PIONEERS OF TELEVISION | Fess Parker and Ed Ames on Davy Crockett vs Daniel Boone | PBS

Fess Parker and (co-star) Ed Ames on the transition from the Davy Crockett TV series to the similar (but different!) Daniel Boone series. Many worried the public wouldn't want to see Parker in any role other than Crockett. But Daniel Boone was a big hit for 6 years on prime time. Ed Ames played Mingo on the Daniel Boone series. (When demonstrating for Johnny Carson how Mingo throws a hatchet, one of Ames' errants throws became the most memorable clip in Tonight Show history)

This clip an an excerpt from the upcoming season of PBS "Pioneers of Television." The interviews with Fess Parker and Ed Ames are just two of the more than 100 exclusive interviews conducted by the producers of this Emmy-nominated series.

Parker wasn't just a TV star, he was the spark behind the first merchandising craze of the TV era. Ten million Davy Crockett coonskin caps were sold in a matter of months. There were more than three thousand different Crockett items... lunchboxes... pajamas... toothbrushes. In today's dollars, the craze earned more than a half-billion in revenue almost overnight--and provided executive producer Walt Disney with the money to build his new pet project: Disneyland.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• fess parker
• ed ames
• davy crockett
• daniel boone
• tv
• television
• pioneers
• pioneers of television

[TheHyde55]

"King of the wild Frontier."

[tfokeefe]

He was my childhood Hero --I needed a Hero then and he did it for me

[junglemanlawyer1]

@ACLTony Any information about Patricia Blair?

[uofjim]

He lost so much weight in such a short time at the end.

[ACLTony]

Very cool! Here's some trivia info. Ed Ames also appeared on one episode on the tv show "In the Heat of The Night" (late 1980s). Ironically, he played a racist sherriff who was a friend of Chief Gillespie. Great episode

[lionessg66]

Thus the passing of an American Icon. Fess Parker was part of history for so many boys and girls that helped us develop childhood fantasy and fun. Love to the King of the Wild Frontier.

[1964inahlee1968]

Ed Ames and Fess Parker..... LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

[Morahman7vnNo2]

Look! It's Luke Wilson's Grandfather!

[anmoose]

Boy does this bring back memories. I was a Davy Crockett fanatic when I was a kid. I considered Fess Parker a sort of a god.

Sad to read that he just passed away.