Robert Conrad, Ruta Lee, James Drury, and array of TV cowboys bring ‘Gunsmoke’ to MidSouth Nostalgia Festival

Vintage photos and video interviews illustrate three cowboys — James Drury, Buck Taylor, Robert Conrad — and one notable cowgirl — Ruta Lee — who have frequented the annual MidSouth Nostalgia Festival near Memphis, Tennessee. “Jim West uncovers a deadly conspiracy that grips New Orleans in a hypnotic spell!” The campy tagline finds Secret Service agents Artemus Gordon [Ross Martin] and James West [Robert Conrad] in glorious color on the August 1966 second issue cover of the Gold Key comic book series devoted to “The Wild, Wild West.” The science fiction-leaning CBS western comic book is pretty rare since only seven issues were distributed through October 1969. Image Credit: My Comic Book Shop

Originally deemed the Memphis Film Festival through 2019, the MidSouth Nostalgia Festival is a reoccurring June shindig hosted by Hollywood Casino and Hotel in the unincorporated Tunica Resorts, Mississippi, about 30 miles southwest of Elvis Presley’s Graceland when traveling on Highway 61. Western…