CHARACTER STUDY: CHAPS CALLAHAN

Chaps Callahan had been a cowboy movie star in the early days of the talkies.  His films (which looked a lot like old Bob Steele movies from the Real World) would later enjoy a resurgence of popularity in the 1960's among young boys when they were shown in the afternoons on TV.  (But for little girls, like Buffy Davis, the appeal was lost.)

By that time, Callahan was the manager of a large ranch in Pennsylvania, having retired from making movies in 1939.  

Among his movies were:

• "Last Chance For Donovan"
• "Stranger In Twin Creeks"
• "Headed For Danger"
• "Six Guns For Pecos"

Callahan came by his talents as a cowboy through family traits.  He was the great-grandson of Trooper Duffy, a Cavalry solder stationed at Fort Courage after the Civil War.  Duffy claimed to be the lone survivor of the Alamo, and his commanding officer at Fort Courage, Captain Parmenter, discovered that Duffy was listed as dead in his service record.

Chaps Callahan may have been given small roles in latter-day TV Westerns like 'Jed Clayton, US Marshall', if for nothing else but for the nostalgia factor.  But otherwise he died in obscurity in Pennsylvania in 1988......

SHOWS CITED:

'Family Affair' - "The Old Cowhand"

'F Troop'

'The Hero'

BCnU!