Excerpts from relevant Bronson emails sent by Birney to TCB devotees; not in any particular order they will help tell my story!

I am happy that Bronson was such a good influence on young people and wish I could say that I, the prototype for Bronson, could live up to all that was Bronson in my personal life.

Let me point out that I am just a guy who has had a lot of adventures and has been blessed with the capacity to (usually) relate to young and older people. This helped me immensely in my long-time reporting career. I have lived life to the fullest and I have tried to be a "good guy," but we all make mistakes or do things that people misinterpret. I surely have and I think Michael Parks would tell you the same thing.

What was bad then is good now, and vice versa. Believe me when I say that the MGM executives were very propah, as the English beauty in my book, What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor? used to say. In fact, they were stodgy and did not like to deviate from the norm which was why Bronson was initially a hard sell. They did not like somewhat chopping the Bronson bike from showroom condition, but when shown what Paramount (I think it was them) was doing with Easy Rider, they relented, a little bit. As a matter of fact, as I recall the Big Shots did not like me one little bit. To them I was a bum, a wastrel, a tramp and probably worse. I had just returned from a two year sailing adventure and that did not set well, either.

Like the producers, my lifestyle also did not set well with my step-mother. When I landed in the Cayman Islands in 1966 after a year on the water I was stony-broke and wrote to my father for a loan. A couple of weeks later a reply letter arrived from my step-mother. It read, in part, Birney, it is all well and good to be a wanderer when you are young (I was 36 at the time), but as the years roll by and the dreams of youth are laid away on dusty shelves, you might find that the spelling of wanderer has become B. U. M. No check was enclosed, but that was ok for I had landed a job editing the Tradewinds Weekly, one of two newspapers in the Cayman Islands at the time.

Pardon the segues from one facet of Bronson to the other; I am sorry, but they are interconnected. To answer your questions about photos, no I do not have any of that particular Bronson bike. Photos were not really my thing in those days and I did not even own a camera. Actually, I would not have had the money to buy or develop film on my trip across the U.S. If you recall from the series, I worked along the way to keep going. I have to say, that facet of the journey was really fun, doing new things and meeting interesting people of all nationalities and cultures. I do, of course, in my old age regret not having photos because my grandchildren and their progeny would probably have liked to see them. I should note that there is now a great-great grandchild.

From the Bronson era I have only a crumbling scrap book. I did have a lot more memorabilia from the pilot including the banner used at the hill climb and from the first part of the series but, as I have written before, that was all lost in Hurricane Ivan in 2004. We had 5-1/2 feet of water under the house and we were unprepared. Even Hurricane Fredrick in 1979 did not flood that high but this time we were right in the eye of the storm and got the worse of it when it passed.

Bud Ekins, great stuntman and super rider who, unfortunately, has passed on did in fact handle the purchase of three Sportsters from Harley Davison, each with different traction and gearing. It is likely that Bud ordered them already cut down, but I think he had the paint jobs done through some Hollywood connection. Bud at the time owned a Triumph dealership in Hollywood and was able to get Bronson Company (MGM Studios) a discount. The Bronson bikes were built as they were because my Hog was kind of that way, but more so. The Movie Moguls compromised. It was not my idea for the sissy bar, but there was compromise on both sides. I might add that the conciliation was also predicated on the appearance of the bike in the Easy Rider movie. It was a bit flamboyant for the day, but the publicity guys thought we should compete otherwise the Sportsters might have ended up stock.

Coincidentally with all our present activity, a few months ago there was a bike rally right here in my little South Alabama town of Bay Minette . (I moved here after 18 years of being flooded out during hurricanes in Orange Beach which is 50 miles south.) A local car dealer opened a motorcycle shop and put together the affair. The theme of the rally centered around Easy Rider and covering a back wall was a mural showing Peter Fonda aboard his chopper, a take from the movie. I dropped in to look around before the festivities and noted the very nicely done mural. I mentioned to the manager that being it was a Harley shop, they surely ought to have some reminders of Then Came Bronson. The guy had never heard of TCB. I copied some photos for him and he promised that he would make up a billboard near the door. I was out of town during the rally but just two weeks ago (May 2009) I went by to see if I could borrow the promised billboard and buy some T-shirts. Not seeing a billboard, I asked the manager if he had done as he promised. His answer was: Nah! I never did anything with it. Now I can understand why the shops business is down while the Eastern Shore Harley Davidson in Daphne, Alabama on U.S. Highway 90 is apparently thriving. I bought my T-shirts there.

Reading about your bikes recalls to my mind my first bike. It was a 1940 Indian 4, a former police bike that was still painted the black and white colors of Oakland, California, in that era of around 1948. My 1st wife and I picked up the motorcycle and, in spite of never having before ridden, managed to get home. It was a terror GOING home! It (naturally) started to rain pretty hard just about the time we reached the Oakland/San Francisco Bay bridge and almost immediately the 4-cylinder engine started to misfire. It finally sputtered to a halt just before the high crest of the bridge and we both managed to push the heavy-as-hell bike to the crest, knowing that we could coast the rest of the way off the bridge. Meanwhile traffic was zooming around us, accompanied by honking horns and nasty looks. We coasted to an off-ramp and parked under the overpass so I could see what had happened with the engine. Wet ignition was the problem and I finally got the thing started and made it home. This whetted my appetite for bikes by getting on mine every time I could. You cannot imagine how cumbersome and temperamental those old 4s were, but I stayed with it and learned much more about cycling by visiting the only two bike shops in San Francisco (at the time) and getting acquainted with real cyclists. The bike got some laughs because the old 4s were ancient history, but I stayed with it until I could afford to buy an old flathead Harley 80 (What a dog!). My next bike was the one that I eventually made the Bronson trip astride.

Today, Tuesday (June 2009): My spouse just informed me that I have not yet told you how Michael Parks was selected to star in Bronson. She reads all my stuff, whatever it is, maybe because she fears I am having an email affair with a luscious 20-year-old who likes older men. I could not attract one with anything else because I ain't got no money. And on the other hand, at my age, what would I do with her? We will have been married 40 years on Aug. 8th so Joyce is used to my ramblings which, coincidentally happens to be the name of the political column I wrote for 15 years or so after retiring: Rambling from the Beach.

Back to Bronson, the late Steve McQueen was the 1st choice for Bronson and we spent an afternoon at Denne Petitclerc's ranch discussing the possibility. The problem was that McQueen had already signed up for Bullitt and was due to start filming. It was an enjoyable afternoon, in any event.

Then came David Carradine (also deceased) before he became famous as the Kung Foo master. Denne and I spent another afternoon in a small patio near his ranch house talking with Carradine while drinking frosty margaritas. Carradine was accompanied by a young lady named Barbara Seagull (who was really Barbara Hershey on a gull trip at the time). Barbara really did not care for sitting out with the bugs and mosquitoes and mainly stayed in the house except when she would come down to us, tug on Carradine's arm and say, Come on, Davee, come on up to the house. That happened two or three times and Davee went back to the house with Ms. Seagull but reappeared an hour or so later. In between these trysts, the television role was discussed but Carradine had another movie in mind (cannot recall which one) and that was that. It was another great afternoon, however, what with pleasant weather, tasty beverages and very few bugs and only one Seagull.

Then Came Michael Parks. His notoriety in Hollywood began when he played a buff-naked Adam in the movie, The Bible: In the Beginning. MGM contacted Parks and shipped him to Denne's house one weekend where we had a great time discussing Then Came Bronson. Michael agreed to sign on, and that was just the beginning.

Joyce and I have done a lot of traveling together, especially in the early years of our marriage 40 years ago. Most of this was aboard sailboats, including a 24 day sail to Maui aboard an outrigger canoe belonging to the owner/skipper, Crazy Fred. He was a genius and designed toys for Mattel among other outlandish things like building outriggers. By the time we reached Maui , we felt like we were Crazy Birney and Crazy Joyce. What a trip!

Joyce has ridden a motorcycle with me only a couple of times. There is a story about our riding the bike up a set of stairs into a barroom on one of those occasions, but I will tell you about that in person. I frankly have not ridden a bike in a long time and would not mind having one now, but at this stage of the game I just cannot afford one.

I have made a lot of money over the years, but being what I am I blew it all on sailing adventures and five-month jaunts through Europe and well, you name it. For instance, during my tenure with the Bronson Company, I made quite a few bucks and that just happened to coincide with the time I was dating the Princess of Nepal. Princesses are expensive! But, believe me; I do not regret a dime of it.

Another for instance: I quit the San Francisco Chronicle four times to go gallivanting and always came back broke. And the Chronicle hired me back five times because I did the job well. Unfortunately, as I was not logging up the years at the paper, my retirement check is much smaller than I would like it to be. Again, it was worth it! Our last sea adventure was 10 years ago when my wife and I sailed to Cuba from Alabama and stayed there for a few months.

Joyce and I live comfortably, own our home outright, along with an SUV and a recently acquired older motor home. We do not have a lot, but we get by and are happy.

Hereabouts, we hang out in a bistro named the Riders Lounge where congregate a bunch of guys (and gals) who love bikes and like to ride. The majority of them had never heard of Then Came Bronson because I did not ordinarily talk much about it. That has changed in the past few weeks since I have learned about your TCB group.

Here is a smidgin of Bronson news for you: You live in Amarillo and we lived in another Texas town (1973-75): Wimberley, down in the Hill Country, between San Antonio and Austin and 17 miles out of San Marcos. We lived there for nearly two years while I was writing the sailing book which would eventually be edited down to the published book. The book is based on a nearly 2-year sailing adventure beginning in 1965. You can find a short write-up on it at LULU.com under either my name or the title, What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor? It is also on Amazon.com and some others, but you can get into the book on Lulu. I might add here that the book was written by me, about me and about my sailing trip. As I was honest in the writing, it does not make me look too good in places; in other places I guess I pass muster. The thing is, it is true life and I wrote things just as they were, with no frills. I did not have Hollywood to clean me up. Anyway, Denne Petitclerc coaxed me into writing the book because he wanted to use it as a continuation of the recently cancelled Bronson series. It almost worked.

The last time I saw Michael Parks, he was aboard our boat before we sailed for the Panama Canal and thence to Pensacola, Florida, in 1983. If you contact him again, tell him I said hello. Wow! It is been more than 25 years since then. Time goes fast when you are having fun.

When I turned 55 years of age I was summarily introduced to the computer. Joyce and I set sail, in 1983, from Sausalito, California, and landed a year later in Pensacola by way of the Panama Canal. Then I went back to work at the San Francisco Chronicle. In my absence a new city editor hired in my absence (a BIG job on a major newspaper) had done away with the old IBM Selectric typewriters and put in a network of computers. I had a terrible time for awhile because I had not the slightest idea how to use them. Luckily for me I had friends who helped me out, especially when I was writing a deadline story and had to get it in on time. I have learned the basics of the art and, yes, it is an art as far as I am concerned but not much more. At 80, I guess the adage that "Old dogs can't learn new tricks" applies.

Karate was a big part of my life and I began studying in 1960 and presently have the rank of 7th Degree Black Belt in a nationwide school that is associated with the Japanese Kyokushinkai, you can find some of that by calling up my name here. You will find the write-up on me and the History part of it, beginning in 1960. In my heyday I was considered very good at tamizawari, the breaking art, and have smashed bricks and bottles and boards and the usual stuff. Then, of course, there are the leg kicks that one endures during the free-fighting practice and competition. At my age (a few months from 80 in 2009), I no longer do all that but I can feel the results on my aging body, especially in my legs. It was fun and I do not regret a moment of my years in active karate.

As for me being the "reason" for Bronson, just remember that I am just an ordinary guy; I have done some good and no doubt some bad. I have made numerous mistakes in life and will probably make more. In order words, I am human.

Thank you for sending the TCB DVDs. Joyce and I have watched the pilot (which brought back many old memories) and are watching a sequence each day when we can. We have had a lot going on here, family and such, and have not had much time for TV. I am greatly surprised that there still is such a TCB following. I must say this, to reiterate, Jim Bronson was a movie character and, at least in the pilot and in a few segments of the series, he played a segment of my life. I was heavily involved in the pilot production but had nothing to do with production of the ensuing series. Michael Parks was no saint (and he would tell you that, I am sure) and neither am I. Speaking for myself, I have always been able to relate to people and most of the incidents you saw in the pilot were actual, although in some places a bit glorified. That is Hollywood , believe me.

This is about it or this time. Good talking with you all (as my Alabama-born spouse would say) and you, too, hang in there.

Regards,

Birney Jarvis a.k.a. Jim Bronson (note the reverse initials; that was purposeful: Birney for Bronson, Jim for Jarvis). Now I can go back to sleep...