Davy Crockett (1954-1955) (TV)

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Classic TV Westerns- Davy Crockett

Information From IMDb and Wikipedia

Plot Summary
Legends (and myths) from the life of famed American frontiersman
Crockett and his friend George Russell fight in the Creek Indian War.
Then Crockett is elected to Congress and brings his rough-hewn ways
to the House of Representatives.
Finally, Crockett and Russell journey to Texas and
partake in the last stand at the Alamo.
Written by Jim Beaver

Full Cast
Fess Parker ... Davy Crockett
Buddy Ebsen ... George Russel
Basil Ruysdael ... Gen. / President Andrew Jackson
Hans Conried ... Thimblerig
William Bakewell ... Maj. Tobias Norton
Kenneth Tobey ... Col. Jim Bowie (as Ken Tobey)
Pat Hogan ... Chief Red Stick
Helene Stanley ... Polly Crockett
Nick Cravat ... Busted Luck
Don Megowan ... Col. William Travis
Mike Mazurki ... Bigfoot Mason
Jeff Thompson ... Charlie Two Shirts
Henry Joyner ... Swaney
Campbell Brown ... Bruno (Bigfoot henchman)(as Colonel Campbell Brown)

Episodes
Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter (December 15, 1954)
Crockett seeks a truce with Indians who assaulted a military outpost.
He and Russell fight in skirmishes under the command of General Andrew Jackson,
portrayed by Basil Ruysdael.
Along the way, Crockett kills a bear armed only with his knife.

Davy Crockett Goes to Congress (January 26, 1955)
Crockett, with his companion Russell, travels to Tennessee,
where he learns of the death of his wife, Polly Crockett, played by Helene Stanley.
He wins a seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives
and later the United States House of Representatives.

Davy Crockett at the Alamo (February 23, 1955)
Crockett and Russell join a gambler named Thimblerig, played by Hans Conreid,
who joins them on their trek to Texas, where they arrive to battle
Mexico's General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at the fortress, the Alamo.
Although Crockett and all the defenders perished
at the Battle of the Alamo, two other segments followed.

Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race (November 16, 1955)
Crockett and Russell are fur trapping in Kentucky when they meet Mike Fink,
known as the best boatman around and portrayed in the miniseries by Jeff York.
Fink challenged Crockett to a keelboat race to New Orleans.

Davy Crockett and the River Pirates(December 14, 1955),
Crockett and Russell team up with Fink
to catch pirates posing as Indians

Written
Norman Foster
Thomas W. Blackburn

Trivia
* This originally premiered in three parts, broadcast over several weeks, on Disney's television program "Disneyland". The three segments were each given different titles: "Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter", "Davy Crockett Goes To Congress", and "Davy Crockett at the Alamo".

* Buddy Ebsen was going to play Davy Crockett until Walt Disney saw Fess Parker in Them! (1954). When he saw Parker, he said, "That's my Davy Crockett!"

* Walt Disney said that if he had known the success that Davy Crockett was going to have he wouldn't have killed him off in the third TV episode.

* The film feature film, made form the the fitrst three episodes,
made $1 million despite the fact that over 50% of the U.S.
had already seen it on TV.

Goofs
* Anachronisms: As the camera scans across the river from where Andy Jackson is camped near the beginning of the film, a modern house can be seen for a second or two.

* Anachronisms: In his speech to the House of Representatives arguing against Jackson's expansion policies, Crockett uses the term "scalawags" twice. The term "scalawag" was not introduced until the 1840s, and was not widely used until after the Civil War, yet Crockett's speech was ostensibly between the years 1827 to 1835.

Filming Locations
Great Smoky Mountains National Park - 107 Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, USA
Janss Conejo Ranch, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
Qualla Indian Reservation, Cherokee, North Carolina, USA
The Hermitage - 4580 Rachel Lane, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
(Andrew Jackson's home, exterior and interior)
Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, California, USA

For continuity, all discussion
please post here:-
Classic TV Westerns- Davy Crockett

Davy Crockett is a five part serial which aired on ABC in one-hour episodes on the Disneyland series.
The series stars Fess Parker as real-life frontiersman Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen as his friend, George Russel.

The first three episodes of the serial were edited together as the 1955 theatrical film
Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, and rebroadcast in color in the 1960s when the Disney program went to NBC.
This series and film are known for the catchy theme song, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett".
It was filmed in color at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at the Mountain Farm Museum
adjacent to the visitor center at Oconaluftee near Qualla Reservation's entrance and Janss Conejo Ranch, California.

The final two episodes were edited together as the 1956 theatrical film
Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. It was filmed in Cave-In-Rock, Illinois.

Walt Disney Home Video released a two-film set of this miniseries on DVD September 7, 2004.

A childhood favourite, andI wonder how many of us,
went out and got a coonskin hat, I know I did!!

Here is more
Davy Crockett Triva
This could rightly be called the first mini-series of all time.
Under the Walt Disney banner, Davy captured the hearts of both young and old.
The show was also a merchandising pioneer as coonskin caps sold like hotcakes.
About 100 million dollars worth.
The idea of selling tie-ins from a show is accepted practice now but it wasn't back then!

What's curious about this is that Davy Crockett was only
a five feature Frontierland adventure which aired as part of Disneyland.

Now as any student of history knows, Davy at the Alamo kind of boxed Disney
into a corner because that's where his tale ends.
So they had to go back and make two more episodes about his earlier exploits.

Davy Crockett never got a series of his own.

Fess Parker portrayed both Davy Crockett and later Daniel Boone on TV.
Many historians feel that this caused a permanent blurring of the two real life
men into one entity forever making each less distinct.

Fess Parker now runs the Fess Parker Winery where you can buy a coonskin cap!