Daniel Boone TV show historical accuracy

[sussexmuzllodr]

Was not real then and it is not real now... get a grip!

 

[BP Addict]

I was watching another episode called "50 Rifles". 50 Brown Bess Muskets were stolen and all through the show they keep referring to them as rifles; Season 2, Episode 25. In it, a man and woman are in a wagon heading for Boonesborough. A “Gentleman” steps out from behind a tree and explains that he’s been ransacked by Indians and is completely unarmed. Then asks if they’d be so kind as to give him a lift to the settlement as he knows Daniel Boone, personally. He talks the man in to lowering his weapon, then pulls a pistol from under his coat and whistles for his armed men to come out of the woods. The travelers end up being relieved of all their possessions and have to walk the rest of the way.

This is the same exact beginning and sub plot from season 1 episode 6, "Lac Duquesne". In both cases, the leader claims to know Boone but the victims discover later that they’ve since had a falling out. Both wagons are carrying 50 guns. Funny thing is, I checked and each had a different writer.

 

[BP Addict]

Was not real then and it is not real now... get a grip!

It's still some what entertaining. It sure beats the hell out of some of the manure they have on TV now!

 

[vintovka]

All i knew from age 5 thru 10 was Davy Crockett this and that. Faux coonskin hats were mandatory as were plastic flintlock pistols. The original CA Disneyland frontierlands "fort wilderness" island featured a Davy Crockett theme fort with Longrifles hooked up to speakers that would sound a "gunshot" when trigger was pulled. The displays within the fort had several ML weapons on display. Kids in full davy crockett attire (guns and all) were admitted to the park. Toy guns were sold at several places in the park. An accident with the rifles doomed the fort and not sure its still there. (see linky). Now Disneyland gates have metal detectors and other unpleasant reminders of our descent into chaos. FWIW the late Clint Walker (Cheyanne) once told me the worst thing is when folks mistook him for Fess Parker.

https://yesterland.com/fortwilderness.html

 

[Cori]

I always get a kick out of the mountainous, semi-arid geography of the show as well. Hard to hide the true shooting location of the show. Definitely not filmed in KY (or anywhere east of the Mississippi).

The show was filmed entirely in California and Utah, and looks it. You can always tell which scenes were shot on sound stages too. It's hard to describe, but although the vegetation looks fairly real the scene still somehow comes out looking fake. The sound is different as well. When an interior door is opened showing the outside you can tell the background is painted. Same on Bewitched and probably other shows of the era.

 

[Cori]

I loved it as a kid, but havent seen it in ...probably fifty years. I distinctly remember though that almost every show there was a fight resulting in someone rolling across the campfire. Poor Fess Parker....between D.Boone and Davey Crockett it must have been impossible to get any other roles being so type cast.

Yes, very dramatic and once in awhile Daniel Boone or someone else caught on fire. They must have done that on purpose and had on some fireproof material under the costume. Wouldn't be surprised if they used asbestos.

 

[Cori]

I like how in those old shows how they are able to fire multiple times without reloading.

I personally really like the "ballpoint pen" quills where they can write with barely having to dip the quill in ink.

 

[Cori]

Remember Ed Ames as Mingo? Lest we forget:

The longest recorded laugh on the Carson Show and possibly on any show to date.

 

[Cori]

wait till he gives that famous hand sign. can any one do it.? it isn't easy.

I can do the Vulcan salute without having to hold my fingers with my other hand first.

 

[Cori]

I've been watching the series myself. It was supposed to be available on Amazon Prime but apparently not in my area. I ended up ordering the DVD set off eBay. I took this same photo and was going to post it. You beat me too it!

My only complaints are it's often not formatted for my TV and there is no Closed Captioning. It's more Hollywood writing than actual events. They seem to have completely passed over his Military Service in the War for Independence. The beginning of the second season has us already being the "United States of America".

I do enjoy seeing some of the actors in their younger versions.

Oh, it's worse than that. They start near the beginning of the Revolutionary War in Season 1, and in all seasons jump back and forth between "during the Revolutionary War" to "after the Revolutionary War" like a yo-yo, anywhere from a few years to up to thirty years' difference. One episode definitely mentions Daniel participating in Revolutionary War battles though no episode actually depicts that. Daniel is shown doing various other things to aid the Revolution and in one episode he even supplies information and aid to the British which is left unexplained.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

I got the whole series for Christmas from my son. Been watching season 1 this week.

 

[snakebit]

love the stencil lettering. still a good show.

You mean they didn't have rattle cans back in them days??!!

 

[stephenprops1]

I have watched Daniel Boone since I was a kid. Overall, I still like the show for good, clean, entertainment. Back in the 1960's we only had a black & white TV. The Hollywood sets looked more realistic then. Also, many of the episodes were actually based on actual events. However, the writers took a lot of liberties and told some whopping tales. --- One of the worst ones that comes to mind is the episode about The Ferguson Rifle. Daniel and Mingo are on a mission to capture or destroy them. Although, it is mentioned that the rifle is unique, ahead of its time, and a grave threat to the Colonials, how it actually works is never discussed. Mingo, disguised as a British officer, is showing other Brit's how the gun works. All Mingo does is perform acrobatics while shooting the gun. This scene still makes me cringe.

 

[azmntman]

I got my start in this horrible addiction from this show, watched a whole summer then got a paper route and met the pressroom foreman who had just got a TC Hawking and took me out. Was HOOKED! Then a few months into winter the camera man needed Christmas Money an sold me his CVA .45 KY kit which I built. 10 Year olds don't know what cosmoline is so they leave it in the barrel. Takes 2+ hrs to fire the first time with that left in the barrel. Still hooked. Still occasionally see the Pressroom foreman and talk guns. He about out of BP and into lever guns now. Had an insanely fun childhood at the AZ Daily Sun! Married the business editor. She is SWMBO even yet. Getting wise to my ways. Felt VERY lucky to get the Renegade in without getting caught few days after Christmas!

Fess Parker! I tried for years to split a pine tree with an AX till pop seen me and warned me about gangrene and promised it could not be done.

 

[2 shots]

Did men really wear tight pants like that back then? They almost look like leotards tucked into Daniels boots.

men wore tights long before that..... ask robin hood and his crew

 

[Cori]

Daniel did not ware coonskin cap

Although it says so right in the song...every version, of which there were at least half a dozen.

 

[COTNTOP]

Always loved D Boone series and never paid much attention to possible flukes until after reading this. Last weekend at the last moment of the episode Mingo was walking up this hill singing and there was one serious jet contrail forming overhead. Would have never saw that before reading this thread, LOL

 

[Cori]

Did they ever say exactly what year(s) or time period specifically show was supposed to be happening in? It seems like that tried to fit 25-30 years of events into that little time on the frontier.That son of his (Isreal?) sure saw alot of history. They even got to meet Abraham Lincoln's parents. And what became of his daughter, Jeminah? She seems to have gotten written of the show. Was there ever an explanation on that show of what happened?

Yes, early in Season 1 (probably episode 1) it was stated that a war would break out soon. This specifically sets the year of Season 1 as 1775 and reasonably a year should be added for each season. At the beginning of the series, either the Revolution was just about to start, or it had started and word just hadn't reached Kentucky yet. Suddenly in Season 2, episode 7, "The Aaron Burr Story," they go as late as 1807. The capture of Aaron Burr occurred at Wakefield, in Mississippi Territory, now in the state of Alabama, (not Kentucky) on February 19, 1807, by Edmund P. Gaines and Nicholas Perkins III (not Daniel Boone). Besides the considerable fact twisting and time jump, the episode contains other things which did not exist in 1776 such as Federal troops. In other episodes, it is "long after the war" and George Washington is president (1789-1797), in another episode John Adams is president (1797-1801), in another Boone saves the Louisiana Purchase from the British, during which time Thomas Jefferson was president (1801-1809). 1807 is the latest I have seen them go specifically and I am well along in Season 5. Some episodes take place not long after the American Revolution, such as one in which a man who switched sides during the war returns to Boonesborough, while at least two take place during the French Revolution (1789-1799) and some mention the whiskey tax of 1791 and its repeal in 1802. During all of this, they keep skipping back to the American Revolution, meanwhile no one changes in age significantly. It goes without saying that Israel Boone continues to appear despite the real Israel having died on August 19, 1782 (ironically 175 years to the day before actor Darby Hinton's birth).

The most baffling episode is Season 5, episode 12, "Minnow for a Shark." It begins with Daniel Boone supplying some information to the British. This can only be during the Revolution, which started in Season 1. Israel's sea captain friend even mentions the British as being distinct from the Americans and the Americans' reasons for not liking them, and the king is mentioned as still being in power so the Revolution is not over. By the end of the episode, Daniel and Israel have helped the British by recovering some wealth (which would no doubt be used to finance the war) and been rewarded for it, which would make Daniel, at least, guilty of treason, even if Israel was let off due to his young age.

About Jemima: the real reason for Veronica Cartwright's departure from the series was that Patricia Blair, who played Rebecca Boone, objected to the actress playing Jemima having romantic relationships, specifically one with a young man played by Robert Logan who after Veronica Cartwright left was never seen or heard from again. Fabian appeared as a romantic rival in one episode. Blair, who felt having a daughter old enough for a boyfriend aged her, marched up to the powers that be demanding, "Either she goes or I do." Darby Hinton, who played Israel, was puzzled at the time but no one told him anything until he met up with Veronica Cartwright during the show's 50th anniversary. Daniel Boone continued referring to his "children," plural, a little ways into Season 3, though Jemima was not seen after near the end of Season 2. After that Israel was an only child. Now, in real life, Jemima Boone married at age 14 in late 1776 or early 1777, exactly the time Season 2 should have been if they weren't skipping all over the place like a yo-yo. Of course, if Patricia Blair wouldn't stand for the daughter having a boyfriend, she would certainly not stand for her being married. Jemima's departure was never explained. She was simply Chuck Cunninghamed before that term came into existence. And now you know the rest of the story.

 

[Cori]

Apparently there was a feud between Patricia Blair who played Becky and Veronica Cartwright who played Jemima. It was a "Either she goes or I go" situation. Needless to say, Blair got her way.

In reality, Jemima was captured by Indians along with other girls from the settlement. Of course, a party was sent out with Daniel leading. They rescued the girls and Jemima married one of those men. I read the story where she tells the other girls, "That's my Pa's rifle" as she hears it in the distance. She used that same line in one of the episodes.

Based on the names chiseled in the obelisk at Fort Boonesborough, Becky (Betsy) and Daniel had and raised many more children than the two on the show.

That was one of the biggest disappointments of the series, that it did not feature Daniel's daring real life rescue of Jemima and her friends. Originally, the show cast Bobby Horan as Israel Boone and Darby Hinton as the younger Nathan Boone. Sometime during the first episode, Bobby Horan was dropped. He still appears in some scenes, including the end where the Boone family is walking out together, but appears to be an unnamed friend of Israel's who was never seen again.

 

[Cori]

I asked earlier but never got a real answer. What was the supposed time period or setting of this show? It seems to hop around from 1777 to 1810 give or take a few years. Boone was borne in 1734 wasn't he?

Hi, I am coming in three years later but answered your question above.