Today’s word of the day, thanks to Merriam-Webster, is paladin. Merriam-Webster defines the word this way: “A paladin is a leading champion of a cause, or a trusted military leader.” Dictionary.com has three definitions for paladin: “any one of the 12 legendary peers or knightly champions in attendance on Charlemagne,” “any knightly or heroic champion,” and “any determined advocate or defender of a noble cause.”

According to www.etymonline.com, the word entered the language in this form in the “1590s, in reference to the medieval romance cycle, ‘one of the twelve knightly champions in attendance on Charlemagne and accompanying him to war,’ from French paladin ‘a warrior’ (16c.), from Italian paladino, from Latin palatinus ‘palace official;’ noun use of palatinus ‘of the palace’ (see palace). The Old French form of the word was palaisin (which gave Middle English palasin, c. 1400); the Italian form prevailed because, though the matter was French, most of the poets who wrote the romances were Italians. Extended sense of ‘a heroic champion’ is by 1788.”

Although I actually missed the day he died, I’m going to use the occasion of the word of the day to talk about one of my favorite old TV shows. The man who died on January 10, 1981, was Richard Boone.

Richard Boone, distantly related to Daniel Boone, was born June 18, 1917 in Los Angeles. After graduating from high school, he went to Stanford but did not stay long enough to graduate. After working various jobs, he joined the Navy and served in a variety of roles, including a tail gunner, in the Pacific theater. After the war, Boone used his GI Bill money to attend the Actors’ Studio in New York.

His early acting career saw him perform on stage with legends like Sir John Gielgud, Dame Judith Anderson, and Dorothy Gish. Then he got a contract to with a Hollywood studio. He became friends with Jack Webb (famous for Dragnet) and played parts in movies with the likes of Kirk Douglas, John Agar, George Montgomery, and Randolph Scott. He played with Scott in a 1955 Western called Ten Wanted Men. Boone played the villain. During filming for that movie, Scott was offered the lead in a proposed TV series called Have Gun—Will Travel. Scott turned the role down, but he shared the script with Boone, and Boone got the job.

Have Gun—Will Travel ran for six seasons, from 1957 through 1963. It was either 3 or 4 in the Nielson ratings for each of its first four seasons. Back in the 1950s, radio dramas were still popular, in part because televisions were very expensive and many people did not have one. As television became more popular, many radio dramas spun off TV versions: The Jack Benny Show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Dragnet, and The Lone Ranger are just a few. But Have Gun—Will Travel is rare in that the TV show spun off a radio show that began in 1958.

Richard Boone played a highly sophisticated gunslinger. His character lived in a fancy San Francisco hotel, the Hotel Carlton. We never learn the man’s name, but we do learn that he graduated from West Point and served as an officer in the Civil War. He was also a prize-wining boxer. He is a master shooter, but he also excels at martial arts, sword play, and chess. He is the president of the San Francisco Stock Exchange Club. He wears fancy clothes, drinks fine wines, attends the opera, and is suave and debonair. He quotes classic literature and philosophy, and he speaks several languages. In fact, if you knew him only in San Francisco, you would never suspect what he does for money.

He takes on a variety of jobs for the clients who hire him. He acts as a body guard, a negotiator, a problem solver. He tries to avoid violence whenever he can, but rare is the episode in which he succeeds. He has a business card, a rarity for gun slingers in the Old West. It reads “Have Gun—Will Travel” and has the image of a White Knight chessman. And a white knight is exactly what the character is.

Some interesting factoids about Have Gun—Will Travel. The network was sued by a rodeo performer who also used a business card with a White Knight on it and used the same name as Richard Boone’s character, though he died before he was ever able to collect the over-three-million-dollar settlement. Of the 225 episodes that aired over the six seasons of the show, 28 were directed by Gene Roddenberry. We never learn the main character’s name in the series or in the 106 radio episodes, though in a later novelization of the pilot episode, he is named Clay Alexander (Frank C. Robertson is the author). The opening music was not really much of a theme, but most of the episodes closed with a theme song written and performed by a country music artist named Johnny Western. You can hear it here.

So if we never learn the main character’s name in 6 seasons of Have Gun—Will Travel, what do people call him? He’s called Paladin. And here are the lyrics of “A Man Called Paladin”:

Have gun will travel, reads the card of a man

A knight without armor in a savage land

His fast gun for hire, heeds the calling wind

A soldier of fortune, is a man called Paladin

Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam

Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home

He travels on to where ever he must

A chess knight of silver is his badge of trust

There are campfire legends that the plainsmen sing

Of the man with the gun, of the man called Paladin

Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam

Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home

You can catch episodes of Have Gun—Will Travel on YouTube.

Today’s image is a photo of Richard Boone as Paladin, in San Francisco. When he was out on a job, he seemed to wear all black, although it may actually have been all dark blue, but TV in those days was black and white. You can find the picture at https://fanpix.famousfix.com/pictures/have-gun-will-travel/p20606320.