Count me in.
Tossing my warm ‘n fuzzy beret in the ring at Linda Hill’s Jots for January.
Flinging my who’s-your-Man-Crush cap into the wide open blogosphere.
After Maggie revealed her childhood penchant for a man in a cape mouse in lycra and Joey responded with a fondness for Inspector Clouseau a frog in a trench coat, my musing mind went into overdrive. Not only do I have a slew of Man Crushes (serially monogamous, of course), but I’ve got a love-letter-list of Female Crushes.
* sound of frenzied scribbles in ‘future posts’ notebook *
My first male crush wore a coon-skin hat and deerskin leggings; carried a rifle; and steel-trapped my heart. In 1954 Fess Parker, playing the role of Davy Crockett, roamed the black-and-white-tv hills of Tenneesee while I – an impressionable 3-year-old – hung on his every backwoods adventure.
photo credit: tvacres.com
As true heroes do, Fess/Davy saved my life. Or rather brought me back to life.
Remember those days when small town parks consisted of bare dirt, a one-room log cabin, a slide, a merry-go-round and a picnic table? The slide and merry-go-round made of metal that blistered so hot in the July sun, it burned your skin? The picnic table of wood so rough you’d go home from craft day with a sliver or two in your hand, elbow or bottom?
photo credit: loganwv.us
The good old days.
When slides were simple constructs of steep steps with skinny handrails and a top landing so narrow, you barely sat before beginning your downward skid.
One day, like any seasoned three-year-old slide fanatic, I wanted more speed. Squatting on the top landing, I reared back to give myself a big push-off; accidentally let go of the handrails; and tumbled back down those unforgiving metal stairs, knocking myself out by the time I hit the ground.
Mom rushed across the street from her parked car; scooped me up; raced home to lay me on the couch and call Dr. Vastine. “Wait and watch” he advised. “If she’s not awake in two hours, call me back.”
Moms in the ‘50s didn’t ‘wait and watch’. They had chores to do!
Mom was scrubbing pots in the kitchen when she heard familiar offkey singing from the living room: “Davy. Davy Crockett. King of the Wild Frontier…”
To this day she tells me, “That’s when I knew you’d be all right.”
I have forgotten a lot of things about my early years, but Fess/Davy and his signature song will be part of me all the way to Heaven.
bemuzin 
Comments on: "King of the Wild Frontier … Man Crush #1" (64)
I had mentioned to Joey on her post that my first crush was Parker Stevenson, but now that you mention westerns, I’m transported back even farther to when my brother and I used to watch the old spaghetti westerns. Oh, how I loved Trinity. Those blue, blue Italian eyes. Thanks for sparking the memory in me. It’s quite pleasant. 😉
(And in case you need convincing… http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpeppermintkisskiss.com%2Ftrinity1.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fcinebeats.wordpress.com%2F2007%2F09%2F05%2Fdvd-of-the-week-they-call-me-trinity%2F&h=330&w=500&tbnid=Ca7h2K7TuQH-pM%3A&zoom=1&docid=jGpjUR_xj89-BM&ei=Fy2wVJxnk6fIBJffgMAI&tbm=isch&ved=0CEMQMygYMBg&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=585&page=2&start=15&ndsp=24)
OMG I forgot all about Trinity !! Is that Clint Eastwood? Is that his name in Rawhide or was he in another show? Now I want him for my Bad Boy Crush and Fess/Davey for my Good Boy Crush.
I saw your mention of Parker Stevenson at Joey’s and thought “oosh I’d be robbing the cradle with him!”
Love how we can stimulate each other to delve deeper into memories. Especially when hunky men are being delved!!
No, Trinity was played by Terrence Hill. He first showed up in a Henry Fonda film, then they spun him off into his own series of movies. A wise choice, in my opinion. 😉
I think I was sheltered from that … stallion. Definitely deserves some digging on Facebook. Thanks for the heart thump 🙂
OK, I googled Terrence Hill and Trinity, and I definitely missed his whole career!! When you first sent your comment, I thought Trinity was the Clint Eastwood character in Rawhide, but I think he was named Rowdy.
Anyway, I find Terrence is actually Mario Giotti, originally from Venice. Wikipedia has a photo of him at age 75. While he doesn’t look like that young cowhand, he still has those piercing blue eyes.
You have good taste, Carrie 🙂
🙂
OMG! I totally remember Terrence Hll as Trinity!!! ❤ Love at first sight!
Wasn’t it though? Ooh la la. 🙂
aah, ace post! He was lovely, I love thinking about all those old crushes. Apparently I loved Tony Curtis from old movies and then burst into tears when I saw him as a much older man on a chat show…..lol 😉 Got some girl crushes too!
LOL on your sad realization about Tony aging. Fantasy crushes just shouldn’t do that!!
Look forward to hearing your female crushes 🙂
lol, female crushes?! As a kid it was mostly Marie Osmond. Even now I’m saving for a trip to Vegas to see her…….hee hee x
😋
Oh, he’s such a handsome hero! 🙂 Glad he was there for you after your terrible fall. Thanks very much for joining in! 😀
Thank YOU, Linda. Was it just thelack of 24/7 exposure or were actor types – men and women better behaved back then?
Whatever, Fess was a true gentleman, and from what I read Davy Crockett was quite an accomplished citizen himself.
It’s really hard to say – I’d like to think they were better behaved though. 🙂
Oh my word, yes to Fess! As kids, we had a coon-skin hat prop and took turns being Davy Crockett. As I recall, I, being the eldest, took more than the fair share of turns.
Moms and MD’s of the 50’s on both sides of the border followed the same routine, it seems. When I fell from the balcony, I was carried to the living room couch, mom called the doctor and after a brief consultation, I was deemed AOK and well enough to join the crowd at the drive-in theater that night. Where we watched “The Three Lives of Thomasina.” Talk about irony.
LOL The Three Lives of Maggasina.
When I wrote that part about Mom running over from her parked car, I thought, “yeesh, someone’s going to point out how neglectful she was that she wasn’t on the slide steps with me.” Moms didn’t do that back then. Accidents happened and we (mostly) recovered (but falling from the balcony??).
Plus there was no hospital, ER or Urgent Care in town. You just called the town doc!
If you ever dig out a coonskin cap photo, would love to see it.
This was right around the time that housecalls were being phased out, but there was still an MD at the other end of the phone 24/7. An actual live medical professional and no lineups at call centers or nothing.
I’m beginning to sound like an old fart.
You know, I think there is a photo somewhere – with my younger brother sporting the cap. I’ll have to search for it!
Maggie, writing tjis one got me thinking about several ‘way back then’ specifics that I’d forgotten. We can’t post too often about them or we’ll lose ‘the youngsters’ among our readers, but it IS fun to reminisce.
It’s a great story, Sammy, but I could never go for a man in a hat like that 🙂
LOL – not even in the 1950s??
Never!!! 🙂 🙂
I’m so glad this prompt is spreading! Great post!
Joey – it was a fun one to write. Hope some others do the same. Thanks for taking Maggie’s to the next level!
She’s a trendsetter! OMG Sammy! We’re trendy! 😛
I’m all a-twitter !!! Although I don’t tweet 🙂 You nut.
Fess Parker! I was in love with Daniel Boone! I once met Darby Hinton, the kid on Daniel Boone, and he said Fess truly was lovely.
Ooh, you got the whole Six Degrees thing working for you!! I’m sure I watched Fess in Daniel Boone, but Davy is who’s etched in my memory bank – probably because of the song.
Great post. I was a little bit behind you, and it wasn’t a crush, but I had the cap and a replica toy rifle and I think I had a Halloween costume one year. I don’t recall attracting any women. Wanting to appear more dapper, I switched costumes to Bat Masterson which included the cane and the vest. Back in the days before “business casual” I still preferred a 3-pc suit.
LOL on the not attracting any women! As I was writing this, I did have a moment when the thought of a ratty coonskin hat, blood-stained deer skin leggings and the whole never bathing thing gave me pause. But that’s reality. Crushes belong in fantasyland.
Bat Masterson was indeed a dapper gent. I can just see you in your spiffy vest. Sadly you make no mention of a better result with the ladies. 😊
I was still pretty young, not interested in the ladies. That said, I didn’t have much luck with those early 3-pc suits either.
I was horrified reading through the slide story! … especially the part about “call me in 2 hours is she’s not awake” … the ‘good-old-days’ weren’t always so good!
I don’t know, Joanne. In some ways I liked the less complicated ways of the past – we all seemed to live through our bumps and bruises without the overhang of lawsuits that seems to influence so much of our lives today. I guess there are pros and cons for every generation.
It’s the part about a child knocked unconscious … I’d be pretty alarmed.
… but I would have to agree with you on some of the other stuff that happens today.
I agree. We didn’t know as much about the effects of concussions back then. That was only one of several for me as a child AND active adult, so I wonder whether that will hasten some brain problems in the coming years. But it is, what it is. I will do what I can to keep synapses firing.
Great post, Sammy. I can still sing that theme song, too. “Born on a mountain top in Tennessee….”
An all-time favorite for sure! Have a great weekend, Lori!
You, too!
Now that I think about it, I can remember the Daniel Boone song, too — “Daniel Boone was a man, was a big man, and he fought for America to make all Americans free.” Or something like that.
I don’t know that one. I’ll see if it’s on youtube!
Hah what a great story and you brought all my childhood memories back thank you. Wow that was dangerous what you did those stairs are lethal. I remember burnt bottoms from the slide for sure. This was good to wake up to on a sat am thank you and so lovely to know you a bit more zxx
Thank you, Justine. We had lots of bumps snd bruises as kids, eh? But that’s part of living 😊
I appreciate your cincern – now that all the ‘rush’ of year end stuff is behind us, my days are more enjoyable. How about you?
ah yes I am slowing down a bit, who am i kidding im not slowing down, actually having the kids here made me slow down more than usual. Missing them not being at hoome, time seems to fly, one term after the other x
Had to see what you wrote today, yes my first crush was “Shawn Cassidy” and the Bionic Man. LOL
😊. It’s been fun to see the variety of boy/man/bionic/cartoon character crushes. We’re quite an eclectic group 😊. Thanks for visiting!
I knew next-to-nothing about the U.S. and even less about Davy Crockett, but my mother used to sing this to me, so I knew it as a child (along with a comically irreverent song which went “The Yellow Rose of Texas and the man from Laramie/Invited Davy Crockett to have a cup of tea/The tea was so delicious, they had another cup/And left poor Davy Crockett to do the washing up!). I can see why the young you’d have a crush on this guy.
What a story about the slide! Docs were more laissez-faire in those days, I guess. You were out cold and he said, call me if she’s still unconscious in two hours? I can just imagine your mother’s relief as she heard your little voice from the living room. Perhaps we have your hero to thank for your recovery.
Josna – that is quite a ditty from your Mother. I will enjoy singing it to my Mom during our weekly phone call.thanks for sharing it!
I think the doctor was using prevailing medical protocol at the time; it was the 1950s after all. My town had only a couple doctors; no ER, hospital or Urgent Care which was also typical for that era.
What a story, Sammy — and I well remember those “merry-go-rounds” (terrifying-go-rounds, more like). My middle son was such a fan of Fess in the Disney Davy Crockett movies that his birthday gift one year was a coonskin cap and buckskin suit like Davy’s. Fun post (scary childhood incident).
Sandi – I was a little terrified of those merry-go-rounds, too!
So sweet about your son 😋 Fess was like Andy Griffith – a gentleman in the show AND in real life!
Happy New Year, Sammy! 🙂 That must have been a frightening experience. Glad to know you came out of it in time to watch your favourite show. I vaguely remember that one. Fess Parker certainly was handsome! My first crush was on an actor named Jock Mahoney, who starred in a show called “Yancy Derringer” (late 50s), about a riverboat gambler. This “JotForJan” idea sounds like fun. Will definitely check it out. Thanks.
Happy New Year to you, Debbie! Hope your hiatus was enjoyable. I never heard of Jock or Yancy Derringer – another missed crush opportunity 🙂
It was a short-lived series. Hiatus is over now and I hope to be making the rounds more regularly. Always enjoy stopping here. 🙂 Cheers!
Wow, Sammy, this had me on the edge of my seat. Glad it all came out okay for you in the end. 🙂 He sure was a looker. First crush for me? So many, but mostly staying with the singers, like Elvis and such. Anyone tall, with that ‘come here’ look in his eyes. 🙂 Okay, I agree, that describes more than half the entertaining-industry population. Also, singers from the Euro-pop zone, like Julio Iglesias (Spaniard) the father of the current heartthrob, Enrique Iglesias.
You sound a little crush crazy. I bet you had a little ‘come here’ look of your own 💥💥💋
Since the comments are closed on your new post, I thought I’d pop over here to let you know I love the concept of ‘Envisions’! Lovely way to consider tackling things without having any expectations.
I can’t figure out why comments are closed! Still working on that. Thanks, Carrie !!
Check your post in draft form. Underneath the editing pane there are two boxes: one says ‘allow comments’ the other says ‘allow pingbacks.’ Maybe these got unchecked. Hope that helps!
Yup! That’s what happened! It’s never easy being a best selling writer. LOL
Oh, good, glad you found the problem. 🙂
Thanks for your help😎
Loved this, Sammy. And mine was Ralph Macchio 🙂
Ok, he’s the third man crush whose name I don’t recognize. I must have been so devoted to Davey that my eyes never strayed 😊
He played The Karate Kid and looks almost exactly the same 31 years later.
Oh, thanks! I’ll google him. Loved the messages in the Karate movies.