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Not Everyone Was A COWBOY!
By Jim Schleyer
Author of Backyard Buckaroos

A superb Marx "Thundergun" in heavy nickel finish with the very desirable Buffalo grips on both sides! These are considered to be the finest grips on any cap pistol. Mighty big pistol for small Buckaroo hands. The soft leather gloves are an exceptional early pair with stars and fringe.

Sure, most of us old time buckaroos rode the imaginary range with Hoppy, Roy, Gene and the Lone Ranger, and we were in endless gun battles with Indians, rustlers, horse thieves, bank robbers and gun-slingers! However, our gun and cap shooting skills were honed for other daring and exciting exploits as well.

I can vividly recall playing cops and robbers with daring strolls into sinister alleys as G-Men, police, detectives, gangsters and bootleggers with our snub-nosed pistols or hide-a-way automatics at the ready. We even had a moll who worked for the mob. A handy marble bag was perfect for absconding with fist-fills of play money and bottle caps. We flashed our tin lawman badges, twirled our small billy clubs, blew multi-color whistles and used our toy handcuffs to secure ornery prisoners as we marched off to jail.

We stumbled through waist-high snow drifts with our Mountie outfits to be rookie Constables helping Sgt. Preston apprehend Peppe Le Fete, the notorious Yukon fur thief, who had kidnapped Olivia Glacier, the mine owner's daughter!

With composition helmets and Kool-Aid filled canteens at our side, we tossed pine cone grenades and led Leatherneck and Commando raids on an enemy machine gun nest with our cast iron Hubley Army .45 and a Mattel or Nichols Tommy Gun, or a Ken-Gun Thompson blazing away! We dug very shallow foxholes with a real GI folding shovel! Our female friends gladly obliged us by being combat nurses with boxes of band-aids and M&M or Good-N-Plenty pills! The more serious wounds meant additional pills! We survived on "K"ids-Rations" of candy bars, cookies and gum. Of course every gruff sergeant had a pack of Camel bubblegum cigarettes!

At times we were junior pilots flying imaginary P-40 Warhawks or B-17 Bombers. We had our shoulder holster and pistol ready for survival in the event of a crash landing. We had tin Pilot Badges and even Jr. Bombardier wings. If you had a rich aunt you might have a leather bomber hat, toy goggles and even a silk scarf!

If we had recently read Treasure Island, we became swashbuckling Pirates with an eye patch, plastic cutlass, a wide belt, head bandana and a gleaming double-barreled Hubley Pirate pistol or Marx flintlock. I recall making many a scurvy crewman walk the plank. We spent countless hours digging for coffee can treasure chests filled with Snicker Bars, Bazooka bubble gum, Kits and Clark bars! Aye Matey!

There were also days we stalked through jungles infested with huge snakes and lions on an imaginary safari for African big game. A childhood friend was the envy of all as he wore an old pith helmet his dad had as an Air Raid Warden! We were exceptional marksmen due to our early training with cork rifle Crow Shoots.

After reading The Red Badge of Courage or watching The Gray Ghost on TV we grabbed our Parris or Ives musket and kepi to enlist as a Yankee or Rebel recruit. We soon learned the Rebel Yell and dodged musket balls as we charged a smoke covered artillery position on a ridge. Our cavalry playmates on bicycle horses hefted their Nichols Model 61, Hubley Colt .44 or Pioneer pistols.

We occasionally abandoned our guns and silently crept through the woodlands as Indian Braves with our toy bow and suction cup arrows, rubber tomahawks and knives, while wearing colorful feathered headbands and beaded necklaces. We tried unsuccessfully to match the skills of Li'l Beaver, Tonto, or Cochise and failed often in making the various Indian craft items featured in Boy's Life magazine. I remember being called "Swift Fox."

We were rarely Patriots hiding behind trees as Minuteman waiting for Redcoats to march across the open fields and being an imaginary Mountain man had limited appeal unless you were already a loner and enjoyed dried Slim Jims and licorice! The horror days for raccoons ushered-in the craze to be a frontiersman like Davy Crockett and kill bears with our bare hands and Bowie knives.

Our young imaginations inspired all sorts of childhood sagas and we made sure we'd never touch that dial and often checked our secret stash of cereal box tops! Did it really take a month for those prized premiums to arrive from Battlecreek, Michigan? We selected cereal by what was on the back of the box rather than in it.

To this day, when I see a large cardboard box from a Digital wide screen TV, a refrigerator, or new sofa, I visualize a cozy bunk house, a dismal jail, a combat tank, frontier fort, a B-19 bomber or field hospital. I find it astonishing that these treasured toy guns and accessories can speak so loudly of the daring exploits they witnessed, the friends who shared them and the lasting memories they created that are forever seared into our hearts. Just remember that many of us were not just cowboys!

— Jim Schleyer

Cops & Robbers: A pressed steel clicker in chrome finish with ivory type grips engraved "Al Capone." A Hubley polished cast iron Army .45 with pearl grips. Kilgore cast iron blue finish Sixshooter with pearlescent grips. A Savage Auto clicker by Harrison Toy Co. The leather marble pouch is filled with play money, soda and milk bottle caps. An assortment of badges and credentials.

Cops & Bootleggers: A pressed steel revolver rubber band shooter made by the Cadillac Novelty Co., Detroit, Michigan. A rather rare National cast iron Federal 2. A Kilgore cast iron Invincible New 50 Shot. A pair of JP Co. NY cast iron handcuffs.

Cops & Robbers: Early Junior Police holster set by Prudential Leather Goods Co., NYC. Kilgore cast iron blue finish Sixshooter. Small nickel plated Eveready Flashlight. Holster set is embossed "Junior Police" and has a high quality brass Jr. Police buckle on a cloth webbed belt.

Canadian Mountie: Leather holster set found in Canada has "Mountie" embossed on the flap. The pistol is a cast iron Kilgore Sixshooter in the rare blue finish with nickel cylinder. The rare brass badges are N.W.M.P. and Northwest Mounted Police kid's badges.

Canadian Mountie: Rarely found complete set by Wyandotte. The holster pocket has a beautiful embossed Mountie. This set includes the cross shoulder strap and has a pressed steel pistol with purple jewel and lanyard cord attached.

Backyard Battlefields: Composition helmet with a pine cone grenade and pair of field glasses. The superb die-cast Ken-Gun Thompson Machine gun with strap was made by the Kennedy-Warren Mfg. Co. of Piqua, Ohio. The Army .45 in the dark finish is a cast iron Hubley. Note the bubblegum Camel cigarettes.

Backyard Battlefields: Extremely rare toy Army Officer's holster set with a highly detailed Army Eagle Seal embossed on the flap. The gun found in it is a rare cast iron National army automatic. Note the Lucky Sticks candy cigarettes, toy wrist watch, and "K"ids Ration "Buck Private" candy bar and pack of Juicy Fruit chewing gum.

Backyard Battlefields: Very early leather "Doughboy" holster and belt. The Army .45 pistol is an early pressed steel clicker made by Marx with remnants of a red lanyard cord.

Backyard Air Fields: Pressed steel, blue finished, clicker revolver with star medallion. A leather bomber hat with sheepskin liner has a rare embroidery "Junior Birdmen of America" patch. The silk scarf has a real air force patch. Note the "White-Howl" Candy Cigars for a victory smoke after the bombing mission. The Jr. Pilot wings have a working compass. The brass pin is a Jr. Bombardier that has a bomb in the center.

Backyard Air Fields: Very rare HALCO "American Ace" holster with a Saber Jet on the flap and diving eagle on the pocket. The pistol is a Hubley Army .45. Note the box of HALCO Ace Caps and the Junior Ace Aviator Goggles on the original card.

Backyard Air Fields: Unusual toy shoulder holster with an embossed insignia that may signify the U.S. Army Air Corps. The rare pressed steel clicker pistol is attributed to the Meyer & Shaw Mfg. Co. of Detroit, Michigan.

Pirate Cove: Marx Flintlock pistol and a child's toy sword await a dashing buccaneer. The booty assortment includes glistening toy rings, swirl marbles, and doubloons! Note the rare package of Black Beard Caps made by the National Fireworks Co. of Hanover, Mass.

Crow Shoot!: Two early quaint crow shoots in their best finery perched on farm fences. The cork shooting gun is a very rare Daisy Military Model 16 with a superb walnut stock and original sling made in the 1920''s. The large toy folding rubber jackknife was a giveaway with a new pair of Mother Goose shoes.

Rebel vs Yankee: A very rare Hubley CS flap holster and matching belt with a 1st model Pioneer with the grip compass. The child's kepi has an Artillery insignia which is unusual. The J. Booth Derringer is an exceptionally realistic toy made by Ideal Modell of Germany. The toy vest pocket watch is also German.

Minuteman & Militia: High quality Ives Cadet musket with leather sling and bayonet actually shot real percussion caps. The early wooden flintlock long rifle is a handmade clicker for a young Minuteman. The leather pouch is child size and has a deer antler powder horn. The tiny tin cup is to have a sip of Kool-Aid from the miniature Rum jug!

American Indian: Early beaded Indian headband was a boy scout native craft project from the 1940 era. The bead necklace has a Victor trap plate for a medallion. The toy leather sheath has nickel studs and holds a large rubber knife. The early tomahawk is hand decorated rubber with a tree branch haft. Note the extensive use of feathers.

Mountainmen: Ives Toy Hawkins Rifle with "Kit Carson" printed on the stock that shoots real percussion caps. The crude revolver is wooden folk art and leans against a toy tin coffee pot. Note the compass, cross, rubber knife, trap and pouch. The fur is Ermine.