William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a figure of the
American Old WestThe American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
known as a
buffaloThe American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...
hunterHunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
, U.S. Marshal and Army scout, avid
fishermanA fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
,
gamblerGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
, frontier lawman, and sports
editorEditing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
and columnist for the
New York Morning Telegraph. He was the brother of lawmen
James MastersonJames Masterson, also known as Jim Masterson, was a lawman of the American West and the brother of gunfighters and lawmen Bat Masterson and Ed Masterson.-Lawman career:...
and
Ed MastersonEd Masterson was a lawman and the brother of the American West gunfighters Bat Masterson and James Masterson.-Lawman career:...
.
Name and birth
Born on November 26, 1853, at Henryville,
Canada EastCanada East was the eastern portion of the United Province of Canada. It consisted of the southern portion of the modern-day Canadian Province of Quebec, and was primarily a French-speaking region....
and baptised as
Bartholomew Masterson, he later used the name "William Barclay Masterson".
His father, Thomas Masterson (or Mastersan), was born in
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
of an Irish family; and his mother, Catherine McGurk (or McGureth), was born in Ireland. He was the second child in a family of five brothers and two sisters. They were raised on farms in
QuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and
IllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, until they finally settled near
Wichita, KansasWichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
.
In his late teens, he and two of his brothers,
Ed MastersonEd Masterson was a lawman and the brother of the American West gunfighters Bat Masterson and James Masterson.-Lawman career:...
and
James MastersonJames Masterson, also known as Jim Masterson, was a lawman of the American West and the brother of gunfighters and lawmen Bat Masterson and Ed Masterson.-Lawman career:...
, left their family's farm to become buffalo hunters. While traveling without his brothers, Bat took part in the
Battle of Adobe WallsThe Second Battle of Adobe Walls was fought on June 27, 1874 between Comanche forces and a group of twenty-eight U.S. bison hunters defending the settlement of Adobe Walls, Texas in what is now Hutchinson County, Texas.-Adobe Walls Settlement:...
in
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and killed
ComancheThe Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
Indians. He then spent time as a U.S. Army scout in a campaign against the
KiowaThe Kiowa are a nation of American Indians and indigenous people of the Great Plains. They migrated from the northern plains to the southern plains in the late 17th century. In 1867, the Kiowa moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma...
and Comanche Indians.
Gunfighter and lawman
His first gunfight took place in 1876 in Sweetwater,
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
(later
MobeetieMobeetie is a city in northwestern Wheeler County, Texas, United States, just across the Sweetwater Creek from Texas Route 152. The population was 107 at the 2000 census.-History:...
in
Wheeler County, not to be confused with the current
SweetwaterSweetwater is the county seat of Nolan County, Texas, United States. The population was 11,415 at the 2000 census.-History:Sweetwater received a U.S. post office in 1879. The Texas and Pacific Railway started service in 1881, with the first train arriving on March 12 of that year, beginning...
, the seat of
Nolan County west of
AbileneAbilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in west central Texas. The population was 117,063 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2006 estimated population of 158,063. It is the county seat of Taylor County...
, Texas). He was attacked by a man in a fight, allegedly because of a girl. The other man died of his wounds. Masterson was shot in the pelvis, but recovered. The story that he needed to carry a cane for the rest of his life is a legend perpetuated by
the TV seriesBat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black and white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961...
starring the late
Gene BarryGene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films The Atomic City and The War of The Worlds and for his portrayal of the title character in the TV series Bat Masterson, among many roles.-Personal life:Barry was born...
.
In 1877, he joined his brothers in
Dodge CityDodge City is a city in, and the county seat of, Ford County, Kansas, United States. Named after nearby Fort Dodge, the city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town of the Old West. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,340.-History:The first settlement of...
,
KansasKansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. Jim was the partner of Ed who was an assistant marshal. Soon after his arrival, Masterson came into conflict with the local marshal over the treatment of a man being arrested. He was jailed and fined, although his fine was later returned by the city council. He served as a sheriff's deputy alongside
Wyatt EarpWyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...
, and within a few months he was elected county sheriff of
Ford County, KansasFord County is a county located in southwest Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 33,848. The Dodge City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Ford County. Its county seat and most populous city is Dodge City. The county is named in...
. As sheriff, Bat won plaudits for capturing four members of the Mike Roark gang who had unsuccessfully held up a train at nearby Kinsley. He also led the posse that captured Jim Kennedy who had inadvertently killed an entertainer named Dora Hand in Dodge; with a shot through the shoulder Masterson eventually brought Kennedy down.
Fighting in
ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
on the
Santa FeThe Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...
side of its war against the Rio Grande railroad, Masterson continued as Ford County
sheriffA sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
until he was voted out of office in 1879. During this same period his brother Ed was Marshal of Dodge City and died in the line of duty on April 9, 1878. Ed was shot by cowboy Jack Wagner, not realizing that Bat was in the vicinity. As Ed stumbled away from the scene, Masterson responded from across the street with deadly force, firing on both Wagner and Wagner's boss, Alf Walker. Wagner died the next day but Walker was taken back to Texas and recovered. The local newspapers were ambiguous about who shot Wagner and Walker and this led some later historians to question whether Bat was involved. However, the recent location of two court cases in which Bat testified under oath that he had shot both means that most now accept that Bat avenged his brother.
Battle of the Plaza
For the next several years, he made a living as a gambler moving through several of the legendary towns of the Old West.
Wyatt EarpWyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...
invited Masterson to
TombstoneTombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. From about 1877 to 1890, the town's mines produced USD $40 to $85 million...
,
Arizona TerritoryThe Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
, in early 1881 where Earp owned a one-quarter interest in the gambling concession at the Oriental Saloon in exchange for his services as a manager and enforcer. He wanted his help running the
faroFaro, Pharaoh, or Farobank, is a late 17th century French gambling card game descendant of basset, and belongs to the lansquenet and Monte Bank family of games, in that it is played between a banker and several players winning or losing according to the cards turned up matching those already...
tables in the Oriental Saloon. Bat remained until April, 1881, when Bat received an unsigned telegram that compelled him to immediately return to Dodge City.
James Masterson, also known as Jim Masterson, was a lawman of the American West and the brother of gunfighters and lawmen Bat Masterson and Ed Masterson.-Lawman career:...
was sheriff in Dodge and was partners with A. J. Peacock in the Lady Gay Saloon and Dance Hall. Al Updegraff was Peacock's brother-in-law and bartender. Jim thought Updegraff was dishonest and a drunk, and demanded that Peacock fire Updegraff, which Peacock refused to do. Their disagreement grew until threats flew, at which time Bat received the telegram. Masterson jumped on the next stage out of Tombstone and arrived in Dodge City on April 16. Jumping off the train before it stopped, Masterson saw Updegraff and Peacock. He accosted them, "Hold up there a minute, you two. I want to talk to you." Recognizing Bat, the two retreated behind the jail, and the three began exchanging gunfire. Citizens ran for cover as bullets ripped through the
Long Branch SaloonThe Long Branch Saloon is a famous saloon that existed during the Old West days of Dodge City, Kansas. It had numerous owners, most notably Chalk Beeson and gunfighter Luke Short...
. Other individuals began firing in support of both sides until Updegraff was shot. Mayor Ab Webster arrested Masterson and only then did he learn that his brother Jim was fine. Updegraff slowly recovered, and since it could not be determined who shot Updegraff, Masterson was fined $8.00 and released.
Bat was known as an excellent shot. If he fired first and without warning, as Updegraff and Peacock claimed, it was unlikely he would have missed. Updegraff and Peacock did not explain why they were headed towards the train depot, guns under their coat. The citizens were outraged, warrants were issued, but Bat and Jim were permitted to leave Dodge.
Dodge City War
Masterson spent a year as marshal of
Trinidad, ColoradoThe historic City of Trinidad is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Las Animas County, Colorado, United States...
as well as serving as Sheriff of
South Pueblo, ColoradoSouth Pueblo, Colorado used to be a city in Colorado. It was incorporated 1873. It was one of 4 towns, South Pueblo, Central Pueblo, Colorado, Bessemer. Colorado, and Pueblo, Colorado. All of these cities later merged to create the modern City of Pueblo, Colorado....
. In 1883, he participated in a bloodless conflict and gunfighter gathering later called the Dodge City War.
Denver, Colorado
In 1888 Masterson was living in
Denver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, where he dealt faro for "Big Ed" Chase at the Arcade gambling house. In 1888 he managed and then purchased the Palace Variety Theater. It was there that Bat met and married actress, Emma Walters, on November 21, 1891. While in Denver, he met and maintained a long term friendship with the infamous confidence man,
Soapy SmithJefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II was an American con artist and gangster who had a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver, Colorado; Creede, Colorado; and Skagway, Alaska, from 1879 to 1898. He was killed in the famed Shootout on Juneau Wharf...
and members of the Soap Gang. In 1889 the two friends were involved together in the famous Denver registration and election fraud scandal. In 1892 he moved to the silver boom town of Creede, Colorado, where he managed the Denver Exchange Club until the town was destroyed by fire. On the 1900 Federal Census record for Arapahoe County in Denver he lists his name as William Masterson with his birth place as Missouri in 1854. His wife is listed as Emma Masterson married for 10 years and he list his occupation as Athletic Club Keeper. Bat continued to travel around the boom towns of the West, gambling and promoting
prize fightBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
s. He began writing a weekly sports column for
George's Weekly, a Denver newspaper, and opened the Olympic Athletic Club to promote the sport of boxing.
Fame and notoriety
Bat Masterson lived in the American West during a violent and frequently lawless period. His most recent biographer concludes that, Indian-fighting aside, he used a firearm against a fellow man on just six occasions, far less than some of his contemporaries such as
Dallas StoudenmireDallas Stoudenmire was an American Old West gunman and lawman, who gained fame for a brief gunfight that was later dubbed the "Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight". Although lesser known than many others from the Old West called gunfighters, his name is becoming more prominent...
, "Wild Bill" Hickok, and
Clay AllisonClay Allison was a Texas cattle rancher and gunfighter. He is one of the best known historic figures of the American Old West.-Early life:...
. However, the fact that he was so widely known can be ascribed to a practical joke played on a gullible newspaper reporter in August 1881. Seeking copy in Gunnison, Colorado, the reporter asked Dr W.S. Cockrell about mankillers. Dr. Cockrell pointed to a young man nearby and said it was Bat and that he had killed 26 men. Cockrell then regaled the reporter with several lurid tales about Bat's exploits and the reporter wrote them up for the
New York Sun. The story was then widely reprinted in papers all over the country and became the basis for many more exaggerated stories told about Bat over the years.
Masterson left the West and went to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
by 1902, where he was arrested for illegal gambling.
President
Theodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, on the recommendation of mutual friend
Alfred Henry LewisAlfred Henry Lewis was an American investigative journalist, lawyer, novelist, editor, and short story writer.-External links:* at Spartacus Educational...
, appointed Masterson to the position of deputy to U.S. Marshal for the southern district of New York, under William Henkel. Roosevelt had met Masterson on several occasions and had become friendly with him. Masterson split his time between his writing and keeping the peace in the grand jury room whenever the U. S. Attorney in New York held session. He performed this service for about $2,000 per year from early 1908 until 1912 when President
William Howard TaftWilliam Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
removed Masterson from the position during Taft's purge of Roosevelt supporters from government positions.
Newspaper man
Bat Masterson worked as a sports writer and editor; and a columnist. His career as a writer started around 1883 and ended at his death in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1921.
He wrote a letter published in the
Daily Kansas State Journal, on June 9, 1883, that mentioned his arrival in Dodge City, the famous Long Branch saloon, and his famous cohorts who made the Long Branch their headquarters during the so-called "Dodge City Saloon War." It was during this time that Bat met newspapermen Alfred Henry and William Eugene Lewis. Both journalists were destined to play a role in Masterson's future as a scribe. Masterson published
Vox Populi, a single edition newspaper focusing on local Dodge City politics in November 1884. Masterson penned a weekly sports column for
George's Weekly sometime after his arrival in
Denver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, in the late 1890s.
Masterson continued his writing career in New York at the
New York Morning Telegraph, (a sporting newspaper featuring race form and results whose reputation was part of what was known as "a whore's breakfast," which consisted of a cigarette and the
Morning Telegraph) circa 1904. Hired by the younger Lewis brother, William Eugene Lewis, he reprised his role as sports writer, later becoming the paper's sports editor. The politics, sporting events, theaters, fine dining establishments, and varied night life of his adopted city became fodder for his thrice weekly column "Masterson's Views on Timely Topics" for more than 18 years. W. E. Lewis eventually became the general manager and president of the company and promoted his friend Masterson to vice president and company secretary.
While in New York City, Masterson met up again with the Lewis brothers.
Alfred Henry LewisAlfred Henry Lewis was an American investigative journalist, lawyer, novelist, editor, and short story writer.-External links:* at Spartacus Educational...
eventually wrote several short stories and a novel
The Sunset Trail, about Masterson. Alfred Lewis encouraged Bat to write a series of sketches about his adventures which were published by Lewis in the magazine he edited,
Human Life (circa 1907–1908). Masterson regaled his readers with stories about his days on the frontier and his gunfighter friends. He also explained to his audience what he felt were the best properties of a gunfighter.
It was during this time that Masterson sold his famous sixgun—"the gun that tamed the West"—because he "needed the money." Actually, Masterson bought old guns at pawnshops, carved notches into the handles and sold them at inflated prices. Each time he claimed the gun was the one he used during his career as a lawman.
Death
Bat Masterson died at age 67 on October 25, 1921, while living and working in New York City. He collapsed at his desk from a heart attack after penning what became his final column for the
New York Morning Telegraph. His body was taken to Campbell's Funeral Parlor and later buried after a simple service in
Woodlawn CemeteryWoodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City and is a designated National Historic Landmark.A rural cemetery located in the Bronx, it opened in 1863, in what was then southern Westchester County, in an area that was annexed to New York City in 1874.The cemetery covers more...
in Bronx, New York. His full name, William Barclay Masterson, appears above his epitaph on the large granite grave marker in Woodlawn. His epitaph states that he was "Loved by Everyone."
Quotations
- "Every dog, we are told, has his day, unless there are more dogs than days."
- "New York is the biggest boomtown there is. They will buy any damned thing here."
- "When a man is at the racetrack he roars longer and louder over the twenty-five cents he loses through the hole in the bottom of his pocket than he does over the $25 he loses through the hole in the top of his pocket."
- "There are those who argue that everything breaks even in this old dump of a world of ours. I suppose these ginks who argue that way hold that because the rich man gets ice in the summer and the poor man gets it in the winter things are breaking even for both. Maybe so, but I'll swear I can't see it that way." (These were also Masterson's last recorded words, which were in the bit of column found on the typewriter Masterson was using before he died while typing).
Gaming
Masterson is mentioned in various games utilizing the names of "authentic" historic characters.
- Bait Masteron is a satirically named Non-Player Character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
character in EverQuestEverQuest, often shortened to EQ, is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game that was released on the 16th of March, 1999. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost...
- Red Dead Revolver
Red Dead Revolver is a western third-person shooter video game published by Rockstar Games and developed by Rockstar San Diego. It was released in North America on May 4, 2004, for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox....
character, Jack Swift, is based on Bat Masterson
Literature and publications
(Alphabetical, by author)
- In the non-fiction autobiography, You Can't Win (1926), written by train-riding hobo and small time thief Jack Black
Jack Black, born 1871 in Vancouver but raised from infancy in Missouri, was a late 19th century/early 20th century hobo and professional burglar, living out the dying age of the Wild West. He wrote You Can't Win a memoir or sketched autobiography describing his days on the road and life as an...
about his own life in the early nineteen hundreds, he claims that he and another thief named The Sanctimonious Kid intend to stick up a poker game in Denver, CO, but reconsider when they see Bat Masterson playing in the game. When Jack, who didn't know Bat Masterson, asks "Sanc" why they didn't go through with the plan, "Sanc" states that Bat Masterson is the fastest human being alive with a gun and would've shot them dead before they could raise their pieces.
- Bat Masterson, along with many other historical figures of the time, is a character in the novel The Buntline Special(2010) by Mike Resnick
Michael Diamond Resnick , better known by his published name Mike Resnick, is an American science fiction author. He was executive editor of Jim Baen's Universe.-Biography:...
.
- Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...
also published a short-lived comic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
based on the series. The first issue was published as Four Color Comics #1013, followed by Bat Masterson #2–9 (1960–62). All the issues had photographic covers. The stories were scripted by Gaylord DuBoisGaylord McIlvaine Du Bois , or DuBois In his lifetime he wrote well over 3000 comic book stories and comic strips as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure...
- The main characters in Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars
Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars is a novel by Daniel Pinkwater, published in 1979.-Plot summary:The story is about a portly kid named Leonard Neeble moving from his old neighborhood to West Kangaroo Park, Hogboro. There Leonard goes to a new school, Bat Masterson Junior High...
(1979), written by Daniel PinkwaterDaniel Manus Pinkwater is an author of mostly children's books and is an occasional commentator on National Public Radio. He attended Bard College. Well-known books include Lizard Music, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, Fat Men from Space, Borgel, and the picture book The Big Orange...
, attend Bat Masterson Junior High
- The character Obadiah "The Sky" Masterson, from Damon Runyon's
Alfred Damon Runyon was an American newspaperman and writer.He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the...
short story "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown"The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" is a short story by Damon Runyon upon which the musical Guys and Dolls is based. It was first published in 1933. In 1949, it was dramatized on radio as part of a program called Damon Runyon Theatre....
" and the musical Guys and Dolls, was based on Bat Masterson.
- The novel 1999 Masterson, by Richard S. Wheeler
Richard S. Wheeler is the award-winning novelist of over sixty books about the American West, including the Barnaby Skye series of novels...
, describes a fictional trip from New York to CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, wherein Bat meets film actor William S. HartWilliam Surrey Hart was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered for having "imbued all of his characters with honor and integrity."-Biography:...
and visits Wyatt Earp. The trip takes place in late 1919, just before the imposition of national prohibitionProhibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
of alcohol. Among other amusing observations he makes is the statement that Las VegasLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
is just an unimportant whistle stop town--"always was, always will be."
Music
Onscreen, in film
(Ordered chronologically)
- Masterson himself can reportedly be seen wearing a bowler hat in the 1897 documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, The Corbett-Fitzsimmons FightThe Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight is an 1897 documentary film directed by Enoch J. Rector depicting a boxing match between James J. Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons in Carson City, Nevada on St. Patrick's Day the same year. Originally running at over 100 minutes, it was the longest film that had ever been...
- Albert Dekker
Albert Dekker was an American character actor and politician best known for his roles in Dr. Cyclops, The Killers, Kiss Me Deadly, and The Wild Bunch. He is sometimes credited as Albert Van Dekker or Albert van Dekker...
portrayed Masterson in the 1943 film, The Woman of the Town, based on the murder of Dora Hand (portrayed by Claire TrevorClaire Trevor was an Academy Award-winning American actress. She was nicknamed the "Queen of Film Noir" because of her many appearances in "bad girl” roles in film noir and other black-and-white thrillers...
). Barry SullivanBarry Sullivan was an American movie actor who appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s.Born in New York City, Sullivan fell into acting when in college playing semi-pro football...
played Miss Hand's killer, named "King" Kennedy in the film rather than Jim Kennedy. The film suggested that there was a romantic relationship between Masterson and Dora Hand. The film's musical score was nominated for an Oscar.
- Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...
played Masterson in the 1947 film Trail Street
- Joel McCrea
Joel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned 50 years and appearances in over 90 films.-Early life:...
played Masterson in the 1959 film The Gunfight at Dodge CityThe Gunfight at Dodge City is a 1959 color western film, set in the Kansas cattle town of Hays City.-Cast:* Joel McCrea as Bat Masterson* Julie Adams as Pauline Howard* John McIntire as Doc Sam Tremaine* Nancy Gates as Lily, Lady Gay Saloon Owner...
which depicted the famed westerner during his term of office as Ford County Sheriff
- Bat Masterson was portrayed in the 1994 movie Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp is a 1994 American semi-biographical Western film, written by Dan Gordon and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Kasdan. It stars Kevin Costner in the title role as lawman Wyatt Earp, and features an ensemble cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Isabella Rossellini, Mark Harmon,...
(by Tom Sizemore), as well as in a number of other movies featuring characters ostensibly based upon historic figures
Onscreen, in television
(Alphabetical by series or show title)
- Bat Masterson
Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black and white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961...
was a U.S. televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series loosely based on the historical character. William Barclay "Bat" Masterson was portrayed by actor Gene BarryGene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films The Atomic City and The War of The Worlds and for his portrayal of the title character in the TV series Bat Masterson, among many roles.-Personal life:Barry was born...
, who also played a lead role in later television shows The Name of the GameThe Name of the Game is an American television series starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for the likes of The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s...
and Burke's LawBurke's Law is a detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud...
, among others. Bat Masterson appeared on NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in 107 episodes from 1958 to 1961 and featured Masterson as a superbly dressed gambler, generally outfitted in a black suit and derby hat, who was more inclined to "bat" crooks over the head with his gold-knobbed cane than shoot them. The half-hour series, filmed in black and white, featured fairly literate scripts for a television western of the period. Hundreds of thousands of plastic derby hats and canes were sold as children's toys during the show's run. The series was partially sponsored by SealtestSealtest Dairy was a division of National Dairy Products Corporation of Delaware. The brand name was later acquired by Ault Foods of Toronto, Ontario and used on dairy products sold in Canada. The Sealtest plant in Toronto took over operations of Silverwood Dairy, the local dairy, in the 1980s...
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- In one episode of Beakman's World
Beakman's World is an educational children's television show produced by ELP Communications, Columbia Pictures Television, Universal Belo Productions, and Columbia TriStar Television Distribution....
, Beakman portrayed himself in a short film as Bat Masterson when teaching about how actors do not injure themselves when doing things that are meant to cause injury.
- An Early Edition
Early Edition is an American television series that aired on CBS from September 28, 1996 to May 27, 2000. Set in the city of Chicago, Illinois, it follows the adventures of a man who mysteriously receives each Chicago Sun-Times newspaper the day before it is actually published, and who uses this...
episode was devoted to Bat Masterson.
- Animation giants William Hanna
William Denby Hanna was an American animator, director, producer, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of people for much of the 20th century. When he was a young child, Hanna's family moved frequently, but they settled in Compton, California, by...
and Joseph BarberaJoseph Roland Barbera was an influential American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the twentieth century....
satirized Masterson in a 1964 Punkin' Puss and Mushmouse cartoon, "Bat Mouseterson", in which Mushmouse's city-dwelling, cane-wielding cousin comes to hill country for a visit and teaches Mushmouse the gentleman's way of warding off the always-feuding Punkin' Puss.
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