Johnny Ringo

            On Sunday I spent most of the day getting caught up on my journal, while the first big snowfall of the season hit Toronto. I was glad I had no place to go because I did not relish riding my bike on those streets. I don’t really have to go anywhere till Tuesday when I’m meeting my friend Brian at the Black Bull for what tends to be an annual beer. Hopefully the roads will have cleared up by then.

            I watched two episodes of the 50s western show, Johnny Ringo, starring Don Durant and produced by Aaron Spelling. There was nothing special about the series, though it wasn’t any worse than Gunsmoke. The show borrowed the name and area of operation of a real life outlaw and sometimes lawman (though probably mercenary is a better word) of the old west but turned him into a squeaky clean hero. The show was cancelled at the request of the sponsor, Johnson’s Wax, not because it wasn’t doing well but because there were thirty westerns on TV at the time and they thought that to sponsor a comedy would set them apart. Don Durant wrote the theme song and probably sang it as well, but that was nothing special either. Durant went on to make millions in real estate.