I hope all is well for any visitors to this page and to all of my friends with whom I don't have contact often enough. I wanted you all to know I just recently started getting more involved with MySpace.com . It's kind of entertaining to play with and might be a pretty good way to get a little publicity if I can ever get to where I understand how it all works. I have heard of at least one woman, Lily Allen, who made the bigtime after her MySpace page let her music be discovered.
You just never know, huh? I hope you'll all check out MySpace, and if you decide to join, please join my friend group. I'd love to see you there.
Kirby
P.S. I've started a blog there that I will try to keep up as often as possible, if you want to read my sometimes daily comments and any news I feel it important enough to share. I'll try to get in here more often as well, but you know how that has gotten away from me before!
I think you just go to www.myspace.com and do a search on my name. You have to sign up with a name and password, and then you can do all sorts of fun stuff with it. You'll see when you get there. I can probably send you a "friend request" if you're already a member. It's fairly good for networking, and I think when I've figured it all out it might really pick up my book sales. I'm just in the infant stages of it right now.
Well, what a day... started out with an online search of Clint Walker (been enjoying Cheyenne reruns and movies on the Starz Westerns Channel) wondering if he is still alive and out there
Read some nice bios on him and linked to the Kirby Jonas site where a trip down memory lane occurred courtesy of Johnny West
I owned Johnny West, Chief Cherokee, Daniel Boone, Captain Maddox, Geronimo, General Custer, 2 Comanches (one light, one dark)
Daniel Boone was my favorite hero but his legs didn't move; I think Geronimo was actually my favorite figure
Reading your writeup, I was struck by some similarities: I too can remember vividly the fresh vinyl smell; I live in Virginia near Winchester, which is perhaps close to where you lived while in Virginia (?); I enjoy writing (although I am not a "writer"); my middle name is "Kirby"; I enjoy reading western novels and most anything about the Old West
Some other “Johnny West” memories:
I made a Rebel Gray uniform for Johnny because I am a Southerner
I thought Johnny West looked like JFK
They cost $2.00 each back then; the horses maybe more. Fortunately, my mother indulged me occasionally on the figures because $2.00 was a lot of money to us (but I did get a lot of use of them and I didn’t abuse them). I also used chore money of my own as well.
I too effected many repairs, cannibalisms, and transplants (what disappointment when one of those joints broke and what satisfaction when they could be repaired!)
When I turned 12 I was too old to “play with dolls”, so I stored them in a box. Although today I wish I still had that box, I decided to give them away to two younger friends who probably couldn’t afford them. It was a bit difficult because,as you say, they weren't just "dolls", they were my "friends". But, I did want to share them with someone else and prove at the same time that I was moving into manhood. That memory is worth more than the money they would bring today or even the ability to look at them from time to time. Also, I had three daughters but no sons to pass them down to. I don’t know what the young fellas ever did with them but I make myself believe they got hours of fun with them and hopefully helped to build some good and lasting qualities in their personalities.
Having read your colorful “bio”, I look forward to reading some more of your work.
I appreciate the reply "MULE"
Those young fellas did say "Thanks" and were appreciative of the gifts. I see them very rarely cuz everyone's so spread out. I do know that they grew up to be fine young men (now gettin to be "old" men, I guess).
From my own experience I have found that a seemingly very tiny event like that can have a huge impact on one's life. We probably all have a certain "lean " in life but I remember a "fork in the road" for me: When I was about 8 yrs old I went to my neighbor's house one evening when an episode of "Daniel Boone" was on (it was the one where he had to run the gauntlet of Shawnees). We didn't have a TV so any time I got around one, I checked it out. That experience made me a fan of Daniel Boone. Throughout my childhood, everyone who knew me identified me with playing "Dan'l" out in the woods with a coonskin cap.
Some of my friends were into futuristic or spy stuff like Star Trek or Man From UNCLE, etc. and seemed to look forward to the age of technology while my experience made me develop a keen appreciation for American history. I have lived my life looking back over my shoulder at those antique heroes. When I get tired or face other challenges, I think back to how the men and women of old struggled and sacrificed to explore and settle this great land and I gain strength from that to plow forward. It has also helped to build in me a deep appreciation for what the Creator has provided for us in nature and to appreciate the life experience of older and elderly men and women. I love to hear their tales and life lessons.
Well, it feels good to express and share some thoughts that have been lying in my shallow sub-conscious
Anyone read Terry Johnston's work? I read the first two installments of the Nez Perce trek: "Cries from the Earth" and "Lay the Mountains Low". I was saddened and disappointed that he died before completing the final episode. (Maybe a book idea, Mr. Jonas???)
I am looking forward to readin me some Kirby Jonas now !!!
Hello,
I read your post about having played with Johnny West and the gang here at Kirby's message board. A few years ago Kirby had a Yahoo group called Kirbyland. Kirbyland was a group for folks who collect and enjoy Johnny West action figures as well as things pertaining to "The old west". That group shut down but another group was started by the members. It can be reached at:
http://www.johnnywesthideout.org/index.php.
I was a moderator for Kirbyland and both spinoff groups as well. My name is Roy Allen but everyone knows me as Buddy Allen. I am from Martinsburg WV which is also near Winchester. I am inviting you to drop in at The Hideout and if you like it please join. If you do wish to join please say something about Johnny West in the box marked interests.
Here is Kirby's intro to Hideout:
" Welcome to the Johnny West & 1/6th scale western collectables discussion room. There has been a huge upsurge in renewed popularity in this old Marx favorite. This has led to new collectors of vintage Johnny West & 1/6th scale action figures as well as those who customize these dolls to create unique treasures of their own. That's where you come in! Let's all join in and create a home for Johnny West & Western 1/6th scale collectors who can discuss this fascinating hobby. If you have a Marx or custom western or original items you'd like to show off, trade or sell, you're welcome here. Long live the West!
I was sorry to log in after a bit of a hiatus and see that I'd missed out on some fun conversation. I don't know the name of whomever I'm replying to, but I would love it if you introduced yourself. Sounds like we have a lot of the same memories except that by the time I came along even the lowest sale price for Johnny West in Idaho was 3.33. At least that's the price I remember around the age of 7-9. I can't say much more about Johnny West that I haven't said in my bio section, but I always love to talk about that little fellow that shaped my entire life so much. On MySpace it asks whom you would like to meet, and I really should put Louis Marx down as one person I'd like to sit with for hours. I would at least like to tell him what his little creation did for me and my brother. I wonder how it would affect him to know all the lives he changed with those so-called toys.
But unlike you I avoided my manhood because I couldn't stop playing with Johnny West, and I'm glad I did since it led to so many book ideas for the future--that and simply the magic to keep on writing when times got hard.
I hope you'll get a chance to read some of my books, maybe in particular The Dansing Star, The Devil's Blood, Disciples of the Wind and Reapers of the Wind, all of which were inspired by Johnny West. It's been a wild ride, I will say that. I've made a lot of friends even in adulthood through Johnny West that I never would have known without him. Thanks, Louis Marx! And for those of you who are totally lost in this conversation, simply think of the most powerful childhood play thing you had and maybe you'll have a hint of what we are remembering. Or read my story off the home page. I tried to capture that magic in what I wrote, and if I didn't then maybe the photos of the two year old me did.
It was great to see your response. I have been incommunicado (off-line) for a few days...
I'm not adept at these chat sites yet, still pretty clumsy actually so I set one post as "anonymous" accidentally and I'm not sure who all sees the names but my name is Channing, I'm from Virginia (CCNVA)
Your Johnny West write-up was masterful and inspiring. As I have said, I look forward to getting your books; I just haven't had a chance to do so yet
I like this forum... I like what people say and everyone seems to be good people. I'm clumsy on MySpace and Facebook too but I will keep trying!
Hi Yes Clint walker is alive he will be 82 on the the 30 of may he has his own web site where you can still get his auograph . He still goes to all the Western shows and sells his photos Kirby and clint wrote a book together called "yaogi Gold". I'm from Alice Springs Australia N.T.Hope that answers your question. bye Sue