For a small town, Rock Island had quite a few celebrities coming through. They spoke at the colleges, performed at Wharton Field House or at the jazz festival downtown, and appeared in the annual Christmas parade. The one I was least excited about was James Arness, star of Gunsmoke, who was the Grand Marshall of the Christmas Parade in 1972.Yawn and wave politely, and wonder why David Cassidy wasn't available.
1. Nobody my age watched Gunsmoke (1955-75). Westerns were totally square to begin with, and that one was the worst, set in Kansas of all places, with no buddy-bonding -- what kind of sidekick was the grovely, sniveling, unshaven Festus?
2. Arness was almost fifty years old, ugly as a fence post, and he never even took off his shirt. I've only been able to find two shirtless photos online. In #1, he's an ugly adolescent with no muscles and no basket. In #2, he's a little older and blond, with a slightly nicer chest. Still ugly as a fence post, though.
When I was living in West Hollywood in 1985, I heard a few James Arness hookup stories. One involves Patrick Wayne, son of Western star John Wayne.
I'll leave it to you to decide how much is fabricated.
The rest of the story, with nude photos and explicit sexual situations, is on Tales of West Hollywood.