Playing Cowboy - The History of Classic Western Toys - Award Winning - Documentary

Winner of The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Western Heritage Award Western Documentary in 2025. The history of classic western toys and the 3 month 7500 square foot western toy exhibit at The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Many peoples fondest memories are from their childhood and many times revolve around particular toys. Christmas presents or birthday presents. Cowboy toys and western toys were king of the toy sections in many department stores in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. The television was dominated by western programs. Some programs were made specifically for children. Like The Roy Rogers Show. While others were aimed more for the grown-ups, but still were entertainment the entire family could enjoy. Like Gunsmoke and The Wild Wild West. The movie theaters were also packed with westerns for decades. With all this western entertainment the western toy industry became monumental. Not just in the United States but in many other countries of the world as well. Most of the toys in the exhibit were Made in the U.S.A. but there were imported toys as well like the western toys from Disney's Toy Story. This full length complete documentary is about the history of classic western toys and about the 3 month 7500 square foot western toy exhibit at The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Toys are always a popular topic. Most peoples fondest memories are from their childhood and many times revolve around particular toys. Many times these toys were special Christmas presents or birthday presents. Cowboy toys and western toys were king of the toy sections in many department stores in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. The television was dominated by western programs. Some of these TV series were entertainment made specifically for children. Like The Roy Rogers Show. While others were aimed more for the grown-ups, but still were entertainment the entire family could enjoy. Like Gunsmoke and The Wild Wild West. The movie theaters were also packed with westerns for decades. With all this western entertainment the western toy industry became monumental. Not just in the United States but in many other countries of the world as well. Most of the toys in the exhibit were Made in the U.S.A. but there were imported toys as well like the western toys from Disney's Toy Story. There are many different toy companies toys shown in this documentary. Some toys featured are Lone Ranger, Zorro, John Wayne, Cheyenne, Have Gun will Travel, Wanted Dead or Alive, Rawhide, Wild Bill Hickok, Red Ryder, Johnny West, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Wyatt Earp, Hopalong Cassidy, Dale Evans, Annie Oakley and many more. This documentary / biography on vintage western toys is hosted by Bob Terry and Johnie Terry and has interviews with Michael Grauer, ( McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture/Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum ). Patrick Fitzgerald (President & CEO of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum). Pat has also been a Senior Executive in Entertainment and Technology for Apple and Disney. There are also interviews with other folks from the Cowboy Museum and they all discuss what an incredible impact the toy exhibition had on the museum and how having it has effected the future of the museum moving forward. There are also fun comical stories and interesting history about some of the toys. We have uploaded this video for people to watch free online. Playing Cowboy History of Classic Vintage Western Toys, Documentary & National Cowboy Museum Exhibit Thanks for watching. Read More

3
• 50 min