Anonymous Fisherman

I enjoy watching old movies and old TV shows simply because I do not remember seeing them the first time, if I did see them. I seem to be more critical now. Especially about older western shows and movies. Lately, I have noticed many, pertaining to the late 1870's or so, showing scenes that have square hay/straw bales. Hey, bales were not in use until the early 1930's! So how can there be hay/straw “BALES” in stories that take place in the 1870's? In the late 1800's into the 1900's, the “shock bundle” was all that was available. These machines were pulled by horses. “Bales” came about after the combustion engine was popularized for the farm. Some of the first “balers” (powered by the combustion engine) were stationary due to the lack of tractors. Horses were unsuitable for the operation of early baling machines. The mobile baler was not developed until about 1940! These shows were 65 years ahead of the times! Did these pictures/shows predict the future?

Small miscues stick out. Or I am attentive and actually watch the show. I have seen Marshall Dillon’s gun go off before he had it online to his target. His gun would smoke before he pulled the trigger. Yep. You guessed it, he hit the target. I have seen many scenes (in various shows/movies) in which the actor, while the camera panned between different characters, be sitting or standing in a different manner, hands on hips, gun in hand etc. Actresses will have a different hair style in the same scene. Originally it may be messed up and on the next pan, it would be combed. Daniel Boone was not immune from such gaffs. Some times he shot twice from a muzzle loader with out reloading! A miracle if there ever was one.

Telephone wires in the 1870's is a common gaffe as well as modern buildings in the background. Gene Autrey rode his horse on GRADED roads. Roads that clearly showed automobile tire tracks! If you look close you will see he rode different horses named 'Champion' (the markings are not the same). Many a knife, sword, spear or arrows would bend at the wrong time. Do you think they may have been rubber? Accidents such as wagons falling on a character were clearly dummies. And bad ones at that. How did they come out dry after falling into the river? It remains a mystery.

But no matter. At the time, we as kids, saw the picture show we were entertained and cheered for the hero. Even when he kissed his horse and not the heroine. Watching a badly choreographed picture show did not take away the pleasure of escaping into an imaginative world. A world that was so much simpler than today's. Watching those old shows/pictures one quickly notices very little blood, no bruises or holes in the wardrobe after being shot, stabbed and full of arrows. One can only surmise the wardrobes had more value than the actors. No bumps, bruises or broken bones from falling from the top of a building or off a running horse and being dragged. Try making a picture show like that today. Why, you'd get laughed out of town!

So I say bring back the old time picture shows. They are and were much more entertaining. Gaffes and all.