Why HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL star "PALADIN" dressed the way he did for the show!

The only genre that is more popular than the private eyes and televisions of the early years was the western, it is not surprising that someone soon came up with the idea of ​​combining the two, which was Sam Roth and Herb Meadow, and they acted following a tip that CBS television was in the market for a different type of cowboy, that's where they came up with Half Gun Will Travel and the multifaceted cowboy

paladin

. The original intention of the

show

was for the series to focus on the private detective. Ralph and Meadow imagined a new York City detective who every morning bought a newspaper from several cities and searched the classified ads for those who needed help, sending each of them his business card engraved with a gun,

will

travel

now, this is somewhat based on the way vaudevillians would take out ads saying "Have tux

will

travel

" and CBS says that was the inspiration for the

show

's name.

CBS producer Hunt Stromberg Jr expressed interest in the proposal, but was actually looking for something to complement his rising

star

on Gunsmoke. So Meadow and Ralph decided to transport their idea to 1870s San Francisco. The series follows the adventures of a man who called himself Paladin. He takes his name from the Knights of Charlemagne's Court and that's exactly how the writers envisioned their show as an epic. poem of the Old West and the contrast of the creators of Gunsmoke intentionally portrayed the West as a harsh and cruel history. Ralph and Meadow were searching for the west of legend.

On the surface, the elegant black-robed

paladin

was just an expensive weapon, but in reality he was a sort of problem solver and private lawyer, often sent to wild places where there was actually little to no law. He would do anything for those who truly needed it. His standard fee was $1,000. He was not a lawman like Marshal Dillon. and he doesn't represent his own interests like Lukas McCain. He is an individual motivated by profit. He is very quick to remind any potential employer that he is not a murderer, that he is a man of morals and conscience.

He prefers to solve the difficulties that his clients

have

. He is non-violent, but this rarely happens when situations call for it. He excels at fistfights. He was a dueling champion. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and is a Civil War veteran. He has permanent residence of his in Carlton. Hotel in San Francisco is an expert chess and poker player. He is an expert in Chinese martial arts. In several episodes he appears to receive instruction and training from a kung-fu master in San Francisco. He is also president of the San Francisco Stock Exchange Club at home.

He is

dressed

in the best suits on the mission, although he always wears the same armor, an all-black suit of mountain clothing, hat, boots and belt, supposedly, the story goes that it was the only suit available that fit Richard Boone, who performed the title. character when he did his screen test that black night look worked so well that the producers decided not to mess with it, the producers added silver consciousness to the hat and then added a silver piece to the case with an image of a chess night not only because the paladin was the knight of the Old West but also because the night is the most calculating and unpredictable piece on the chess board, from there they added the horse to the business card and there the image of the paladin was completed, which really differentiates him of his counterparts, Marshal Dillon. and the Lucas McCain of the rifleman or even Bret Maverick is his pure intelligence paladin is a sophisticate who likes to quote Shakespeare and others speaks several languages ​​​​and appreciates fine half-pistol cigars later became known as the thinking man's western and Think about how hard it is.

For that to be accomplished, you

have

to have the right kind of cowboy actor to play a high-IQ gunslinger and get away with it. The paladins' real name is never revealed in the television series and although remains a topic of debate among the show's biggest fans. In one of the three related books that expand on the original story there is a suggestion that his real name is Clay Alexander. His origin is not explained until the episode titled Genesis, to pay off a gambling debt, he was forced to hunt down and kill a Gunslinger named Smoke lightly, Smoke gave the character his nickname calling him a noble paladin, while Smoke The dying man revealed that he was not a criminal gunman, but had actually protected the nearby town from the man who had sent the boom.

He then assumed that he smokes a black suit and confronts the other man. who is played by actor William Conrad CBS's first choice for the role of paladin was 1950s western film icon Randolph Scott, he turned down the project and passed the script to Richard Boone Richard Boone is actually a descendant of Kentucky frontiersman Daniel Boone and in the Although he was a restless and unstable guy, he got the role and successfully overcame the challenge of carrying the entire show on his shoulders, since there was actually no cast. The only major semi-regular character on the show is the Chinese bellman at the Carlton Hotel and he is known as hey boy, his real name is Kim Chan.

Hey Boy is played by veteran film actor Kam Tong in the fourth season. hey boy is replaced by actress Lisa Liu as hey girl, while actor kam Tong was looking for a role in another television series. Half Gun Will Travel was an immediate hit, reaching number four in the ratings during its first season and rising to number three for the next three years. The show was nominated for three Emmy Awards. Richard Boone's faithful portrayal of this sophisticated paladin character actually rewarded him with more devoted female fan letters than any of his contemporary cowboy counterparts by the fifth season, although the show had lost about 1/3 of its viewers, it fell at the end. of the top 30, it was not due to the quality of the series but to Western fatigue at that time dozens of westerns were broadcast every week.

The success of Paladins was translated to another medium, which was radio. Half Gun Will Travel was an unusual series in another way. It was one of the few that first originated on television before becoming radio. program many of the radio episodes were adaptations of television scripts the radio show have gun will travel aired 106 episodes on cbs radio was one of the last radio dramas with continuing characters john diner played the paladin he was also a regular on the radio version of Gunsmoke, the radio version, also differed from Richard Boons in that he conveyed an even more refined gentleman, just as the Paladin character improved the lives of everyone around him.

Gun Will Travel is notable for its unique spin on the American cowboy, its own virtuoso programming, and its Influence, many of Half Gun's writers gained fame elsewhere. Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek. Bruce Skeller created Mission Impossible and Harry Julian believes he helped create Dirty Harry. It can be accurately said that the paladin did not leave into the sunset, but rather, he left. into the Stars thank you so much for watching guys and we will continue to chase the classics