The Adventures of Jim Bowie

Despite the fact that a number of episodes have Bowie encountering a variety of historical celebrities {including J.J. Audubon} that the real knife-wielder probably never actually met, the series is not without some historical value. Most of the westerns from the "Golden Age of TV" are supposed to represent the 1870s, but sometimes have technology from a much later date & a range of locale quite impossible for anyone to cover on horseback in a single lifetime. This saga accurately situates Scott Forbes' Bowie in the 1820s & displays the single shot pistols & musket rifles that were in use at the time. It also keeps Bowie pretty much confined to LA, where the real personality prospered until he ran afoul of the law & was forced to re-locate in TX where he ultimately met his end at the Alamo. The effort to chronicle the diffusion of French culture into Louisiana bayou is rather commendable for any TV program, especially in the late 1950s. Surely corny but somehow cool at the same time.

I bought the Volume 2 DVD of the Jim Bowie TV series at Wal-Mart and was entertained by its contents! Three episodes which feature entertaining actors, stories and fight scenes! So what if it's low-budget; Have you noticed that modern TV and movies are 99% monstrous mega-budget junk?! Jim Bowie is retro-cool action from a simpler time and conjures up fond memories of visiting Frontierland and Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland! Scott Forbes plays well as the strapping Bowie and his narration adds a nice extra touch to these episodes. I'm probably a bit biased because I'm a fan of all things vintage, but if you enjoy "boy's adventure" themed movies and books like Tom Sawyer you'll appreciate this series. I'm on the hunt for the other volumes!

It is really annoying when facts easily found are discarded by neophytes to Westerns. Scott Forbes was South African, not British The "humming" to only humming theme to a series is wrong. Those are the Ken Darby Singers who ALSO THEMED TO The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp series and during the show of Earp until Season 4 Episode 4. And only the opening theme since. The Darby singers were used by the Desilu studios and appear in other westerns.

I think I remember this series because right around the time that I saw this on television I read Marquis James's two classic biographies of Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston which covered the era in our American south that Jim Bowie was operating in. If anyone has not read anything by Marquis James I urge them to. Better biographies have come out on both these guys, but as a writer James can't be beat. Maybe he romanticized the south a little too much, still his is the most readable of history.

The real Jim Bowie whose life was ennobled by martyrdom at The Alamo was a thoroughgoing scoundrel. But you won't find it here. Scott Forbes with an easygoing southern charm and accent that British players find so easy to adapt is the Jim Bowie of our frontier legends.

During the course of the two year run of the series, Bowie ran into just about everyone of consequence in that part of America most of whom he may never have met. One episode had him with Davy Crockett and in fact those two never met until The Alamo. Andrew Jackson appears in a couple of episodes. In fact Jackson might have carved Bowie up with his own knife had they occasion to meet for Bowie's politics made him a supporter of Henry Clay.

One guy who does pop up in the series a few times is pirate Jean Lafitte. He and Bowie did a considerable amount of business together including buying and selling of slaves and stealing and double selling same. That's not in the series however.

The Adventures of Jim Bowie was distinguished by that theme song which I can still remember sung by the King's Men and hummed at various points of the episodes for effect. I had occasion to see some episodes a few years back and they were as I remember them as a kid. But I have to confess I burst out laughing when the King's Men sung about how Bowie fought for the rights of man.

Jackson, Houston, Crockett, Lafitte, John Howard Payne, Johnny Appleseed, John James Audobon, Osceola, just some of the folks you'll run into in this series even if the real Jim Bowie never did.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that Jim Bowie is the only TV show to have its theme song hummed. Maybe there was music too, but there was also the sound of men humming with it.

Since I have to have ten lines of text I guess I will go on with this comment of Jum Bowie. Since I was born in 1951, I was only four or five when this show was on, but I remember it well. I guess that would prove that it is an impressive show for someone that young to remember it. What I remember particularly is two men fighting. One of them stretches the other man's arm out over a fire and the other man screams in pain.

All I really wanted to do is submit the trivia about the humming of the theme song, you can throw the rest of this out since I am only rambling on to get the minimum ten lines of text.