Star Richard Boone’s craggy forcefulness came naturally, given the fact that he was a descendant of Daniel Boone.
The hero was an erudite gunfighter based in San Francisco who had a secret identity (Paladin was only his nom de guerre), a symbol (a chess knight) and tricky devices (a hidden Derringer).
When he rode forth to help those in need, Paladin even wore a kind of costume (all black). His engraved business cards and his holster bore his insignia.
He would not accept any mission he regarded as unethical. The high-minded gunfighter once volunteered to defend a schoolteacher whose life was threatened because she was determined to teach the truth about the atrocities on both sides of the Civil War.
We ordinary mortals are merely born. But superheroes have origins, and Paladin was no exception. He was a legacy hero, having received his “costume” and symbol from a gunfighter called “Smoke” (also played by Boone).
The series ran from 1957 to 1963, and when it ended Boone said he was “gratefully glad” to be done. But he added that “…if you have to pick a character to live with for six years, that was a good one.”
Paladin also expanded his field of operations to radio, where he was played in a slightly different but equally convincing way by John Dehner. Inevitably, he was also a comic book hero (Dell’s Paladin comic books were published from 1958-62, with scripts by Paul S. Newman and art by Ray Bailey and Alberto Giolitti).
Sad to say that courage and clear-sightedness are in much shorter supply in this country than Paladin, Marshal Dillon and Superman once led me to expect.
But then, they always were. I just didn’t know it then.
Paul Zuckerman wrote:
ReplyDeleteSigh, Dan. Your last sentence, sadly, says it all. When JFK wrote his book, Profiles in Courage, you would hope that it would encourage people to be stand-up for their beliefs more. Then again, maybe some have. Just on the wrong side of the moral line.
I have been watching HGWT on DVD now for the past few years and, I am somewhere in season 5 now. Paladin was an extraordinary person in all regards--he was trained in the classics and could quote just about any work without blinking an eye. He was willing to take a life, which set him aside most of the super-heroes from when I was a kid, but he never took any pleasure or joy in it, unlike some of the super-heroes today. He did what he did because he had to. And he repeatedly would say that he was not a hired killer.
Back then, series would rarely carry over any plot lines, except for an occasional two-parter or where a character returns, and the hero was rarely burdened by on-going emotional issues. Paladin would be back at his San Francisco hotel most every week, romancing a new young woman or playing cards or having a scrumptious meal and romancing a new young woman.
I am not sure how much of the super-hero tropes that I realized as a kid; only that I really enjoyed the show even though I was too young for the early years and don't really remember any specific episodes. I don't think it was endlessly rerun or, if it was, I never did watch it, so seeing it now is refreshing in terms of freshness but also in seeing again how little morality plays could be played out in just half an hour. Star Trek was like that to some degree but since Gene Roddenberry penned many of the HGWT episodes, one could see him developing his strong sense of right and wrong already.
Interestingly, HGWT would be the subject of a major trademark lawsuit over Paladin's calling card, which a western rodeo performer named DeCosta alleged had been stolen from him.
Bran Davs wrote:
ReplyDeleteExcellent write up on an excellent character. Only 2 things to contribute. Just about all the radio show episodes are available for free on the Librivox app and they are fantastic. And Gene Roddenberry wrote a fair number of tv episodes.
I replied:
The morality plays carried over into Star Trek, too.
Clayton Emery wrote:
ReplyDeleteA paladin was a knight devoted to God who rode out to fight injustice and heresy. The theme song refers to "a knight without armor in a savage land". As a paladin, almost a priest-knight, he would be educated and stoic.
Bruce Kanin wrote:
ReplyDeleteMy "love" emoji is for the post but it needs to be qualified by a "sad" and "angry" emoji re: the last two sentences. Man, we could use all three guys cloned thousands of times over to spread across the U.S.
Jeffrey Kipper wrote:
ReplyDeleteFirst I've heard of a TV drama giving birth to a radio series. And so late in the 1950s.
Brian O'Neill wrote:
Radio drama hung on til the early 60s(the daily soap operas ended in November 1960, and CBS kept its last dramas ['Suspense' and 'Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar'] going until '62.
Kerry Morse wrote:
ReplyDeleteSomeone labeled the show as "an Existential Western."
Cheryl Spoehr wrote:
ReplyDeleteAnother great essay, but while he clearly has super hero elements, I don't know if I would say he is one... it is kinda like Magnus Robot Fighter or Tarzan,one can make a case either way....
I replied:
Paladin falls within my working definition of a superhero, who is a champion who possesses superhuman powers AND/OR a dual identity (although not necessarily a secret one).
Burns Duncan wrote:
ReplyDeleteI have watched a few episodes of the series on MeTV and found it not bad, although I never perceived the superhero connection. I do remember that Mad or Cracked answered the question about his missing first name, saying it was right on his business card: Wire Paladin, San Francisco.
Gary Scoles wrote:
ReplyDeleteI dvr episodes of this great series every Sat. afternoon on MeTV.
Being born in ‘55, I was too young to appreciate it… but I remember how cool the toy merchandise based on the series was… in the Sears Christmas catalogs.
Totally agree about the superhero image about him. You can also see a little Napoleon Solo in him with the different women he’s with at the beginning of an episode… always having to cancel plans with them.
He had a 007 thing going too… appreciated a drink, good with any kind of weapon, wreck a saloon kicking everybody’s ass in it. đđťđť⏳
Joe Gall wrote:
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the show so much that I recently purchased a HGWT tee shirt. Upon receiving it I soon realized, given current gun abuses and the fact that almost no one in the general public remember the show, I wasn’t comfortable wearing it in public. So, I wear it around the house. đ
I replied:
A friend of mine made Paladin's calling cards. I love them.
Steven Martin wrote:
ReplyDeleteI have fond memories of HGWT. Even as a kid I think I realized that it was rather sophisticated for a western, even though I probably missed a lot of the finer points.