Lash LaRue

I used to devour those Lash LaRue comics when I was about ten or eleven. We all liked him because he used a bull whip instead of a six gun. He was quite the silver screen hero too. During a time when most of the silver screen cowboys were two-fisted brawlers or experts with sixguns Alfred “Lash” La Rue was unique in that he used an 18-foot long bullwhip to take down the bad guys. He also dressed in black during the days that only the bad guy wore black. He did make an impression among his fellow cowboy actors. Roy Rogers used a bullwhip in some of his pictures.

During his heyday, 1958-1951 he’d show up at small town movie theaters where his pictures were playing and demonstrate his skills on stage thus increasing his popularity with youngsters.

His comic books were immensely popular, each selling at least a million copies. He also appeared frequently as a guest star on television westerns of the 1950s. With the decline of B-Westerns he began performing at conventions for western movie buffs. And he was a pretty good guitar picker.

He bore an uncanny resemblance to Humphrey Bogart something that attracted lots of women. He claimed to have been married and divorced ten times.

Fast forward a few years and he taught the bullwhip to Harrison Ford for the Indiana Jones movies.