later years of the two men. I loved Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc. I don't see how anyone can expand on the
character in the last few uneventful years of his life. Earp is another story, but I believe it was done before.