At 70, I'm wondering what life will be like when I grow up. I won't be playing cowboy anymore, I'm afraid. The old woman rolls her eyes at anything western.
That's why I haven't told her about the half-dozen Buck Jones oaters I purchased. Been waiting for the right moment to . . . well, to sort of spring the surprise, you know what I mean?
Buck Jones was one of the screen's first superstars..
He produced and directed many of the 200 westerns he starred in when westerns
were the biggest moneymakers. In his later years came some of his best moments
in Monogram Pictures' Rough Riders series. When he stood up to the badguys,
he didn't grab his six-shooter like other cowboy heroes, he reached for a
stick of chewing gum, pardner. That was enough to send the badguys packing.
They didn't mess with a Rough Rider when he was chewing gum.
Someone once asked
Buck why he didn't play badguys. "I don't think the little shavers would like
it," he said. He was probably right. The "little shavers," his fans, adored
him.
"So Long
Rough
Riders".
In December of '42, Buck was in Boston promoting the sale of war bonds. One night he was dining with friends at the Coconut Grove when a fire broke out. Witnesses and newspaper accounts stated that Buck was led out to safety, but went back into the burning building to help save others who were trapped. Twice he came out carrying victims who had been trapped. The third time he went back into the burning building, someone carried him out.
Colonel Tim McCoy, Buck's friend and co-star in the Rough Rider series, remembered: "He died saving others. That's what got us through our grief. Still, it was a shock losing him . A great shock.Columbia shut down for a day. nobody could work. It was like the death of a President." It was a time when heroes played a big role in people's lives and fantasies.