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The Jim Bronson character was based on Birney Jarvis, a larger-than-life character. He and series creator Denne Bart Petitclerc met when they were journalists together at the San Francisco Chronicle in the early Sixties. Jarvis, now only a few months from 80 years old (2009), was an adventurer whose exploits Petitclerc saw had great dramatic possibilities. In his early 20's, Jarvis set forth on a cross-country tour that was the narrative basis of the Then Came Bronson series. He rode a hand-painted 1941 Harley 61, stroked to 80 inches, a beast that ate up the miles. It had a 21-inch front wheel and a 19-inch rear wheel and featured the usual, for that era, a suicide clutch and hand shift, along with a jacked up transmission and turned-over brake clevis pin to get more clearance. The orange 1-3/4 gallon gas tank sported the image of Kokopeli, the Hopi Indian deity (it became the All Seeing Eye for the series and a trademark for Bronson). Jarvis traveled with a sleeping bag and tarpaulin and often slept in fields if a barn was not available or a friendly stranger did not offer shelter. He repaid hospitality with a song or three, accompanying himself on his banjo uke.Returning to San Francisco after his odyssey, Jarvis was a founding member of the San Francisco Hells Angels who at the time were just a bunch of bikers who liked to ride and, maybe, get in a scuffle or two. He worked as a motorcycle mechanic as well as a motorcycle messenger for a San Francisco newspaper where he sped to newsworthy events to collect the old-fashioned photo plates from photographers and rush them back for development. Intrigued by reporting, he served an apprenticeship on smaller papers and worked his way up to the Chronicle where he was a police reporter for many years. His interest shifted from motorcycles to blue water sailing, and further adventures including being driven ashore in Mexico by a hurricane. An accomplished raconteur, Jarvis has authored the recently published book, What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor? It recounts many of his sailing exploits and comes close to being a continuation of the Bronson series although this time on a sailboat. After moving to Alabama with his wife Joyce, Jarvis became a newspaper editor and publisher, feature writer and columnist. Still active today, if somewhat lame because of mistreatment during his karate years, he plans to peddle home-grown produce door to door with a goat and wagon. |
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(Birney's NOTE to the reader: If you are somewhat flummoxed by Carroll's last sentence, be advised that this four-times published author and journalist has a wry sense of humor that his peers describe as �Carrollesque.� Carroll himself could well have been considered a TV character, as noted in the following excerpt from the Internet and dozens more available there: �Two years later, he (Carroll) was one of two dozen journalists chosen from around the nation as Ford Foundation fellows at Stanford University. The San Francisco Chronicle at that time preferred Ivy League graduates but would settle for someone with a Stanford connection, so Carroll landed a job on a staff that had one of the strangest collection of braggarts, loafers, liars and oddballs ever assembled. They ranged from the former publicity agent for Shirley Temple and a retired Marine gunnery sergeant to a former Hells Angel (Birney) who bit off a man's ear in a fight to settle a point of honor between rival schools of karate. This same man had a TV series later based on him; two others were the subject of feature movies.)� |