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Did anyone see the History Channel program "When Cowboys Were King" on Thursday evening? Having grown up during the late 40s and 50s, westerns were certainly an important part of my youth. My very first movie in a theatre was a Hopalong Cassidy western at the Washington Theatre is Washington, NJ. I thought they did an excellent job of telling the history of westerns from the silent "The Great Train Robbery" (which was the first movie to tell a story that advanced a plot and thus begun the feature film) right through to the spaghetti westerns of Clint Eastwood.

If you did happen to see that program, the scenes where a film historian was seated in a theatre auditorium with a movie playing in the background while he chated about the westerns, was my theatre. Of course it was dark in there so you don't get to see much of the theatre, but it was fun having the filming done there.

It is a good example as to just how long it takes to complete a film project such as that. Those scenes filmed in my theatre were done about a year and a half ago.

This sounds like something I would enjoy, as I have similar childhood memories, and always enjoy a good Western... The chance to get a glimpse of ROXY's theater is an added bonus, as well... However I will have to wait 'til this shows up on PBS, as I have no access to the History Channel because I disconnected from cable many years ago due to the cost, and the fact that they are selling movies in competition to ourselves... Thanks for the tip, I'll watch for the program...

The History Channel program "When Cowboys Were King" will be repeated, appropriately enough, this coming Saturday morning from 10 am to Noon.
Saddle up!

This was a great show. I remembered many of the old cowboy shows. I was a big Hopalong Cassidy fan. The thing always stands out in my mind about the old films, (cowboys and adventure films both), is how the always managed to stay so clean!