Stright outta Gaffney, SC to Roger Dutton's barbershop in Bammer

    Tommy Martin is a friend of mind from the 60's tennis teams write up to his kindness as a Super Trumper to publish some guest column submissions of mine in his Cherokee Chronicle. Tommy has something close to a Lewis Grizzard gift for telling hometown stories and marinating the nostalgia. In that way he marinates like Roger Dutton.

     Here is a Martin special on Guns smoke

       

    I know why the old TV series “Gunsmoke” was so popular with menfolk. I’ve told you before that I enjoy kicking back in the late afternoon and watching the Cowboy Channel. I like some of the shows better than others – I wish “The Virginian” would go back to Charlottesville or wherever he came from – but the old reliable on that network remains “Gunsmoke.” Every day at 7 p.m. get your chaps and 10-gallon hat on, partner and load up that cap pistol. As I was watching this week, I began to realize why that show was so popular with all us bubble-bellied old men laying there with potato chips and Little Debbie crumbs trickling down our chins. That show combines every single thing a man loves in life, and does it in a palatable way. Here’s what we menfolk love about Gunsmoke: · The primary female character and Matt’s heartthrob was a saloonkeeper who served as a madam on the side. You could get about anything in The Long Branch that you needed after a long day of looking at the north end of southbound cattle. · Everybody drank alcohol continuously. From the Sheriff to his deputies to Miss Kitty to the town’s only physician, they all pretty much stayed snockered all the time. And nobody cared. · They played poker 24 hours a day. Anytime a fellow wanted to tickle the pasteboards, there was always a game going on in the saloon. And apparently, nobody was married, because there was never a nagging wife that came crashing in and broke up the game. · If you got sick, stabbed, shot or came down with anything from hangover to hangnail, old Doc would take you upstairs in the magic office and you’ll be well the next day. Then you, Doc and Chester would all have a couple of snorts before you left. · You didn’t have to watch your personal hygiene too closely. If you didn’t feel like bathing or shaving for a few days (or weeks), nobody dove under the bar tables when you came in. Everybody else stunk, too. · Every business in town had a spittoon in the corner. · You could keep your ride filled up and wiped down for 50 cents a day. (Of course, it was just one horsepower.) · There were no telephones, email or other gadgets equipped with small cameras. You could get away with anything. So hey, what’s not to love about Dodge City and “Gunsmoke?” No wonder it was the number one TV show for 40 years – and still is with many of us. After all, there was only one rule – stay away from Miss Kitty. (Copyright 2010, The Cherokee Chronicle; comments and criticism to: cherokee