Westerns & the Old West
@davidlambertart.bsky.social
I post almost exclusively about minutiae related to the Old West and Western films/pop culture. I do drawings too. 🍉
Cheers! 🤠🍻🤠 & God bless 🙏
http://buymeacoffee.com/davidlambertart
Cheers! 🤠🍻🤠 & God bless 🙏
http://buymeacoffee.com/davidlambertart
Happy Birthday to the late Gene Tierney, born 105 years ago today
November 20, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Happy Birthday to the late Gene Tierney, born 105 years ago today
Happy Birthday to the late Jack Schaefer, born 118 years ago today
November 20, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Happy Birthday to the late Jack Schaefer, born 118 years ago today
Deadwood circa 1876 & a few years after. Note the huge hole being dug in the street in the 1st pic. Despite its primitive look, in 1878 Deadwood was the 1st US town to have citywide phone service (with a line directly to the White House). There was only 1 phone available though.
November 19, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Deadwood circa 1876 & a few years after. Note the huge hole being dug in the street in the 1st pic. Despite its primitive look, in 1878 Deadwood was the 1st US town to have citywide phone service (with a line directly to the White House). There was only 1 phone available though.
Happy Birthday to the late Rance Howard, born Harold Engle Beckenholdt 97 years ago today
November 18, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Happy Birthday to the late Rance Howard, born Harold Engle Beckenholdt 97 years ago today
Happy 81st Birthday to Danny DeVito
November 18, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Happy 81st Birthday to Danny DeVito
Happy Birthday to the late Gordon Lightfoot, born 87 years ago today
November 18, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Happy Birthday to the late Gordon Lightfoot, born 87 years ago today
Happy Birthday to the late Rock Hudson, born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. 100 years ago today
November 18, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Happy Birthday to the late Rock Hudson, born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. 100 years ago today
Happy Birthday to the late, great Thomas Ince ("Father of the Western"), born 145 years ago today
November 16, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Happy Birthday to the late, great Thomas Ince ("Father of the Western"), born 145 years ago today
When I wrote this I had trouble finding Charles Goodnight's exact words on encountering St. Elmo's fire online, so I asked @joshfromtexas.bsky.social of Wild West Extravaganza fame & he sent me the quote:
November 16, 2025 at 5:06 AM
When I wrote this I had trouble finding Charles Goodnight's exact words on encountering St. Elmo's fire online, so I asked @joshfromtexas.bsky.social of Wild West Extravaganza fame & he sent me the quote:
Harmonica
November 16, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Harmonica
Carlo Simi's costume sketches for Harmonica, Frank & Morton in Once Upon a Time in the West
November 16, 2025 at 4:28 AM
Carlo Simi's costume sketches for Harmonica, Frank & Morton in Once Upon a Time in the West
In the early 70s, Terrence Malick came to Warren Oates with a script titled The Land of the Prickly Pear that he wanted Oates to star in. Oates loved the script so much he became obsessed & wanted to direct it himself with Malick playing the role he'd been offered.
November 16, 2025 at 12:14 AM
In the early 70s, Terrence Malick came to Warren Oates with a script titled The Land of the Prickly Pear that he wanted Oates to star in. Oates loved the script so much he became obsessed & wanted to direct it himself with Malick playing the role he'd been offered.
In Notes on Blood Meridian, John Sepich theorizes that McCarthy based his scene of St. Elmo's fire on its occurrence in Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus' "Memoir of a Tour to Northern Mexico: Connected with Col. Doniphan's Expedition, in 1846 and 1847"
November 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
In Notes on Blood Meridian, John Sepich theorizes that McCarthy based his scene of St. Elmo's fire on its occurrence in Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus' "Memoir of a Tour to Northern Mexico: Connected with Col. Doniphan's Expedition, in 1846 and 1847"
St. Elmo's fire in these Westerns goes beyond literary allusion, though. I've read that cattleman Charles Goodnight -whose adventures influenced all of the cattle drive Westerns mentioned (especially Lonesome Dove)- apparently wrote of witnessing St. Elmo's fire firsthand...
November 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
St. Elmo's fire in these Westerns goes beyond literary allusion, though. I've read that cattleman Charles Goodnight -whose adventures influenced all of the cattle drive Westerns mentioned (especially Lonesome Dove)- apparently wrote of witnessing St. Elmo's fire firsthand...
One of the reasons this appears in these kinds of Westerns would likely be as an allusion to Moby-Dick, which has its own scene of St. Elmo's fire. Blood Meridian is clearly inspired by Moby-Dick, but Borden Chase goes so far as to include a character named Melville in Red River...
November 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
One of the reasons this appears in these kinds of Westerns would likely be as an allusion to Moby-Dick, which has its own scene of St. Elmo's fire. Blood Meridian is clearly inspired by Moby-Dick, but Borden Chase goes so far as to include a character named Melville in Red River...
And of course Cormac McCarthy couldn't resist including St. Elmo's fire among the other surreal imagery in Blood Meridian...
November 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
And of course Cormac McCarthy couldn't resist including St. Elmo's fire among the other surreal imagery in Blood Meridian...
& once in a scene from the miniseries adaptation that I wouldn't have minded getting cut...
November 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
& once in a scene from the miniseries adaptation that I wouldn't have minded getting cut...
St. Elmo's fire occurs twice in Larry McMurtry's novel Lonesome Dove...
November 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
St. Elmo's fire occurs twice in Larry McMurtry's novel Lonesome Dove...
Here's Robert Aldrich's take on St. Elmo's fire illuminating the horns of cattle in 1961's The Last Sunset (the Oldboy of Westerns). It was based on Howard Rigsby's novel Sundown at Crazy Horse. I haven't read it, so I don't know if it includes an equivalent scene, sorry...
November 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Here's Robert Aldrich's take on St. Elmo's fire illuminating the horns of cattle in 1961's The Last Sunset (the Oldboy of Westerns). It was based on Howard Rigsby's novel Sundown at Crazy Horse. I haven't read it, so I don't know if it includes an equivalent scene, sorry...
Here's Borden Chase's take on St. Elmo's fire in his novel Blazing Guns on the Chisholm Trail, which became Red River:
November 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Here's Borden Chase's take on St. Elmo's fire in his novel Blazing Guns on the Chisholm Trail, which became Red River:
A recurring scene in a handful of Westerns (usually ones about an arduous trek) is the protagonists encountering St. Elmo's fire*
Here's a 🧵 about it
*a phenomenon where plasma makes certain things glow like lightning while inside of an electrical field. Look it up if you're confused
Here's a 🧵 about it
*a phenomenon where plasma makes certain things glow like lightning while inside of an electrical field. Look it up if you're confused
November 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
A recurring scene in a handful of Westerns (usually ones about an arduous trek) is the protagonists encountering St. Elmo's fire*
Here's a 🧵 about it
*a phenomenon where plasma makes certain things glow like lightning while inside of an electrical field. Look it up if you're confused
Here's a 🧵 about it
*a phenomenon where plasma makes certain things glow like lightning while inside of an electrical field. Look it up if you're confused
Jean "Moebius" Giraud paying tribute to* James Garner's Maverick
*or just swiping a photo of him.
*or just swiping a photo of him.
November 15, 2025 at 6:17 AM
Jean "Moebius" Giraud paying tribute to* James Garner's Maverick
*or just swiping a photo of him.
*or just swiping a photo of him.
Happy Birthday to the late Brian Keith, born Robert Alba Keith 104 years ago today
November 14, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Happy Birthday to the late Brian Keith, born Robert Alba Keith 104 years ago today