FRIDAY HALL OF FAMER - CHAPS CALLAHAN

Three years ago, Inner Toob looked at the missing link who connected 'Family Affair' to 'F Troop' with a theory of relateeveety, and 'Family Affair' to 'The Hero' as a "wish-craft" - the former cowboy actor Chaps Callahan.

'Family Affair'
"The Old Cowhand"

And now we can add another theoretical connection for Chaps Callahan.

'Columbo'
"How To Dial A Murder"

Lt. Columbo was investigating a murder (Well, duh!) in which his chief suspect was a psychologist who was a fanatical movie buff.  He even used his fixation in creating what he thought was the perfect murder.  (No spoilers, Sweetie!)

At one point, the young woman who was living in the guest house showed Columbo an old "baby spot" covered in dirt which Dr. Mason had apparently picked up at an old ranch which had once been used for making movies.  

Lieutenant Columbo:

There's a lot of rust on this, 

but you can still make it out.

It says, 

"Property of Callahan Film Ranch, 

Peach Tree, California." 

Columbo goes out to that old movie ranch and he finds a lot of evidence for his case.

Lt. Columbo:

I found it out at the old Callahan Movie Ranch, where you got this baby spot, sir.

Dr. Eric Mason:

Yes, I've visited Callahan's.

Here's my candidate for a missing link, and you're probably way ahead of me on this.....

First, let's revisit this segment from my original story about 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.  

But did he go straight from making movies to working that Pennsylvania ranch?  No.  Chaps tells Bill Davis that he started working as the foreman at the B-Bar Ranch in Pennsylvania ten years earlier.  That would be in 1959, so for twenty years Callahan had time on his hands.

There are a lot of actors who found other ways to supplement their income either while they were just starting out, or to keep them occupied between gigs.

For instance, when I had my first head shots done when I moved to New York, I recognized the photographer right away from a soap opera I got hooked on while at UConn - 'Somerset', which got cancelled before I graduated.

That could be the situation in this case.  Perhaps Chaps Callaghan saw the writing on the wall, that the leading roles in the Westerns would not last forever as he got older.  And so he invested in that property and dubbed it "Callahan's Movie Ranch".  He leased it out to the studios as a place to film the outdoor location shots.  It would be perfect for fake frontier town scenes as we saw during that 'Columbo' episode.  Eventually the property fell into disuse but Callahan still owned it.  (And would continue to do so until he either sold it to one of the studios (perhaps Mammoth?) or until he died (in 1988.)

And now let's move on to some even stranger and yes, more tenuous connections for Mr. Callahan.

We saw that a scene from one of Bob Steele's old Westerns was shown in that 'Family Affair' episode as though it was now a movie which starred Chaps Callahan.

We've seen this happen before in Toobworld.  In an episode of the revised 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', Martin Sheen played another actor in the episode "Method Actor".  But when they showed an example of his work during a seminar, it was Martin Sheen in "The Execution Of Private Slovik".  Movie clips from the careers of Ricardo Montalban and Janet Leight were shown in episodes of 'Columbo' but as though they were movies about Luis Montoyo and Grace Wheeler respectively.

That's the situation we have here.  Both Bob Steele's televersion and Chaps Callahan exist in Toobworld and both had careers in the movies.  Steele was best known for several movie franchises in which he played Billy the Kid and more often, Tuscon Smith (about fifty films!)  He also played himself in a few movies with Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson also playing themselves.

So we have these several movies on Chaps' resume:

• "Last Chance For Donovan"
• "Stranger In Twin Creeks"
• "Headed For Danger"
• "Six Guns For Pecos"
• "No Love For Tombstone"

(I'm not exactly sure about that last title.  I listened to it three times and I still can't make out what Johnny Whitaker was saying.)

I don't want to take anything away from the lengthy career of Bob Steele, but there should be a lot more movies which could be ascribed to Chaps Callahan.  

I suppose any fictional movie Westerns in TV shows from before 1939 but without any cast members listed could be oaters in which Callahan starred.

Also, I think when Chaps said that he stopped making "his" movies in 1939, he meant movies in which he was the star.  I think it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that over the next twenty years he made appearances in other movies in smaller roles.  He did this so that he could keep his union membership up-to-date for its medical coverage and with an eye towards his old age.

As such, I think there are a few of Bob Steele's movies, those in which he was uncredited, could just as easily be movies in which the actor we were seeing was actually Chaps Callahan.  And best of all, many of those real-world movies were referenced in TV shows.  Claiming those uncredited roles were actually Chaps Callahan would then provide a theoretical link between all of those shows through Chaps.

Chaps started work as the foreman/manager of the B-Bar Ranch in 1959.  But that didn't stop his periodic acting in the televersions of movies to maintain his status in the actors' union.  On his vacations he'd squeeze in acting roles; those will be the movies Bob Steele made after 1959 for which he received no credit.

Here's the list of those movies, with the TV shows who can lay claim to a connection...

Rio Bravo 1959
Matt Harris (uncredited)

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch:
Ice Station Sabrina (1999)
Salem plans to watch the film.

Angel:
Dad (2001)
Wesley imagines himself as John Wayne in Rio Bravo. 

Psych:
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me, Oops He's Dead (2007)
Henry mentions it to Shawn.

Nikita:
3.0 (2012)
Martin tells Davis he should watch classics like "Rio Bravo" and "Network".

The Task:
It Ends (Here?) (2017)
"Rio Bravo my ass!"

Tatort:
Tote Taube in der Beethovenstraße (1973)
movie theater scene [from the movie]

Hap and Leonard:
Monsoon Mambo (2018)
Leonard says he heard Hap was surrounded like  Dean Martin in this movie

The Sopranos:
For All Debts Public and Private (2002)
Tony watches the movie on TV

Shenandoah 1965
Union Train Guard (uncredited)

Married with Children:
The Gas Station Show (1992)
Al watches it, crying at its theme. It makes him want to go on a family trip.

No Name on the Bullet 1959
Poker Player (uncredited)

77 Sunset Strip:
Penthouse on Skid Row (1962)
title seen on theater marquee

The following movies have no connections to other TV shows, but Bob Steele appeared in them uncredited.  So we're declaring them as movies featuring Chaps Callahan.

Rio Lobo 1974
Rio Lobo Deputy (uncredited) 

Taggart 1964
Earl (uncredited)

The Comancheros 1961
Pa Schofield (uncredited)

Showdown 1963
Poker Player (uncredited)

Bullet for a Badman 1964
Sheriff (uncredited)

Ride A Crooked Trail 1958
Jud Blunt (uncredited)

Bugles in the Afternoon 1952
Horseman (uncredited)

Decision at Sundown 1957
Irv (uncredited)

One last movie of note....

City for Conquest 1940Kid Callahan (uncredited)

(Being an uncredited role for Bob Steele, I'm giving it to Chaps Callahan instead.  And it looks like he got to play a character who had the same last name.  It doesn't happen often in the real world movies, but it's not a rare occurrence.)

Perhaps one day some TV show will mention those movies and thus add even more shows to the theoretical credit of Chaps Callahan.

In the meantime, he gains an honorary membership in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame which is focused on the TV Western this month.

Happy trails, Chaps!