Kings adventures: A day at Old Tucson

Today was the most entertaining day of our whole trip. I laughed more today than I have done for months!

Old Tucson is the location for more than 300 films and TV shows. It is here that you step back into the Old West. It is set up in many ways as a theme park but its streets and buildings have been part of many films that Jim remembers - I reckon there will be a lot of westerns watched when we go home with lots of "We've been there"s!

So many actors are associated with the sets of Old Tucson, including our own Maureen O'Hara who died on Friday.

It is possible to simply wander about the old film sets and have a look at the museums. For example, these were women's costumes from some of the films and TV series.

These are from Little House on the Prairie, some of which was filmed here. The dress on the left was worn by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Or you can take advantage of the performances that are scheduled every 30 to 45 minutes. This is what we did and every performance was excellent and full of humour.

This was the actor playing the part of the sheriff. He gave us some idea of the difficulties of keeping the peace in the wild west. He deputised quite a number of children and decorated them with badges after checking out their intelligence, their abilities in capturing a cow and their lack of fear. (his cousin, he said, found the best way of getting a cow was to buy a wedding ring! - tut, tut!)

Jim in his rightful place after laughing at that joke!

The next performance took place in the Grand Palace Saloon where Lady Vivien was in search for singing and dancing talent for her Dance-Hall.

This is Josie, one of the hopefuls, ready to audition. She seated herself at our table, calling my hat "a lovely bonnet". She was a gun-toting cowgirl with a lovely voice, we discovered. During the performance Vaudeville style, I think) the girls, individully, made their way through the audience, being particularly attentive to the men. Jim got his shoulder rubbed and was quite relieved that he was not selected for dancing!

Lady Vivien, left, and her three "lady" performers with a member oif the audience.

And this was where the fun really started! This performance (and performance it was!) was designed to give us information on the General Mercantile. The actor who played the part of Solomon Warner, the storekeep, was excellent - very informative and very, very funny. For some reason, he picked on me very early on saying that I looked like I was in need of a husband but that my attire was unlikely to attract one. Appearing in gentleman's under garments was not very appealing (I was wearing white shorts). I can't remember how he described the top I was wearing. At any rate, pointing to the "dress" to his left in the photo, I would look very "fetching" in this woman's clothing or he could sell me beautiful material that I could make into a dress for myself if I could sew. On informing him that I couldn't sew he was worried about my possibilities of finding a husband. Later he suggested that I could practise clothes for a doll that he could sell me and then progress to larger items of female attire. He informed everyone that he was concerned about me but that I seemed to be having a good time because I was laughing so much. My shoes, light sandals, were not at all suitable for Arizona but he could sell me black leather laceups ideal for the conditions here and most attractive to a possible mate!

Having established that I drink tea, he suggested that I would be interested in a product called condensed milk unless I kept a cow as well as the chickens I told him I had. Needless to say I had a cow. He said I looked like someone who travelled and was amazed at the journey I must have had to get to Arizona from Ireland. He assured me that a husband could be found as long as I was a hard worker. This might seem that the focus was entirely me but that is not so. He had various other targets, married men whose wives did their laundry, as it should be, and wives whose husbands demanded beans with every meal and who were in need of the latest invention - canned beans which reduced more than 8 hours soaking and cooking to a fraction of the time!There was lots more and it was all hilarious. I discovered later that I was referred to as Ireland by other members of the audience who had found the performance as funny as I had. Following the performance, he shook hands with Jim and me thanking me for being such a sport!

The next performance was the first gunfight of the day. A botched bank robbery pitted criminals against each other showing that there is no honour among thieves. It was very dramatic and well acted (unlike the reenactment at Tombstone).

Following some sustenance, in the form of ice cream, at the side of Rosa's Cantina, we made our way to Phoebe's porch to join an Old Tucson Historic Tour given by the sheriff of earlier on. There was a huge amount of information but, sadly, few of the films mean little to me. I plan to rectify that!

This is the Mission facade with beautiful mountain backdrops covered with saguaro cacti, mesquite trees and other desert scenery - lovely!

This is part of the set for High Chapparral with the background of Golden Gate Mountain and the Three Siusters.

Our next performance was back in the Grand Palace Saloon for rip-roarin', high kickin' and can-cannin'. It was very entertaining but the highlight for me was Jim's face as the "ladies" did the rounds of the audience caressing the men's heads, shoulders and backs, finally choosing 3 to join then in a musical interlude where the "boys"played a washboard, a keg of moonshine and ... a triangle. It was hilarious! Jim's relief that he was not selected was tangible.

We followed that with a Hollywood Stunt Demonstration which was unbelievably funny but so realistic that I was cringing in pain for what the actors were subjected to. They were the same characters as had taken part in the bank robbery gunfight early on. It had been totally serious but this was real farce!

We then went to the Court of Law where we learned a lot about the Justice system in the new state of Arizona. Guess what - the judge was the "twin brother" of the storekeep of the Mercantile and had been inforned of my inappropriate dress. He had also been told that my companion was in his underclothes.