Valley Oldies: Cisco Kid created traffic jam in 1953 at Charleroi store
By RON PAGLIA
Leave it to Tom Jenkins of Fallowfield Township to add to the backward glances that appear in this corner every Monday.
Responding to our recent recollection of the Lone Ranger (actor Clayton Moore) making a promotional appearance at Al Barry Dodge in Charleroi on May 11-12, 1973, the ever-observant Jenkins recalled that another Western hero, the Cisco Kid, visited the Magic City 10 years earlier.
At that time, the Cisco Kid was portrayed in films and on television by actor Duncan Renaldo. And it was Renaldo who appeared in Charleroi nearly 70 years ago.
“It was April 23, 1953, and he (Cisco) created quite a stir,” said Jenkins. “Once the word got around that the Cisco Kid was in town, enthusiastic kids — not to mention star-struck adults — just poured into the area around Fry’s Clover Farm market at Eighth Street and Crest Avenue, where he was appearing. He smiled a lot, posed for pictures and greeted everyone that came to the store to meet him. He also passed out cardboard six-shooters that made a clicking sound when you pressed the trigger.”
Jenkins confirmed that it was Duncan Renaldo who was at the Clover Farm store.
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