Talk:Have Gun – Will Travel

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This 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?

Wasn'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)

article title

The 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)

See Talk:Have_Gun_–_Will_Travel#En_dashed below. Wakedream (talk) 06:25, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Rifled barrel in a pistol!? Big Deal

Did 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)

Hey Boy?

The 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

what 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

As 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)

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

En dashed

I 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)

Ratings

I 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

I 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

The 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)

Episode Guide

I 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

Number Title Airdate Length Notes 001 Strange Vendetta 581123 24m35s After seeing a beautiful woman across the room Paladin overhears Hey Boy tell her that there were no more Opera Tickets for that night's show. Paladin being the gentleman he is offers to accompany her, and it ends up being a night like no other. Requested move There 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 sequence I 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) There are also at least two versions of the close: one where he rides off, the other shows a still of his holster. I don't see any pattern in which was used (perhaps based on running time?) Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 07:22, 30 January 2010 (UTC) Name In 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) I'll try to watch for that when Encore Westerns gets to it. (They are currently in season 2). Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 19:10, 11 February 2010 (UTC) Well, one of the character's name is bobby: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0597515/ Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 19:27, 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) derringer In 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) In The Black Hankerchief it is a 2-barrel derringer. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 14:07, 25 February 2010 (UTC) In The Road to Wikenburg, "It holds two shots gentlemen. Who wants the other?" Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 06:03, 9 March 2010 (UTC) 'Notable' guest stars It 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) Should it be shortened to list only "famous" ones? They are notable in the sense that they are notable enough to have a Wikipedia article. Each episode had several guest stars. I've added several, but generally only ones with a well-known face. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 22:50, 23 March 2010 (UTC) If you want to keep the list, I don't know what the criteria for inclusion should be...how 'famous' do they need to be? I made a similar argument at Kung Fu, but when no one responded, I simply deleted the list. At any rate, the list as it stands seems far, far too long. Dlabtot (talk) 23:01, 23 March 2010 (UTC) In some cases, the list of guest stars becomes an entire article, e.g. List of The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) guest stars. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 23:17, 23 March 2010 (UTC) I think that would be a good way to do it; it would preserve the info while keeping the list from overwhelming the article. And I also like how the main article retains a short list of the most notable, while stating the reason for their special notability... that could be done here with or without a separate list article. Dlabtot (talk) 23:49, 23 March 2010 (UTC) A difference is that it appears that each Twilight Zone episode has an article and I don't think any HG-WT episodes do. The TZ data is more complete. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 00:07, 24 March 2010 (UTC) What I mean is that "appeared in multiple episodes", "early career performances of actors who later became quite famous", "late career performances by such stars as", and "talented character actors who made successful careers out of guest roles on television programs" all seem like valid inclusion criteria for a shorter list put into prose format, which is preferred anyway[2]. I don't actually know much about this series, having only seen it occasionally in my youth decades ago. I don't even remember how it ended up on my watchlist. Dlabtot (talk) 00:40, 24 March 2010 (UTC) Opening sequence section There 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) Sure enough. This is the original, and lasted at least 2 seasons. Can you describe the later ones well enough for the article? SBHarris 19:56, 6 April 2010 (UTC) I did. --Tbrittreid (talk) 21:23, 6 April 2010 (UTC) The spoken part was dropped before the standing silhouette opening. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 21:51, 6 April 2010 (UTC) The series is being shown on Encore in order. According to notes I made on the episode guide, "The Long Hunt", 3-7-59, in the second season, the spoken part was dropped. "Gold and Brimstone", 6-20-59, the last show of the second season went to the standing silhouette. Of course, this is wp:OR. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 22:23, 6 April 2010 (UTC) We'll have to resolve this. I don't care if it's OR-- it's sort of the same thing as as looking at a photo of a man in a hat and writing "In the photo, he wears a hat." We're not doing OR in support of an original thesis (what is really prohibited in WP:NOR), we're simply describing. Personally, I suspect they wouldn't have done it as a sillouette UNLESS they were planning to use the overdub line. Why else use a sillouette? So you'll have to make sure it never got done that way. SBHarris 22:32, 6 April 2010 (UTC) I've been watching each day's show on Encore. I noted the lack of the spoken part on the 25th show (counting broadcast shows) of the second season. And the change to standing was on the 39th (last) show of that season. Encore is getting near the end of the third season, so it will take a while to see if it ever changed again. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 22:45, 6 April 2010 (UTC) Also, "two-note-repeat" is not correct - the second two notes are different from the first two. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 22:48, 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) This show says that it is the second show of season 3, starts standing but does have the voice-over. The ones being shown on Encore stopped with the voice-over before it went to the standing version. So I am confused. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 00:45, 7 April 2010 (UTC) This one is the same, i.e. standing and with the voice-over. So maybe that is the way it was, and it got changed somehow for the ones showing on Encore. Bubba73 (You talkin' to me?), 00:56, 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 episodes [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 time I 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? This 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) The Ballad of Palindrome The 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 setting The 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 Carlton Was 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? I 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)