During his tenure in Dodge City, which was also the county seat and the Ford County Sheriff’s Office, Bat appointed many of his former associates as special deputies when situations became thorny. Ford County comprised 9,500 square miles, a large portion of southwestern Kansas; a lot of territory in which outlaws could easily hide. In pursuit of them Bat called Wyatt Earp along with his younger brother James Masterson and friend Bill Tilghman, both deputies. Ed, Bat’s other brother, had meanwhile been appointed City Marshall.
In the TV series Bat kept this under control, managing (to perfection) crime and order, which had been slightly more difficult in the 1870s in Dodge City (Kansas). On TV he stopped countless cowboys on the streets of Dodge on a rampage, and chased murderers, bank robbers, cattle rustlers, and robbers, and as in reality, Gene Barry’s Bat never killed anyone he arrested.
Many were wounded, but no one was shot dead. His reputation for killing 27 men when he held the position of defender of the law was a legend. The real Bat Masterson had been wise enough to let the story spread, since fear of one’s weapon constituted as effective a weapon as the weapon itself. Bat killed only one man during a shooting, Melvin A. King.
As noted by Western television authorities Doug Abbott and Ronald Jackson, between 1949 and the late 20th century there were more than 145 shows set in the Old West, about the Old West (anthologies such as Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater e Death Valley Days), or modernized shows but still with a Western heart, such as today’s superb TV series Longmire. Bat Masterson is featured in 108 episodes (which by today’s TV standards could be anything between 8 to 10 seasons), but the TV series aired only from October 8, 1959 to September 21, 1961. Bat Masterson, like Wyatt Earp, but especially Masterson was authentic since he lived long enough to write his own story.
Bat gets his weapon
It is a disgrace that such a well-documented history as Bat Masterson and his gun choices, no one who wrote, produced or directed the TV series was able to make the appropriate choice as to weapon and holster for Gene Barry’s reproduction of Masterson in the NBC TV series. The true defender of Dodge City law carried 5-1/2-inch nickel-plated Colt models and preferred drop loop holsters with a deeply folded throat for faster draw. And Masterson always wore his cross-style holster.
This was the only element that the TV series reproduced adequately. Gene Barry’s Bat Masterson, dressed to the nines in a cane and bowler hat, was armed-for the entire run of the 108-episode show-with a Colt with a 3-1/2-inch (sometimes 4-inch) nickel-plated barrel. And adding insult to injury, instead of the fantastic Colt with black rubber Eagle grips, or Bat’s occasional preference for mother-of-pearl grips, the fully nickel-plated weapon in the TV series had deer grips.
The latter became one of the most famous features of a heroic weapon during the great black-and-white era and then the color westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. For Masterson and Matt Dillon, one among others, the deer was unmistakable. Matt Dillon’s burnished 7-1/2-inch Colt Single Action and nickel-plated 4-inch Peacemakers actually came with Franzite faux deer (molded plastic) grips that were durable, inexpensive and easy to replace if damaged.
Franzite handles were hollow, which made them light and also easy to break if the weapon fell ruinously. But they were inexpensive, and an extra pair was always on hand to be replaced by the wardrobe. Of course, deer grips were not really used on Colt revolvers in Bat Masterson’s time; they were either made of walnut, ebony, mother-of-pearl, hand-engraved ivory, or for the last hard rubber Eagle and shield grips, introduced in 1882 and supplied by Colt until 1896.
More precisely, the TV series (and movies) westerns were simply based on history and the characters were just that, “characters,” even those that were based on real people like Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp. The almost imperceptible impact of that wonderful invention called television was that many people regarded Westerns as historical gospels (especially for shows like Life and Legend of Wyatt Earpe Bat Masterson).
Creating a memorable TV character, particularly for a western, required three essential elements, (having a good actor aside): a memorable weapon, an interesting holster, and an even more interesting hat. Bat Masterson’s true life story had all three of these elements! They were almost there.
As for the holster Gene Barry used impersonating Bat Masterson, it was a quick-draw TV rig with a cross on it and worn on a narrow belt-along with the hard-to-see and easily slipping ammunition-that carried another dozen rounds. Bat was good with his fists and his stick, and it was hard to notice when he was reloading.
In real life Masterson carried plenty of ammunition for the Colt Peacemaker and for his famous “Big Fifty,” Masterson’s .54 caliber Sharps rifle that was always on hand when he stepped outside the confines of Dodge City and headed in pursuit of an outlaw. Life during the Golden Era of black-and-white western television, on the other hand, was much less complicated in 30 minutes [di show].
