Davy Crockett

Davy Crockett was a three part television series that began in 1954. It was a Walt Disney adventure based on the life of a pioneer hero, Davy Crockett. In the show, Davy Crockett was played by Fess Parker. The Davy Crocket show had a popular theme song titled “King of the Wild Frontier.” The show offered an idealized version of Davy Crocket. Instead of portraying the woodsman realistically, he was clean, shaven, and nicely dressed. Davy became a fad, mostly among young boy. He wore a coonskin cap, with a tail, which quickly became a style worn by most boys, even in hot, summer weather. Coonskin caps became so popular that they were nearly almost impossible to find after the first few months of airing the show. Kids moved on to rabbit and muskrat hats instead. An estimated four million copies of Davy’s theme song were sold and an estimated $100 million dollars was invested in Davy t-shirts, sheets, lunch boxes, towels and buckskins. The Davy Crockett fad lasted about eleven months.
Davy Crockett romanticized the life of a woodsman and simplified the tasks of a hero. The television show created a craze that excited a large number of children. His show offered and escape from the stress created by the adults during the Cold War time period. Davy Crockett did not have to deal with anxiety from nuclear weapons therefore, the kids watching the show did not have deal wit these stresses either. Ther merchandise from his show sold extremely well. Parents were worried that their world would vanish in an instant and would by the merchandise because it made their children happy.