AS SEEN ON TV: MULE CANBY

MULE CANBY

CREATED BY:

James Michener

PORTRAYED BY:

Greg Mullavey

AS SEEN IN:

'Centennial'

ALSO KNOWN AS:

"Daring Dan"

POSSIBLE REAL NAME

Daniel Canby (?)

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

Mule Canby was one of the cowboys hired by John Skimmerhorn and R.J. Poteet to lead the cattle drive back to Zendt's Farm (Centennial), Colorado. He was more of a gunslinger, which was a career he lost when he lost his arm. But after being nursed back to health, he began to practice diligently with his other arm. Once he was good enough, Canby began a career in the show business as "Daring Dan", the one-armed trick shooter. (The cattle drive's cook, Nacho Gomez, worked for him as an assistant.)

Canby returned to Centennial with the circus and was supposed to perform for his old friends Skimmerhorn, Jim Lloyd, and Amos Calendar that night. But a fire and explosion in his personal stable burned him to death. (The tent of the stable was probably treated with parafin like the circus tent in the Hartford circus fire of the 1940's. If so, Canby never had a chance to get out.)

From Felice's Log:

As I had stated earlier, the character of Mule Canby, last seen wounded and hauled to a military fort by R.J. Poteet in "The Longhorns". He has become a trick shot artist for a circus, with Nacho Gomez as his assistant. Their reunion with former members of the Skimmerhorn drive - Jim Lloyd, John Skimmerhorn and Amos Calendar - provided the episode with a very warm and emotional moment before Canby's tragic death in a tent fire.

It was nice to see Greg Mullavey as the always gregarious Mule Canby.

From Unknown:

Greg Mullavy guest stars as Mule Canby, a storyteller who can really spin a web of tales without batting an eye.

I consider 'Centennial' to be one of the top ten TV Westerns, and at 26 hours, it's more of a full-length series rather than a mini-series. But as indelible as its story and characters are, there were not many opportunities to link it to other TV Westerns, let alone any other TV shows of any genre.

But Mule Canby does provide for a possible theory of "relateeveety". As a member of that travelling circus, Canby got the chance to visit locations all over the country - which might include many of the fictional small towns that dot the "Telemerica" map. And as one of the country's first "rock stars", Canby probably was never at a loss for female companionship in those towns, even though he was missing his arm. (I'm sure the loss of his left arm never stopped Def Leppard drummer Rick "Thunder God" Allen from such pursuits.)

As such, it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that Mule Canby visited Ohio, if not Fernwood, Ohio, itself, and could count one of the grandparents of Tom Hartman as a bastard whelp.

Being such a fanciful storyteller, he may also have published his own spin on his autobiography, perhaps as told to a dime novel writer like Nimrod Bligh.

SHOWS CITED:

• 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'
• 'Bret Maverick'

BCnU!