For several years on American television, it seemed as if Bat Masterson preened his way across the Old West. Bat was always sartorially splendid as he rode into a frontier town, wearing that stylish black suit, the handsome derby and carrying that expensive cane of his.

Old Bat certainly was quite a contrast in traditional Western attire from such other famous TV cowboys like Matt Dillon, Ben Cartwright, Lucas McCain and Heath Barkley.

Can you imagine the foppish Bat Masterson working on a cattle drive with such manly and down-to-earth cowboys as trailboss Gil Favor and ramrod Rowdy Yates? I don’t think so. In fact Gil and Rowdy would have probably thought that the epicene Bat Masterson was just “slightly” narcissistic, what with Bat’s fancy dude clothes and also apparently smothering himself daily in Grey Flannel cologne out there on the prairie.

And wouldn’t the simple and homespun residents of Walnut Grove, Minnesota have been especially leery of the newly-arrived cowboy-coxcomb newcomer in town? Could you see Nels Oleson, Doc Baker, Rev. Alden, Isiah Edwards and Charles “Pa” Ingalls warming up and welcoming a Beau Brummell like the smug and condescending Bat Masterson to town? I can’t see it happening at all.

Yes, Bat Masterson, the pretentious and meticulously-attired dandy was probably better suited to be on an episode of “Queer Eye For The Straight Guy” than Bat Masterson ever was for an appearance on gritty western like “Deadwood” or “1883.”

He was more suited (get it suited?) for Audra, Jarrod and Victoria Barkley.

Nearly the whole community wore the finest store bought close for working.


Oh, that dude on the Wild Wild West. He was styling too.

To be fair, Bat Masterson apparently wasn’t the only dandy in the Old West. While Ben, Hoss and Little Joe Cartwright wore traditional cowboy attire on the Ponderosa ranch, Ben’s oldest son, Adam, was also a bit of a cowboy coxcomb.

What with his dramatic all-black cowboy attire, Adam sort of reminded me of the similarly all-black attired El Gallo, the foppish bandit/narrator in the long-running off-Broadway musical play, “The Fantasticks”. In fact, I can imagine the late, great Pernell “Adam Cartwright” Roberts (who actually did sing on “Bonanza”), singing El Gallo’s signature song, “Try to Remember” from that classic American musical play. (Isn’t it also somewhat ironic that the late, great Gene “Bat Masterson” Barry also acted and sang on stage and was nominated for a Tony Award as Georges in the Broadway musical play, “La Cage aux Folles”?)

So, while we all enjoyed watching the scruffy and no-frills Festus and Will Sonnett every week on tv, there was also Bat Masterson and Adam Cartwright, sort of 19th century predecessors for Amos Burke and Felix Unger.