Red Ryder and Little Beaver

Book excerpt: Fred Harman, Jr. (1902-1982) rode onto newspaper comics pages with his dynamic range rider Bronc Peeler (1933-1938) and caught fire with daily and Sunday strips featuring hard-fisted Red Ryder and his sidekick Little Beaver (1938-1964). The duo appeared in comic books, prose books, radio and films. What boy didn't want a Daisy 111 Model 40 Red Ryder Western Carbine? Harman worked in a studio on his small ranch in Colorado. In his later years he turned to fine art and co-founded the Cowboy Artists of America. He helped create the Little Beavertown theme park near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Today his newspaper comics are often reprinted and his oil paintings are valued by collectors and may be seen in the Fred Harman Art Museum in Pagosa Springs. Bernard A. Drew, a journalist and freelance writer and historian, specializes in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, history and popular literature reference books. He previously wrote Jingle of the Silver Spurs: The Hopalong Cassidy Radio Program 1950-52 (2005) for BearManor Media. Other recent works include Henry Knox and the Revolutionary War Trail in Western Massachusetts (2012) and 100 Most Popular Contemporary Mystery Authors (2011).