Talk:Have Gun – Will Travel
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editThis article should link to Gene Roddenberry as Gene Roddenberry worked on Have Gun, Will Travel as a writer, winning a Writer's Guild Award.
- It now does. Wakedream (talk) 07:35, 5 January 2008 (UTC)
radio show?
editWasn't there an earlier radio show that preceeded the television show? I think I've read that there was one in the late 40s or early 50s. I'll try to research it.... Hayford Peirce 16:17, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
The radio show came after the tv show, but should be included. I'll add it. Rick Norwood 20:30, 7 September 2005 (UTC)
Did the actors look better on the radio?John Paul Parks (talk) 01:41, 21 August 2013 (UTC)
article title
editThe name of the program was "Have Gun — Will Travel" with a dash rather than a comma. Is there a problem with using a dash in a title?
- Not any more as of a few months ago, when Mediawiki 1.5 was introduced. I have moved the article title. -- Curps 17:19, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
Rifled barrel in a pistol!? Big Deal
editDid the series really make a big deal of a six-shooter with a rifled barrel?? All six-shooters had rifled barrels. To find pistols *without* rifled barrels you have to go way back to early single shot muzzle-loaders. Perhaps the writer means that the pistol had a screw-on RIFLE-length barrel (ie, an extra long interchangable barrel) Sbharris 23:41, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
- No, I do not remember any mention of a pistol with a rifled barrel, only of a "hand crafted" pistol. Rick Norwood 12:55, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
- Sbharris is right. Nearly all pistols manufactured after the Mexican-American War had rifled barrels, and all handguns manufactured during and after the Civil War were rifled. The only way to have a non-rifled pistol was to have it custom made, but since rifling made the weapon more accurate, why would anyone want to? If mention was made of his pistols' rifled barrels (and Rick Norwood doesn't remember any such mention) perhaps it meant to refer to some new form of precision rifling. That might indicate Paladin's guns were a cut above the norm in terms of accuracy and craftsmanship, but I'm supposing without benefit of facts. 12.22.250.4 20:51, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
- In the first episode, Paladin shows his custom revolver to someone or other and says, "Notice the rifled barrel, a rarity in a hand weapon." (With an unrifled handgun you'd be lucky to hit anything unless at very short range, as I said in my blog upon seeing that episode.) It's not mentioned in the next twelve episodes. —Tamfang 00:36, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
- Paladin may well have said "rifled barrel" in the first episode. However, it's also possible he said "rifle barrel." His pistol did have an unusually long barrel, which I believe would tend to increase its accuracy (I'm not even close to being an expert on firearms). I'll check it out, unless someone else beats me to the draw. Wakedream (talk) 19:19, 9 February 2008 (UTC)
What he says - indeed in the pilot episode, in the only mention of such that I recall, and while pointing the weapon at his potential client's eyes - is that if you look closely into the barrel "you can see the lines of rifling - that's a rarity in a hand weapon." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.50.155.194 (talk) 05:35, 17 November 2010 (UTC)
- Well, if he says that, he genuinely screwed up (the writers screwed up). I vaguely remembering my gunsmith father fulminating mercurially ;) about that very Paladin error, in the early 60's. Rifled barrels go back to 1540. I don't know about first rifled pistol, but there were some rifled flintlock pistols, so they must go back to before 1800. In any case, the "Old West" Colt revolvers made famous by the Peacemaker (1873) and even the Smith and Wesson revolvers that go back before the Civil War, all had rifled barrels. The idea that this was "rare in a hand weapon" was pure nonsense. It would have been rare to find a smoothbore, and basically impossible to find a commercial revolver that was smoothbore. SBHarris 08:28, 17 November 2010 (UTC)
Guess I should have said yesterday, so there wouldn't be an "if," that I watched that piece of the episode on Netflix Instant just before that post. Several times, to make sure what I wrote in quotes are, in fact, exact quotes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.50.155.194 (talk) 03:08, 18 November 2010 (UTC)
- It's not news that television writers don't always know what they're talking about. In this case, a writer decided to "wing it" instead of doing research, and thought a rifled handgun sounded unique when it was in fact common. I recall dialogue from similar genre shows of the period, one in which the hero claims he could tell by the weight difference that the villain had removed the firing pins from his pistols to give him an unfair disadvantage in a fight. Anyone who knows anything knows that a firing pin is very small, and one would need truly superhuman senses to detect such a weight difference. It's all in the same category as accurate fan firing and firing 12 shots from a six shooter without reloading: stupid to people who know better, yet Hollywood continues to get paid for it. The HGWT episode did indeed indicate that Paladin's revolver was somehow special because of its rifled barrel, and that should remain in the article despite the obvious error, along with a sourced statement explaining the inaccuracy. The fact that the rifled barrel was never mentioned after the first episode should be taken as the embarrassed silence of the show's producers. 67.162.236.230 (talk) 21:26, 28 February 2013 (UTC)
Hey Boy?
editThe article's header section cites the character both as "known only as Hey Boy" and then also gives his real name. I believe this needs to reconciled. TheHYPO 01:03, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
Also, I think that paragraph needs to be looked at for POV. As it reads now, it suggests that calling Hey Boy "Hey Boy" is an example of cultural insensitivity out of character for cosmopolitan Paladin. However, the fact that Hey Boy tells another character to call him "Hey Boy" instead of his real name makes this a very unsafe assumption -- maybe Hey Boy told Paladin to call him that too! I would try to fix this myself, but I have yet to see the episode where Hey Boy's real name of Kim Chang is revealed. -- Antaeus Feldspar 00:27, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
As well, is it factual that this was culturally insenstive at the time? Sure it's considered insensitive now, but at the time it's taking place (and/or at the time it was filmed) would this have been considered insensitive? I'm not even sure what it means or why it's insensitive? Is it a known racial term or something? I've never heard of it outside of this show... TheHYPO 21:40, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
Well, that's sort of my field, so I'll try to answer. I recently watched a DVD of the episode, mentioned in the article, in which Paladin enters the Chinese American community of the time to help his friend "Hey Boy," and "Hey Boy" for once drops his servile playacting, revealing himself as a man of respect in that community. A fine episode. It made clear that Paladin always took Hey Boy's exaggerated deferentiality as a joke on the white world; which it was. GJ Leonard, SFSU, Editor in Chief, The Asian Pacific American Heritage: a Companion to Literature and Arts (Routledge.) Profhum (talk) 05:28, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
movie version
editwhat should we do regarding the movie version, starring eminem? hope its named differently and can be a seperate article with a link back? --andrew 22:26, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
- As of now, the possible movie starring Eminem has been added, as has the now abandoned proposal to make a movie starring John Travolta. If the Eminem movie is actually made, it will likely need its own article. Wakedream (talk) 07:39, 5 January 2008 (UTC)
I think any reference to the movie with Eminem should be excluded as he will be a disgrace to the memory of the show.
- What you feel isn't really important. This is an encyclopedia; if the movie exists and is factually related to this show, it should be included. Your opinion of what constitutes a disgrace of the show doesn't form what gets put on wikipedia TheHYPO 03:14, 19 October 2006 (UTC)
- Furthermore, the article does state that it would be set in contemporary times, allowing for some liberties--within reason one would hope--to be taken with the character. So long as the basic traits remain, that should be the important point. Eventually, as more details surface re: the movie, I imagine it would get its own page. Lenny 20:42, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
Under The Trivia Category for Have Gun Will Travel, there is erroneous listing. The theme song was sung by Johnny Western.
The user above me is completely ignorant. This movie version should not be made because it would be disgraceful to the original series. Until this is confirmed that there will be a "movie" if one could be inclined to call it so, any mention of it should be removed. 24.31.111.166 02:17, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
- I hate to sound rude, but your opinion on what's disgraceful and not disgraceful really doesn't matter at all. 134.197.22.98 (talk) 03:41, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
The lawsuit
editAs it stands, the article unequivocally states that the show was based on the act of the country fair performer referred to here as Paladin, apparently because he eventually won his trademark infringement suit. So far as I know, the producers of the show have never admitted such wrongdoing, nor did the court establish it, and there is reason to doubt it. Whether Mr. Da Costa (the performer's real name) developed the whole Paladin shtick before the show existed or whether he increasingly copied the show's character in his act and decided to sue a few decades later when the chronology was hard to establish, I don't know, but the suit his heirs won, as opposed to the suits he lost during his lifetime, was based on trademarks he quietly took out in the 1970s and CBS carelesssly failed to pre-empt or challenge. Such documentation as I have for this, easily found on Google, is not good enough for Wikipedia; but neither is the current version. We should get the facts. 66.241.73.241 11:02, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
I regretfully removed the entire section, The Real Paladin?, as it's almost word-for-word the same as what's on Have Gun -- Will Travel, which claims to be the original site for the series (it may be; I don't know). I think some information about it could be added back in, especially with a reliable source or two. I may do that later if someone else doesn't do it first. Wakedream (talk) 18:48, 29 December 2007 (UTC)
- I just did a Google search for "victor de costa" and "have gun" and it got me only 45 hits, only 17 of them shown on the first try (the others it called very similar). From a quick glance, it appeared that most or even all of them were quoting or paraphrasing each other, and were either fan sites, spam, or Wikipedia clones. When I did a search of English language pages only, I got only five hits. I wonder now if this story is a hoax. Anyone find anything else? Wakedream (talk) 19:03, 29 December 2007 (UTC)
- I provided a 1974 Time reference for DaCosta, not De Costa. Pepso2 (talk) 09:27, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
- Great! There's still very few sources for this, but it happened years before the Internet and is about a 50-year-old TV show, so that's not surprising. And Time Magazine is one of the most accepted sources on Wikipedia. Cool! Wakedream (talk) 20:39, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
- I provided a 1974 Time reference for DaCosta, not De Costa. Pepso2 (talk) 09:27, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
The Time magazine piece is not dispositive, since it references a case that was reversed by the 1st circuit court of appeals. 520 F.2d 499 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.160.234.34 (talk) 19:49, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
En dashed
editI might be getting trivial here, but the title was written several different ways in this article. While it appears on Paladin's business card as "Have Gun Will Travel," and some sources for the radio series seem to render it as "Have Gun, Will Travel," neither of these is how I've seen it appear in the TV series itself. It was often (or always – I don't yet have every season on DVD) rendered as
"HAVE GUN-
WILL TRAVEL."[1]
In Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Em_dashes, it says either an Em dash without a space or an En dash with a space before and after is acceptable in this type of usage (see subsection "Spaced en dashes as an alternative to em dashes.") It also says that usage should be consistent throughout an article. Technically, then, the title of this show could be written as "Have Gun—Will Travel" or "Have Gun – Will Travel." The reason I chose "Have Gun – Will Travel" is that, of the two alternatives acceptable on Wikipedia, it seems to be the closest to how the title appears in the series itself. Also it's how this article is currently listed on Wikipedia. Feel free to add your comments to my trivia! Wakedream (talk) 05:19, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
References
Ratings
editI added a source for the ratings. However, it doesn't specify how the show was rated in each season. If someone wants to add a more detailed source, go for it. Wakedream (talk) 21:16, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
No article on Johnny Western
editI just put a link to the Wikipedia article on Johnny Western, and discovered there isn't one. This is what can happen when you were famous before the Internet. I'll likely start one, but can use help. Wakedream (talk) 20:40, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
- I started the article, so feel free to contribute! Wakedream (talk) 07:41, 5 January 2008 (UTC)
Title
editThe whole "have [something], will travel" form of a title isn't necessarily inspired by this show. It's a common kind of trait for older calling cards refering to your job. "Have Spacesuit" and "Have Tux" were just similar titles based on the same concept. I'm not certain they need to be listed in this article. BoosterBronze (talk) 19:37, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
- It would be interesting to see examples of variations on the phrase that occured BEFORE the TV show. Not calling cards, which use the phrase for business purposes, but take-offs that mimicked such cards. 96.237.184.133 (talk) 16:22, 9 June 2024 (UTC)
- In 1956, a year before HGWT debuted, a pilot was produced for a sitcom about 2 globetrotting photographers called Have Camera Will Travel. One of the stars was Mike Connors, as Touch Connors...Charles Bronson also has a small part. 96.237.184.133 (talk) 17:50, 3 July 2024 (UTC)
Episode Guide
editI am in agreement with TBrittReid (cf his edit of 12 Nov 2009) regarding the questionable value of the episode guide for the radio show, consisting, as it does, of only one episode. I have removed the section. However, on the chance that someone might wish to include a large number of episodes, they may have a head start, as I have copied the old guide here.
Episode Guide
edit
Requested moveeditThere is a problem with this article that I can theorize an explanation of as based only within the title. I have Wikipedia:tools/Navigation popups enabled. However, when I place my cursor on this article's "hist" (link to its edit history page) on my watchlist page, the box that appears shows only the title, and when moved away and repositioned there, shows nothing. In most instances, this move causes the box to become larger and show the listings for the most recent edits. I have this problem with this article and this article only. Furthermore, when the title shows, there is a "coder" (or whatever you want to call it) for the dash, rather than an actual dash (it looks like this: â₳ ₳). I have presumed this to be the source of my problem. So my next act was to "move" the article, replacing this coder with an actual dash, but on the attempt, this coder did not show, just a normal dash itself. Obviously, I could not make the change that I desired. Can somebody eliminate this thing, please? Thank you. --Tbrittreid (talk) 21:48, 20 November 2009 (UTC) opening sequenceeditI think the article should say something about the opening sequence. (I've been watching them on Encore Westerns.) At first he draws the gun, points it at the camera, and says something that relates to the show. Then there was at least one show in the first or second season where he didn't say anything. After that, it opens with his gun already drawn and pointing at the camera, and he doesn't say anything. I can't add that because I don't have a reference. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 07:05, 30 January 2010 (UTC)
NameeditIn the fourth season show "Fandango" it appears that the Sheriff, an old friend from Bull Run, calls Paladin "Bobby." It may be that he was talking to the prisoner but it sure didn't seem like it. FleetCaptain (talk) 19:06, 11 February 2010 (UTC)
Just watched the episode Fandango (Season 4 Volume 2 Disc 1). The sheriff is looking at and addressing the prisoner, named Bobby Olson (played by Andrew Pine) when he says "Hello Bobby" at time mark 04:32. Then the sheriff turns his head towards towards Paladin and Paladin says "Hello Ernie, how are you?" To which the sheriff responds "Fine" and Paladin then says "Its a long time since Bull Run and Shiloh" So it does not appear the sheriff is calling Paladin "Bobby". Also it is interesting that Paladin uses the Union name "Bull Run" (Confederate name "First Manassas") for the one battle and the Confederate name "Shiloh" (Union name is "Pittsburg Landing") for the second battle he mentions. Normally, you would expect a Union soldier to consistently use the Union names and a Confederate soldier to consistently use the Confederate names. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.11.126.2 (talk) 16:55, 15 September 2011 (UTC)
derringereditIn some episodes it is the double-barreled derringer. In one episode he says "that is one barrel - do you want the other?" So, if it changes, I agree that it is better to just say "derringer", as you did. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 17:21, 22 February 2010 (UTC)
___________________________________________ When I was a kid we thought Paladin hid his derringer in his belt buckle and could fire it with no-hands, just by pushing his tummy or something. Even then, that struck me as rather hazardous and I don't recall ever seeing it in an episode. There was such a toy version, but maybe the association with Paladin was simply among us kids. Seemingly every TV western hero had a special gun. Paladin his derringer. Josh Randall a sawed-off (and otherwise converted) Winchester 1892, dubbed the "Mare's Leg." Rifleman, a large loop cocking lever. Wyatt Earp's Buntline Special. Here's a page documenting the "no-hands derringer" concept, a Mattel toy, but I'm not at all sure it was linked to HGWT. The HGWT toy derringer(s) came with a holster, apparently not a buckle. And while I'm at it, some details on several of these and other prop guns. Eplater (talk) 21:07, 28 November 2020 (UTC) 'Notable' guest starseditIt looks much more like a list of 'all' guest stars... I don't really see what this section adds to the article and I propose it be dropped altogether. Dlabtot (talk) 22:12, 23 March 2010 (UTC)
This sentence in the first paragraph - referencing June Lockhart - under the Guest Star section is in error. "... she portrays a groundbreaking female physician who has diagnosed a case of three-day measles instead of the smallpox that a fire-and- brimstone wagonmaster had decided was reason enough to abandon a mother and child alone on the prairie." The disease feared by the settlers was not smallpox, it was typhoid. I just watched it last night (01/14/15). Supporting link here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0597553/?ref_=ttep_ep12[1] DTavona (talk) 08:10, 16 January 2015 (UTC) Opening sequence sectioneditThere were at least three variations of the opening sequence. The first one is as described, with the spoken part. Then the spoken part was dropped. The third one shows him standing in profile - then the camera zooms in and he draws the gun, much as in the first two variations. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 19:47, 6 April 2010 (UTC)
Fixed the music part (I was working from memory since my soundcard is out on this machine, but the earliest segment is on youtube). Have to wait until I see come later episodes to know what to do about the rest. I'll tke your word for it if you see them before I do. SBHarris 00:34, 7 April 2010 (UTC)
And here's an interesting oddity. If you rent the DVDs from Netflix, you will see all three variations occur - including the lack of consistency in season 3 detailed above. However, at least during season 3, if you watch the same episodes using Netflix's Instant option, none of them has the voice-over - not those that do on the DVDs as well as not those who don't. Sorry about the quadruple negative, but it best makes the point. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.50.155.194 (talk) 05:45, 17 November 2010 (UTC) number of episodesedit[IMDB] says 226 episodes instead of 225. I don't know what is correct. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 18:01, 18 April 2010 (UTC) running timeeditI clocked an episode at 25:14. Of course, that is wp:OR. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 14:35, 22 April 2010 (UTC) Was Paladin's first name Bobby?editThis has been put in at least twice: "...except that he is once addressed as "Bobby" by a sheriff he had served with in the army at Shiloh and at Gettysburg" No, I saw that episode a few months ago and Bobby is the other person in the scene, besides the sheriff and Paladin. "Bobby" is in the credits too. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 03:17, 16 July 2010 (UTC) No, his first name was "Wire" as indicated on his business card. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1000:B032:11F4:C078:505B:9FA1:CD74 (talk) 14:36, 4 April 2019 (UTC) The Ballad of PalindromeeditThe Ballad of Palindrome is by Riders In The Sky. They did have Johnny Western as a guest artist perform the song on one of their albums. But they've done the skit both with and without him. 75.88.104.129 (talk) 05:22, 17 September 2010 (UTC) Historical settingeditThe episode "An International Incident" mentions that if Hawai'i were admitted to the union it would be the 39th state; that places it between the Aug. 1, 1876 admission of Colorado and the Nov. 2, 1889, simultaneous admission of the Dakotas. On the other hand, this method does ridiculously place one episode between 1894 and 1898 - based on when Pancho Villa was born and the age at which he abandoned his birth name for that pseudonym, the episode "Pancho" must either have taken place between those years or stand an as example of credited writers Shimon Wincelberg, Herb Meadow and Sam Rolfe running with an idea without doing any research. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.50.155.194 (talk) 05:01, 17 November 2010 (UTC) Hotel CarltoneditWas it a real hotel? The current Hotel Carlton in SF was built in 1927. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.186.247.160 (talk) 13:06, 14 January 2011 (UTC) Hec Ramsey - Paladin? or not?editI just dimly remembered a conversation in a Hec Ramsey episode, with Steve Forrest I think, where the other character makes a reference to something that is obviously HGWT based and Ramsey says something like, "That was a long time ago and I was someone else." Does anyone else remember it? Does anyone have access to all the Hec Ramsey episodes and want to watch them? Am I imagining things? JimCubb (talk) 01:37, 6 April 2011 (UTC) DasheseditThe article had a mix of spaced em dashes and unspaced en dashes, both of which were wrong. Per MOS:DASH, they should be consistently spaced en dashes or unspaced em dashes. I elected the former, and moved and edited the article. If someone wants to argue to go the other way, we could do that instead. Dicklyon (talk) 03:04, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
The SanctuaryeditThere was a comment in the article that two episodes were missing from the Region Two DVD" "Squatter's Rights" and "The Sanctuary". "Squatter's Rights" was a season five episode and is on the Season Five DVD. "The Sanctuary" is more problematic. IMDB lists two Have Gun -- Will Travel episodes titled "The Sanctuary". One, according to The Have Gun -- Will Trevel Companion is titled "Vernon Good", broadcast Dec 31, 1960 and is about a man seeking sanctuary. The DVD lists the title as "Sanctuary". There is no on-screen title. IMDB agrees on the date, calls the episode "The Sanctuary". The other is listed on IMBD as Season Six, Episode 33. But according to other references, there were only 32 episodes in Season Six. From the cast listing on IMDB, I gather that this is the rerun of "Jonah", originally broadcast May 26, 1962 and rerun on the date given for "The Sanctuary" in IMDB. Looks to me as if the DVDs are complete (thank goodness! we waited long enough!) and that IMDB is in error. Rick Norwood (talk) 19:55, 6 July 2013 (UTC) Character section - Too-long, Essay-like, Original Research-laden, assertions that need sourceseditThe Paladin character's section is too long and lacks coherence. It should be trimmed down and structured sensibly, now it reads just like a pile of random fan fluff. Would do it myself but I don't know anything of the show. 2001:708:10:10:F2DE:F1FF:FE54:62C4 (talk) 10:03, 26 June 2014 (UTC)
External links modifiededitHello fellow Wikipedians, I have just added archive links to one external link on Have Gun – Will Travel. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add
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Cheers. —cyberbot IITalk to my owner:Online 06:06, 18 October 2015 (UTC) BookseditThe author of the second book is named Loomis, not Lomis. I'm not interested in fixing the error myself. SimpsonDG (talk) 00:54, 26 February 2018 (UTC)
In other TV serieseditThe section on "other TV series" is ridiculous: "This could be no one other than Paladin, pure speculation and "original research." The whole section has to go.
A real city in KansaseditI do not know if the whole section has to go, but Elwood is a real city in Kansas.2600:1700:7F11:6420:7CDC:9011:8DB1:C27C (talk) 19:33, 10 July 2020 (UTC) what does it mean?editWhat does "Have tux [or gun]. will travel" mean? I believe it means: I have a tux if one is needed, and I can travel if you need me to, with or without my tux as required. All uses subsequent to the show seem to mean: I will only travel if I can bring my tux...my tux is a necessary compoment of my traveling. 96.237.184.133 (talk) 16:29, 9 June 2024 (UTC) |