LB Loves A Parade! :)

Special programming note:

We interrupt the Mounted Police Rodeo Parade in Palm Springs in order to present another parade! :)

Last weekend, the Bartistamobile and I took a road trip so I could watch the 30th annual Horse Drawn Carriage Parade in historic Lebanon, Ohio. If there's anything I love almost as much as Jack Kelly, it's horses! And, there were plenty in this parade, which exclusively features equines pulling carriages--no mounted riders, marching bands, or motorized vehicles are permitted.

This parade was so wonderful I wanted to share some of the photos I took with you. Also, there was a surprise guest at the end of the parade you might recognize...;> 

Barbra Streisand sang a song in Funny Girl titled "Don't Rain On My Parade". Well, it rained on this parade. In fact, it was raining so hard before the parade that the start time was pushed back an hour. 

Luckily, the rain let up long enough for the carriages to begin rolling:

"On Dobbin, on Dixon!"--Santa swapped

his eight tiny reindeer for two large horses. That's the famous Golden Lamb Inn (est. 1803) in the background.

The tag says "13" but I was lucky

to see this beautiful Appaloosa.

This lovely carriage full of Santa's helpers

was pulled by a majestic black drafter.

More black drafters and an antique wagon

which proves grocery delivery is nothing new. 

A small but sturdy Norwegian

Fjord Horse pulled this cart.

A mighty miniature horse pulls

a portable gingerbread house

which almost looks good enough to eat! :)

Here comes an authentic Wells Fargo stagecoach!

A closer look at that magnificent team...

...and a side view of the stage.

A somewhat smaller stage

pulled by a pair of antlered mini-horses.

I wondered why these folks (and even their pony) were dressed as sharks in a holiday parade. I thought maybe it seemed apropos because of the wet weather. I later mentioned it to someone in the know (e.g. with young children) and they said it probably had to do with a certain song about a baby shark--which I will not link to here to spare you from having it stuck in your head for the next decade or so. :> 

No need to wonder why these beautiful Percheron drafters were in the parade.

 

I love this pretty pinto!

This fantastic vintage fire pumper

was led by a team of four drafters.

I thought that was the end of the parade,

but then this guy showed up--asleep at the reins!

He suddenly woke up and

I could have sworn it was...nah, it couldn't be!

(Could it?) ;> 

Before I could get a closer look, it started pouring buckets again and the parade was truly over.

There's also a nighttime version of this parade where the carriages are lit up. I thought about going to it that evening. Unfortunately, though, the rain continued with a vengeance and brought thunder and lightning along with it. Well, maybe next year!

 I hope you enjoyed seeing these wonderful horses and carriages as much as I did. Please stay tuned for more fun with JK in TDS! :)

What's Up, Doc Holliday? :)

Howdy!

A number of TV westerns wove historical personages into fictional plots. For instance, Paladin of Have Gun--Will Travel swapped epigrams with Oscar Wilde; the Cartwrights of Bonanza encountered Mark Twain and Charles Dickens; Secret Service agents Jim West and Artemus Gordon reported to President Ulysses S. Grant on The Wild Wild West.

Even Maverick got into the act. Real-life westerners John Wesley Hardin and Wyatt Earp appeared fleetingly, but John Henry "Doc" Holliday made several appearances, first played by Gerald Mohr and then most memorably by Peter Breck, who guest-starred opposite Jack Kelly's Bart Maverick in six episodes as the consumptive dentist turned gambling gunfighter. 

Breck's Holliday is a darkly comic figure who gets his "friend" Bart into some hair-raising situations. In the excellent "Triple Indemnity" episode, Bart comes this close to being done in by Doc, who's mixed up in an unsavory insurance scheme. Bart is spared at the last second, but Doc wasn't really trying to kill him--right? (Bart, and the viewer, are left to wonder.)

Below are some photos of this odd couple from the Kellection. I found the two behind-the-scenes stills in, of all places, a Goodwill store not far from my home, which just goes to show you never know where JK will pop up. Enjoy! :)

I love this still, taken during the filming of "Triple Indemnity".

Dig the extras and crew members in sunglasses!

 

A screen cap from the scene shown being filmed in the still above.
 

A great candid still from "A Technical Error". I thought this was a regular scene shot until I noticed the cigarette in JK's right hand. (Actor Stephen Coit is on the left side of the sign.)

 

Screen cap from this hilarious episode

 

BONUS PHOTO! No Doc Holliday here, but this marvelous pic is from "The Maverick Report", an episode in which he appeared. That's lovely Jo Morrow with JK. I'd searched for this pic for some time and was recently able to add it to the Kellection. I first saw this image in a 1962 Cleveland Press TV log purchased several years ago (note the painted out background):

 

 

It's a pity JK and PB didn't get to do more episodes as Bart and Doc before Maverick ended in 1962. But, a few years later, a very different version of Doc Holliday appeared in an episode of The High Chapparal--played by Jack Kelly! :)