Daniel Boone is an American
action/adventure television series that aired from September 24, 1964 to
September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century
Fox Television. The title role was played by
Fess Parker. Ed Ames
co-starred as Mingo, Boone's American Indian friend, for the first four
seasons of the series. Albert Salmi portrayed Boone sidekick Yadkin in
season one only. Actor and former NFL football player Roosevelt Grier made
regular appearances in the 1969 to 1970 season. The show was broadcast "in
Living Color," beginning in Fall, 1965, the second season. It was shot
entirely in California and Kanab, Utah.
Daniel Boone Intro
This one is kind of a hippied up late sixties kind of thing.
This version is better it's much more authentic sounding.
Background
Daniel Boone was one of two iconic historical figures played by Fess
Parker. He previously appeared as Davy Crockett in a series of episodes of
the Disney anthology television series, to considerable acclaim. For his
role as Boone, which lasted far longer but had arguably less impact,
Parker again wore a raccoon hide coonskin cap, which had been popularized
years earlier by the Crockett shows. Daniel Boone's headgear was even
mentioned in the show's theme song: "From the coonskin cap on the top of
ol' Dan...." although the real life Daniel Boone did not actually wear a
coonskin cap.
Parker's Boone was less of an explorer and more a family man than Parker's
Crockett. Boone's wife Rebecca (played by Patricia Blair) and son Israel
(Darby Hinton) were often featured in the stories. In reality, Boone had
ten children. During the first two seasons, his daughter Jemima was shown
(played by Veronica Cartwright), but she disappeared with no explanation
toward the end of the second season. Western actor Chris Alcaide appeared
twice on the series, once as an Indian, Flathead Joseph.
The series was set in the 1770s, just before and during the American
Revolution, and mostly centered on adventures in and around Boonesborough,
Kentucky. Some aspects of the show were less than historically faithful,
which at one point led the Kentucky legislature to condemn the
inaccuracies.
Inconsistencies included episodes such as "The Aaron Burr Story," a
second-season episode in which the former Vice President of the United
State visits Boonesborough. The episode was based on Burr's raising an
armed group, allegedly to commit treason, in 1806, while another episode
in the second season hinged on allegations that the Boonesborough settlers
were planning insurrection against the British Crown, prior to the
American Revolution. Still other episodes took place during the
Revolution. No explanation was made for the 30-year discrepancy.
The character Mingo was half-Cherokee and highly educated, somewhat in the
Tonto mold but with updated sensibilities and without the broken English.
(A graduate of Oxford University, Mingo passed as a British officer in at
least two episodes, and sang opera in another.) Singer Ed Ames' role as
Mingo led to an infamous tomahawk-throwing demonstration on The Tonight
Show that was rerun on anniversary clip shows for decades afterward. In
reality, the Mingo were a small group of natives (and not one man) who
were related to the Iroquois.
Another television treatment of the life of Daniel Boone appeared on the
Disney anthology series in 1960, with Dewey Martin starring as Boone. This
four part series did not have remotely the same impact as the Crockett
shows. Unsurprisingly, Fess Parker's Daniel Boone is much better
remembered today than Martin's.
DVD info
Two boxed season sets of Daniel Boone starring Fess Parker were released
on DVD on September 26, 2006 —interestingly, a full 186 years to the day
of the American pioneer/hunter's death. A
third season boxed set was released on May 8, 2007 followed by a
fourth season boxed set on June 19, 2007. A
fifth season boxed set followed in August.
Season six was on DVD on November 18, 2008.
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