My dad bestowed his “Legend of Jesse James” record album to me for Christmas. I remember hearing this record a lot growing up and had heard of all the musicians on it except for Levon Helm, ironically. I was surprised when I opened it to see that Levon had played the character of Jesse James. It’s very interesting to listen to now, although you can always argue whether or these type of concept albums work. You can’t argue with the cast, though. The best song is a ballad by Johnny Cash as Frank James called “Six Gun Shooting” about this young Jesse James and how Frank has never known anyone like him and can’t quite figure him out. You can listen here:
http://theband.hiof.no/albums/legend_of_jesse_james.html
Levon performed “One More Shot” at the Midnight Ramble I went to. Does anyone ever invite friends over to listen to records anymore? I think I might start.
Another Jesse James connection to my youth was the fact that Bobby Brady’s hero was Jesse James and Mr. and Mrs. Brady basically had to do an intervention to break him of it. The result was the weightiest five words ever spoken on The Brady Bunch: “Jesse James Killed My Father.” I still feel heaviness on my chest when I think of Burt Mustin saying those words, and I think either Mike or Bobby even made him repeat it.
For those who don’t know, elderly character actor Burt Mustin plays author Jethro Collins, who wrote a book about Jesse James. But as he explains, “He wasn’t a hero to me.” Mike tracks down Mr. Collins and gets him to talk to Bobby to scare him straight. It could possibly be the most ridiculous problem that the Brady’s ever faced, but at least they didn’t try to resolve it by building a house of cards. Bobby tosses and turns that night in bed with Mr. Collins’ parting shot replaying over in his head, “because that’s the kind of man Jesse James was, a mean, dirty killer… a mean, dirty killer… a mean, dirty killer.”
I always wondered if based on his age, it was possible for this man’s father to have actually been killed by Jesse James. So I did a little research. Jesse James started robbing trains in 1873 and was still robbing trains as late as 1879 and possibly right up to his death in 1882. Mr. Collins said he was too young to understand what was happening at the time, but he remembers his mother crying about it. Let’s say he was four years old when his dad was killed in 1879. That would have made the author 98 years old when the Brady Bunch episode aired in 1973. Burt Mustin himself was 89. It’s definitely plausible.
Ironically, Jesse James was killed just as he allegedly killed the elder Mr. Collins. He was shot in the back. “He was too cowardly to face him I guess…”
It’s sick that I remember so much dialog. “Mr. Collins, why don’t you explain to Bobby how it was with Jesse James and your father?” It made such an impression on me and it’s probably why I don’t look up to gangster rappers today.
http://theband.hiof.no/albums/legend_of_jesse_james.html
Levon performed “One More Shot” at the Midnight Ramble I went to. Does anyone ever invite friends over to listen to records anymore? I think I might start.
Another Jesse James connection to my youth was the fact that Bobby Brady’s hero was Jesse James and Mr. and Mrs. Brady basically had to do an intervention to break him of it. The result was the weightiest five words ever spoken on The Brady Bunch: “Jesse James Killed My Father.” I still feel heaviness on my chest when I think of Burt Mustin saying those words, and I think either Mike or Bobby even made him repeat it.
For those who don’t know, elderly character actor Burt Mustin plays author Jethro Collins, who wrote a book about Jesse James. But as he explains, “He wasn’t a hero to me.” Mike tracks down Mr. Collins and gets him to talk to Bobby to scare him straight. It could possibly be the most ridiculous problem that the Brady’s ever faced, but at least they didn’t try to resolve it by building a house of cards. Bobby tosses and turns that night in bed with Mr. Collins’ parting shot replaying over in his head, “because that’s the kind of man Jesse James was, a mean, dirty killer… a mean, dirty killer… a mean, dirty killer.”
I always wondered if based on his age, it was possible for this man’s father to have actually been killed by Jesse James. So I did a little research. Jesse James started robbing trains in 1873 and was still robbing trains as late as 1879 and possibly right up to his death in 1882. Mr. Collins said he was too young to understand what was happening at the time, but he remembers his mother crying about it. Let’s say he was four years old when his dad was killed in 1879. That would have made the author 98 years old when the Brady Bunch episode aired in 1973. Burt Mustin himself was 89. It’s definitely plausible.
Ironically, Jesse James was killed just as he allegedly killed the elder Mr. Collins. He was shot in the back. “He was too cowardly to face him I guess…”
It’s sick that I remember so much dialog. “Mr. Collins, why don’t you explain to Bobby how it was with Jesse James and your father?” It made such an impression on me and it’s probably why I don’t look up to gangster rappers today.
4 comments:
Well said.
I just watched a History Channel show about Jesse James and could only vaguely remember the Brady Bunch episode. Your blog here was one of the first results when I did a little google to find it. Thank you for remembering so much dialogue, because now I don't have to go to YouTube and watch the episode again.
Did Jethro.Collins really write a book ...was the book Mr Brady was reading a real book?
I'm sure it was a dramatization but there were several accounts of Jesse James at the time, both actual and fictional, including folk songs.
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