In December of 1954, ABC aired the first of three “Disneyland” episodes featuring Davy Crockett. 40 million people tuned in to watch it. After that, just about anything that could be found in a store was branded with Fess Parker’s face, wearing the iconic coonskin cap of his Davy Crockett character.
To most young boys growing up in the 1950s, the “king of the wild frontier” was a true hero. They would reenact the scenes from the show while running around in their leather fringed jackets and coon skin caps. (PETA would have had a field day, as the price of Raccoon fur spiked from 25 cents to $8 a pound.) Fess Parker’s Davy Crockett was a man’s man, ready to take on any challenge that came before him.
Fess Parker died yesterday at the age of 85.
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