The Have Gun: Will Travel Companion (Paperback)

~ Martin Grams (Author), Les Rayburn (Author) "The stranger stood iron clad in black, from his boots to his hat..." (more)
Key Phrases: teleplay written, have gun, other television series, Richard Boone, San Francisco, Sam Rolfe (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A must-have for all western fans... a wealth of information... well researched." -- The Delta Star, October 2001

"Detailed... comprehensive." -- Western Mail, June 2002

"Highly recommended" -- Old Time Radio Digest

"I always had a crush on Richard Boone as a little girl. Thank you for such a great book." -- Sally Dumar Comments

I never knew there were so many items related to this show. Your book is a reference for Western collectors. -- Bill Holnstein responded . . .

Product Description

Known as the Barrymore on horseback, Richard Boone created a character that television audiences could relate to. For six seasons, audiences were able to tune in each week and watch their latest adventure of "Have Gun - Will Travel," a western that stepped over the boundries, and told stories that viewers today remember vividly. Broadcast over CBS Radio and Television, "Have Gun - Will Travel" is still remembered by fans as one of the best adult westerns ever made. This book documents the history behind the series, the genesis of the program, and why after six seasons, the show left the air. Memories from writers, actors, directors , producers, stuntmen and many more help give insight and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of each and every television and radio episode. Hal Needham, Frank Pierson, Peggy Rea, Andrew V. McLaglen, Sydney Pollack, Shimon Wincelberg, and hundreds of others contributed. Rare photos, over 150 to be exact, are featured - many never before seen! The authors relied on exclusive interviews and production call sheets to make sure that all dates of production as well as broadcast dates, official script titles, and cast credits are all listed. A complete chapter on every HGWT collectable is featured, as well as other surprises. This is the very book you can't live without. Almost 500 pages thick so you can just imagine the wealth of information. Everything you've ever wanted to know about "Have Gun" is here under one cover!

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Product Details

• Paperback: 505 pages
• Publisher: OTR Pub; 1st edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970331002
• ISBN-13: 978-0970331007
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #354,758 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Bad Outweighs the Good..., December 16, 2000

By	Rory Coker (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What a disaster! First, the good things: there is a complete and accurate log of the CBS radio broadcasts of HAVE GUN, starring the late, great John Dehner; and, there is a complete and accurate log of the CBS TV programs, starring the late, great Richard Boone. These are the only really usable logs in print anywhere.

Now for the bad news. At least one of the authors is so totally, completely illiterate that he cannot even transcribe proper names correctly. Virtually every sentence contains a garbled word or phrase. In many cases it is nearly completely impossible to decipher what is being talked about. Even the many fragmentary interviews have this problem, since the interviewer clearly did not recognize the words being used by the person interviewed, and puts in either a ludicrous phonetic spelling, or substitutes an entirely different word with no connection to the one spoken by the interviewee.

Where a coherent narrative (i.e., sentence 2 having some connection to sentence 1, sentence 3 having some connection to sentence 2, etc.) is required, the book falls down even further. Consider the several pages devoted to a complex set of lawsuits brought against CBS by an obscure children's birthday party performer who claimed the whole idea for the TV show had been stolen from his birthday party persona. To say that this discussion is completely, totally and utterly incoherent is to put it mildly. There is not a single sentence in the several pages where I had the vaguest concept of what the author was trying to say.

In short, this is a fan book, with all the defects that such books (which used to be mimeographed or xeroxed from an original manuscript, crudely stapled, and sold for $5 apiece at nostalgia conventions) always have. It is tragic that no one cared enough about the material to have someone who could read, write and speak english work over the text. Since the radio and TV broadcast logs are relatively free of typos (apart from some names that are spelled differently every time they appear, even in the same paragraph), it is clear someone did care enough about these to give them a once-over with a blue pencil.

What the luckless performers and crewmembers interviewed here, who now see their words minced into gibberish when they finally see print, might think of this pathetic book, I'd like to hear.

Worth buying for the logs, which take up about half the text, but don't expect anything else and you won't be disappointed.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The critic was right., July 31, 2006

By	L. Evenson (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I first read the reviewer who listed detail after detail that was wrong with the book, I thought he's just picayune. OH NO!!!! This is the sloppiest published work I have ever seen. Some typos (and there are typically 3 or more per page)are so bad you can't even guess at the meaning of the sentence.

The writers obviously know and love their subject--it's just too bad no one edited or proofread their work. Ironically, they tout their superior research as uncovering various inaccuracies--to what end, when it's published in this garbled format?

He's right about the photos, too. Why are they so indistinct and faint?

Finally, there is no rhyme or reason to the order in which the material is presented. While each bit might be interesting, chronological order or grouping by topic certainly would have lent more impact and avoided repetition. (It actually looked like sections were merely cut and pasted several times).

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Have Gun -- Will Travel Companion, March 8, 2006

By	Donald D. Ensign (Green Valley, AZ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For those interested in the behind the scene issues
involving the production of the Have Gun Will Travel
TV Series (1957-1963) this book is a good resource.

The authors have conducted interviews with many
important individuals who were connected to this
classic western. It starts out with a biography
of Richard Boone (Paladin) that traces his life from
his birth in Los Angeles with sections on the TV shows
Medic, The Richard Boone Show, Hec Ramsey as well as Have
Gun with information on his feature films and theatrical
performances. It also has an extensive plot summary
section on each Have Gun episode, a section on the short
lived Have Gun Radio program and other material of interest.

The weaknesses of the book are these. There are numerous
spelling mistakes, wrong word choices, dangling/unfinished
sentences and other typographical errors. The numerous
photos are poorly scanned and/or lack proper halftones. A
good editor/proof reader was needed on this book. For
this reader these are irritating though not enough to
disquality the book entirely.

More important was the lack of critical evaluation of the content of the program itself. If you are looking for a book that provides an in depth analysis into the personality of the Paladin character you will need to look elsewhere. Richard Boone and the writers and producers of Have Gun Will Travel created a wonderfully complex hero in this "Knight without Armor in a Savage Land." (Plot summaries are not character analysis). This book only scratches the surface of that complexity.

If you saw this program as a child as I did and have fond memories of it this book is valuable to read in
conjunction with viewing the Video/DVD Have Gun Will Travel collections.