#john slaughter

Dear Gus,

I’ve been so busy that I had planned on not playing on a tennis team this season, but Jay Howell recruited me hard while we were in Mobile this March. When he came up to our dinner table, I said no. He said he just needed me for two games. Your mom said, “You should do it.” Those two games didn’t include the state championship, which we won this weekend, and now we’re headed back to Mobile to sectionals.

Dad

Engineer John Slaughter in a computer lab at the astronautics division of General Dynamics, circa 1960. Dr. Slaughter went on to become the first African-American director of the National Science Foundation and president of Occidental College.

Meet In The Middle (2014) … the “real deal” …

New Post has been published on http://www.themainstreetmouse.com/2015/05/01/texas-john-slaughter-trail-boss/

It's All In The (Disney) Details "Texas" John Slaughter - Trail Boss

You may have read the title of this blog and thought, I recognize that name.  You may be saying to yourself, who in the world is John Slaughter?   Well, if you have been to Frontierland in the Magic Kingdom, you may have seen the name as it appears on the sign for the Frontier Trading Post.

Do you know anything about “Texas” John Slaughter and how he is connected to Disney?  I honestly wondered if it was an Imagineer at first and this was the way they honored him, similar to the Windows on Main Street,  but that’s not it.  On October 31, 1958 a classic TV Western series named “Texas John Slaughter” was produced by Disney.  The show starred Tom Tryon as Texas John.  It aired from 1958 till 1961 and had 17 episodes.  It was shown on the “Disneyland” show that aired on ABC, before moving to NBC and the show being renamed to “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.”

But was that all he was?  Was he just a TV show character?  Well upon a little more research, I found that “Texas John” Slaughter, born on October 2, 1841, was a Civil War veteran, trail-driver, cattleman, Texas Ranger, famed Cochise County Sheriff, professional gambler, and an Arizona State Representative during his lifetime. Before he died at the age of 80, he was a symbol of the American West and much celebrated hero.

I have never seen the show I admit, but I read it was loosely based upon a real Sheriff “Texas John” Slaughter.  I love seeing these little details in Disney, they are everywhere if we look for them.  I’ve been to the Magic Kingdom, countless times.  I’ve gone into the Frontier Trading Post many times as it’s always been a great store for Disney Pins and also it used to be the store for Vinylmation Trading, but until today I never even noticed “Texas” John Slaughter’s name and never knew anything about him.