00673 Men Wearing Hats 4 - Davy Crockett
I made this shot in 1965 or so, with my first 35mm SLR, a Kowa H. This was my last remaining Davy Crockett card - showing some fire damage at the lower left, or if my memory serves, firecracker damage - from my Fifties collection, when every kid had a coonskin cap and knew the song by heart. In those days I didn't have a macro lens, but I did have a large magnifying glass, and I held this in front of the 50mm lens to obtain closer views of all sorts of things. Scanned from the original Ektachrome-X (ISO 64) transparency.
This was the second to last card in the orange set. This precise scene wasn't in the movie or TV show; either Disney had a still photographer off to one side, or it's a still from an outtake of the live action. That's Fess Parker, of course, as Davy Crockett, and Buddy Ebson in the background, playing Davy's pal George Russell. Hans Conreid is the gambler Thimblerig, lying dead in the foreground - shot through the chest, but no blood. The other dead guys look suspiciously like mannequins. Davy appears to be missing a couple of fingers from his right hand, but how could this be? Not in a Disney family film from the fifties! Must be an optical illusion. This is about two minutes before the end of the show. George is about to be shot by Mexican soldiers and Davy will go down swinging his empty rifle. And all the five year old kids of my generation went wild over this. What a moment!
Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission.
© All rights reserved
00673 Men Wearing Hats 4 - Davy Crockett
I made this shot in 1965 or so, with my first 35mm SLR, a Kowa H. This was my last remaining Davy Crockett card - showing some fire damage at the lower left, or if my memory serves, firecracker damage - from my Fifties collection, when every kid had a coonskin cap and knew the song by heart. In those days I didn't have a macro lens, but I did have a large magnifying glass, and I held this in front of the 50mm lens to obtain closer views of all sorts of things. Scanned from the original Ektachrome-X (ISO 64) transparency.
This was the second to last card in the orange set. This precise scene wasn't in the movie or TV show; either Disney had a still photographer off to one side, or it's a still from an outtake of the live action. That's Fess Parker, of course, as Davy Crockett, and Buddy Ebson in the background, playing Davy's pal George Russell. Hans Conreid is the gambler Thimblerig, lying dead in the foreground - shot through the chest, but no blood. The other dead guys look suspiciously like mannequins. Davy appears to be missing a couple of fingers from his right hand, but how could this be? Not in a Disney family film from the fifties! Must be an optical illusion. This is about two minutes before the end of the show. George is about to be shot by Mexican soldiers and Davy will go down swinging his empty rifle. And all the five year old kids of my generation went wild over this. What a moment!
Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission.
© All rights reserved