A tip of the coonskin cap

"Davy-y, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier ..."

   There's usually a tinge of sadness when a celebrity of sorts dies, of course, it depends on the celebrity. 'They' say, "They always die in 3's," and I suppose one could say that did occur last week, but seriously, what did Corey Haim ever do that had any lasting power?

  Now for the other two actors who died, well ...
 While Peter Graves' role as Captain Oveur in "Airplane," was an 'instant classic,' it was because the character was in such contrast to his iconic depiction of Jim Phelps on "Mission Impossible". The IMF team dominated the TV landscape from the mid-1960s to early 1970s, and spawned the trio of blockbusters starring Tom Cruise.
   But I was truly saddened by the passing of Fess Parker who played the lead characters of "Davy Crockett" in the late 1950s and "Daniel Boone" in the 1960s — two bigger than life real men that helped shape my tiny psyche. The programs were broad, romantic depictions of the frontier days with musical scores as sweeping as the vistas flickering across that black and white screen. And, of course, I watched them wearing my coonskin cap. I think I may still have one buried in a box somewhere.

   "Daniel Boone was a man, yes a biiiiiig man ..."

   I can't even recall one specific episode right now, but Fess Parker was one of many a strapping, macho figure who stalked the screen in a spate of TV Westerns in the 60s: "Cheyenne", "Have Gun - Will Travel", "Maverick", "Rawhide", "The Rifleman", "Death Valley Days" (presented by Borax) and "Wagon Train" were my other favorites with Richard Boone, Chuck Conners, James Garner, Graves' brother James Arness and Clint Eastwood appearing in my life.
   Back to Corey Haim. Hmmm.
   Here he is in his own words: "I was working on "The Lost Boys" (1987) when I smoked my first joint. But a year before that, I was starting to drink beer on the set of the film "Lucas" (1986). I lived in Los Angeles in the '80s, which was not the best place to be. I did cocaine for about a year and a half, then it led to crack. I started on the downers which were a hell of a lot better than the uppers because I was a nervous wreck. But one led to two, two led to four, four led to eight, until at the end it was about 85 a day — the doctors could not believe I was taking that much. And that was just the valium — I'm not talking about the other pills I went through."
   Um .... maybe the stars don't always 'die in 3s'.