The Golden Shadows Old West Museum

In a play that is realistic, sometimes humorous, and always profoundly moving, Larry L. King deals with the problems of aging and our mistaken stereotypes and impersonal treatment of the elderly. Cowboy Bennett, long a resident of the Golden Shadows Senior Citizens Home, is a man with not only memories of the past but also dreams of the future for himself and his companions--especially the charming widow, Flora Harper. At the play's end, you'll want to stand and yell, "Ya! Ya!" with Cowboy. Best known as coauthor of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Larry L. King as both essayist and play-wright consistently demonstrates an uncanny ability to use Texas settings and characters successfully to explore universal themes. Author of five plays, one novel, and eleven nonfiction books (including Warning: Writer at Work and Larry L. King: A Writer's Life in Letters, Or, Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye, both from TCU Press), King has won numerous awards for his writing, held a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, and has taught at the university level. The Golden Shadows Old West Museum is based on Michael Blackman's short story, which was named the Best Short Fiction of 1973 by the Texas Institute of Letters. The text of the short story is included in this edition. Cover drawing by Pat Oliphant.