Bat Masterson, The Writer
by I’ll bet you didn’t know the old wild west killer was a writer-
While in New York City, Masterson met up again with the Lewis brothers. Alfred Henry Lewis eventually wrote several short stories and a novel “The Sunset Trail”, about Masterson. Alfred Lewis encouraged Bat to write a series of sketches about his adventures which were published by Lewis in the magazine he edited, Human Life (circa 1907–1908). Masterson regaled his readers with stories about his days on the frontier and his gunfighter friends.
Masterson himself can reportedly be seen wearing a bowler hat in the 1897 documentary film, The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight.
Image via Wikipedia
Wyatt Earp.
Bat was the subject of films, comics and at least one television series.
Albert Dekker portrayed Masterson in the 1943 film, The Woman of the Town, based on the murder of Dora Hand, portrayed by Claire Trevor. Barry Sullivan played Miss Hand’s killer, named “King” Kennedy in the film rather than Jim Kennedy. The film suggested that there was a romantic relationship between Masterson and Dora Hand. The film’s musical score was nominated for an Oscar.
Randolph Scott played Masterson in the 1947 film Trail Street.
Bat Masterson was a U.S. television series loosely based on the historical character. William Barclay “Bat” Masterson was portrayed by actor Gene Barry, who also played a lead role in later television shows The Name of the Game and Burke’s Law, among others.
“Bat Masterson” appeared on NBC in 107 episodes from 1958 to 1961 and featured Masterson as a superbly dressed gambler, generally outfitted in a black suit and derby hat, who was more inclined to “bat” crooks over the head with his gold-knobbed cane than shoot them. The half-hour series, filmed in black and white, featured fairly literate scripts for a television western of the period. Hundreds of thousands of plastic derby hats and canes were sold as children’s toys during the show’s run. The series was partially sponsored by Sealtest.
Dell Comics also published a short-lived comic book based on the series. The first issue was published as Four Color Comics #1013, followed by Bat Masterson #2–9 (1960–62). All the issues had photographic covers. The stories were scripted by Gaylord DuBois.
Joel McCrea played Masterson in the 1959 film The Gunfight at Dodge City which depicted the famed westerner during his term of office as Ford County Sheriff.
Bat Masterson was portrayed in the movie Wyatt Earp by Tom Sizemore, as well as a number of other movies featuring characters ostensibly based upon historic figures.
The novel “Masterson,” by Richard S. Wheeler, describes a fictional trip from New York to California, where Bat meets film actor William S. Hart and visits Wyatt Earp. The trip takes place in late 1919, just before the imposition of national prohibition of alcohol. Among other amusing observations he makes is the statement that Las Vegas is just an unimportant whistle stop town–”always was, always will be.”
Maybe his best quote was his last;
“There are those who argue that everything breaks even in this old dump of a world of ours. I suppose these ginks who argue that way hold that because the rich man gets ice in the summer and the poor man gets it in the winter things are breaking even for both. Maybe so, but I’ll swear I can’t see it that way.” (These were also Masterson’s last recorded words, which were in the bit of column found on the typewriter Masterson was using before he died while typing).
Now, a new eBook has been written in which Bat is a character.
A Tough Day In The Old West
Image via Wikipedia
Bat.
Liked it
