Old West and the United Kingdom

[Rickman Fish]

I have recently been surprised by the numbers of people, the authenticity in costuming, and in Old West towns, when I was introduced to an Old West Forum based in the UK.

This may be old news to some of you but it is new to me.

Check out this forum, I find it amazing and very interesting and the people on the forum are great.

The Shootists

 

Dusless trails,

Fish

Old West Actors For Hire

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

Depends on where you were & your circumstances.  My paternal grandmother (1873-1952) who lived with us from 1942 until her death, grew up on a large cotton farm in Travis County, Texas, near the town of Manor (the Manor city park, Jenny Lane Park, is named for my great grandmother).  According to what my grandmother told me--Austin didn't get a TV station until about '52, so I grew up on her stories--the men & women bathed separately.  The men bathed first, then the tub was emptied by her father & brothers. It was rinsed out, refilled, & then her mother, she, & her sisters got to bathe in order of age.  Since the girls stayed a lot cleaner than the boys anyway, her having to bathe 4th of the 5 females wasn't all that bad.  'The baby'--there were a lot of 'babies'--while still an infant, was bathed in a washpan by her mother.  There were 7 children who lived to adulthood in the family, 3 sons & 4 daughters.  At least 3 others died, either in infancy or as small children.  Yes, the family was fairly affluent--my great grandfather & his sons farmed about 4,000 acres of cotton.

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

I'll add this.  My parents & I didn't move to our Williamson County ranch until Dad retired in '60.  Because he worked for the city of Austin, we had to maintain a residence in Austin.  We built a house on the ranch, but while we were building it we 'lived' in a 1-room shack Dad & I built on an existing concrete slab.  No plumbing but we did have electricity.  Mom cooked on a wood stove or outside.  The 'bathroom' was a tin enclosure over a limestone sinkhole.  The 'bathtub' was a #2 washtub in front of the stove.  Since I had a girlfriend in Georgetown, the county seat, I'd usually take her to the 'teen canteen' dances on Saturday night.  I'd bring 'town clothes' with me from Austin & hang them up in a drycleaners' plastic cover.  I'd take my bath in the washtub if it was cool outside.  Otherwise I stood on a wooden pallet under the overhead water tank & 'showered' in the icy water of the tank.  Other than the electricity, we pretty much lived a 19th Century life on the ranch for several years--every weekend & most holidays.  And yes, it is hard to stay clean that way--especially when it's 100+ outside & you're having to work cattle, sheep, or goats horseback in mesquite brush.  You wear leather chaps, jeans, a long-sleeved shirt (usually blue chambray, which we called Washington Blue) a denim brush jacket--&, if you don't want your hands ripped apart on the mesquites & chaparral (young live-oaks are called 'chaparral' & those things have thorns, too) a pair of White Mule gauntlet gloves.  When you unsaddle your horse you & he smell a lot alike.  If you're going to the dance Saturday night you need to clean up in a hurry, because if the sun's not already down it's going down fast, & I was 12 miles from my girl's house.

[Rickman Fish]

Thank you for taking the time to share these stories. You and these episodes have confirmed what common sense has led me to believe. You have a distintively colorful writing style that adds greatly to what you are saying.

 

Old West Actors For Hire

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

I have a friend--pen-pal--who does at least 'gunfight' shows in Britain.  He goes by Tom Horn.  His wife, who works with him, goes by Belle.  Do you know of him?

[anthony martin]

Howdy folks,

    I'm happy as a woodpecker in a lumberyard since I joined this forum!Many years ago I was in England looking up friends and relatives and touching bases with other English Civil War re enactment enthusiasts.My friends Geordie and Nigel introduced me to a then comparative handful of old west folks there and I was very impressed with their approach even in its nascent stages and can only imagine the great leaps and bounds the hobby has made there since!That was in the 80's and I haven't been back since my last visit in the mid 90's.In the span of a little over 10 years the changes were most impressive!My background is strong in art,history,theatre,antiquing and, of course my then and current period tailoring business.I just wish more of my male American pals were more detail oriented and less inclined to wearing 80% accurate attire!Idon't fault them at all as the real problem stems from the clothing manufacturers who insist on promulgating shortcut tailoring and producing a line of somewhat correct clone attire.Invariably at an event someone will walk up to me and tell me that folks didn't wear that or ask if I can show them my source material.I good naturedly reply that it comes from dozens of books on my shelf,hundreds of old photos I've collected and a large pile of 19th century catalogues and tailor's sample books I own.The boys are always amazed by the fabric samples-textures,colors and patterns.My favorite comment came from someone who said that some of the samples looked like 1970's suiting!In general we are still hampered by Hollywood costumer's old west style.It is a great deal better than formerly though!The 70's were rather lonely times and the clothing was rather make do.The Euros do it right,particularly the English and Germans.About two or three times a year Ireceive a costuming comission from England or Germany but occassionally from France and the Scandanavian folks.It is a great hobby with room for people at all levels of interest and commitment to autheticity but I'm especially pleased with folks who are as detail obsessive as I am.I'd really like to see a real round robin discussion of costuming,particularly men's clothing with lots of great photos.To paraphrase Eddie Rickenbacker,"I'll throw my hat into the ring"and frock coats as well!Carry on old westing!My best to you all.

[BERNARD JEFFERY]

Here is a film from last weekend  at Laredo western club in the UK. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeIkfKrtD4A

[Rickman Fish]

Awesome! Well done visually and great sound and music.

[BERNARD JEFFERY]

Just to show everyone that it doesn't rain all the time in England here is the Laredo Summer Fayre filmed at the Beginning of July    http://youtu.be/DjPmLUjatvo

[Rickman Fish]

Very good! I really enjoyed it. Goffredo Pictures did a great job at filming an editing.

One question that comes to mind after seeing everyone's fine portrayal of characters; is there a reason why there seems to be no one portraying saloon girl activity?

 

Thank you for sharing

Fish

www.oldwestactors.com

[anthony martin]

 This was an impressive video.The town looks right,costuming is spot on and one can see that a good time was had by all.The only problem I had was with the spelling of "fayre" which looks a bit oddly archaic in a 19th century American context as one almost expects to see King Charles II progressing down the dusty street looking to latch onto one of those saloon girls you were wondering about!All in all a terrific video though!

 

[Morgan]

Bernard, I enjoyed both videos. It's nice to see an array of characters dressed in costuming befitting a "living Town". The buildings and sets are magnificent (jealous we don't have something equal to that here in the states).  

It seams most of the groups stateside get stuck in a rut - the more shooting the better. However to see your groups participating in life in an 1880's is marvelous.

Morgan

[anthony martin]

Morgan,

   You're dead on about how good the town looks!I'm always a little dismayed when I see some of the efforts out here that look more like dinner theatre sets .I've seen better H O  model railroad buildings than some of our stuff and it is nice to see more folks just being regular period people instead of all the black powder all over the place!