Matt & Arvo - Pic HEAVY!!!

[handejector]

See for yourself.
A neat old "dealer trade" magazine from 1958.

I know the scans are painfully large, but I wanted you to be able to read it.

I met Arvo and one of his daughters at a show many years ago. Truly an interesting gentleman. His daughter was a charming and beautiful woman.

Enjoy!

NOTE that in the shootout pic above--------------/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ , the caption calls Bill Jordan "Bill Joyner". Jordan is the giant that is about a foot and a half taller than the other guy.

Some very interesting ads in this mag:

Tio Sam's son??

Heiser-Keyston???

Did you know Matt Dillon used a Great Western, not a Colt? The grips were plastic stag, probably by Franzite-

How about an ad by Rex for PINTO Mod 27's!!!!

 

[Sprefix]

Wow!! I wish those prices were still good. I'd be broke for buying leather shortly. Looks like "Doris" is giving the suit the old "Your buying this one!!" special salespersons technique of employing the business end of the cannon to the nose.

 

[BaldEagle1313]

That Model 27 ad is killing me...

Of course, I was 8 months old in May of '58, and $119.95 bought a whole lot more groceries then than it does now.

Thanks, Lee!

 

[doublesharp]

cool post.

 

[ASA335]

Neat and thanks!

I did notice that they mis-identified Bill Jordan as "Bill Joyner" in that story though.

 

[Evil Dog]

Neat and thanks!

I did notice that they mis-identified Bill Jordan as "Bill Joyner" in that story though.

Maybe he was "undercover" and using an assumed name.

 

[papajohn428]

Yeah, Jordan always did kinda stick out. Hard to mistake him for anyone else!

 

[mball]

Great post!! I was 5 years old on the 31st of May in '58, I wish my Dad had bought me a Smith and put it back!
I watched all those shows and movies as a kid. Heck, I still do. That was a better time.
Mike

 

[lawandorder]

Lee thank you for sharing that great article.

The fellow that Ojala partnered up with, Andy Anderson, was a Fort Smith, Arkansas boy who came home from WWII and opened a saddle shop in Fort Smith and made holsters.

He soon got caught up in the move to Californy wave that was taking place. He partnered with Ojala for a while then they split and Anderson opened his own shop, I think across the street.

Anderson was soon getting his share of the entertainment business and Clint Eastwood developed a fondness for his holster on "Rawhide" and then used them on the Spagetti westerns. Anderson also produced a lot of leather for the Walk & Draw craze that swept California.

He also produced regular everyday carry leather under his brand "Gunfighter Leather". Here are a couple of examples I acquired with the help of Wyatt Burp.Had a great maker's cartouche also.

 

[-db-]

Alfonso Pineda was another holster-maker borne of the Arvo Ojala enterprise. His business, Alfonso's of Hollywood, is still operating and producing fine holsters under direction of his son Omar located just north of Hollywood in Burbank: Alfonsos gunleather gunbelts and leather gun holsters

 

[JayCeeNC]

Very interesting, Lee.
Oh, and I'll take 50 Victory .38's for $1000, please. And a dozen Pinto pre-Model 27's.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

This is great! I've been into his stuff hardcore after watching Silverado in 1985. i contacted him and ordered a left handed rig from him. I asked him lots of questions about various movie stars. I told him i had a VHS tape of "The Oregon Trail" where he twirls a Walker Colt. He said it was the only film he had lines in. He asked me to make him a copy and sent me $5 in a fancy Ojala envelope with Paladin card. Here it is on my wall right now with his cards. In the envelope is pamphlets for items he was marketing at the time.

When my son was 5 or 6 I made him a mini-Ojala rig, using mine as a pattern.

Thanks for showing us this stuff. he was a great guy and would tolerate my endless questions like, "did Marylin Monroe smell good?" where he laughed and said, "Yeah!"

 

[labworm]

Excellent photos of the magazine, thanks for posting.

The one that fascinates me is the New York gun store on 137 E. 57th St.

 

[Maximumbob54]

Fun read as soon as I got over all the fingers on triggers...

Still, thank you for showing me the years I wasn't around for and kind of wish I had been there.

 

[BCDWYO]

This is indeed a very fun post. I love looking at vintage articles like these! Am I the only one that noticed in the very first photo, James Arness is about to blow Ojala's hand off as he re-holsters his double action with his finger squarely on the trigger!??

 

[mball]

My wife sent this to a friend in Hollywood. He lives not far from where Arvo's shop was. Arvo and Arness filmed this as a joke. This is a showdown in a kind of trailer they filmed as a joke. That is Arvo shooting Arness.

Gunsmoke - not the way your mother remembers it - YouTube

 

[feralmerril]

I will take a bunch of those 1917s for $22.50 apiece. I see Alphonso Pineta is mentioned. I have several of his rigs. He built me this one for my 2 1/2" python around 1971. Seems to me it was in the $60 area for holster and belt. (Belt shrunk a good foot) Also alfonso built the forward canted holster for my remington rand. I used to live in the north hollywood area around 1965 and worked for universal studio before I went to lockheed. Nudies (sp?) was quite a place too for that stuff. There was a LOT of nice gun and leather shops around there back then.

 

[Rintimtin]

I could not help but notice that everyone holding a gun in those picture also had thier finger on the trigger? I guess it was ok back then. I suppose the people were smarter then too.

 

[Gunslinger808]

Too cool HE.
I love old ads and articles.
They speak of a simpler, yet more responsible time.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

Oh Gosh; This brings me back to the '50's when I was young. I had a running charge account at Frontier Gun Shop in Lafayette, Ca. Bought a pre war Colt SA 32-20 for 65 bucks. A Colt Bisley 44-40 for 65 bucks, too.Added a lot of S&W's to the collection, all older models. A new Model 28 was 85 bucks. And my pre war M&P 38 Sp. was 30 bucks. You could order guns by mail & no problems. Glory days of collecting for sure. Wish I could have hung onto most of them but most are gone now.