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Tim McCoy's Wild West debuted February 11, 1950, at 7:00-8:30 pm Saturdays on Paramount owned KTLA. In February of 1952 the show moved to KNXT were it was seen as The Tim McCoy Show weekday afternoons and Saturdays until October 8, 1953. |
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Tim McCoy was the authority for kids (and adults!) who watched his show. The show was a forerunner to other shows like "The Gabby Hayes Show" and local KECA series "Cowboys n' Injuns", hosted by cowboy actor Rex Bell in the fall of 1960. Tim McCoy was probably the most authoritative cowboy-hero to ever host his own television series, being a virtual living link with the old west. On his show Tim McCoy would lean casually against a corral fence or some other western style set in a small studio and told fifteen-minute stories about Western history, heroes and folklore. Described by some as an illustrated lecture series, the talks would precede a vintage western movie. Some of the topics that he covered were "The Bozeman Trail", Cattle Brands", Outlaw Paradise", "Davy Crockett", "Kit Carson", and "The Oklahoma Land Rush". All illustrated with film clips culled from the old features. Immaculately dressed in cavalry blue and wearing his white Montana-peak hat, he might not have looked like a working cowboy, but kids knew he was no phoney. The most distinctive aspect of his outfit was the hand-tooled gun belt with buckles of intricately designed Mexican silver. He wore one gun, a silver-plated, pearl-handled .45 and was an expert in it's use. He enjoyed debunking famous lawmen like Wyatt Earp, as well as outlaws. In a talk on "Trigger fingers," he explained a face-off was a rarity. "They bushwhacked you, they drygulched you, they shot you in the back," he said. A crack shot, McCoy was famed for his fast draw. A film editor once timed it on 35mm film with twenty-four frames per second. It took exactly six frames from the blur of his hand to the smoke issuing from the end of his gun. McCoy also related Indian legends and stories, sometimes featuring his Indian friends. In his 1950 premiere show on KTLA, eleven Indians wearing authentic tribal dress performed dances and reenacted traditional ceremonies with interpretative commentary by McCoy and his actor pal, Iron Eyes Cody, who was a regular during the first year.
(Side note: According to a 1999 article in the Los Angeles New Times paper, an investigative reporter found that Iron Eyes Cody was actually of Italian descent rather than American Indian. Several sources including his own family (who are Italian) said that at a very early age he began telling people he was a Native American and immersed himself in that culture. He identified strongly (to say the least) with Native Americans and lived virtually all his life under the guise of being one. Iron Eyes Cody was probably one of the most iconic figures in recent TV history for his famous anti-pollution PSA during the 1970's. It's debatable whether he did more harm than good posing as a Native American. He pushed a false illusion of himself onto the public and yet he never did anything that would reflect negatively on American Indians, rather he promoted and helped expand concepts outside of stereotyped views, supported Native causes, etc... He may not have been Native by blood but he certainly was by spirit.)
McCoy was first introduced to the Plains Tribes on the Wild River Reservation when he was eighteen, and he also became familiar with the Shoshones and the Arapahoes, who adopted him as a brother named High Eagle. He had a natural facility for mimicry and easily learned the tribal gestures, one of the few white men still alive who could converse in sign language. Sometimes he would begin his show by demonstrating something about the art. Pointing to a path down his cheeks, explaining "The Indian had cause to shed many tears in his dealing with the white man". During his career, Colonel Tim McCoy (1891-1977) was an Indian Commissioner, a veteran of both World Wars, and a silent and sound film star. Between the years of 1923 to 1965, he was in over ninety movies and for a time was MGM's resident cowboy, noted for his "steely stare". At first he wore all-black outfits, contrary to the cowboy-hero standard that was much imitated by William Boyd in Hopalong Cassidy. As a youth he lived the life of a real cowboy, as a Wyoming ranch hand he became adept at roping, herding, shooting, and rodeo riding, and later as a rancher and Wild West Show and Circus performer. His film image of a restrained, self-possessed westerner came naturally. With Buck Jones and Raymond Hatton, for Monogram Pictures in 1941-1942, McCoy made "The Rough Riders" series, for which he became best known. As Tim McCall, he rode a black stallion, Baron, and later, Ace, but in his earlier films he was mounted on a snow white horse named Pal. As for his TV show, McCoy wrote that, "It gave me a forum to educate people about a portion of American history which is clouded by a great many tall tales." Readers interested in the remarkable life of "The Dean of American Cowboys" should try to find a copy of "Tim McCoy Remembers the West" (Doubleday, 1977), an autobiography written with his son, Ronald McCoy. The films of the show were syndicated to about sixty-five stations through the late fifties, beginning in April 1956 at 5:45-6:00 pm weekdays on WABD, New York, as lead-in's for Captain Video's Cartoons, and that fall were shown at 10:45-11:00 am Saturday, followed by a western feature. His show received a local Los Angeles Emmy Award in 1952 as "Best Children's Show." Ron McCoy recently told an amusing story to Local Legends about the year when his Father was up for the Emmy and found he was up against Webster Webfoot. Although he won the Emmy, he wasn't present to pick it up because he'd stayed at home: "I'll be damned if I'm going to sit there and get beaten by a talking duck". Tim McCoy was more than a host, performer, sharp-shooter, he was a legend and the Real McCoy. |
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