Daniel Boone (1964 TV series)
Daniel Boone was a TV show that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. The title role was played by Fess Parker; Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's American Indian friend, for the first five seasons of the series. Albert Salmi portrayed Boone sidekick Yadkin in season one only.
Daniel Boone was one of two iconic historical figures played by Fess Parker. He previously appeared as Davy Crockett in a series of episodes of the Disney anthology television series, to considerable acclaim. For his role as Boone, which lasted far longer but had arguably less impact, Parker again wore a raccoon hide coonskin cap, which had been popularized years earlier by the Crockett shows. Daniel Boone's headgear was even mentioned in the show's theme song: "From the coonskin cap on the top of ol' Dan...."[1] although the real life Daniel Boone did not actually wear a coonskin cap. However, Parker's Boone was less of an explorer and much more a family man than Crockett. Boone's wife and children were strongly featured in the stories, which mostly centered on Boone's having adventures in and around Boonesborough, Kentucky. The series was set in the 1770s, just before and during the American Revolution. The setting is consistent with historical fact, insofar as Boone arrived there in 1775.[2] Other aspects of the show were less historically faithful, which at one point led the Kentucky legislature to condemn the inaccuracies.[3]
The character Mingo was half-Cherokee and highly educated, somewhat in the Tonto mold but with updated sensibilities and without the broken English. (A graduate of Oxford University, Mingo passed as a British officer in at least one episode, and sang opera in another.) Singer Ed Ames' role as Mingo led to an infamous tomahawk-throwing demonstration on The Tonight Show that was rerun on anniversary clip shows for decades afterward.
Another television treatment of the life of Daniel Boone appeared on the Disney anthology series in 1960, with Dewey Martin starring as Boone. This four part series did not have remotely the same impact as the Crockett shows. Unsurprisingly, Fess Parker's Daniel Boone is much better remembered today than Martin's.
DVD info
Two boxed sets of Daniel Boone starring Fess Parker are scheduled for DVD release on September 26, 2006—interestingly, a full 186 years to the day of the American pioneer and hunter's death.
External links
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