Street kid: “Hey Mister, ain’t you got a car?”

Eddie Valiant: “Who needs a car in LA? We got the best public transportation system in the world!”

The above exchange is from a scene that takes place early on in the Touchstone Pictures film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In the scene, private detective Eddie Valiant – portrayed by British actor Bob Hoskins – has just hopped a ride on the rear of a passing Pacific Electric red car, where a couple of street kids have already helped themselves to a ride of their own. While Valiant’s statement foreshadowed a key plot element of the film, it was not just incidental hyperbole.

Indeed, Southern California’s Pacific Electric interurban streetcar system was a world leader in public transit in the early decades of the twentieth century. In his 1971 book, Los Angeles: the Architecture of Four Ecologies, author Reyner Banham states, “The Big Red Cars ran all over the Los Angeles area — literally all over.” And in The Electric Interurban Railways in America, historians George W. Hilton and John F. Due placed the Los Angeles network as “the largest intercity electronic railway system in the U.S.,” covering 25 percent more mileage than today’s New York City subway.

But in a twist of irony, Eddie Valiant’s simple declaration of LA’s transit supremacy presages the demise of this once mighty electric railway system.

Henry Edwards Huntington was born on February 27, 1850, in Oneonta, New York. Having grown up hearing about his uncle, Collis P. Huntington – one of the “Big Four” founders of the Central Pacific Railroad – Henry would eventually go to work for his uncle, holding several executive positions under him with the Southern Pacific.

Henry Huntington had anticipated that when his uncle Collis died, he would assume control of the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific, but this move was blocked by one of the railroads’ major bondholders, and Henry was forced to sell his interests to E. H. Harriman.

Electric trolleys had first appeared in Los Angeles, California in 1887. By the mid-1890s, through various mergers with other local railways, electric streetcar service reached from the mountains of the San Gabriel Valley, to the coast at Santa Monica.

In a good-natured competition with his uncle’s Southern Pacific, Henry Huntington purchased the narrow gauge Los Angeles Railway (LARy) in 1898. When his plans to succeed his uncle were frustrated following Collis’ death in 1900, Huntington shifted his focus to building up a Southern California-based interurban streetcar system, and in 1901 formed the Pacific Electric Railway.

“She used to go out with the girls
Every now and then
She always came home early
We’d jump in bed by ten
She’d tell me that she loved me
She would forevermore
But that train don’t stop here anymore” – Rosas / Preston

Huntington’s enterprise succeeded by providing passenger-friendly interurban streetcar service on regular daily schedules that the railroads could not equal. Organized around the city centers of Los Angeles and San Bernardino, Pacific Electric connected towns in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, and Riverside County. By 1910, the system spanned approximately 1,300 miles of Southern California. In a short period of time Pacific Electric Railway’s “red cars” had become iconic and ubiquitous.

The expansion of Pacific Electric’s area of operation coincided with an explosive development boom in the Los Angeles Basin, Orange County, and the Inland Empire. In actuality, the enormous amount of growth was spurred by the transit system itself. Aside from his function as the head of the railway, Henry Huntington had also invested heavily in real estate in the areas in which he had been purchasing smaller municipal transit systems which would, in turn, become part of his larger Pacific Electric system.

The city of Huntington Beach, California, incorporated in 1909, was developed by the Huntington Beach Company (formerly the West Coast Land and Water Company), a real-estate development firm owned by Henry Huntington. Although the company is now wholly owned by the Chevron Corporation, it still retains both extensive land holdings in the city and most of the mineral rights. In the words of author James Howard Kuntsler, the Pacific Electric Railway “connected all the dots on the map and was a leading player itself in developing all the real estate that lay in between the dots.”

The tremendous increase in Southern California’s population during the early decades of the twentieth century had the PE’s red cars connecting communities with rich ethnic and cultural diversity. The community of Watts lies due south of downtown Los Angeles, and although originally developed as an independent city, it is now part of the South Los Angeles region. The neighborhood saw rapid development with the opening of Pacific Electric’s Watts station in 1904. Sitting roughly halfway between the city center and the harbors at San Pedro and Long Beach, Watts served as a “key junction and interchange between the long-distance trunk routes, the interurbans and street railways,” observed Reyner Banham, and it “is doubtful if any part of Greater Los Angeles, even downtown, was so well connected to so many places…”

By 1910, Watts’ nearly 2,000 residents included Germans, Scots, Mexicans, Italians, Greeks, Japanese, and blacks from the American South. Many of these residents used Pacific Electric to commute to downtown jobs. Jazz saxophonist, Cecil “Big Jay” McNeely, a native Los Angelino and veteran of the clubs located along the city’s Central Avenue, remembers “[We] had the ‘big red’ that would go out to Pasadena, big red to San Pedro, big red to Long Beach. They ran so fast, so it didn’t take you any time to get there.” Other regular red car riders included jazz musicians Charles Mingus and Buddy Colette, who rode the car from Watts to Los Angeles. On some rides, impromptu jam sessions would spring up. “Mingus would always take the cover off his bass and urge Buddy to jam with him during the ride,” remembered musician Red Callendar. “Instead of being bothered, the passengers loved it.”

The Pacific Electric contributed to the development of other “streetcar suburbs” including Angelino Heights, Highland Park, Van Nuys, Marion (now Reseda), Owensmouth (now Canoga Park), and West Hollywood. Real estate developers promoted the PE’s “Balloon Route,” so-called for the shape that the route traced traveling from downtown to the beach towns and back again. Posters advertised Venice Beach as “the Coney Island of the West,” Redondo Beach as the “happy medium for the masses” and Huntington Beach as the “rendezvous for little families.”

I remember my late father sharing with me his experiences riding the red cars as a young man. In his teen years and early adulthood my father had lived in the city of Huntington Park – another of the streetcar suburbs named for Henry Huntington – and he told me of the times that he would ride the Pacific Electric from his home to the beach, where he would spend the day before riding back again, all for the price of a nickel each way. Having shared this memory with me on a number of occasions, I sensed that it may have been a particular source of nostalgia for him.

As I was preparing to write this post, I asked my ninety-three-year-old mother, who grew up in the city of Compton, if she had any distinct recollections of the Pacific Electric red cars. She responded, “I certainly do!” She remembered riding the red car into downtown Los Angeles along with her mother and younger sister, to do as she described it, “big shopping.” After the shopping was done, her mother treated the girls to lunch at Clifton’s Cafeteria.

My mother stressed that getting to ride the streetcar into downtown LA, as well as getting to eat lunch there, was a very special occasion. As she related this memory to me she remarked that she could clearly remember the sights, sounds, and smells of those old wooden cars: the ringing of the bell as the cars arrived and departed the platform; the doors clanging open and closed, and the vibrations of the rails felt through the unpadded wooden seats. She also remembered her father driving them to and from the streetcar platform on Alameda St in Compton.

“Nothin’ changes faster
Than baby’s fickle mind
I know she’ lovin’ someone
Somewhere down the line
I know that she still has a key
I’m waiting by the door
But that train don’t stop here anymore
Anymore, anymore, anymore, hey” – Rosas / Preston

Over the years there has been much talk of a conspiracy to dismantle Los Angeles’ interurban transit system in favor of automobile travel. As mentioned at the top, this is an integral plot point in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, when the Pacific Electric Railway Co. is sold to the shady Cloverleaf Industries, and its sole shareholder is revealed to be the sinister Judge Doom. In real-life, the conspiracy played out as the Great American Streetcar Scandal, when in 1974 the U.S. Senate heard allegations of General Motors’ and other companies’ involvement in the break-up of streetcar systems across the United States and in particular in Los Angeles.

In truth, revenue from passenger traffic rarely generated a profit, unlike freight. As Henry Huntington’s involvement with urban rail was so closely associated with his real estate development, where profits had been significant, many lines on the Pacific Electric’s system had ultimately been run at a loss. But by 1920, when most of their real estate holdings had been developed, the major income source began to dry-up.

The 1930s saw the coming of freeways, while the Interstate Highway System of the 1950s was looming on the horizon. The bulk of Pacific Electric’s inner-city tracks shared streets with automobiles and trucks, and as traffic congestion increased, the speed and efficiency of the streetcars began to decline. Incrementally lines were sold off and eventually replaced by bus routes.

“She ran out through the back door
Screamin’ in the night
She said I was the devil
I didn’t treat her right
The man down at the station
Said that was her for sure
Now that train don’t stop here anymore
Anymore, anymore, anymore” – Rosas / Preston

April 9, 1961, saw the final ride of LA’s celebrated red car. The run took place on the Los Angeles-to-Long Beach line, which having begun operation on July 4, 1903, held the distinction as being the Pacific Electric Railway’s first and last interurban passenger line.

“Now that train don’t stop here anymore” – Rosas / Preston

But just as everything that’s old is new again, in 1990 the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority opened the A Line (formerly the Blue Line) on the very same right-of-way as the old Pacific Electric route. As of December 2017, the 22-mile route from LA to Long Beach had an estimated 22.38 million riders per year.

Thanks to Los Lobos – way more than “just another band from East L.A.” – for providing the inspiration for this post. Their story is as much a part of the fabric of the “City of Angels” as is the story of Pacific Electric’s legendary red cars. And while that “train” may not stop here anymore, Los Lobos continue to make outstanding music that ably represents their hometown of El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles.

Sources:

https://www.kcet.org/history-society/riding-the-big-red-car-work-leisure-and-community-in-multiethnic-l-a

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Electric

https://www.scpr.org/news/2016/05/19/60798/before-the-shiny-expo-line-extension-there-was-the/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Lobos

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiko_(album)

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author

In 1958, when lauded movie director Howard Hawks decided to begin work on his next feature, it had been four years since he had directed a film – the longest break of his career. His previous outing, 1955’s Land of the Pharaohs, a big-budget sword-and-sandal-epic, had proven to be a critical, as well as commercial disaster. It was at that point that Hawks opted to take a hiatus from the movie business, and spent his time traveling around Europe.

Upon returning to the U.S., Hawks chose a Western theme for his new project, and although he had had previous success with the genre, he soon discovered that getting the “green-light” for his project from a studio would prove to be a challenge.

“Purple light in the canyons
That’s where I long to be
With my three good companions
Just my rifle, pony and me” – My Rifle, My Pony and Me (Tiomkin/Webster)

Howard Winchester Hawks was born May 30, 1896, in Goshen, Indiana. Howard’s father, Frank Winchester Hawks, descended from a family of American pioneers, whose ancestor John Hawks had emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1630. His mother, Helen Brown (née Howard), was the grand-daughter of the founder of the Howard Paper Company, for whom Hawks’ father would work. By the 1890s, Howard Hawks’ family was one of the wealthiest in the Midwest.

In the early part of the twentieth-century Hawks’ family would begin spending time in Pasadena, California, where they were escaping the harsh Midwestern winters in hopes of improving Helen Hawks’ poor health. In 1910, the family permanently moved to California.

By the time Howard Hawks began attending Pasadena High School, he had discovered coaster racing (an early form of soapbox racing), and not too long afterward he learned to fly airplanes. Following high school, Hawks attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he majored in mechanical engineering, but was remembered by friends to have spent more of his time playing craps and drinking alcohol.

It was during a summer vacation away from college that he first began working in the film industry. His interest in aviation and auto racing had led to his becoming acquainted with Hollywood cinematographer Victor Fleming, and it was Fleming who found Hawks a job as a prop boy on a film that he was making.

He returned to Cornell to continue his education but left school in April 1917, to join the Army, after the U.S. entered World War I. Hawks’ basic training took place at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was trained as a squadron commander in the air force. During his time in Berkeley, he was visited by actress Mary Pickford, whom he had met while working in Hollywood. According to Hawks, his superior officers were so impressed by his knowing the actress that they promoted him to flight instructor and sent him to Texas to teach new recruits.

Following the war, Hawks was anxious to return to Hollywood. He was soon finding film industry employment in a variety of capacities, proving himself with silent films, then proving himself anew as “talkies” began taking over the industry. Working for a number of different studios, producers, and directors, he was exposed to many different filmmaking techniques and philosophies, absorbing as many influences as he was able, as he began developing his own style.

“Gonna hang my sombrero
On the limb of a tree
Coming home, sweetheart darling
Just my rifle, pony and me” – My Rifle, My Pony and Me (Tiomkin/Webster)

By the mid-twentieth century, Howard Hawks had established himself as a versatile film director, finding success in a variety of genres including comedies, dramas, gangster films, science fiction, film noir, and Westerns. But even a proven director with a stellar track record is not immune to making a clunker, which is exactly what happened when he directed the sword-and-sandal epic, Land of the Pharaohs. With a huge budget, a weak story, and no major stars, the movie was a failure, and Hawks left the country and the film industry for four years.

When Howard Hawks returned to the U.S. following his hiatus in Europe, one thing that caught his attention was the relatively new medium of television. He came to understand that to get viewers to tune in to a program each week it was important to have characters that they believed in and could identify with, making the plot almost secondary. Another observation was that in the late 1950s, one-third of all prime time television shows were Westerns.

With a short story entitled “Rio Bravo” as his source material, Howard Hawks pitched the idea of a Western to Warner Bros studio head, Jack Warner. Warner replied that the genre was played out and was reluctant to give the go-ahead until Hawks was able to get John Wayne to agree to be in the film. Wayne had not made a Western for several years, and his four previous films had not enjoyed the same success as his bread-and-butter cowboy pictures did. John Wayne and Howard Hawks were both at a point in their respective careers where they needed each other to get back on track. With a working title of Bull by the Horns, and “Duke” Wayne in the starring role of Sheriff John T. Chance, the film that would become Rio Bravo was given the green light by Jack Warner, and Howard Hawks looked to casting the film’s supporting roles.

One source describes the movie’s plot as such:

“. . . the film is about the sheriff of the town of Rio Bravo, Texas, who arrests the brother of a powerful local rancher for murder and then must hold the man in jail until the arrival of the United States Marshall. With the help of a “cripple”, a drunk and a young gunfighter, they hold off the rancher’s gang.”

Though it has been reported that Frank Sinatra was considered to play the role of Dude (the drunk), Howard Hawks tells the story that he was contacted by Dean Martin’s agent who explained that Dean was interested in the role. Hawks told the agent that he would meet with Martin at 9:30 the following morning. When Hawks learned that Martin had done a show in Las Vegas until midnight, and hired a plane to fly him to the meeting, he was so impressed with that kind of commitment, that he knew the actor would excel in the role. He immediately sent Martin to be fitted for wardrobe, indicating that he had won the part.

For the role of Colorado, the young gunslinger, Howard Hawks wanted an actor who would connect with teenagers. The director originally set his sights on Elvis Presley, but Elvis’ manager, Col. Tom Parker, asked for top billing and too much money. These demands didn’t fly with Howard Hawks or John Wayne, and the search continued.

Ricky Nelson was a huge star at the time, a teenager who had literally grown up on radio and television as a co-star of his family’s show, The Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet. In addition, he was now enjoying success as a recording artist due to the exposure he received performing musical numbers each week on his parents’ show. However, Howard Hawks initially believed Nelson to be too young and too lightweight for the role of Colorado. Later the director would concede that having Ricky in the picture had certainly been a boon to the film’s box office receipts.

Howard Hawks was known as a man’s man: he was tall, considered handsome, and was athletic – having won the United States Junior Tennis Championship at the age of eighteen. His pursuits included aviation, motorcycles, and auto-racing: he built the car that won the 1936 Indianapolis 500. The elements of style that his films possessed became known as “Hawksian”, with one of those elements being the quiet strength of his leading characters, both male and female.

“Whippoorwill in the willow
Sings a sweet melody
Riding to Amarillo
Just my rifle, pony and me” – My Rifle, My Pony and Me (Tiomkin/Webster)

Another intrinsic “Hawksian” element was his scenes of camaraderie and male-bonding; a prime example being Rio Bravo’s jailhouse segment which takes place just prior to the movie’s final showdown and gunfight. In the scene, John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and veteran character actor Walter Brennan (playing Stumpy “the cripple”) have barricaded themselves inside the jail, and what else do you do when you have two world-class singers in your cast? You have them sing!

With Colorado providing guitar accompaniment and Stumpy on the harmonica, Dude begins singing, “My Rifle, My Pony and Me”, while Sheriff Chance looks on. Colorado then joins in, sharing the lead vocals and harmonies with Dude. At the conclusion of the cowboy ballad, Stumpy calls for another one, urging Colorado to “play something I can sing with you.” Colorado responds with the traditional folk song, “Get Along Home Cindy,” with Dude and Stumpy joining him on the choruses.

The scene may seem corny, and many critics have called it such, but for the men of Rio Bravo, this was an essential moment of male-bonding that was accomplished with music as opposed to dialogue.

“My Rifle, My Pony, and Me” was written by Rio Bravo’s musical score composer, Dimitri Tiomkin, who was known for his Western film scores, and with whom Howard Hawks had worked on Red River. “My Rifle, My Pony and Me” was created from a tune the composer had used in Red River, with lyrics added by Paul Francis Webster. Members of the Western Writers of America have chosen “My Rifle, My Pony and Me” as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

Over the film’s closing credits, Dean Martin, backed by the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, sings, “Rio Bravo”, also written by Tiomkin and Webster. In addition, Johnny Cash wrote the song, “Restless Kid” for the film, but it ended up not being used. Ricky Nelson recorded it and included it on his 1959 album, Ricky Sings Again.

Although Rio Bravo was a box office success, it was not initially praised by critics. However, the years have been kind to the film, and it is now regarded as one of the most influential films ever made. Indeed, Howard Hawks loved the plot so much, that he essentially remade the movie twice: as El Dorado in 1966, and Rio Lobo in 1970, both featuring John Wayne in the leading role. Director John Carpenter also found influence in Rio Bravo, using the plot as the basis for his 1976 film, Assault on Precinct 13.

In 2008, the American Film Institute nominated Rio Bravo for its Top 10 Western Films list and it was the second-highest-ranking Western (63rd overall) in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics’ poll of the greatest films ever made. In 2014, Rio Bravo was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. And most important to a lover of music, Rio Bravo was the genesis of one of the all-time great cowboy songs. Take a listen and watch the scene below.

“No more cows to be roping
No more strays will I see
Round the bend, she’ll be waiting
For my rifle, pony, and me
For my rifle, my pony and me” – My Rifle, My Pony and Me (Tiomkin/Webster)

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Bravo_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hawks

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rio-bravo-1959

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053221/trivia

https://web.musicaficionado.com/main/article/How_Rick_Nelson_Helped_Launch_Country_Rock_by_mitchellcohen

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.

“Every morning, the little old wood-burning train chugged into town. Every afternoon, it chugged out. Where did it go? We weren’t quite sure, but we dreamed about climbing aboard someday, in search of adventure. Its low, mournful whistle was a siren song.” – Paul Henning, reminiscing about his childhood in Missouri.

Paul William Henning was born on September 16, 1911, in Independence Missouri, where he grew up on his family’s farm. As a teenager, while working behind the soda fountain at Brown’s Drugstore, he met Harry S. Truman, who advised the young man to become a lawyer. Not too many years later he graduated from the Kansas City School of Law, but soon thereafter entered the world of radio.

With the ambition of being a singer, Paul Henning started work at KMBC, a commercial AM radio station located in Kansas City, Missouri, where he submitted several scenarios that showcased his tenor voice. A producer at the station explained to him that the type of shows he was suggesting needed paying sponsors, so he went out and found one. Henning convinced the Associated Grocers of Kansas City to finance The Musical Grocers, in which he was featured as a singing grocery clerk. Learning that the station had no budget to hire writers for his show, he became a writer as well as a singer. It was while working at the station that he met his future wife, Ruth Barth, who wrote and acted alongside Henning in several rural-themed radio serials.

It wasn’t long before Paul Henning realized that there were greater opportunities ahead for him as a writer than as a singer. Barth and Henning eventually left Kansas City for Chicago, where they contributed to shows such as Fibber McGee and Molly and Don Winslow of the Navy. And in 1939, they married and moved to Los Angeles.

Over the next 20 years, Henning made a name for himself in radio and then television, as he wrote for a string of programs that included The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The Dennis Day Show, The Real McCoys, and The Andy Griffith Show; he was the creator, writer, and producer of The Bob Cummings Show, which was where he met many of the actors who would later be cast in series he created.

In 1959, Henning was approached by a studio executive in need of more television programming and was asked whether he had any ideas. Remembering his teenage encounters with hill folk during Boy Scout trips to the Ozarks, he created The Beverly Hillbillies, which debuted on CBS in the fall of 1962, and would remain one of television’s most popular shows throughout its nine-season run.

Side note #1:

Paul Henning composed “The Ballad of Jed Clampett”, which was used as the theme song that opened and closed each episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. As the show’s theme, the tune was sung by Jerry Scoggins, who was accompanied by bluegrass duo, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. The song was also re-recorded by Flatt & Scruggs, with Lester Flatt on vocals. Their version spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Country Singles charts, including 3 weeks in the number one position, while reaching #44 on the Billboard Hot 100. The recording would be Flatt & Scruggs’ only #1 hit. (See video below)

Even though The Beverly Hillbillies was poorly received by critics, the show quickly soared to the top of the Nielsen ratings, and during its first two seasons was the number one show in the US, with season two earning some of the highest ratings ever for a half-hour sitcom. Due to this success, when another half-hour prime time slot became available, the network looked to Paul Henning for more ideas. This time the inspiration would come from his wife Ruth’s memories of her own childhood in Eldon, Missouri.

“Lotsa curves, you bet
Even more, when you get
To the junction
(Petticoat Junction)” – Petticoat Junction Theme (Henning/Massey)

During preproduction for Henning’s new program, titles considered were Ozark Widow, Dern Tootin’, and Whistle Stop, but the name finally settled upon was Petticoat Junction. The show’s focal point was the rural Shady Rest Hotel, run by widowed Kate Bradley, who resided there with her three daughters – redhead Betty Jo, brunette Bobbie Jo, and blonde Billie Jo – as well as her uncle Joe, who mainly slept on the hotel’s front porch, where he dreamed up get-rich-quick schemes. The isolated hotel was served by the Hooterville Cannonball, an 1890s steam-driven train operated by engineer Charley Pratt and fireman/conductor Floyd Smoot. 

Henning explained that the basis for the show came from Ruth Henning’s recollections of her grandparents’ hotel in Eldon Missouri. Once known as the Rock Island Hotel, the establishment stood within walking distance of a stop on the now-abandoned Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad line that ran through the town. Ruth’s mother, Alice (Burris) Barth had told her many stories about the renamed Burris Hotel and about growing up in Eldon. In addition, Ruth had fond remembrances of her own adventures during visits with her grandmother. Together, these stories provided the show’s premise.

“There’s a little hotel called the Shady Rest at the junction
(Petticoat Junction)
It is run by Kate, come and be her guest at the junction
(Petticoat Junction)
And that’s Uncle Joe, he’s a-movin’ kind of slow at the junction
(Petticoat Junction)” – Petticoat Junction Theme (Henning/Massey)

Linda Kaye Henning – Paul Henning’s daughter, and the actress who would portray Betty Jo Bradley throughout the show’s seven seasons – has stated that her father, “wrote the series for Bea Benaderet.” Believing that Benaderet had more than paid her dues in the entertainment industry, Paul Henning created Petticoat Junctions’s Kate Bradley as the first leading role for the veteran actress.

Bea Benaderet had begun her career in radio in the 1930s, working with Orson Welles, Jack Benny, George Burns, and Lucille Ball. She was one of the featured voices for Warner Bros’ animated features, but not being under contract with the studio, as was Mel Blanc, she received no onscreen credits for her work; she was the voice of Betty Rubble on television’s The Flintstones from 1960-64. Benaderet was also Lucille Ball’s first choice for the role of Ethel Mertz in her upcoming sitcom I Love Lucy, but as she was already under contract for the television adaptation of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, she had no choice but to turn down the offer. Bea Benaderet would remain with Petticoat Junction through 1968 when she passed away from lung cancer at the age of 62.

The part of Uncle Joe Carson was played by actor Edgar Buchanan, who was the only cast member to appear in all 222 episodes of Petticoat Junction. Buchanan had graduated from dental school in 1928, but after relocating to Southern California, he joined the Pasadena Playhouse as an actor, and appeared in his first film in 1939, at the age of 36. Buchanan appeared in over 100 films, including countless westerns, and would play the lead role in the 39-episode syndicated Western television series, Judge Roy Bean. Following Petticoat Junction, Buchanan starred in the 1974 movie Benji, along with Higgins the dog, who had been one of his “co-stars” on Petticoat Junction.

Kate Bradley’s daughters – Betty Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Billie Jo – were played by actresses Linda Kaye Henning, Pat Woodell (seasons 1 & 2), and Jeannine Riley (seasons 1 & 2) respectively, with other actresses filling the Bobbie Jo and Billie Jo roles in later seasons.

Side note #2:

In the season-one episode “The Ladybugs”, the three Bradley girls, along with their friend Sally Ragsdale (Sheila James) form a Beatlesque band called The Ladybugs at the urging of Uncle Joe. In the episode the group wears mop-top wigs, matching outfits, and performs The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There”, changing the lyrics from “her” to “him”. On March 22, 1964, the four actresses performed the same song as The Ladybugs on The Ed Sullivan Show, where the host invited his viewers to tune-in later that week to view their episode. (See video below)

Although as a young boy I may have been captivated by the striking blond actress Meredith MacRae, who portrayed daughter Billie Jo Bradley in seasons 4-7, to my train-loving tastes, the show’s main attraction was always the Hooterville Cannonball.

“When they hear the dinner bell
From the Shady Rest Hotel, at the junction
Folks will walk a country mile
For the chicken country style, at the junction
But it’s easy to observe
All the pretty girls that serve at the junction
(Petticoat Junction)” – Petticoat Junction Theme (Henning/Massey)

Kate Bradley’s Shady Rest Hotel was situated on a branch line of the fictional C. & F.W. Railroad, where the demolition of a trestle several years earlier had completely isolated the branch from the main railway. This left the Hooterville Cannonball providing service only to the towns of Hooterville and Pixley. With the Shady Rest Hotel located roughly halfway between the lines two termini, Petticoat Junction served as a water stop for the steam-driven Cannonball.

Consisting only of an 1890s locomotive and a combination car (with a baggage and passenger section) the Hooterville Cannonball essentially functioned as a taxi service for the residents and guests of the Shady Rest Hotel. A familiar theme in numerous episodes of the show was the executives of the railroad attempting to shut down the Cannonball’s operation.

The Cannonball’s engineer, Charley Pratt, was portrayed by actor Smiley Burnette, who had begun his career as a country music performer, as well as a sidekick to Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and other B-movie cowboys. Charley Pratt would remain at the Cannonball’s throttle through the end of season four until actor Burnette passed away from Leukemia. Charley Pratt’s death was written into the storyline of season 5, as Floyd Smoot (Rufe Davis), who had served as the train’s fireman/conductor, took over as engineer in addition to his former duties. In later seasons of the show, Floyd Smoot would be replaced by another engineer, and eventually, the Cannonball’s driver would become more of a minor character.

Finally, the Hooterville Cannonball was portrayed by the grande dame of film locomotives, Sierra Railway No. 3, which has been called the “Movie Star Locomotive”. Manufactured in 1891 by the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works of Paterson, New Jersey, the machine was specifically built for the Prescott & Arizona Central Railway (P&AC) as their locomotive #3 and was named W.N. Kelley after that company’s treasurer. When the P&AC went bankrupt in 1893, its owner, Thomas S. Bullock, relocated to California bringing the No. 3 along with him, eventually forming the Sierra Railway Company of California to serve the timber industry. The locomotive became known as Sierra No. 3, the name that it retains to this day.

Sierra No. 3 made her screen debut in Tom Mix’s feature, The Terror, a silent film released in 1920, while she continued to function as a workhorse for the railroad. Taken out of operation during the Great Depression, she narrowly avoided being scrapped during WWII. A rebuild by the Sierra Railroad Company was completed in 1948, and No. 3 officially returned to service heading a Railway and Locomotive Historical Society sponsored excursion train. Over the next 50 years, she would appear in dozens of films, TV shows, and commercials, including High Noon, The Great Race, The Great Train Robbery, Finian’s Rainbow, Bound For Glory, The Long Riders, The Apple Dumpling Gang, Pale Rider, Unforgiven, and Back to the Future Part III, as well as almost any television western you can name.

In 1982, Sierra Railroad’s locomotive facilities in Jamestown – including locomotive No. 3 – were acquired by the State of California and became Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. In 1995 No. 3 was once again removed from service until renovations could be made to her boiler to meet upgraded safety standards. When the cost of rebuilding became prohibitive, Clint Eastwood – who had worked with Sierra No. 3 in several of his movies, as well as his early series Rawhide – contributed to the fundraising appeal, describing No. 3 as “like a treasured old friend.” Eastwood wrote, “Sierra No. 3 resides at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. It is housed in the original roundhouse which is still in use. Together these two assets provide a rare opportunity to experience history just as it was 109 years ago.”

The final cost of the rebuild was $1.6 million, and Sierra No. 3 was restored to her 1929 appearance when she appeared in the film The Virginian. She was officially returned to service on July 10, 2010.

At the outset of production for Petticoat Junction, Paul Henning believed the train to be an “important character” and hired railroad historian Gerald M. Best to keep an eye on the details. Henning stated that “the train’s weekly appearances on TV might set the space-age back 50 years and drive train buffs insane with delight, but without it, our show would lose its character image.”  

“When I started Petticoat Junction, I had one aim. If people thought to themselves, ‘Gee, I’d like to spend a few days at that beat-up hotel’ or ‘I’d like to ride that funny little railroad,’ I knew we would make it.” – Paul William Henning (1911-2005)

Below is a video that includes the history of Sierra No. 3 as well as details of its restoration.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Henning

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petticoat_Junction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooterville_Cannonball

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_No._3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bea_Benaderet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Buchanan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiley_Burnette

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.

Marty Robbins’ fifth studio album – Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs – was released in September 1959. Although Robbins had enjoyed considerable success as a Country & Western artist, Columbia Records was not entirely sold on his idea of an entire album of cowboy-themed songs. Robbins further tested his label’s faith in him when a month later the groundbreaking song “El Paso” was released as a single from the album.

The industry trend at the time was for country songs to average between 2.5 to 3 minutes in length, and Robbins’ epic ballad clocked in at 4 minutes and 38 seconds. Believing that the song would never find favor with radio programmers in its original form, his label chose to release a promo 45 rpm that contained the original track, as well as an edited version that ran nearer the 3-minute mark. Lo and behold, disc jockeys and listeners preferred the full-length version, and “El Paso” would go on to become one of the most popular cowboy songs of all-time.

“Blacker than night were the eyes of Feleena
Wicked and evil while casting a spell
My love was deep for this Mexican maiden
I was in love, but in vain, I could tell” – El Paso (Marty Robbins)

Martin David Robinson was born September 26, 1925, in a shack in the desert outside Glendale, Arizona – a suburb of Phoenix. Martin was the sixth of nine children, and his family was often on the move due to his father’s hard-drinking and occasional thievery. His mother, who was of mostly Paiute Indian descent, worked hard to provide for her family, and although his father, who was an amateur harmonica player, worked a succession of odd jobs, the Robinson family frequently relied on county welfare for many of life’s necessities.

Martin suffered from extreme shyness as a child, but also had a strong desire for acceptance and attention, both of which he found through his ability to entertain others with his singing and harmonica playing.

While his troubled home life was not easy, Martin had fond memories of listening to his grandfather’s narratives of the Old West. His maternal grandfather, “Texas” Bob Heckle, was a traveling salesman, storyteller, and medicine man, and the tales with which he regaled young Martin would have a significant influence upon his songwriting. Later in life, Robinson would recall:

“He had two little books of poetry he would sell. I used to sing him church songs and he would tell me stories. A lot of the songs I’ve written were brought about because of stories he told me. Like ‘Big Iron’ I wrote because he was a Texas Ranger. At least he told me he was.”

Further inspiration was derived from the movies Martin watched as a boy. His favorite star was Gene Autry, and he would spend mornings before school working out in the cotton fields to earn the money to see each new Autry release. Robinson recalls sitting in the front row of the theater, “close enough so I could have gotten sand in the eyes from the horses and powder burns from the guns. I wanted to be the cowboy singer, simply because Autry was my favorite singer. No one else inspired me.”

When Martin was 12 years old his parents divorced, and he moved to Phoenix with his mother and his eight siblings. Later he dropped out of high school and spent time with his brother herding goats and breaking wild horses.

“One night a wild young cowboy came in
Wild as the West Texas wind
Dashing and daring, a drink he was sharing
With wicked Feleena, the girl that I loved” – El Paso (Marty Robbins)

In 1943, at the age of 17, Martin enlisted in the U.S. Navy, exploiting the opportunity to leave his troubled family environment behind. His wartime service as a coxswain found him deployed to the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, where as a crewman on a landing craft, he helped land U.S. Marines for the successful offensive to recapture the island of Bougainville from Japanese forces. It was during his military service that he taught himself to play the guitar, began writing songs, and acquired a fondness for Hawaiian music.

“So in anger, I challenged his right for the love of this maiden
Down went his hand for the gun that he wore
My challenge was answered in less than a heartbeat
The handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor” – El Paso (Marty Robbins)

Following the war and his discharge from the Navy, Martin returned to Arizona and began singing with local bands in bars and nightclubs in the Phoenix area. To make ends meet he worked construction jobs during the daytime. One day while driving a brick truck he heard a country singer featured on radio station KPHO. Convinced that he could do a much better job he drove down to the station and talked his way into a place on the show. Heeding the advice of a friend, Robinson changed his name to Marty Robbins and before long was hosting his own radio show, Chuck Wagon Times.

As the 1940s drew to a close, Robbins was hosting his own local TV show, Western Caravan, on KPHO-TV. Little Jimmie Dickens, who made an appearance on Western Caravan while touring with the Grand Ole Opry roadshow, has been credited with discovering Marty Robbins and convincing Columbia Records to offer him a recording contract.

Robbins signed a recording deal with Columbia Records in 1951 and moved to Nashville with his wife Marizona , whom he had wed in 1948.

“Just for a moment I stood there in silence
Shocked by the foul evil deed I had done
Many thoughts raced through my mind as I stood there
I had but one chance and that was to run” – El Paso (Marty Robbins)

The year after his arrival in Nashville, Robbins released his first single, “Love Me or Leave Me Alone.” Although the song was not a great success, he scored his first Top 10 hit in 1953 with “I’ll Go on Alone”, and followed that up a few months later with another hit, “I Couldn’t Keep from Crying”.

During this period Robbins was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry, which at the time was the nation’s most popular country radio show. For the next 25 years Robbins remained a regular member of the Opry cast.

1956 saw Robbins achieve his first No. 1 hit on the country charts with the release, “Singing the Blues.” He would enjoy two more No. 1 songs the following year with “A White Sport Coat” and “The Story of My Life,” besides several other lower charting, but significant hits. Robbins’ star was undeniably on the rise, and hearkening back to the tales of the Old West from his youth, he had the idea of a new direction for his next major release.

“Out through the back door of Rosa’s I ran
Out where the horses were tied
I caught a good one, it looked like it could run
Up on its back, and away I did ride
Just as fast as I could from
The West Texas town of El Paso
Out to the badlands of New Mexico” – El Paso (Marty Robbins)

When Marty Robbins approached his label about recording an album of cowboy songs the execs balked. Columbia had originally paired him with producer Mitch Miller, marketing him as a pop act and they were not at all sure his idea of an album of cowboy & outlaw ballads was a good fit. In an effort to prove to the label that his intentions were not misguided he recorded “The Hanging Tree”, the title track of a 1959 western. The song went to No. 15 on the country charts in April of that year, and Columbia relented, allowing Robbins just one day to record his cowboy album.

“Back in El Paso my life would be worthless
Everything’s gone in life, nothing is left
It’s been so long since I’ve seen the young maiden
My love is stronger than my fear of death” – El Paso (Marty Robbins)

Employing a group of Nashville session men who were known collectively as the “A-Team”, Robbins managed to complete the tracks that would comprise Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs in just five hours, with the session produced by Don Law. The album was released by Columbia Records in September 1959, eventually peaking at #6 on the U.S. pop albums chart; it was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1965 and Platinum in 1986. In 2017, the album was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or artistically significant”, and AllMusic has called Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, “the single most influential album of Western songs in post-World War II American music”.

“I saddled up and away I did go
Riding alone in the dark
Maybe tomorrow a bullet may find me
Tonight nothing’s worse than this pain in my heart

“And at last here I am on the hill overlooking El Paso
I can see Rosa’s Cantina below
My love is strong and it pushes me onward
Down off the hill to Feleena I go” – El Paso (Marty Robbins)

A month later “El Paso” was released as the album’s first single. The story is told that Marty Robbins was traveling from Nashville to his home in Phoenix before Christmas 1956, and while driving through El Paso he remembered his youthful infatuation with the cowboy songs of Gene Autry and had the thought to write a song about the city. Being distracted by the road and his family he soon forgot the idea. The following year while making the same journey, he was again inspired to write a song about El Paso, but once again the idea was fleeting. Finally, on the family’s third pass through El Paso for Christmas of ’58, Robbins began composing a tune in his head.

They stopped near a bar in town, only to find it closed for the holiday. In an exchange with some locals he learned that the hills behind where he was stopped were in fact the “badlands of New Mexico” – a phrase that stuck in Robbins’ head, and made it into the song’s lyrics. When the family resumed their travel, Robbins continued composing “El Paso” on his guitar in the back seat of his turquoise Cadillac while his wife “Mari” drove. He claims that when the family arrived in Deming, New Mexico, a few hours later, the song was complete.

By the dawning of the new decade, “El Paso” would reach No. 1 on both the country and pop music charts, and go on to receive the first Grammy awarded for Best Country & Western Recording in 1961. Furthermore, “El Paso” became the first song longer than four minutes to top the Hot 100 chart, and for the year 1960, was more than a minute longer than any other song on that chart.

“Off to my right, I see five mounted cowboys
Off to my left ride a dozen or more
Shouting and shooting, I can’t let them catch me
I have to make it to Rosa’s back door

“Something is dreadfully wrong for I feel
A deep burning pain in my side
Though I am trying to stay in the saddle
I’m getting weary, unable to ride” ­ – El Paso (Marty Robbins)

In 1966, Robbins revisits his song “El Paso” by releasing “Feleena (From El Paso)”, a more than 8-minute-long ballad that tells the story of the earlier song’s heroine, a character that Robbins named after a 5th-grade schoolmate, Fidelina Martinez. In 1976, he released “El Paso City” -a recording that would reach No. 1 on the country charts – again revisiting the story of the original song, and including themes that reference both of the earlier recordings. It has also been reported that Robbins intended to visit the theme one last time with “The Mystery of Old El Paso”, but had not finished the song prior to his death in 1982.

“But my love for Feleena is strong, and I rise where I’ve fallen
Though I am weary I can’t stop to rest
I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle
I feel the bullet go deep in my chest” – El Paso (Marty Robbins)

Marty Robbins’ best-known song has become an icon of popular culture. The song was a staple of The Grateful Dead’s live repertoire, being performed by the band nearly 400 times. On the album Ladies and Gentlemen… The Grateful Dead, Bob Weir introduces the song as the Dead’s “most requested number”.

The song has been recorded by numerous artists, including alternative, parody, foreign language and instrumental versions. And the series finale of the TV show Breaking Bad was titled “Felina”, with the opening scene featuring the song playing on the stereo of a stolen car.

Members of the Western Writers of America have chosen “El Paso” as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

“From out of nowhere Feleena has found me
Kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side
Cradled by two loving arms that I’ll die for
One little kiss, and Feleena, goodbye” – El Paso (Marty Robbins)

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paso_(song)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfighter_Ballads_and_Trail_Songs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Robbins

https://kxrb.com/story-behind-the-song-el-paso/

https://www.liveabout.com/history-of-marty-robbins-el-paso-2522358

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/marty-robbins/el-paso

https://www.biography.com/musician/marty-robbins

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marty-Robbins

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.

In the 1920s, the state of Florida found itself in the midst of a huge land boom. A number of factors contributed to the boom, beginning with the railroad: By 1894, the Florida East Coast Railway had extended its line to West Palm Beach, continuing to Miami in 1896, and finally reaching Key West in 1912; developers had begun draining the Everglades to create new dry land; and World War I cut off the very wealthy from their seasons on the French Riviera, making Florida’s tropical climate a very attractive alternative.

Carl Graham Fisher, a pioneer, and promoter of the automotive industry and highway construction had in 1912 conceived and helped develop the Lincoln Highway – the first roadway for automobile traffic across the entire continental United States. In 1914, Fisher followed the east-west Lincoln Highway, with the north-south Dixie Highway, connecting Michigan to Miami. He then turned his attention to developing the new resort town of Miami Beach, built upon a mostly unpopulated barrier island, connected to the mainland by the new Collins Bridge, and situated right at the southern terminus of the Dixie Highway. Widely regarded as a promotional genius, Fisher purchased a huge lighted billboard in New York’s Times Square declaring, “It’s June in Miami”.

All of this Floridian attention, development, and promotion, led to speculation and eventually to a real estate bubble which burst in 1925. But the secret was out that Florida provided a welcome respite from the harsh northern winters, and the railroads had left the Sunshine State barely more than a day’s ride from the Big Apple.

“Well, I’m going down to Florida
And get some sand in my shoes
Or maybe Californy
And get some sand in my shoes
I’ll ride that Orange Blossom Special
And lose these New York blues” – Orange Blossom Special (Rouse)

Seaboard Air Line Railroad began operation of its Orange Blossom Special on November 21, 1925. The luxury rail service was conceived by SAL’s president, S. Davies Warfield, to take advantage of the newfound interest and development in Florida, and ran in direct competition to the services offered by rival Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway.

The Orange Blossom Special was seasonal and catered to the wealthy. Operating December through April, it allowed folks in the northeastern US to escape their harsh winters. Its route covered 1,389 miles beginning on the Pennsylvania Railroad from New York City to Washington, D.C.; then connecting to the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad from Washington to Richmond, and finally over the Seaboard Air Line Railroad from Richmond via Raleigh, Columbia, and Savannah to Miami. In Wildwood, Florida the train would split, with a section traveling to Tampa and St. Petersburg.

In February 1926 the “Blossom” traveled the distance from New York to West Palm Beach in 35 hours. The route would not extend to Miami until 1927. As the SAL adopted diesel power the travel times were reduced.

Despite the bursting of the real estate bubble, SAL president Warfield still believed in Florida as a land of opportunity to which he could lure influential, as well as wealthy business leaders, with his fast luxurious trains. The Blossom would typically depart New York after lunch, arriving in Wildwood, Florida by breakfast the next morning. After the train split in Wildwood, the sections would arrive at their Miami or St. Petersburg destinations by mid-morning to just after lunch.

As Seaboard president Davies sought to provide his passengers with the luxury, the Orange Blossom was indeed Special. Rogers Ernest Malcolm Whitaker, an editor of The New Yorker magazine who was known under the pen name of E. M. Frimbo, World’s Greatest Railroad Buff, offered this account of a dining car chef who had worked aboard the train:

“Our chef…spent nine of his forty-three years with the Pennsylvania Railroad as chef on the celebrated all-Pullman New York-to-Florida train the Orange Blossom Special—the most luxurious winter-season train ever devised by man. Nothing even remotely resembling a can opener was allowed on the premises. All the pies, cakes, rolls, birthday cakes were baked on board under his supervision. Cut flowers and fresh fish were taken on at every revictualing stop, and the train carried thirty-five hundred dollars’ worth of wine, liquor, and champagne—these at pre-Prohibition prices—for each run.”

At its inception, the Orange Blossom Special’s power was typically provided by a Class M 4-8-2 steam locomotive. In October of 1938, SAL initiated the use of its new Electro-Motive E4 diesels to head the train. A 1941 timetable for southbound service shows the make-up of the train as follows: a club car, lounge, a diner, and nine sleepers, with extra cars on standby to satisfy high demand.

To accompany the train’s new diesel locomotive units, a special paint scheme was devised by General Motors artist Leland Knickerbocker, who was also responsible for Santa Fe Railroad’s “warbonnet” livery. Knickerbocker incorporated the lemon, lime, and orange colors of the Florida citrus trade into his design of what would become known as the Orange Blossom Special’s “citrus” livery. The artist would also apply for and receive patent number 113,563, for a “new, original, and ornamental design of a locomotive body.”

While the Orange Blossom Special’s service was interrupted during World War II, the train would continue its seasonal running through 1953, when it was replaced by Seaboard’s fully streamlined trains such as Silver Meteor and Silver Star.

“Hey talk about a-ramblin’
She’s the fastest train on the line
Talk about a-travellin’
She’s the fastest train on the line
It’s that Orange Blossom Special
Rollin’ down the seaboard line” – Orange Blossom Special (Rouse)

“Orange Blossom Special” – not the train, but the song – was written by Ervin T. Rouse in 1938. It was originally recorded by Ervin and his brother Gordon in 1939. A short time later the song was recorded by Bill Monroe (with Art Wooten on fiddle) and became a big hit. Originally written as an instrumental, lyrics were later added.

The song has become known not only for its imitation of train sounds, but also as a show-off piece for expert fiddlers, and has long been referred to as the fiddle player’s national anthem. By the 1950s the song had become a staple of bluegrass festivals. There are tales of the song being banned from bluegrass competitions, lest too many fiddlers choose it for the same event. One story tells of a festival in Georgia, where the fire extinguisher case sported the notice, “Break in case of the ‘Orange Blossom Special.’ ”

Over the years there have been others who have claimed to author “Orange Blossom Special”, including fiddler “Chubby Wise”, who popularized the song while playing it weekly on the Grand Ole Opry. According to Wise’s account:

“… even though it was about three in the morning we went right into the Terminal and got on board and toured that train, and it was just about the most luxurious thing I had ever seen. Ervin was impressed, too. And when we got done lookin’ ‘er over he said, “Let’s write a song about it.” So we went over to my place … and that night she was born. Sitting on the side of my bed. We wrote the melody in less than an hour and called it ‘Orange Blossom Special.’ Later Ervin and his brother put some words to it.”

Ervin Rouse has been described as an unassuming, mild-mannered fellow who lived deep in the Florida Everglades and was never concerned about disputing Wise’s assertions. Once he was asked by a family member whether Wise had any involvement in composing the tune, to which Rouse is said to have replied, “Hell no!”

“Say man, when you going back to Florida?”
“When am I goin’ back to Florida? I don’t know, don’t reckon I ever will.”
“Ain’t you worried about getting your nourishment in New York?”
“Well, I don’t care if I do-die-do-die-do-die-do-die.” – Orange Blossom Special (Rouse)

In the words of Norm Cohen, author of Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong:

“For many years, Orange Blossom Special has been not only a train imitation piece, but also a vehicle to exhibit the fiddler’s pyrotechnic virtuosity. Performed at breakneck tempos and with imitative embellishments that evoke train wheels and whistles, OBS is guaranteed to bring the blood of all but the most jaded listeners to a quick, rolling boil.”

Johnny Cash titled his 1965 album Orange Blossom Special after the song while substituting harmonica & saxophone for the fiddle parts. Numerous other artists have covered the song, and it is estimated that OBS has appeared on more than 200 albums.

One such artist who was most definitely a master fiddler, and who made “Orange Blossom Special” a set-piece of his live repertoire was the recently deceased Charlie Daniels. While I can’t claim to have been well-acquainted with Daniels’ life or career beyond the familiar hits that were radio staples, upon his passing I learned just how revered he was in the music industry and the world of Country music at large. By all accounts, he was an outstanding human being, and never anything less than a gentleman. He was always willing and ready to help others when necessary and possessed an immense generosity that was bestowed upon many. And his work in support of American veterans is well noted and unsurpassed. It is to the life and career of this musical giant that I wish to dedicate this post devoted to another legendary train song.

“Look a-yonder comin’
Comin’ down that railroad track
Hey, look a-yonder comin’
Comin’ down that railroad track
It’s the Orange Blossom Special
Bringin’ my baby back” – Orange Blossom Special (Rouse)

In memory of Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020)

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Blossom_Special_(song)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Blossom_Special_(train)

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/neighborhoods/characters/2017/06/15/southern-perspective-story-behind-orange-blossom-special/400916001/

https://www.american-rails.com/orange.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_land_boom_of_the_1920s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_East_Coast_Railway

https://www.theledger.com/news/20190725/norm-small-exploring-origin-of-famous-fiddle-song-the-orange-blossom-special

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.

William “Bill” Doolin was born in Johnson County, Arkansas, in 1858. He grew up toiling on his family’s farm until his twenty-third birthday when he left home hoping to find work as a cowboy.

Doolin drifted west, working a succession of odd jobs before finding employment at the H-X Bar Ranch, located on the Cimarron River in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). The enterprise was owned by a man named Oscar Halsell, who after taking a liking to Doolin, began teaching him to read & write, along with some simple arithmetic. Believing Doolin to be honest and trustworthy, Halsell eventually made him an informal foreman on his ranch.

It was during his tenure at the H-X Bar Ranch that Bill Doolin met Emmett Dalton, and throughout the ensuing decade, he would end up meeting and working with a number of other cowboys that he would later associate with as an outlaw.

“They were Doolin, Doolin-Dalton
High or low, it was the same
Easy money, and faithless women
Red-eye whiskey for the pain” – Doolin-Dalton (Henley, Frey, Browne, Souther)

Losing interest in living the predictable life of a ranch hand, and having taken to hanging with a rough crowd, Bill Doolin had his first run-in with the law in 1891 in Coffeyville, Kansas. To celebrate the 4th of July, Bill and several friends had tapped a keg of beer and proceeded to get drunk. Kansas was a dry state, and when lawmen attempted to confiscate the alcohol, a gunfight broke out. After two lawmen were wounded in the exchange, Doolin and his associates quickly cleared out of town.

Now a wanted man, it wasn’t long before Bill Doolin hooked up with Emmett Dalton, his brothers Bob, Bill & Grat, and a group of other men who together were known as the Dalton Gang. It was at this point that Doolin enthusiastically embarked on his career as a criminal.

“Go down Bill Dalton, it must be God’s will
Two brothers lyin’ dead in Coffeeville
Two voices call to you from where they stood
‘Lay down your law books now, they’re no damn good’” – Doolin-Dalton (Henley, Frey, Browne, Souther)

The gang was dominated by Bob Dalton, who has been described as ambitious. He once claimed he would “beat anything Jesse James ever did—rob two banks at once, in broad daylight.” The Dalton Gang attempted to do just that on October 5, 1892, when they planned to rob the C.M. Condon & Company’s Bank and the First National Bank on opposite sides of the street in Coffeyville, Kansas. The failed bank robberies would claim the lives of Bob & Grat Dalton, as well as gang members Dick Broadwell and Bill Powers; Emmett Dalton received twenty-three gunshot wounds, was apprehended, and given a life sentence, of which he would serve fourteen years before being pardoned; Bill Dalton had been waiting a short distance from town with Bill Doolin and spare horses, and both men managed to avoid detection.

The two Bills continued their lives of thievery along with several other desperados in a new association that was variously known as the Doolin-Dalton Gang, the Wild Bunch, or the Oklahombres.

“Better keep on movin’, Doolin-Dalton
Till your shadow sets you free
And if you’re fast, and if you’re lucky
You will never see that hangin’ tree” – Doolin-Dalton (Henley, Frey, Browne, Souther)

Don Henley met Glenn Frey in 1970 at Doug Weston’s Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. Henley had come to LA from Texas with his band Shiloh, where they were to record an album produced by Kenny Rogers. Frey had come to LA from Michigan and formed a duo called Longbranch Pennywhistle with John David Souther. By coincidence, both happened to be signed to the same label, Amos Records.

In early 1971 Henley & Frey were recruited by Linda Ronstadt’s manager, John Boylan, to accompany Linda as part of her backup band. It was while touring with Linda that Henley & Frey decided to start a group together. Informing Linda of their decision, it was her suggestion to include Bernie Leadon; they also reached out to bassist Randy Meisner with their idea for a band. All four of the musicians had performed live with Linda at a Disneyland gig in July.

Henley, Frey, Leadon, and Meisner were signed in September 1971 to David Geffen’s new Asylum label, and not yet having settled on a name, the group played their first show in October as Teen King and the Emergencies at a club called The Gallery in Aspen, Colorado.

While there are differing accounts as to the origin of the band’s name, their eponymous first album, Eagles, released in June 1972, was a solid success, yielding three Top 40 singles – “Take It Easy”, “Witchy Woman” & “Peaceful Easy Feeling” – which reached #12, #9 and #22 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also firmly established the band’s country-rock sound.

“I am an outlaw, I was born an outlaw’s son
The highway is my legacy
On the highway, I will run
In one hand I’ve a Bible
In the other, I’ve got a gun
Well, don’ you know me
I’m the man who won” – Outlaw Man (David Blue) © Warner Chappell Music

For their sophomore outing, Glenn Frey proposed that the Eagles make a concept album. According to Frey, after a night of jamming with his cohorts, they had the idea of doing an album about anti-heroes. A source of inspiration cited was a book on gunfighters of the Wild West given to Jackson Browne for his 21st birthday. Browne showed the book to Frey & Henley and suggested it as a theme. The book featured stories of the Doolin-Dalton gang, among others, which influenced the album’s lead-off track, and helped establish the offering’s Western theme.

During the recording of Eagles in England, Glenn Frey and Don Henley decided they should write songs together. One of their first collaborations became the second album’s title track, “Desperado”, based on a song that Henley had begun writing in 1968. After returning from London, in their first songwriting session together, Henley played his composition for Glenn Frey. He explained to Glenn, “When I play it and sing it, I think of Ray Charles and Stephen Foster. It’s really a Southern Gothic thing, but we can easily make it more Western.” Henley recalls that Frey “leapt right on it – filled in the blanks and brought structure”, adding, “And that was the beginning of our songwriting partnership … that’s when we became a team.”

“It’s another tequila sunrise
Starin’ slowly ‘cross the sky
Said goodbye
He was just a hired hand
Workin’ on the dreams he planned to try
The days go by” – Tequila Sunrise (Frey / Henley)

The first single released from Desperado, “Tequila Sunrise”, was written by Frey & Henley in the same week that they wrote the title track. They would also be involved in the writing of eight out of eleven tracks that appear on the album.

“First left my woman, it was down in Santa Fe
Headed for Oklahoma, I was ridin’ night and day
All of my friends are strangers
They quickly come and go
And all my love’s in danger
‘Cause I steal hearts and souls” – Outlaw Man (David Blue)

The second single released from the album was, “Outlaw Man.” Written by David Blue, with lead vocals from Glenn Frey, the song continues the outlaw/anti-hero motif, while also lending itself to the Old West theme. It is the only song on the album which was not written by a band member.

“Twenty-one and strong as I can be
I know what freedom means to me
And I can’t give the reason why
I should ever want to die” – Twenty-One (Bernie Leadon)

“Twenty-One” is the album’s second track. Written by guitarist Bernie Leadon, the title of the song refers to the age of Emmett Dalton at the time of the failed Coffeyville bank robberies, when he was shot 23 times, but lived to be convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Desperado was produced by Glyn Johns and recorded at Island Studios in London over a period of four weeks. Working to complete the album quickly and economically, Johns would limit each track to four or five passes, refusing requests from the band for more takes. It is reported that when Johns played the completed album in its entirety for the band, they were so pleased with the result that they carried their producer from the control room on their shoulders.

However, when the album was played for Jerry Greenberg, the president of Atlantic Records, he exclaimed, “Jeez, they’ve made a f***ing cowboy album!”

Released in April 1973, Desperado was not initially a commercial success. It remains the Eagles’ lowest charting album to date and did not include any hit songs, as both its singles – “Tequila Sunrise” & “Outlaw Man” – failed to break into the Top 50 in the singles chart. Paul Gambaccini of Rolling Stone concluded his review of the album: “Desperado won’t cure your hangover or revalue the dollar, but it will give you many good times. With their second consecutive job well done, the Eagles are on a winning streak.”

Desperado was certified double platinum in 2001. The album is also noted for contributing two songs which have become staples of the Eagles repertoire (“Desperado” & “Tequila Sunrise”). In his book, Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock, music writer John Einarson states that the album “would set the tone for all the later soft country-rock sounds, and impact what would become the foundation of ‘new country’, in both image and music.”

“Go down, Bill Doolin, don’t you wonder why
Sooner or later we all have to die?
Sooner or later, that’s a stone-cold fact
Four men ride out and only three ride back” – Doolin-Dalton/Desperado (Reprise)

For a period the Wild Bunch were the most infamous gang of outlaws in the Old West, but due to the persistence of the US deputy marshals known as the Three Guardsmen (Bill Tilghman, Chris Madsen, and Heck Thomas), by the end of 1894, they had either captured or killed most of the gang.

In early 1896, Bill Tilghman captured Bill Doolin while the outlaw was soaking in the sulfur springs of northwestern Arkansas. He was there to relieve the rheumatism in his foot that had been caused by an earlier gunshot wound. On July 5, while awaiting trial, Doolin escaped from jail.

Doolin eluded the posse for the better part of two months, but believing that he would return to his wife in Lawton, Oklahoma, the lawmen waited for him there. On August 24 in Lawton, the lawmen caught up with their quarry. Though he was outnumbered, Doolin clearly had no desire to be taken alive. He drew his weapon but was killed instantly by a hail of shotgun and rifle fire; he was 38 years old. William “Bill” Doolin was buried in the Boot Hill section of Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

“Woman don’t try to love me
Don’t try to understand
A life upon the road is the life of an outlaw man” – Outlaw Man (David Blue)

Note: For a more detailed account of the pursuit, apprehension, and demise of the Doolin-Dalton gang read Principles of Posse Management: Lessons From the Old West for Today’s Leaders, by Chris Enss.

Sources:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/outlaw-bill-doolin-is-killed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperado_(Eagles_album

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagles_(band)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bunch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Gang

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/eagles/desperado

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlaw_Man

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author

In the early morning hours of May 12, 1989, Southern Pacific freight train SP 7551 East was traveling through Cajon Pass into San Bernardino, California. The train was comprised of six locomotives and sixty-nine hopper cars loaded with trona.

Trona is a non-marine evaporite mineral and is mined in California’s Mojave Desert as one of the primary sources of sodium carbonate in the United States.

A buyer in Colombia, South America, had purchased 6,900 tons of trona, which would be transported by train to the Port of Los Angeles, then by ship to its end destination. Lake Minerals had contracted to have sixty-nine 100-ton coal hopper cars loaded by an outside contractor. When the mining company turned in the final contract to the clerk for the bill of lading, no weight had been written-in, believing the railroad would know that the 100-ton cars had been filled to capacity.

The clerk filled in the bill of lading as 60 tons per hopper car, going by a visual comparison of 100 tons of coal. As a result, the train was listed as weighing about 6,151 tons total (cars + trona), significantly lighter than its actual weight.

Later a dispatcher in the railroad office re-calculated the train’s tonnage to show correct weight, but this information was not passed along to the engineer, who believed that although not all of his six locomotives were fully functional, they should be sufficient to control the downhill speed of what had been reported to be a lighter than actual load.

“Blind boys and gamblers
They invented the blues
Will pay up in blood
When this marker comes due
To try and get off now
It’s about as insane
As those who wave lanterns
At runaway trains” – Runaway Train (John Stewart)

Shortly after cresting Cajon Pass, and beginning downhill on the south side, Engineer Frank Holland realized he was having trouble controlling his train’s speed. The train’s dynamic brakes worked optimally near a speed of 25 mph, but not all of the six locomotives had fully functioning dynamic braking systems. The air brakes of each of the hopper cars are most effective at speeds under 25 mph, and the train’s speed soon exceeded what the brakes could control.

As a last attempt to attenuate their downhill speed, the helper engineer initiated an emergency brake application from his helper locomotive, but this ended up disabling all of the dynamic brakes on the train, allowing the train to pick up speed. At this point, the only operational brakes were the individual car’s air brakes, which soon began melting from the friction and heat.

As the train entered a four-degree curve just north of the Highland Ave overpass in San Bernardino – a curve that had an authorized maximum speed of 40 mph – the train was calculated to be traveling in excess of 100 mph. The train derailed and plowed into the houses along the outside of the curve, destroying all but one. The remaining home was destroyed days later by a fire that resulted from the rupture of an underground petroleum pipeline that was damaged during cleanup efforts.

The conductor, head-end brakeman, and two residents were killed in the train derailment. Seven houses on the street immediately next to the tracks were demolished by the wreck, as were the lead locomotives and all of the freight cars. Six hundred and eighty feet of track were also destroyed.

The fire from the ruptured pipeline burned for close to seven hours and emitted a plume of flames three hundred feet into the air. It fatally burned two people and destroyed eleven more houses and 21 cars. The total property damage was $14.3 million, with more of this damage resulting from the fire than from the train derailment.

“And what are the choices
For those who remain
The sign of the cross
On a runaway train
This thing has turned into
A runaway train
Our love has turned into . . . a runaway train” – Runaway Train (John Stewart)

Trains have long been used as metaphors, not only in our literature and culture but also personally. How many of us have not had a life experience – or two – that we might have characterized as a “train wreck”? And we have surely used that expression to describe the predicaments of others.

As I was looking at songs that might have been appropriate for a post about runaway trains, I found it interesting that we most often use the term while referring to personal relationships, emotional upheavals, love gone bad. It would seem that the analogy springs from the realization that we are involved in a situation of which we are no longer in control, and as we see in the runaway train story above, once that control is lost it can be extremely difficult, if not impossible to regain.

“Headlights on the ceiling as she pulls into the drive
She never says she’s coming, she never says goodbye
She’s gonna bring the sunshine and she’s gonna bring the rain
It’s like I’m standing at the station and I’m waiting on a runaway train

“Runaway train coming down the track
Runaway train and don’t come back” – Runaway Train (Kelley Lovelace) © Sony/ATV Music

One of my blog followers at A Train Song shared his own experience of being at the throttle of a runaway train. He begins:

“I crested the mountain all happy and confident, then as the end of the train began [its] downhill roll, it became evident that . . . dynamic braking . . . and the skills of many years were not slowing [the train’s descent].

(Dynamic braking is the use of an electric traction motor as a generator when slowing a vehicle such as an electric or diesel-electric locomotive. Dynamic braking reduces wear on friction-based braking components.)

He explains that knowledge of the terrain and dynamic braking are an engineer’s essential tools in train operation and control. “The only way to stop and hold a train is with air; if you have a runaway train, there is an air loss problem.”

He continues:

“I had a 22,000-ton coal train I could not stop, only had two engines [and] I was less than a mile from Lake Erie at Sandusky. Three engines stopped in front of me to hold my train back; [my] train would stop, but the slack would roll in and move us five engine lengths.”

He mentions that his train consisted of just more than 200 coal hoppers, each loaded with 100 tons, indicating that there would have been plenty of slack to keep his train “inching” forward.

But the train was finally stopped, the payload preserved, and engineer Joe lived to tell his tale, although it would surely be difficult for any of us who have never been in such dire straits to imagine the helplessness and anxiety felt in those moments.

“In the morning when I wake and find that woman gone
I will swear this time that I’m finally moving on
Deep down in my heart, I know nothing’s gonna change
And I’ll be standing at the station and waiting on a runaway train

“Runaway train coming down the track
Runaway train and don’t come back” – Runaway Train (Kelley Lovelace)

Rosanne Cash’s recording of John Stewart’s song, “Runaway Train”, was released in July 1988 as the fourth single from her album King’s Record Shop, and was produced by her then-husband, Rodney Crowell. It became Cash’s ninth #1 hit on the country chart as a solo artist. The single spent a week at the top spot while remaining in the top 40 for a total of 14 weeks

“Runaway Train”, is a track included on Brad Paisley’s ninth album, Wheelhouse. The song was co-written by frequent Paisley collaborator, Kelley Lovelace. Wheelhouse debuted at #1 in the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, selling over 100,000 copies in the first week, making it Paisley’s seventh number one album. The album also reached #2 in the Billboard 200 chart.

Listen to (and watch) Rosanne Cash and Brad Paisley sing about their own versions of a runaway train and watch Brad trade some “hotshot” licks with David Letterman’s keyboardist & musical director, Paul Shaffer.

Also included below is a computer simulation of the 1989 San Bernardino train derailment, with actual footage of the cleanup & subsequent fire.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_train_disaster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaway_Train_(Rosanne_Cash_song)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelhouse_(album)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trona

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.

“’Cause she knows his love’s in Tulsa
And she knows he’s gonna go
But it ain’t no woman flesh and blood
It’s that damned old rodeo” – Rodeo (Larry Bastian) © Sony/ATV Music

ro·de·o / ‘rō dēō, rōˈdāō/ noun: rodeo; plural noun: rodeos

1. an exhibition or contest in which cowboys show their skill at riding broncos, roping calves, wrestling steers, etc.
2. a roundup of cattle on a ranch for branding, counting, etc.

The American English word “rodeo” comes directly from the Spanish rodeo, which roughly translates into English as “round up”. Thus, the first rodeos in America were more akin with entry #2 in the above definitions, before evolving into definition #1.

While rodeo as we know it today may exist to preserve the cowboy customs of the wild American west, it is in fact based upon the traditions of Mexican ranchers and ranch hands – the vaqueros. The charreada is a competitive event similar to rodeo and sprang from the ranching customs of vaqueros on the haciendas and ranchos of old Mexico, who themselves were carrying on the practices brought to the New World by sixteenth-century Spanish conquistadors.

Bull wrestling was one of those practices brought by Spain to the New World and had been a tradition throughout the Mediterranean region for thousands of years. The Minoans of Crete practiced bull jumping, bull riding, and bull wrestling, and it is even believed that bull wrestling may have been one of the Olympic events as staged by the ancient Greeks.

Rodeo as an American entity began evolving after the Texas Revolution and the Mexican-American War when Anglo cowboys learned the skills, attire, and vocabulary of the vaqueros. Rodeo was not originally a sporting event, but a fundamental aspect of cattle-ranching in areas of Spanish influence. The working rodeo was requisite enough to the business of ranching as to merit legal status in California:

“An Act to Regulate Rodeos (April 3, 1851)…Every owner of a stock farm shall be obliged to give, yearly, one general Rodeo, within the limits of his farm, from the first day of April until the thirty-first day of July, in the counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and San Diego; and in the remaining counties, from the first day of March until the thirty-first day of August…in order that parties interested may meet, for the purpose of separating their respective cattle.”

One of these California working rodeos, held in 1858 in Los Angeles County, was described by businessman and historian, Harris Newmark:

“The third week in February witnessed one of the most interesting gatherings of rancheros characteristic of Southern California life I have ever seen. It was a typical rodeo, lasting two or three days, for the separating and regrouping of cattle and horses . . . Under the direction of a Judge of the Plains [the cattle] were examined, parted and branded, or re-branded, with hot irons impressing a mark duly registered at the Court House and protected by the County Recorder’s certificate.

“Never have I seen finer horsemanship than was there displayed by those whose task it was to pursue the animal and throw the lasso around the head or leg; and as often as most of those present had probably seen the feat performed, great was their enthusiasm when each vaquero brought down his victim. Among the guests were most of the rancheros of wealth and note, together with their attendants . . .”

But this is not the rodeo of which Garth Brooks sings!

“She does her best to hold him
When his love comes to call
But his need for it controls him
And her back’s against the wall

“And it’s ‘So long girl, I’ll see you.’
When it’s time for him to go
You know the woman wants her cowboy
Like he wants his rodeo” – Rodeo (Larry Bastian)

While it is not surprising that cowboys would be compelled to show off their particular skills or to compete for bragging rights as to who skills were greater, there are some differing opinions as to where and when competitive rodeo emerged as an organized event. Some sources claim that modern competitive rodeo began in 1869 when two groups of cowboys from neighboring ranches met in Deer Trail, Colorado, to settle a dispute over who was the best at performing everyday cowboy tasks, including breaking wild horses to ride for ranch work – a common cowboy task that evolved into rodeo’s saddle bronc riding event. Other locales laying claim to holding the first rodeos include Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1872, and Winfield, Kansas, in 1882.

As part of an 1883 Fourth of July celebration in North Platte, Nebraska, William “Buffalo Bill” Cody organized an outdoor spectacle which he called the “Wild West, Rocky Mountain, and Prairie Exhibition.” Due to the endeavor’s commercial success, Cody was soon on the road with a traveling version of the show now known as “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.” Though the show did include trick riding and roping displays by men and eventually women, this was primarily staged entertainment, and local entrepreneurs were left to organize and execute competitive rodeo events.

For decades Wild West shows and competitive rodeos existed together, with both entities employing many of the same performers. But gradually, in the waning days of America’s Wild West, as the nineteenth-century drew to a close, rodeo began to assume its own identity; something more closely related to the rodeo we recognize today.

“It’ll drive a cowboy crazy
It’ll drive the man insane
And he’ll sell off everything he owns
Just to pay to play the game

“And a broken home and some broken bones
Is all he’ll have to show
For all the years that he spent chasin’
This dream they call rodeo” – Rodeo (Larry Bastian)

Up to the 1920s, there remained no official designation for organized cowboy sports, with the term rodeo being used only occasionally. From the 1880s through the early twentieth-century descriptors such as frontier days, stampedes and cowboy contests were most commonly used. And as there was no national or international governing body overseeing the competitions, even the individual events were not standardized.

Cheyenne Frontier Days, first held in 1897 and continuing through today, was, and still is widely regarded as the premier celebration of cowboy sports. Until 1922, cowboys and cowgirls who won at Cheyenne were considered the world’s champions.

In 1929 the Rodeo Association of America, an affiliation of managers and event producers, was formed to regulate competitions, and standardize rules and events. However, it was not until 1936, following a strike at the Boston Garden Rodeo, that the cowboy competitors themselves would finally organize into a coalition that they originally called the Cowboys’ Turtle Association (CTA). They chose the name “turtles” because they had been so slow to act on establishing a confederation for themselves, but had finally stuck their necks out for their cause.

In 1945, the “Turtles” became the Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA), and in 1975 that group evolved into the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, which today is the oldest and largest rodeo-sanctioning body in the world, whose rules have been accepted by most rodeos. The PRCA is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where you can also find the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy.

The PRCA has a membership of more than seven thousand, of which approximately 5,100 are contestants. The organization sanctions over 600 competitive events each year. In 2013, $39.6 million was paid out in prize money at PRCA rodeos, and ProRodeo is telecast to more than 50 million households.

“Well, it’s bulls and blood
It’s dust and mud
It’s the roar of a Sunday crowd
It’s the white in them knuckles
The gold in the buckle
He’ll win the next go ’round

“It’s boots and chaps
It’s cowboy hats
It’s spurs and latigo
It’s the ropes and the reins, and the joy and the pain
And they call the thing rodeo” – Rodeo (Larry Bastian)

Ropin’ the Wind was the third studio album from country singer Garth Brooks. Released on the Capitol Records Nashville label in September 1991, it was Brooks’ first album to debut at #1 on both the Billboard 200 chart and Top Country Albums chart. It was the first album by a country singer to top both of these charts since Kenny Rogers accomplished the same feat just over a decade earlier. Between September ’91 and April ’92, Ropin’ the Wind would occupy the top spot on the charts four different times, spending a combined 18 weeks at #1. In 1998 the album was certified 14x Platinum by the RIAA.

“Rodeo”, a song written by Larry Bastian, was released in August 1991 as the first single from Ropin’ the Wind. The song peaked at number three on the U.S. country chart and reached number-one on the Canadian country chart. In the liner notes for his collection The Hits, Brooks makes the following comments about the song:

“The song ‘Rodeo’ was originally titled ‘Miss Rodeo.’ It was a female song, where the artist sang about how she could not compete with the sport of rodeo. I tried to get every female I know in the industry to cut this song. When the last told me she just didn’t hear it, I began to wonder if that meant I was supposed to do something with it. This song was recorded in 1981 as a demo, and for ten years, it sat silent. We got a hold of it, and the band’s version of it just stunned me. This song has always been a favorite live, and I hope as long as I get to play live, this will always be on the list.”

In a televised special from 1995, Brooks mentioned that he tried in vain to convince Trisha Yearwood to record “Rodeo”, but she told him that being from Georgia she just didn’t understand the song, and she eventually convinced him to record it himself. Nearly thirty years later who could imagine anyone else singing the song that has become identified as one of Brooks’ classic tracks.

“It’s the broncs and the blood
It’s the steers and the mud
And they call the thing rodeooooo . . .
Bwow wow!” – Rodeo (Larry Bastian)

Author’s note: This post is in no way a comprehensive study of the “dream they call rodeo”, but I tried to hit the salient points of its evolution from a literal “round-up” of cattle & livestock to the commercially sponsored & internationally broadcast professional sport it is today. With a list of prospective “rodeo” songs from artists such as George Strait, Chris LeDoux, Suzy Bogguss, Vince Gill & Garth Brooks, expect a few more posts on this beloved American pastime. Stay tuned, cowboys & cowgirls!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodeo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charreada

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rodeo

https://www.prorodeo.com/prorodeo/rodeo/history-of-the-prca

https://www.britannica.com/sports/rodeo-sport

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodeo_(Garth_Brooks_song)

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author

So goes the opening verse of “Ridin’ the Rails”, a song included in the 1990 Warren Beatty directed film, Dick Tracy. Based on the comic strip of the same name which made its debut in the Detroit Mirror in October 1931, the movie is likewise set in the 1930s. Most of the songs included in the film’s soundtrack are styled after the music of that era.

Though “Ridin’ the Rails” is essentially a novelty tune, and doesn’t appear prominently in the film, I happen to be a fan of the recording and its jazzy tone. I’ve always admired the mellow voice of k. d. lang and the harmonies of Take 6 are impeccable. The video, featuring lang and the vocal group, is highly stylized, with the vocalists’ performances interspersed with clips from the Beatty film.

“Hoboken, New York, PA
60 seconds is all I’ll stay
Keeps me outta county jails
And that’s why I’m ridin’ the rails” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley)

Popular culture has greatly romanticized the vagabond tradition of “hopping a freight” to get from one place to another. Although this mode of travel has always been illegal, and inherently dangerous, there remains no shortage of practitioners, even today, when video surveillance, and tightened rail yard security have made surreptitiously climbing aboard a freight train all the more difficult.

Back in the day, when hoboes first began “catching out” on freight trains, there were no other means of transport that offered the chance to travel great distances in short periods of time. Many made the choice to ride the rails out of necessity, while others may have been drawn by the allure of something forbidden, or just as a means of escaping the drudgery of routine life.

“Oh, leave Kentucky
Or the fields of Alabam’
Roomin’ with a box of nails
Or peanuts and yams
Got no next of kin
And there’s no one in my will
Only thing I’m scared of

Is standin’ still” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley)

Many notable figures of popular culture spent time riding the rails while engaging in the hobo way of life. This list includes Louis L’Amour, George Orwell, Carl Sandburg, Woody Guthrie, Robert Mitchum, and Jack Kerouac, to name a few. Jack London, who spent 30 days in jail in New York for vagrancy, and accompanied Kelly’s Army across the country, wrote about his hobo experiences in his short memoir, The Road.

As to his reasons for choosing to pursue the transient lifestyle of the bindle-stiff, or “stiff”, as London calls them, he writes in The Road:

“Every once in a while, in newspapers, magazines, and biographical dictionaries, I run upon sketches of my life, wherein, delicately phrased, I learn that it was in order to study sociology that I became a tramp. This is very nice and thoughtful of the biographers, but it is inaccurate. I became a tramp – well, because of the life that was in me, of the wanderlust in my blood that would not let me rest. Sociology was merely incidental; it came afterward, in the same manner, that a wet skin follows a ducking. I went on ‘The Road’ because I couldn’t keep away from it; because I hadn’t the price of the railroad fare in my jeans; because I was so made that I couldn’t work all my life on ‘one same shift’; because – well, just because it was easier to than not to.”

London is clear in expressing that just getting from one place to another is not always the primary inducement to riding the rails.

“I’ll ride ’til I’m dead
Boxcar’s my only bed
That’s home when all else fails
That’s why I’m ridin’ the rails” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley)

Author, William T. Vollman, in his train-hopping paean, Riding Toward Everywhere, details his experiences with “catching out”, sometimes alone, sometimes with his more experienced friend, Steve. His is a modern commentary on the hobo traditions, where security is tighter, and the trains move considerably faster than in days of old. Some notable quotes from Vollman’s book:

“Freight train rides are parables”

“On the iron horse, I can experience the state of unlimited expansion”

“I saw it, and then it was gone”

“ . . . we clickety-clacked away into our dreams”

“More hours went by, as empty as the tracks themselves”

“’Someone’s hiding’, he chuckled, like a wicked giant in a fairy tale” (while hiding in the darkness from a yard “bull”)

“I am free and for some indefinite period, which while it lasts is as good as forever, my own sad life, with its rules, necessities and railroad bulls, will not be able to catch me”

“When we reached the head locomotive we saw that it was dark; the engineer must have gone home long since; our decision to leave this cold train was thus proven to be in the same spirit of prudence which is manifested by the lice that leave a corpse. What proud parasites we were!”

Vollman also laments that riding the rails is not as easy as it once was – “The technology is changing, so there are fewer boxcars and more container cars,” he says. “Everything is ridable to an expert, but . . . there are no experts.”

“Brushfire Billy
And his buddies, Ned and Slim
Nine years back in Provo
Was the last I saw of him
Brakeman, leave me be
Let this hobo rest his bones
Sleep will overtake me
When that diesel moans” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley)

Eddy Joe Cotton (real name Zebu Recchia) is an author, hobo poet, and ringleader of the Yard Dogs Road Show. As a nineteen-year-old, he set out tramping from his father’s home in Denver, Colorado. He details his freight hopping experiences in his bestselling book, Hobo: A Young Man’s Thoughts on Trains and Tramping in America. Though the world of tramps & hoboes is most often dirty, seedy & coarse, all of which is reflected in his memoir, Cotton renders his tales in a decidedly poetic tone:

“In the silence between trains, you can hear your toes wiggle in your boots. I had gone a thousand miles on one pair of socks. There was a turkey vulture up in the air, looking for ghosts. On the hills where the tracks disappeared a cold rain fell like needles and the hidden sun glowed silver through the broken clouds. I lay back on my bedroll and closed my eyes”

“Black diesel billowed up from the head end of the train. There were four monster locomotives up there, pulling boxcars like sled dogs and coughing smoke out of their big diesel smoke-stacks. The bark of those diesel engines held the cry of a million pistons and cracked the silence in the Wyoming prairie apart”

“I rolled up in my poncho, lay down on the floor of the car, and watched rusty paint flakes dance in the corner. I daydreamed of carefree America: casino coffee . . . white motel sheets, showers with soap, and shingled roofs. I knew that when those foothills ate the sun our boxcar would freeze solid again, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it”

“In this business of tramping, it’s impossible to hold onto anybody or anything, and as a result, I have become a lonely man”

“That country’s long and wide
The Santa Fe’s my bride
I’ll hop her when she sails
That’s why I’m ridin’ the rails” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley)

Pete Aadland, executive director of the rail safety charity California Operation Lifeline that promotes safety on the rails, dismisses the notion that train hopping today provides an authentically American experience or any real connection with the spirit of the 1930s.

“There was no work, there was no food, so tens of thousands of men would use the railroads to get to where they could, maybe find a job,” he says.

“That lure, I think, probably remains today. But I would say that it’s not romantic, it’s illegal and it’s dangerous.”

“Losing limbs is very common,” he says. “Loads can shift when you’re inside of a car. Doors can close and lock – you starve and die of thirst.”

And yet, as long as there are trains rollin’ down a track to some destination somewhere, and as long as there are dreamers longing for an adventure, surely there will be hoboes & tramps riding the rails to . . . . .

Wherever!

“I’m ridin’, I’m slidin’
I won’t last too long
Got a bandana and a whistle for a song
There ain’t no wheels on the floor of a jail
That’s why I’m ridin’ the rails” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley) © Sire Records

That’s why they’re ridin’ the rails!

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20756990

The Road, by Jack London

Riding Toward Everywhere, by William T. Vollman

Hobo, by Eddy Joe Cotton

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.

“Whoopee ti yi yo, git along little dogies
It’s your misfortune and none of my own
Whoopie ti yi yo, git along little dogies
You know that Wyoming will be your new home” – Git Along, Little Dogies (traditional)

“Git Along, Little Dogies” is a traditional cowboy ballad believed to be adapted from an old Irish folk song. Also known by the title, “Whoopie Ti Yi Yo”, the song is first mentioned in the 1893 journal of historian and author Owen Wister, who wrote The Virginian, and is considered to be the “father” of Western fiction. The melody and lyrics of the song were first published in 1910 in John Lomax’s Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads.

Although the song is typically performed with four or five verses, each followed by the repeated chorus, my research turned up a number of different versions, some with verses that varied slightly from those performed by other artists. The “dogies” referenced in the lyrics were the motherless or neglected calves, herded along by cowboys. The song was doubtless a favorite accompaniment of cowpunchers on the long cattle drives of the late nineteenth-century, especially along the famed Goodnight-Loving trail.  

Charles (Charlie) Goodnight was born March 5, 1836, in Macoupin County, Illinois, northeast of St. Louis. While Goodnight was still very young his father died, and in 1846 he moved to Waco, Texas with his mother and step-father.

By the time Charlie Goodnight was 20, he was working as a cowboy, as well as serving with the local militia, where he protected settlers from Comanche raiders. In 1857 he joined the Texas Rangers. As a Ranger, Goodnight was known for raising a posse that located the Indian camp where Cynthia Ann Parker was living as the wife of Comanche chief Peta Nocona. Parker had been kidnapped by the Indians as a young girl and had been assimilated into the tribe. She was also the mother of Quanah Parker, who after surrendering his Quahadi band to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, has been called the “Last Chief of the Comanche.”

In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, Goodnight joined the Confederate States Army, where most of his time was spent as a scout for a Texas frontier regiment, patrolling against Indian raids. Describing what constituted a good scout Goodnight stated, “First, he must be born a natural woodsman and have the faculty of never needing a compass except in snowstorms or darkness.”^[4]

Following the war, Charlie Goodnight returned to working as a cowboy.

“Early in the springtime, we round up the dogies
  Mark ’em and brand ’em and bob off their tails
  Round up the horses, load up the chuck wagon
  Then throw the little dogies out on the long trail”  – Git Along Little Dogies (traditional)

At war’s end, Charlie Goodnight participated in a near-statewide roundup of feral Texas Longhorn cattle that had roamed free during the previous four years of war. After this “making the gather”, Goodnight partnered with Oliver Loving to drive their combined herds to market.

“We ride on the prairies across the wide rivers
  And on through the flats where there’s never a town
  Our horses are weary, we’re tired and we’re hungry;
  Lay still, little dogies, stop roamin’ around” – Git Along Little Dogies (traditional)

Oliver Loving was born on December 4, 1812, in Hopkins County, Kentucky. As a young man he farmed in Kentucky, then in 1843 moved with his brother, brother-in-law, and their families to Texas. By 1857 Loving had accumulated one thousand acres of Texas land, as well as a large herd of cattle. He entrusted his nineteen-year-old son, Joseph, to drive the cattle up the Shawnee Trail and into Illinois, where he made a profit of $36 a head. The success of the venture encouraged Loving to repeat the drive the following year.

“Night comes on and we hold ’em on the bedground
  The same little dogies that rolled on so slow
  We roll up the herd and cut out the stray ones
  Then roll the little dogies like never before”  – Git Along Little Dogies (traditional)

In the summer of 1860, along with a partner, Oliver Loving started a herd of 1,500 head toward Denver, Colorado to feed miners in the area. In the spring of 1861, after wintering his herd near Pueblo, Colorado, he sold the cattle for gold and set off to return to Texas but was barred by Union authorities from traveling south due to the outbreak of the Civil War. After intercession from Kit Carson, Loving was allowed to return home.

During the war Oliver Loving was commissioned to provide beef to the Confederate States Army, but as the war ended it is reported the Confederate government still owed him between $100,000 and $250,000. In addition, the postwar markets were left inadequate for the available supply of beef.

In 1866 Loving heard that there was a need for beef at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where over 8,000 Navajos had recently been interned at the nearby Bosque Redondo reservation. Farming conditions there were poor, creating an urgent demand for food sources. Along with military personnel, and a growing population of settlers, there was a market for fresh food products in the region.

Oliver Loving partnered with Charlie Goodnight, and together with the assistance of eighteen cowhands, they drove their combined herd of 2,000 cattle from west Texas to Fort Sumner. There they received eight cents a pound for the steers in the herd, but the Army was not interested in the remaining stocker cattle. Goodnight returned to Texas with $12,000 in gold to purchase more cattle, while Loving continued north with 800 cows & calves, selling the remainder of the herd at the railhead in Denver, Colorado.

After gathering a new herd in Texas, Charlie Goodnight drove the cattle to New Mexico, where he and Loving spent the winter of ’66-’67 ranching and supplying beef to Fort Sumner and the city of Santa Fe.

“When spring comes along we round up the dogies
  We stick on their brands and we bob off their tails
  Pick out the strays, then the herd is inspected
  And the very next day we go out on the trail”  – Git Along Little Dogies (traditional)

In the spring of 1867, Goodnight and Loving both returned to Texas for more cattle to take north. The drive was hampered by steady rains and constant threats from Indians. During a heavy storm, the herd was attacked by Comanches, leaving it divided and scattered. Oliver Loving and his trusted scout, “One Arm Bill” Wilson, left the herd to go ahead to Fort Sumner and inform them of the delay, only to be pinned down by a band of Comanches along the Pecos River. In the attack Loving suffered gunshot wounds to his arm and side. Sending Bill Wilson back to the herd, Loving was able to evade the Indians and with the help of Mexican traders, reached Fort Sumner.

Oliver Loving died from gangrene poisoning on September 25, 1867. Although the gunshots wounds he received in the Indian attack were not fatal, the medicine of the day was not sufficient to prevent the ensuing infection. While amputation of Loving’s arm may have prevented his death, it is reported that the fort’s doctor “had never amputated any limbs and did not want to undertake such work.”

The story is told that Charlie Goodnight sat by his partner’s bedside during the two weeks that it took for Loving to succumb to his infection. Loving’s dying wish was to be buried back home in Texas. Goodnight assured his friend and business associate that he would indeed honor that wish. Following his death, Oliver Loving was temporarily interred at Fort Sumner, as Charlie Goodnight continued driving their herd into Colorado. True to his word, Goodnight later had Loving’s body exhumed and returned to Weatherford, Texas, where he was laid to rest in Greenwood Cemetery on March 4, 1868.

To fans of Larry McMurty’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Lonesome Dove, the relationship between Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight may have a familiar ring. The two were indeed the inspiration for McMurtry’s Gus McCrae & Woodrow Call, with Woodrow transporting Gus’s body back to Texas after his death following an Indian attack. Charlie Goodnight even makes cameo appearances in all four novels of McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove series.

“Night is a-comin’ and the dogies are strayin’
  They’re farther from home than they’ve been before
  Come on, little dogies, it’s time to be rollin’
  When we get to Wyoming, we’ll roll no more”   – Git Along Little Dogies (traditional)

In February of 1868, Charlie Goodnight began driving herds along what became known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail up into Wyoming, where the cattle were butchered and sold locally, or shipped eastward to Chicago via the railroads. In the following decade, cattle ranches stocked with Texas Longhorns that had been driven up the trail became established throughout the state, with Cheyenne becoming a local hub for the cattle business with its connection to the Union Pacific Railroad.

“Your mother was raised way down in Texas
Where the jimson weed and the chollas grow
But we’ll fill you up on those prickly-pear briars
Until you are ready for Idaho” – Git Along Little Dogies (traditional)

In 1876, Charlie Goodnight settled into the life of a Texas rancher, effectively ending his days of driving cattle across the open range. Partnering with Irish businessman John Adair, together they formed the JA Ranch, the first cattle ranch located in the Texas Panhandle, and the oldest privately owned ranch in that region to this day. Goodnight also founded the Panhandle Stockman’s Association, which worked to improve cattle-breeding methods and to reduce the threat of rustlers and outlaws, and he is credited as the inventor of the chuck wagon.

Herds of cattle would continue to be driven northward along the Goodnight-Loving Trail into the 1890s, further cementing the two early pioneers’ legacy in the fledgling industry. Oliver Loving was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Loving County, Texas, and the town of Loving, New Mexico were both named in his honor.

Charles Goodnight has been inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (as has Loving), and is also called the “father of the Texas Panhandle.” He is remembered in a number of works of fiction & non-fiction, as well as the various historical monuments dedicated to his and Oliver Loving’s work.

“Some boys go up the long trail for pleasure
  But that’s where they get it most awfully wrong
  For you’ll never know the trouble they give us
  As we go drivin’ them dogies along          

“Whoopee ti yi yo, git along little dogies
  It’s your misfortune and none of my own
  Whoopie ti yi yo, git along little dogies
  You know that Wyoming will be your new home”    – Git Along, Little Dogies (traditional)

“Git Along, Little Dogies” has been recorded by numerous artists, including Bing Crosby, Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter, the Sons of the Pioneers, Pete Seeger, The Kingston Trio, Charlie Daniels, David Bromberg, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Suzy Bogguss and Nickel Creek. The song has been named one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time by members of the Western Writers of America.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_Along,_Little_Dogies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Goodnight

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Loving

https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/d_h/goodnight.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnight%E2%80%93Loving_Trail

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cattle-pioneer-oliver-loving-dies-of-gangrene

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author