Daniel Boone
 The exploits of Kentucky frontiersman Daniel Boone were the
crux of this NBC western drama series that ran for six years.
The
series starred Fess Parker as 'Dan'l' and Ed Ames as his Native
American (and Harvard educated) sidekick Mingo for all but the
last two years of the show's run.
After starring for four years as Disney's Davy Crockett
and watching the country's kids go nuts for coonskin caps, the
show's theme song and a host of other merchandise, Parker had a
tough time getting work again before he came up with portraying
the real-life Boone as a way to grab some of the frontier loot for
himself.
Never mind that the real Boone wore a black felt hat and lived
about 50 years before Crockett; Parker and company happily
sacrificed reality for ratings, creating a near-carbon copy of Crockett,
and it worked.
Parker was 6' 5" and had dark hair while Boone was 5'
10" and was a carrot top. The real Boone never encountered
Inca Indians, as his TV counterpart did. He was never introduced
as Mr. Boone from Boonesboro, Owsley County, as he was in the
show, because Boonesboro is in Madison County and Owsley didn't
even exist while he was alive.
But none of that mattered. While the lack of authenticity
resulted in the Kentucky legislature passing a resolution
condemning the show's inaccuracies - and a coalition of Indian
activist groups convincing their area affiliate not to rerun 37
episodes they deemed particularly offensive to their people - the
audience of mostly young kids didn't really know the difference
and didn't care.
Besides, even the smallest attempts at accuracy could sometimes
fall flat - literally. The set's fort, for example, was first
built using authentic wooden pegs. After it collapsed, modern-day
technology was employed and it was nailed back together.
Ed Ames, who first made his name as part of the singing Ames
Brothers, reluctantly signed onto the show because it was a steady
gig. After first cutting his acting teeth on stage in such shows
as The Crucible, The Fantasticks and Carnival
and then opposite Kirk Douglas as Chief Bromden in the play
version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the actor was
ready for some reliable pay.
"You're an actor, so you act," he explained to TV
Guide in 1968. "Work is tight and if you get a decent
part on Broadway every three years, you're lucky. Whereas you can
just keep hackin' 'em out week after week on TV. And then, of
course, you have to eat."
In line with that thinking, Ames signed a five-year contract
with the show figuring Boone would be off the air in a year.
Wrong. It was a hit and soon Ames found his TV work getting in the
way of his singing career - He had hits with such tunes as Try
to Remember and My Cup Runneth Over.
And his quarrels with Parker, who reportedly wasn't happy that
his co-star received more fan mail than he did and is said to have
actually pushed for a Mingo spin-off to get Ames off the series,
didn't make showing up for work anymore pleasant.
The executive producer was Aaron Spelling, and the theme tune
was performed by The Imperials.
TRIVIA NOTE
Ed Ames appeared on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show in
1965 to give a demonstration in tomahawk throwing. In rehearsal,
he nailed a wooden cowboy dead in the heart with every throw. But
on the air, he nailed it in the genital area.
"Everyone completely broke up laughing," Ames
recalled. "I still can't get anyone to believe I didn't miss
purposely."
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