The 50's were a scary time in America. From the first grade in 1950 with the cold war running hot and heavy, we had to do Atomic bomb drills. They showed us scary movies of just what an atomic bomb would do to us, particularly if we didn't dive under our desks, and instead actually watched the blasts. Looking back on it now it was terrifying particularly to children with vivid imaginations. Conversely, it was so easily forgotten every weekend, out at my grandparents, who had a TV set and let me watch it. Every Saturday, local cinemas would have cheap matinees-usually of old horror movies, like War of the Worlds, Day of the Triffids (It was always the British scientist on hand to save the day, giving orders to the American military who seemed to show up like the cavalry of old, just in the nick of time in so many of the plots, substitute monsters and voila! New story!), but in the mornings, if kids had TV, there would be a great old 3 Mesquiteers movie with John Wayne, Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, Bob Steele, Crash Corrigan or Bob Livingstone, and some of the great old sidekicks like Gabby Hayes, then there would be Fury with Peter Graves, and then to neatly wrap everything up, Roy, Trigger and Dale. The story always had some sort of simple lesson. One week it would be why we accepted everyone and it was actually the very first time that I realized that in other parts of the US, there was such a thing as prejudice. (I was raised in Santa Monica, Ca, right next to Hollywood...money was the source of everything. If you didn't have it you were poor or middle class along with everyone else be they black, blue, yellow or green-you were all outcasts together-so we were or were not friends, simply basis the amount of money the folks earned.)

For us, Roy and Dale were us...just in a different location. They weren't rich, just nice folks who were bound and determined to do the right thing no matter what. That was sort of their message, always, every week, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you and Happy Trails!" They gave a stability that sometimes a family could not. John Wayne, would do it for us as adults.

Trigger, of course, was my hero, and as the years rolled by, my grandparents arranged for me to ride every weekend. To ride longer, I cleaned stalls at the local stable and take two hour trail rides or longer by myself at the west end of the San Fernando Valley. In those days there were no houses out there, not for miles. You got to ride in areas that were the backdrops of so many westerns of the late teens and twenties before they had movie lots, sets and properties. I remember one day I'd been riding for hours-naturally playing Annie Oakley-another favorite show with Gail Davis-when I rode up behind somebody's very nice private barn. It had been a long time since my horse had had any water, so I rode in to ask if it would be ok to water him, and round the corner came Wild Bill Elliott. He was wonderful. Asked me about the horse, offered us water and even if we'd be interested in selling him! Next to Roy he was my next favorite actor of all time.

One day, I actually rode right up to Roy's property in the Chatsworth area where they actually filmed many of the TV shows, so I was told. Couldn't sneak in though and never saw anyone. But people in the area knew them well and always had only the most wonderful things to say about them.

Oddly, the upshot to the love of Trigger is kind of interesting. As the years went by, the family insisted I forget horses and go to school. Mom scrimped and saved to send me abroad for two years to study and then when I returned home, UCLA was the next stop and then out into the real world. When I met and married my husband, a military officer, some years later, we moved to a horse property and I purchased an Arabian gelding whom I named Deputy. Well, he was magical enchantment, just like the movie Black Stallion but even more beautiful! I was hooked. A few years later I was breeding Arabians, on a small basis. Study, years of it, led me to realize the greatest Arabians were raised in Britain, so finally, in 1998 I purchased the 1997 Supreme British National Champion, Rushan! Rushan is very similarly marked as Trigger (see accompanying illustration). And besides being the greatest Arabian of all time, my first thought was, my gosh! "It's Trigger!"

There isn't too much to say about that saddle except it went for more than anyone really dreamed-especially considering we have felt we are in a recession. The entire sale and the prices like that for the saddle, goes a long way to show how much Roy, Dale, Trigger and all were so dearly loved in the US, if not world wide. In fairness to the saddle's makers-it is an exceptionally beautiful creation of extraordinary art and silversmithing.

The Alabama Hills, oh! I'll never forget the first time we drove in to Lone Pine and my husband and I, who both adore old movie westerns, saw a road saying Gene Autry Trail and then noticed the streets seemed to be named for cowboys of old or western movies. It was neat, and then we saw a sign saying "Alabama Hills" with a pointer underneath. So we went for a little drive. Oh! my goodness sakes! I burst into tears. It was as though I had come home. Instantly I knew this was where so many of those adored old westerns had been made. Why there was where Roy waited to watch for outlaws; John Wayne was jumped by bad guy and later legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt! Looking over at my husband Edward, I could see he was just barely holding it together for there in the Alabama Hills his favorite movie ever was filmed: Gunga Din.

Of all the places in all the world, if you are an old western movie buff, the Alabama Hills is the most beautiful place on earth!