Daniel Boone TV show historical accuracy

[Cori]

You mean they didn't have rattle cans back in them days??!!

Isn't it easier to do stencils with a paintbrush than spray paint, and didn't they have paint and brushes and maybe stencils back then?

 

[stephenprops1]

Although it says so right in the song...every version, of which there were at least half a dozen.

Actually, Daniel Boone hated coonskin caps. He wore a different kind. It is thanks to Walt Disney that he became symbolized with the coonskin cap.

 

[stephenprops1]

All I can say is, it is a good thing Daniel Boone was born and was on our side. From the 1740's until his death in 1820, it seemed (according to Disney) that he saved our collective Bacon numerous times. LOL

 

[Cori]

Actually, Daniel Boone hated coonskin caps. He wore a different kind. It is thanks to Walt Disney that he became symbolized with the coonskin cap.

Disney is not entirely to blame. The coonskin cap was associated with Daniel Boone at least by the time of the 1936 film by that name. Interestingly, author/artist James Daugherty, who wrote a book titled Daniel Boone which won the Newbery Medal in 1940, pictures Boone in what is probably more historically accurate headgear. I read the book, as part of a project to read all Newbery gold medalists, in which I have been successful despite entries such as that one. This book is riddled with extreme racism (I would say beyond the usual even for that time) and is deservedly out of print. People might find it interesting though.

John Wayne is the only other actor I know of who played both Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett but those roles BELONG to Fess Parker!

I'd love to see the look on Boone's face if anyone showed him any of the movies or TV series or God forbid sang him the song!

 

[Cori]

All I can say is, it is a good thing Daniel Boone was born and was on our side. From the 1740's until his death in 1820, it seemed (according to Disney) that he saved our collective Bacon numerous times. LOL

"And he fought for America to make all Americans free."

 

[Cori]

I've been keeping track of certain things as I watch (I'm sure I am missing plenty, and overlooking plenty, such as: the Boone family having one child during most of the series when in real life they had ten, Daniel also seeming to be an only child when in real life he had family nearby, and Daniel being rabidly anti-slavery when in real life he owned seven slaves) but what I am keeping track of is on these threads at MovieChat.org:

Plot ripoffs? One that was so obvious I started a thread on it: Season 5, Episode 5: The Plague That Came to Ford's Run | MovieChat

Inaccurate uses of wildlife: Out of Place Wildlife | MovieChat

Language anachronisms (I'm sure I didn't catch them all): Language Ananchronisms | MovieChat

And, my favorite, music! Music Used on the Series | MovieChat

If I have the patience, when I'm finished watching the series, I want to divide the music as follows: 1. Music which Daniel Boone could conceivably have heard during the "time period" of the series (and that is a term used loosely; see above. Technically Season 6 should be 1780 but they stray as far afield as 1807 so it will have to be divided into a.) the year it should have been and b.) the year they actually depicted. 2. Music Daniel Boone couldn't have heard during the series period but could have during his lifetime. 3. Uncertain/gray area ("Traditional" music which no one knows the exact origin of) 4. Music written just for the series, (one song by Randy Newman even!) and 5. Music Daniel Boone could not possibly have heard in his lifetime. (I think the latest piece I noticed was written in 1879.)

 

[Omahkapi'si]

Good entertainment, I am enjoying the series.

 

[stephenprops1]

"And he fought for America to make all Americans free."

Except for slaves, women and Indians.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

I don’t analyze it, I just watch and relax.

 

[Cori]

Except for slaves, women and Indians.

In the show it was everybody (with exceptions). In real life, Daniel Boone owned seven slaves at one or various times. It was Davy Crockett who (in the song) was both fair to Indians and sometimes fought them. Daniel Boone (in the show) same thing. In one (of many) inconsistencies, in one episode Daniel Boone stated he would not allow any slave ownership in the settlement. Later, when a friend of his, Josh Clements (played by Jimmy Dean), inherited a slave, Daniel let him keep the, as we are supposed to say now, enslaved person until the situation was worked out. In another episode, Josh Clements ended up with an indentured servant and Daniel had no problem with that.

 

[Capnball]

I used to LOVE watching Davie Crocket and Daniel Boon when I was a kid. It was entertaining but not really historically accurate. I thought the whole idea of living in the wilderness, wearing buck skins and living by my witts and off the land was nothing short of super hero stuff. The "rifle" or gun was a secondary character. That trap door conversion seen up close in only a few shots was more of a mystery to me then anything else. I knew about FX even back then but I didn't really know what the deal was with that gun until I was an adult.

 

[bud in pa]

How did Hochen get to be spelled Hawken?

 

[Brokentaileddog]

All i knew from age 5 thru 10 was Davy Crockett this and that. Faux coonskin hats were mandatory as were plastic flintlock pistols. The original CA Disneyland frontierlands "fort wilderness" island featured a Davy Crockett theme fort with Longrifles hooked up to speakers that would sound a "gunshot" when trigger was pulled. The displays within the fort had several ML weapons on display. Kids in full davy crockett attire (guns and all) were admitted to the park. Toy guns were sold at several places in the park. An accident with the rifles doomed the fort and not sure its still there. (see linky). Now Disneyland gates have metal detectors and other unpleasant reminders of our descent into chaos. FWIW the late Clint Walker (Cheyanne) once told me the worst thing is when folks mistook him for Fess Parker.

https://yesterland.com/fortwilderness.html

Nearly all us boys back in the day had a coonskin hat I'll always remember mine it was made out of believe it or not rabbit fur with a coon tail man I loved that hat..Kids of today don't know or care about stuff like that ...or even history when I was a boy you learnt great things from your dad and grand dad.You were taught the sounds of different birds all the different types of trees firearm safety and everything about hunting...

 

[Cori]

Long ago, in some TV Guide article about mistakes on TV, I read that the type of steel traps Daniel Boone is setting out at the beginning of every episode, and which are featured in a number of episodes, were not the type used in the 1770s. However, the history of some types of metal traps goes back long before then.

 

[Cori]

Anyone interested in further conversation about the Daniel Boone TV series kindly check here: Daniel Boone (1964) - Discuss | MovieChat

 

[Cori]

Nearly all us boys back in the day had a coonskin hat I'll always remember mine it was made out of believe it or not rabbit fur with a coon tail man I loved that hat..Kids of today don't know or care about stuff like that ...or even history when I was a boy you learnt great things from your dad and grand dad.You were taught the sounds of different birds all the different types of trees firearm safety and everything about hunting...

The boys used to hang the tail of their hat in front of their face and call it their "wild front ear." (Davy Crockett joke, not Daniel Boone.)

 

[Cori]

In Season 6, episode 7, "The Grand Alliance," at 4:26, Josh Clements says, "I seen a lot of things, but I never saw a Indian doin' anything like that." Of course he hadn't. They are firing repeatedly without reloading in an era of single shot guns.

 

[stephenprops1]

How did Hochen get to be spelled Hawken?

Names get butchered over time and language barriers. There are 15 variations of my last name. It was originally Probus, then Probst, Brobst, Propst, Provost and so on.

 

[Cori]

Season 6, episode 1: A few words about John Chapman, aka "Johnny Appleseed," played here by Roger Miller. He wasn't born until 1774, and considering that Season 1 was 1775, at one year per season this should still be only 1780 so Johnny should be about five years old here. Israel Boone was fifteen years older than Johnny Appleseed. Johnny did not start his apple seed journeys until 1806, which is still within the boundaries pushed by the series, which included events as late as 1807. Johnny traveled far and wide but never to Kentucky. To my knowledge there is no record of Johnny being musical. He was legendary for many things including wearing a cooking pot on his head, not depicted here, although he carries a couple of cooking pots which clang together.

 

[Cori]

Season 6, episode 17: Again, time travel, people! Granted, it is true that the Boone and Lincoln families were neighbors, and Tom Lincoln was known for orneriness, but that's about it. (Despite his orneriness, Tom managed to have two very nice wives.) Season 1 of Daniel Boone: 1775. Season 6 should be 1780. Thomas Lincoln, born 1778. Age in 1780: 2 years. Nancy Hanks, born 1784. Age in 1780: Minus four years. Marriage date June 12, 1806, again pushing the timeline boundaries, almost as far as the Aaron Burr episode. First child was a girl, Sarah, born 1807, who everyone forgets, including Rosemary Benét, who wrote the silly poem "Nancy Hanks," in which the ghost of Nancy Hanks speaks of Abraham as being "all alone," completely ignoring the fact that he had an older sister! This episode is in the same silliness category as that poem but lacking any literary merits it may possess.