May 18, 2020
In one week in March 1959, eight of the top ten shows TV were Westerns, and at the same time there were 30 Western series on the networks. But by 1969, after pressure from parental advocacy groups who claimed Westerns were too violent for television, all three of the major networks stopped airing new Western series. When “Death Valley Days,” and “Gunsmoke” ended their runs in 1975, the golden age of Westerns ended.
But you asked for it! TV Westerns. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. A cloud of dust, and hearty “Hi Ho Silver,” accompanied by the stirring beat of the William Tell Overture.
We will get to the Lone Ranger in a blog or two, but today, we look into television’s archives for a show which premiered in on CBS on October 1, 1959, and broadcast only 38 shows. Starring Don Durant, who wrote and sang the title song, “Johnny Ringo” was loosely based on the life of the gunfighter and outlaw Johnny Ringo, who tangled with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.
Mark Goddard as the deputy, Cully, Don Durant as Johnny Ringo and Karen Sharpe as, Ringo’s girlfriend, Laura Thomas. One peculiar thing I have noticed about this age of TV Westerns – the characters’ clothes were never dirty, always freshly washed and pressed.
The real life Johnny Ringo got into a confrontation in Tombstone with Doc Holliday and was suspected by Wyatt Earp of having taken part in the attempted murder of Virgil Earp and the ambush and death of Morgan Earp. Ringo was found dead with a bullet wound to his temple. Modern writers have advanced various theories about his death but no definitive proof has ever been found about who killed Johnny Ringo (there is even the suggestion that he committed suicide).
Lorne Greene, of “Bonanza” fame, recorded a song called “Ringo,” which Greene believed was based on the life of Johnny Ringo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCyuq-ofnPc It was a one hit wonder for Greene, but the events recounted in it do not match anything from history.
TV’s Johnny Ringo was dropped at the request of a sponsor, Johnson Wax Company, which wanted a sitcom, rather than a Western. The sitcom bombed.
For your viewing pleasure, here is a link to the first episode of Johnny Ringo, “The Arrival.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rbpByno1kI
👉 The House of Representatives passed a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package Friday, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES Act, which would provide another round of stimulus checks. It is relief that the 37 million Americans who are out of work desperately need, but tucked into the 1815 pages are provisions that give $1,200 checks to certain undocumented immigrants, and a $25 billion rescue for the U.S. Postal Service, and much more non-coronavirus pork.
The bill’s title, the HEROES Act, raises one’s eyes to real heroes on the front line fighting the pandemic, but the political add-ons in the bill causes one’s eyes to gravitate to the slop bucket from which the hogs are fed. The bill will now head to the Senate, where it is unlikely to pass. President Donald Trump, who said he would support a proper relief bill, declared this bill “DOA.”
👉 The 2020 General Conference of the United Methodist Church – the every four year gathering of the whole church as represented by its elected delegates – had been scheduled to end this past Friday. Coronavirus canceled it before it began.
The main issue to have been debated by the 862 delegates from around the world (half from the clergy, half from the church membership) would have been the same issue that has been debated for the last 40 years – the denomination’s stand on homosexuality. Following the leading of Scripture, the church’s Book of Discipline properly states that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings, but that all individuals are persons of spiritual worth for whom Jesus died. Conducting same sex marriages is forbidden. Ordaining self-avowed homosexuals into ministry is forbidden.
A special General Conference was called last year to debate only that issue. Three plans were presented: the plan which said the Bible and the Book of Discipline are correct and we will continue to follow them; the plan which said the Bible and the Book of Discipline are wrong and we will ignore them; and the plan which said you can have it both ways.
The first plan, labeled the Traditional Plan, received the majority of votes. Case closed? Not so fast.
At least two proposals were being circulated to be debated and voted on at the now canceled conference: one called a “Protocol” and one identified as the “Indianapolis Plan.” With some differences concerning separation, disposal of church property, and funding of ministerial pensions (among the more important issues) the plans were basically the same as those presented at the 2019 called conference.
Disturbingly, the presentations characterized the non-traditional plans as the best, calling for unity among the church and cautioning Jesus’ words, “A house divided against itself cannot stand” (Matthew 12:25). The General Conference will be rescheduled for 2021 so the church can once again vote on whether the Bible is correct, or whether current history and societal morals are correct.
If we throw out that part of God’s Word and keep the rest, what’s next? In 1999, I was drawn to United Methodist church because of the preaching of one man, the pastor where we started attending. Several years later he told me something he had never preached from the pulpit, “Jesus is only one way to heaven. He is not the only way.” Throw out part. Throw out another part.
👉 Writing from Barnstaple, England, Ian commented on a reference to Psalm 23 in QB 47: “If you went to David’s palace for dinner you had one cup of wine and the meal ended 9 p.m. Unless the wine waiter came round because David sent him, and filled up your glass until it overflowed. That was the sign for you to be a favored guest and STAY behind when others left and enjoy the company of the King because the King wanted your company. I love that insight. Communion is where my cup runs over as well.”
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment