In our last episode we left our heroine Nell tied to the railroad tracks...... Sorry, but whenever I think about the old west (or great northwest to be more specific) I can't help thinking about Dudley Do Right and his girlfriend "Nell" from the old "Rocky and Bullwinkle" show. God that was a great time to be a kid! No computers, no cell phones, no Facebook, no Twitter, no Snapchat or any other so called social media to control your every movement. Back then you actually had to use your imagination once in a while and let your fantasies run wild. It was a time when Playboy Magazine didn't show female genitals (at least not until that Larry Flint's "Hustler Magazine" started featuring spread eagle female photos) and if a little boy kissed a little girl at school everyone thought it was cute, not sexist. Oh well every generation thinks that their childhood was less complicated and therefore better and that brings us back to our subject "Great photos in History", you say what did that other stuff have to do with great photos? Well, actually nothing but it's my Blog so I don't have to make sense if I don't want to.
Lets see now where did we leave off? Now I remember, "The Outlaws" and their photos. I suppose man and his so called civilized society have always found bad guys and outlaws romantic for some reason, maybe it's our suppressed desire to cut loose and do something really crazy or just some minor flaw in the our DNA. Whatever the reason. it's true, for example post two videos on Youtube, one showing someone feeding starving children or a cop helping someone at an accident site, then post a video of a band of bank robbers blazing away with automatic weapons as they flee the scene of their crime and see which video goes viral. Maybe it's like old Obi-Wan Kenobi said in "Star Wars" "The force can have a strong influence on the weak minded". No matter what the reason, the "Outlaw" has always been popular with the public especially when they are natural born killers like "Billy the Kid". An old photo of Billy playing Croquette of all things if properly authenticated could bring as much as five million dollars at auction.
It would seem that outlaws of the "Old West" were somehow transformed into Robin Hood characters that really weren't all bad, they were just poor misunderstood sociopaths who if you talked to nicely and gave them what they wanted could be brought be made to see the error of their ways. Gee! Sounds a bit like how we pander to modern fanatics, but that's getting off course. Without a doubt the most popular photo of an "Old West" outlaw is of Billy the Kid or as he was know "William H. Bonney" but was actually born "Henry McCarty" in that famous western town know as "New York City." This photo shows Billy with his trusty six shooter and spiffy Winchester Rifle ready to engage in a contest of skill against an opponent on the streets of old "Dodge City." In reality Billy the Kid was like so many other things a combination of part fact and a lot of fiction. While he was undoubtedly a natural born killer, he probably wasn't born that way, no doubt during his early years he was influenced by the so called Dime Novels about the gunfighters of the American West which led to his leaving New York in search of adventure. If you read his history you will find that he actually had periods where he tried to do the right thing but his past and reputation sabotaged his efforts. I suppose this is why his dastardly ways have been glossed over and he is now regarded as not too bad a fellow, hey why not run him for President, or head of the PTA.
The American public's taste for violence didn't end with the taming of the West, if anything it gained momentum after the turn of the twentieth century. Degenerate criminals like Baby Faced Nelson, John Dillinger, and Al Capone, became celebrities that the Paparazzi of the time fawned over like movie stars. But when it comes to the gold standard of criminal life styles being followed by the public none before or since could top two young Texas killers that went by the names of "Bonnie and Clyde." Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker's gang was credited with the killing of at least nine police officers and several civilians which should have demonized them in the eyes of the general public but again as was the case with the outlaws of the old west the public tended to see them as glamours figures instead of the ruthless killers they were. It would be hard to gauge what effect the pair had on future criminal figures but there is conclusive proof the the general public could be influenced by photos and Hollywood films as was the case in the 1934 Clark Gable - Claudette Colbert movie "It Happened One Night." In an undressing scene that would be considered G Rated now but was rather risque for the time Clark removed his shirt to reveal the fact that he worn no undershirt. It has been said that Gable along with union strikes and textile shortages cause a calamitouss drop in sales for the garment, which seems a bit far fetched until you look at the almost fanatical fan base that Gable had among married women. I guess the ladies thought that if they used a great deal of imagination and had their husbands stop wearing undershirts he might look a little more like "The King of Hollywood" and a little less like "The King of the Road."
One final thought on famous criminals, during Prohibition there was a particularly vicious set of criminals known as "The Purple Gang" who may own the distinction of being the most violent and ruthless of the "Roaring Twenties" mobsters. The little known fact is that the gang was led by the four Bernstein brothers, that's right The Purple Gang was made up of primarily Jewish gangsters. The point of this little anecdote is not the fact that they were Jewish (although that does give you a clue) but where they got the name for the gang, I'd really like to hear some of your thoughts on the matter.
Next time the War years change everything.
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