NOW AVAILABLE for the first time in video cassette and DVD, this incredible record of exhibition shooting at its finest will be a treasured part of any sportsman's library.
Originally produced in 1954 by a professional film company in color and with sound track, "Showman Shooter" is certainly the best of the few existing film records of exhibition shooting as it once existed. The late famed sports announcer, Ted Husing, appears as film interviewer narrator. Also included are beautiful scenes of shooting pheasant in the field. (25 Minutes.)
AND YOU CAN SEE IT!
Click Here to see a Short Video Clip from the Movie
SHOWMAN SHOOTER MOVIE
by Dr. Jerry Parsons
To many of us the era of the exhibition shooter is just a faint memory. We may vaguely recall standing in a crowd of mesmerized spectators, watching in amazement as a fast shooting, quick talking showman accomplished difficult feats with a shotgun or rifle. We don't remember the name but we surely remember the happening---dynamite exploding, pieces of cabbage flying everywhere, and the crowd covered with juice from an orange heavily laced with perfume and squeezed with a rifle.
The fellow causing all the commotion was a comedian as well as a master gunman. Spectators were either laughing at jokes or gasping in amazement at the firepower being nonchalantly maneuvered by this weaponry wizard. The man doing the shooting would catch his breath periodically and share with the crowd some down-home philosophy about gun safety, sportsmanship and "hunting with your boy so you will never have to hunt for him." He would blow a duck caller so clearly that one would be deceived into believing that a flock was nearby---he was a world champion duck caller.
Soon he was rested and the fast moving shooting show began again. He was good with rifles but was a genius with shotguns. Effortlessly tossed clay targets, blocks of wood, cabbage, eggs and other groceries would soon fall prey to well directed shot of all gauges of shotgun. The final feat was seven clay targets thrown into the air and individually broken with a separate shot before they hit the ground---using a pump twelve gauge shotgun.
Finally the show was over and the crowd rushed forward to see the guns and talk with the man who had done so many amazing things with them. Spectators were surprised as they inspected guns which were available in any firearms store, yet were magic in the hands of Herb Parsons, the last of the great exhibition shooters for Winchester-Western.
The exhibition shooter was a traveling salesman who demonstrated firearms in order to encourage sales. Traveling all over the nation and world performing exhibitions, establishing reputations as professional marksmen, and serving as goodwill ambassadors for the companies they represented, these men became legends in their own time. Arms and ammunition companies put dozens of top-notch shooters on the road, including San Antonio's own Ad Toepperwein and his wife "Plinky" (Winchester), Ed McGivern (Colt and Smith and Wesson), Billy Hill (Remington), Dave Flanningan (Peters), and Ernie and Dot Lind (Winchester- Western).
Unfortunately, the feats of most shooters were never recorded so that future generations could enjoy them. The wizardry of the exhibition shooters is only recorded in print and the fading memories of those who attended a performance. With one fortunate exception! A professionally produced color film record of Herb Parsons' exhibition shooting was made in 1954, entitled "Showman Shooter." This 25 minute film is available to interested sportsmen in video cassette (VHS) and DVD format. It is quite possibly the only available film documentation of an event which was a part of the American way of life.
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