Roundup time

Tucumcari marks Rawhide Days

Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’, Tho the streams are swollen Keep them dogies rollin’ Rawhide

Back in the early 1960s, the opening words to the theme song of “Rawhide,” sung by Frankie Laine, had kids and their parents scrambling to their TV, likely the only set in the house in those days, to watch one of the top Western series of all time.

Shot in gritty black and white, “Rawhide” told about the adventures of men driving cattle from San Antonio, Texas, to Sedalia, Mo. And yes, they were pushing cattle. The dogies (pronounced dough-gies, with a hard g) referred to in the theme song are motherless or stray calves, not canines.

“Rawhide” aired 127 episodes on the CBS network from 1959 to 1966, making it the sixthlongest running TV Western in history. It was also one of the most highly regarded. The Western Writers of America rank “Rawhide” third best, behind “Gunsmoke” (1955-1975) and “Maverick” (1957-1962).

What some of even the most ardent fans might not know is that “Rawhide” got rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ in and around Tucumcari, N.M. Parts of the first five episodes were shot on the rugged rangelands near the old Route 66 town 173 miles east of Albuquerque.

That’s a fact being celebrated Thursday through Saturday, May 4-6, during Tucumcari’s second Rawhide Days, a festival that includes Western music, gunfighter shows, rope tricks, games for kids, chuckwagon food, arts and crafts, a

blacksmith competition, a cattle drive through town and appearances by relatives of the “Rawhide” cast. Series star Clint Eastwood probably will not be at Rawhide Days, but his daughter, Kimber Eastwood Midkiff, is expected.

Rawhide Days, launched last year, is the branchild of Karen Alarcon, a disc jockey and sales person at Tucumcari radio stations KTNM and KQAY.

“I moved to Tucumcari in the summer of ’78 and had always heard that ‘Rawhide’ had been filmed here,” Alarcon said. “My father-in-law was a bartender and told me he served ice-cold drinks to Clint Eastwood and the film crew while they were here for ‘Rawhide.’”

Alarcon said she thought an event built around the popular TV series would be a good way to boost the economy of Tucumcari, a town of 5,100 that serves as Quay County’s seat of government. She recruited co-worker Russell Braziel, a disc jockey and promoter at the radio stations, to help.

An estimated 1,200 people attended last year, and Alarcon anticipates another strong turnout this time around.

“Last year’s Longhorn cattle drive and non-motorized parade is being talked about to this day,” she said.

‘That must be Tucumcari’

Albuquerque’s Boyd Magers, author of the soon-to-be-published “A Gathering of Guns: A Half Century of TV Westerns, 1949-2001,” said

COURTESY OF CONNIE LOVELAND Rawhide Days, which celebrates the fact that scenes for the old Western TV series about a cattle drive were shot near Tucumcari, will be held Thursday through Saturday in Tucumcari. In this photo from last year’s inaugural Rawhide Days, Longhorn cattle...

COURTESY OF KAREN ALARCON Cast members of the “Rawhide” series are, clockwise from top left, Paul Brinegar, Sheb Wooley, Eric Fleming, Clint Eastwood, Jim Murdock, Rocky Shahan and Steve Raines. Brinegar was born in Tucumcari.

COURTESY OF CONNIE LOVELAND Among those attending 2016’s Rawhide Days were, from left, Shirley Brinegar, “Rawhide” actor Paul Brinegar’s widow; Mark Brinegar, Paul’s son; Chrystie Wooley, series actor Sheb Wooley’s daughter; Robyn Young, country music great Faron Young’s son; and...

COURTESY OF CONNIE LOVELAND Hirthel Welker, left, and Levi Loveland ride a mule-drawn wagon during the 2016 Tucumcari Rawhide Days parade.