Season Three of 'Downton Abbey' premiered last night on 'Masterpiece
Theater (Classic)'. Viewers in the UK and elsewhere - including those habitues
of bit torrents - saw it last year. Not that it matters in terms of the
Toobworld timeline - no matter when it was telecast, it's still 1920 in their
lives.
To me that meant that all she needed were the bare essentials and it didn't matter where the family ended up - so long as they were together.
But it was the turn of phrase that caught my attention. "Have Gun, Will Travel" was the title of a popular TV Western in the 1950's starring Richard Boone. And a quick search (meaning NOT exhaustive!) of the Internet did not lead to any previous usage from which the series might have borrowed it.
I figured there would be 'Downton Abbey' fanatics out there who might have taken umbrage that this period piece had been sullied by such a reference. So it was off to Google once again, where I found plenty of mentions of that line. Many noted that it was an anachronism from the Future, and worse yet, a reference to a TV shown no less! (Hello? What is 'Downton Abbey' then?)
I suppose it never occurred to them 'Downton Abbey' and 'Have Gun Will Travel' existed in the same TV dimension. Because that way, it's perfectly acceptable that Lady Cora should say such a thing.
Lady Cora's mother, Martha Levenson, mentioned that she had homes in New York and Newport, but I don't know if Paladin ever traveled that far east. However, the family began in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Isidore Levenson made his fortune as a dry goods merchant. If he shipped his goods west, perhaps he hired the services of Paladin to protect his shipments en route to San Francisco.
If the mercenary agreed to make the trip from Cincinnati to San Francisco, it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that Cora and her brother Harry got the chance to meet Paladin when they were children. And that's when she could have seen the business card.
If not?
 |
| Ernest Pratt |
Paladin, like his contemporaries the Brothers Maverick, was a legend of the
West. Surely there had to be at least one writer, one "dime novelist", willing
to pay him for the chance to publish his stories. I have three such candidates
in mind - Nimrod Bligh, Ernest Pratt, and Tobias Wentworth Finch. But Finch and
Bligh were rather unsavory characters so I don't think Paladin would have had
any truck with them. So even though Mr. Pratt would have been more focused on
his own creation (Nicodemus Legend, whom Pratt sometimes portrayed in the real
world), he still might have added Paladin into the narrative.
Young Cora Levenson might have been a prim, young lady in the American version of the Victorian Era, properly trained a finishing school like Brackenridge, but she had a well-hidden rebellious streak which we have seen rise to the fore on occasion in 'Downton Abbey'. It could be that as a young girl she kept a well-worn, dime store novel about Paladin under her mattress.
And emblazoned on the cover of that book?
"HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL"
BCnU!
SHOWS CITED:
- 'Downton Abbey'
- 'Have Gun, Will Travel'
- 'Hec Ramsey'
- 'Legend'
- "Around The World In Eighty Days"
- 'Bonanza'
- 'Bret Maverick'
- 'Maverick'
- 'Benson'
I'm often bothered by bad anachronistic dialogue (e.g. in The Tudors, a wife going to her death tells her lady in waiting,, "Why are you crying. This isn't about you!") but wasn't bothered by "Have gun, will travel," since it showed some character wit. My excuses: 1. Shakespeare was anachronistic. 2. Cora was ahead of the game, turning a phrase.
ReplyDeleteThe term 'have gun will travel' was used in advertisements as a catch phrase as early as the 1900s. It therefore is not out of place coming from the Countess.
ReplyDeleteI noticed this "Have gun" phrase in the recent Downtown recap of earlier seasons. It jumped out at me, because I am old enough to have seen the TV series in its first run, and knew that the title came from "have tux, will travel", as most people did. So one takes the "Have gun" reference to have originated not earlier than 1950, and the anachronism is right there. Had the character said, "Have tux . . ." I would have accepted it.
ReplyDeleteThe reason things like this are significant is that they violate the "reality" of the scene. It's sloppy writing, pure and simple.
This immediately jumped out at me as well. I choose to believe the "novel" explanation. Otherwise there truly is no excuse for such a lapse.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked when Cora said this. I was even more shocked that Julian would have allowed the phrase to be used. Did he write it in? More research is needed. Thank goodness I am not the only nit-picker!
ReplyDeleteIt comforting to me that I am not the only one who has thought of Cora’s line “have gun will travel”. I think about the validity of this line every so often over the last few years. I accept the possible familiarity of the saying from the New Dime Novels during Cora’s lifetime. Thank you very much!
ReplyDeleteJust watched and caught the phrase. Cora is an American, my opinion is it works nicely. What else would have worked?
ReplyDeleteMy immediate association was a song "Have Love, Will Travel" (sonics, black keys). Turns out that the title of the song is a based on a that western serial
ReplyDelete