Posted 7 years ago
TheGateKee…
(222 items)
This is for bobby725 - Found this and thought of you. Wish I could find the little characters on the stage so that I could add them to mine. This purchase has turned out to be more fun than I imagined.
Love the details!!! right down to the break.
PoliticalPinbacks - Thanks. The details are amazing. John Ford being such a stickler for authenticity and details would have loved this.
Very nice. Any makers name?
Irishcollector - Yes, the stagecoach was made by The Franklin Mint. (You may Google it for more info). Don' know the maker of the little people. Maybe they are leprechauns?
Fun fact, the best stage coach driver Wells Fargo had was actually a woman dressed like a man.
Thanks Trey. I did not know that.
very cool pix ,.. up here were a bit famous for building stagecoaches, still have a few stagecoach building that were stops for folks .... https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk00863F75tf7X7erDLzAEX4NC9iNYA:1624491263357&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=concord+stagecoach+pictures&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjzgsXF9a7xAhWUFVkFHe22CIcQjJkEegQIBxAC&biw=1920&bih=955
Thank You Damonways. Stagecoaches are a big part of our history.
they sure are ... '-)
https://www.wellsfargohistory.com/in-1868-this-was-a-sight-never-before-seen/
Thanks for the Concord info. I really got a laugh at your get around to it photo. We had a Model T that looked very similar.
lol TheGateKeeper, i spent years in bone yards looking for parts for one of my build ..i saw so much lovely old iron with trees growing through them or with a prefect hood ornaments ..and the car as paper thin i had such a hard time trying to remember what the heck I was looking for,,,and if your lucky enough to meet and shoot the breeze with the guy who started the junkyard and the stories they could tell ...life's a trip..nice wells fargo hope you find more little characters ..later
TheGateKeeper, I fell into a stage coach hole a few years ago, and some of the tidbits I gathered at that time:
The leather suspension system of the famous Concord coach was not for the comfort of the passengers, but rather the protection of the draft animals (I think I told you about this one on another post).
The interior of a typical passenger coach or wagon also had a center bench so that more passengers could be accommodated.
That style of coach was usually not used in the vast stretch of territory between roughly St. Louis and coastal California, because the terrain was simply too rough. Instead, they used celerity or mud wagons:
https://truewestmagazine.com/celerity-mud-wagons/
Also, when a coach or wagon was going through Amerindian country, mules were used instead of horses, because the former were not as attractive as acquisitions as the latter were. Mules are generally tougher than horses, so that might have been a factor as well.
Nevertheless, I love Ford's "Stagecoach," and Devine talking to his draft animals is part of it for me.
Devine usually played comedic roles because of his girth and voice, but he was a true westerner (a street in Flagstaff, AZ is named for him), and not necessarily a pushover.
Director Ford was infamous for losing his temper and being verbally abusive to staff on set, and even his regular drinking buddies John Wayne and Ward Bond weren't safe in that regard. They mostly took it:
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-03-ca-11415-story.html
Devine decided not to take Ford's sh*t one day:
*snip*
Stagecoach was nearly in the can. Andy Devine, the rotund, screechy-voiced actor who played stage driver Buck, was ideal for the part, bringing welcome comedy relief. But he knew the other reason he’d been cast. When Ford got impatient, and said, “You big tub of lard. I don’t know why the hell I’m using you in this picture,” Andy replied, “Because Ward Bond can’t drive six horses.”
Andy’s son Dennis tells True West: “He grew up on his father’s ranch outside of Kingman, [Arizona], so Dad knew how to drive wagons and horses.
*snip*
https://truewestmagazine.com/sink-or-swim/
More on the conveyances used back then:
https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=25449
Hello down there!