and some of them live close to the Village.....
Diego Pickett is the stationmaster at the Keystone Outpost
on down the road * from the Village. He lives there with wife Savannah
and his children Little Zeke and Liza.
Savannah is so proud of her new Barbie cowgirl hat that Diego bought her on his last trip to town...she is trying to figure out a way to show it off. Maybe a little hoedown*... they can invite all the neighboring ranchers and farmers . "We can celebrate my new Barbie hat!" she says to Diego. Southern girls can be a bit shallow at times.
Little Zeke likes to climb the rocks around the fort....
and Liza follows so she can tattle on him.
Agreeing to Savannah's suggestion, Diego decides that Little Zeke is old enough to ride to the neighboring ranches and invite everyone to the hoedown. Little Zeke saddles his horse Trusty and heads out while everyone waves goodbye. Savannah is hoping he remembers to ride his horse at least part of the way.
Sissie heads behind the biggest cactus while Buck walks to the side of the wagon to stretch his leg. You notice that Buck is walking with a crutch...he lost his left leg in a bull riding accident....a mechanical bull riding accident. Ow-ooch!
Spud starts shooting at the tumbleweeds to see how far they will roll.
"Dad blame it * Spud!" yells Chance, "you're gonna spook the horses.
Before leaving, they stop to take a selfie, forgetting they don't have smart phones.
Nice smiles however guys!
The Mueller family of the nearby Fenstermacher Ranch decide to go in style and hire a stagecoach to travel to the Pickett hoedown. Klaus assures them he can drive a stagecoach and he knows the way. Problems crop up quickly....the stagecoach doors weren't made to open so Sigrid was forced to ride on top, while Axel and Dieter hop on the back and say their prayers.
First they ride easterly....
then they ride westerly.......
and east again.....
Finally Deiter yells, "Whoa! I'll jus climb that tall cactus yonder
and see whats to see. Oh, it's still a fur piece* to the outpost!"
On his way to the Village, Little Zeke stops by Three-and-a-Half-Rocks
to invite his climbing buddies Mohe and Kanuna to come to the hoedown.
Of course, their parents Koatohee and Hileah, and little sister Leotie, are invited too!
Let's see who else was invited....
Ruby Lou Ketchum is headed to the hoedown
with her twins Royal and Blaze.
Ruby Lou curled her locks special for today.
Son of a gun...she just had a bath last Saturday and she didn't want to show up smelling like a horse.
So she walked instead, hoping those handsome Flagg boys might be there.
Royal loves to ride carrying his Texas flag....he pretends
he is part of the United States Calvary charging forward!
Aging starlet Constance Blain arrives with her boy-toy Mix Match wondering if she found the right outpost. She's hoping some producers will be around to spot her talent...after all she is a Hollywood Doll. And yes, Elvis did give her that pink Cadillac back in 1961...I told you she was talented.
Timothy Twinky sneaked out of his mama's house to come to the hoedown.
Last hoedown his cowboy hat was peppered with holes, and his mama doesn't think hoedowns are a safe place for a 19 year old town boy to be.
Seems like no one is home....did he come on the right day?
I'll just wait a while here on this rock...
Looks like the drugstore cowboys* and cowgirls
have wandered in from town....
those two on the right look like real pale-faces.
I think the hoedown is finally getting started....let's see what's happening.....
There are two of the Flagg boys hustlin' Ruby LouKetchum...
or is it the other way around? Watch out, boys!
Klaus has spotted Constance Blain....
he remembers her from Saturday serials
at the movin' picture-show....
maybe she can help him break into movin' pictures!
Looks like Dieter has fallen head-over-hills for Miss Blaze!
Sissie Flagg is happy to have finally trapped Timothy Twinky
in a position where he can't escape easily.
Sigrid is making sure Axel doesn't get too enamored of little Belle Clanton....
both of the Clanton boys carry two pistols everywhere!
Royal Ketchum is trying to convince Sundance Clanton to let him
join-up with him and brother Cody in their Wild West Shootum-Up Show.....
Sundance and Cody are staging one of their shoot-outs right now...
hope those are not real bullets they are using!
Hey, those are not pistolas those two pale-faces are toting!
The Picketts are bisque dolls made in Japan, probably in the 1950s.
The 2 smaller ones came new in the box, still wrapped in crisp cellophane.
Caco dolls from Germany. The 3 on the right have metal hands and feet
which would place them as early as the 1960s.
I think they originally came with cowboy hats.
Flagg dolls made in the USA, starting around 1947,
by Charles and Sheila Flagg.
Bisque dolls stamped Japan.
Headbands and wigs on Indian braves are not original.
Hollywood Dolls made 1941-1956. Several different sizes were made.
The earliest were composition, these are plastic.
Tiny Town dolls made in USA by Alma LeBlanc
from 1948 through 1955. The wig on Ruby Lou is not original.
Twinky doll made in USA by Ethel Strong from 1946 to 1953.
Some cowboy dolls had chaps to cover the pants.
Various celluloid/plastic dolls most likely produced in Japan from 1950 -1970.
This is a "Model #823 - Keystone (of Boston) Shooting Frontier Set with Rifle and Harmless Bullets - Real Stage Coach and Covered Wagon with Cowboys, Indians, Soldiers, Buffalo and Movable Stockade Fence"
My set didn't come with the rifle and harmless bullets.
Update 2023: I listed this set on Ebay and it was purchased by a wife as a surprise birthday gift for her husband who had this set as a child. I hope he has had many happy memories.
Glossary:
On down the road....famous quote from our illustrious gov Rick Perry when his driver was pulled over for doing 75 mph in a 55 mph zone....Perry exited the SUV and asked the DPS trooper "Why don't you just let us get on down the road?" and he was only the Lt. Gov at the time.
hoedown...an informal country party where people do square/folk dances.
best bib and tucker...your best clothes.
pistolas....Spanish word for a handgun.
played out.....exhausted
see a man about a horse....going to the restroom/water closet/loo to relieve yourself
Dad blame it!....euphemism coined to allow expressive speech without swearing.
still a fur piece....take you a while to get there.
drugstore cowboys....one who wears cowboy clothes but has had no experience as a cowboy.
YES!!! this is finally over!!!
