Hannibal Hayes and Kid Curry the two most wanted outlaws in the history of the west, and in all the trains and banks they robbed they never shot anyone.
God I loved Ben Murphy.
For no reason whatsoever that intro jumped into my mind this afternoon. I tweeted it and got some banter going with fellow fans of the cowboys. The Virginian, The High Chaparal and Alias Smith and Jones were the only westerns I ever watched.
It was nothing to do with the plot, the setting or the excitement of these programs it was all to do with the early teen hormones.
I fancied the Virginian James Drury and Trampass wasn’t half bad played by Doug McClure – I forgave him that high forehead and of course I was quite partial to Blue Boy in The High Chaparral but of course the top cowboy in my life Kid Curry aka Ben Murphy. Swoon.
I had a life size poster of Ben on my bedroom wall in a tin bath smoking a cigar. He must have been about 35 I was 12. I’m surprised my mother didn’t get the vapours. Though maybe seeing him grinning down at her from my wall as she dug through the discarded stuff trying to find the dog and any missing dinner plates and people may have warmed the cockles of her heart too.
I had gone from Donny Osmond – a truly girl like young man to a great hairy cigar smoking geezer in a flash. Enjoy this trip down memory lane. I did.
