Who is that Mystery Cowboy?
His face was sunburned the color of saddle leather, with wrinkles radiating from the corners of his pale blue eyes, he was a man of few words yet he would receive thousands of marriage proposals from throughout the US and reject them all, eventually marrying when he was forty. Who is this mystery man of the west? I’m Susan Allen, stay tuned to find out. Clarence Hailey Long better known as C.H. was born in the Texas Pan handle. There wasn’t anything extraordinary about him, he served in World War II and became a foreman of the JA Ranch established by renowned Texas cattleman Charles Goodnight. But C.H. would become more famous than Goodnight after Leonard McCombe shot pictures of the 39 year old, painfully shy cowboy working cattle in his denim, Stetson hat, bandanna, and a bag of Bull Durham tobacco tucked in his shirt pocket. In 1949 LIFE published photos of the iconic cowboy and Philip Morris was so taken by his image that C.H. became the inspiration for the Marlboro Man. The rugged Texan eventually married at age 40 and fathered five sons. A staunch Baptist he garnered national praise from his denomination when he refused a $20,000 a year contract to advertise beer. The successful Marlboro man advertising campaign used a series of models until it ended in 1999 all based on CH’s style. The man who epitomized the American cowboy, and was adored by countless women once said “ If it weren’t for a good horse, a woman would be the sweetest thing in the world”. I’m Susan Allen
