Every Saturday morning I used to run across the street to my friend Ellen’s house so we could watch this show, Tombstone Territory, before we went outside to play.
Two things I remember: it had a nice theme song which I still whistle now and then, even though I can’t remember any of the stories.
But I also recall that Tombstone, in common with the multitude of TV westerns we enjoyed in the 1950s, depicted cowboys in crisp, clean clothes that always looked like they’d just been to the laundry. It wasn’t until Spaghetti Westerns came along that you saw cowboys wearing dirty clothes.
Did the Old West provide hosts of cowboy laundries up and down Main Street? And if not, why did Hollywood make it look that way?
Maybe one of you has the answer.