This is a strange mash-up of a toy I saw on Ebay.
I really like the old fashioned header art showing a British bobby in London [not sure which street] with a double decker bus. Its unpunched too!
But then the toy is odd. OK, the handcuffs and whistle go well with the bobby but surely not the Marshall's star with the cowboy picture? Is it Roy Rogers?
This was on Ebay in the US. Overall I like the 60's feel of the whole thing.
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From Ed B
Las Vegas
Woodsy, Here's a flipped and cropped copy of the image you posted. I have to admit I'm having a heckuva time trying to figure out who's image this is but it's not Roy Rogers. Attached also is a photo of a Roy Rogers badge in my collection.
Ed
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From Terranova47
NYC
To my memory that cowboy face belongs to actor Dick Jones who played Dick West the partner of the RANGE RIDER played by Jock Mahoney
This TV show was on the BBC about 1954.
T.
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From Paul A.
New Zealand
I do not know if this helps with the Marshall star, but here are a few items I found on Worthpoint. Some are listed as Roy Rogers, but the photograph in your example seems to be different, and holding a revolver ?
Said to be a Roy Rogers set, but the card is not shown
Also Roy Rogers
One of these looks like your badge. Listing says Hopalong Cassidy, if so then it would be William Boyd. But is it Boyd ? The others seem to be Roy Rogers.
Different star and photo
Lone Star badge
Just not sure!
Paul Adams.
That is a neat set but it isn't Roy on the badge Woodsy. I don't know who he is (e-mail sent)
ReplyDeleteThanks Ed. Thanks for slipping the picture too. Blogged.
Deleteflipping!
DeleteThat cowboy looks like it could be Audie Murphy, a Hollywood western movie star of the 40s, 50s and into the 60s.
ReplyDeleteI thought that too Mish. He was the most decorated US soldier of WWII I think. When I looked again at the badge I saw Elvis!
DeleteI do not think that is Audie Murphy - a Medal of Honor winner in WW2, who later became a Hollywood actor. It could be a TV tie-in, or a generic photo. Any cowboy experts out there ?
ReplyDeleteAudie is getting a few mentions Paul. Terranova has sent in some pics of another actor, Dick Jones. What do you think?
DeleteYep ! (Cowboy for 'yes')
ReplyDeleteThat could indeed be Terra's Dick Jones guy.
It could be Dick Jones, but I am not sure. I did find another example of this badge on Worthpoint, along with a couple of others, which said Hopalong Cassidy - actor William Boyd. However I am not sure about Boyd either. Sorry, this is a hard one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your research Paul, all blogged here too.
DeleteDick Jones may be the best choice and it would make sense to have an image from a UK- produced Western on a toy apparently marketed in the UK. Just conjecture of course. One of the problems with identifying Western stars is that, at one point in the '50s/early '60s there were over 40! Westerns airing on American television! Consider that we only had three networks at the time (ABC, CBS, & NBC - the Dumont network went belly-up by the mid-'50s)
ReplyDeleteAmerican television was saturated with Westerns. That being said, when you skim off the maybe dozen personalities that were the most popular, you end up with a LOT of actors that never made it to Western Hall of Fame status.
Blimey! 40 Westerns on 3 Networks! That's a lot of gunslinging Ed! Great memories and fascinating stuff.
DeleteI was channel surfing and looking at some of the networks that came bundled with our TV and came across a show called "26 Men" released in 1957. It's about the Arizona Rangers ca1900. I watched a couple of episodes and it was actually pretty good. The thing is - I have no recollection of this show at all! Also, Henry Fonda starred in a TV series called "The Deputy" which I have very vague memories of and was another quick watch while channel surfing. Good grief how we were flooded with Westerns!
DeleteThe big guns during my childhood were top dog The High Chaparral and Bonanza. I also recall the Big Valley. There will have been more on in the UK, I just can't bring them to mind Ed!
DeleteEd, Range Rider was shown on the BBC, then the only UK channel, but was made in the US by the Gene Autry Studio in California. Both stars were stunt men and Rodeos Riders.
DeleteGood info - Many Thanx! I don't recall the 'Range Rider' series at all but do remember Gene Autry (another one of my favorites) and his Radio Ranch.
DeleteMany of these shows never made it to New Zealand, as TV did not arrive in NZ until 1960. There was only one channel until the mid-1970s, so there was not much space available. Broadcasting times were also limited in the early days.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 1950s Pyro produced large scale plastic kits of three cowboy figures linked to various TV Westerns - The Deputy, Rawhide, and Wyatt Earp. The Wyatt Earp figure has just been re-issued by Atlantis.
Were Gerry Anderson shows on Paul?
DeleteAll the Gerry Anderson shows from Stingray up to Space:1999 were on TV in NZ. Even the Secret Service, which did not screen widely in Britain. That is how I came to love all the Gerry Anderson shows.
ReplyDeleteWe did not have a TV set in the early days, and I watched Stingray at the home of a neighbour. We had our own set by the time Thunderbirds came on.
Westerns - there was also The Virginian, Gunsmoke, Cheyenne, F Troop, and plenty of old Western movies.
By the time Gerry Anderson hit the States I was firmly embedded in Westerns. I don't recall that we had all the series but I did enjoy the heck out of Supercar and Fireball XL5
DeleteYou have a good memory for TV shows Paul.
Deletewhich begs the question: were there any Westerns produced in the UK or were they all imported?
ReplyDeleteI don't know Ed. Can't think of any.
DeleteFour Feather Falls was a puppet western from the UK and before that a delightful combination puppet and animated Hank The Cowboy was a part of the TV programme Whirlygig on the BBC very early 50's
DeleteThere was a four-part Doctor Who story called The Gunfighters that was set in the Wild West, and there was the early Gerry Anderson puppet series Four Feather Falls - that one did not make it to NZ. There was also the film Carry On Cowboy, with Sid James as a gunslinger.
ReplyDeleteI suppose Four Feather Falls and Torchy the Battery Boy kicked off what would become the Thunderbirds craze. It's the reason I started MC! Thanks for everything Gerry. RIP.
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