A BIRTHDAY SALUTE

Recognize the fellow in the picture?

This was taken in 2009, but imagine it was 1935 in the Toobworld timeline. Because that's the year in which this actor's most famous character would be the same age as the actor is this very day - 66.

Happy birthday and all the best from Toobworld Central to John Ernest Crawford, who was known simply as "Johnny Crawford" when he played Mark McCain on 'The Rifleman'.

So this 2002 inductee into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame would have turned 66 in 1935; and I see no reason why he wouldn't have made it to that point in time. It's usually a given in Toobworld that a character will live at least as long as the actor who portrayed him or her, if not longer. (Unless of course there are stipulations in the scripts.)

When last seen on our TV screens, Mark was working on a movie set in California in April of 1906. By the end of the day, he was on his way to silent movie stardom recreating the life of the real Lone Ranger on screen.

So in 1935? Still in Hollywood, perhaps still making movies, Mark McCain may have also branched out like the actor who portrayed him. Perhaps he also began a music career, performing with big bands in the glamorous nightclubs of L.A. and even on the radio.

It would have been a radio show for which the whole family on Walton's Mountain could have gathered around the RCA Victor console!

As an actor, maybe he worked with Daisy Adair at some point. Although she never became a star, Daisy certainly made her presence known on a movie set - as was revealed when she died in 1938 on the set of 'Gone With The Wind'...... (Look it up, Bubbie.)

At any rate, here's hoping Mark McCain - like John Ernest Crawford - has many more years ahead of him!

BCnU!