Gunslingers

A Kodachrome slide dated July 1959. After a hard day at the Big Rocks shootout, this diminutive Dale Evans has holstered her gun and is shielding her eyes as she heads toward the sun with Buttermilk (if she had waited until evening, she could have avoided the bright light and followed the conventional Western gunslinger practice of riding off into the sunset ). See also Gunfight at Big Rocks and Holding Down the Fort .

A Kodachrome slide dated July 1959. This little gunfighter is wearing a Dale Evans cowgirl hat as she holds her toy gun and prepares to take aim at the bad guys. Perhaps she's pretending that her toy horse is Buttermilk , Dale's trusty steed on TV's The Roy Rogers Show (1951-57), and her pet collie is Lassie , the canine star of the popular and long-lasting television show (1954-73). See also Holding Down the Fort and Riding Toward the Sun .

A Kodachrome slide dated July 1959. Still grasping her toy gun, this Dale Evans wannabe--with Buttermilk and Lassie by her side--stands ready to defend Big Rocks against the bad guys. See also Gunfight at Big Rocks and Riding Toward the Sun .

A bad behavior photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

And, kids, don't go shootin' up the town and scarin' the neighbors with all your guns, cannons, and fireworks!

Now even Santa knows what it feels like to be held hostage by all the holiday advertising!

But still holding up the old holiday traditions.

"Hey kids! Look. New novelty. Thrills! Fun! Action! The Bazooka Blow Gun with approximately 10,000 rounds of ammunition. 10¢ complete."

A playing cards and board games photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A scary scene during a card game! The four young men pictured in this real photo postcard have obviously been playing all evening. One of them is holding a bottle of Tokay wine, and we can see that a tobacco pipe, playing cards, and various coins and bills are strewn across the table (mouse over the image above for a close-up view of the table ). The guy on the left with the unruly hair is staring intently at the one on the right, who has drawn a gun and seems to be trying not to laugh. The two other fellows, however, haven't even noticed the gun. Perhaps the guy with the gun is angry because he suspects that one of his friends has been cheating, or maybe he's just upset that the print hanging on the wall behind him is starting to fall down. Judging by the humorous poem that's written on the other side of this photo postcard (see below), it's doubtful that any gunplay ever took place. Instead, considering that we can see a bed on the right-hand side of the photo and a dresser piled with books on the other side, it seems likely that these lads are simply students in a dorm room or apartment posing for an amusing photo of a card game gone wrong. -------- Handwritten poem on the other side of this real photo postcard (note: "out of chine" seems to mean "out of alignment" or "out of sync" in this context): Perhaps we had a big old time And maybe it was a spree But really I don't know What actually did happen to me. I only know my poor intellect Was most awful out of chine And I longed for just one drink of--- Well it wasn't wine. L. Messersmith, Fairmont, Minn.

A real photo postcard showing some funny fellows using a fake cannon in mock combat.

There isn't any identifying information on the back of this real photo postcard, but I suspect that these ladies were related to Bonnie and Clyde .

See also a detail from this real photo postcard showing a close-up of the guns and ammunition displayed on the table (below).

See also the full version of this real photo postcard (below).

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of hold it (people holding something) . These three guys are holding guns and a baton as they pose in cowboy and police costumes. Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "Metropolitan Photo Studio, 645 Sixth Ave., N.Y." The signs in the background are difficult to read. Two of them are: "Brother Jones' Gin Mill." "We use the best chemicals in our distillery."

This could be a scene from a movie —a photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. I know it's only a novelty photo, but the guys in this real photo postcard are so elaborately outfitted—cowboy hats, revolvers, chaps, gun belts, wrist cuffs, vests, and bandanas—that I could imagine them stepping away from the cartoonish saloon backdrop and heading right onto a Western movie set. These kinds of cowboy getups must have been popular. Take a look at these fellows in Shootout at Dead Man's Gulch Saloon (below), which I previously submitted to the Theme Park as a Wild Wild West photo.