![]() Decades before the rugged Marlboro Man image was born, Marlboros were a cigarette aimed at women, with their ad campaign focused around high-class ladies elegantly smoking, alongside assurances that Marlboros wouldn’t interfere with a woman’s lipstick. ![]() While there have been many a Marlboro Man, there was only the one original Marlboro cowboy, Bigun Bradley, a universal icon for what men were supposed be.That was the original advertising slogan for Marlboro cigarettes when they first hit the market in the 1920s. Customers connected with the authenticity of a man who knew how to ride, saddle his horse and strike a match on the bottom of his boot. He had stepped away from the advertising campaign two years previous.īut from Bigum’s start in 1963, Marlboro only used real cowboys. He was 36 years old.Īt the time, Bigun was no longer the Marlboro Man. There were signs of a blow over one eye and behind his ear.īigun Bradley was pronounced dead from accidental drowning on May 10, 1973. Bigun’s body was pulled from the tank around 2 a.m. Local volunteers came over and began dragging the tank. On the edge of the stock tank they had found his lip ice, his gloves and a package of Kools, all dry having been placed on the water’s edge. They drove out to a few pastures finding nothing, but on their way back to the ranch house, they saw a horse’s leg and part of a saddle blanket sticking out from the water near the edge of a new stock tank.Īt midnight, Flowers drove over to see Glenda and tell her that they had found the horse but not Bigun’s body. They hadn’t but, Flowers and his foreman said they would drive around to find him. Late in the evening Bigun’s wife, Glenda, called Flowers to ask if he and his family had seen Bigun. The Flowers’s foreman could not handle the young colt and he called Bigun to help.īigun saddled the wild horse late that afternoon and rode off. In early May of 1973, Bigun’s father sold a colt to a neighbor named Bill Flowers. Life and Look magazines accepted full-page ads from Marlboro of a strong-jawed cowboy inviting the reader to “come to where the flavor is, come to Marlboro country.”ĭuring his time as Marlboro Man, Bradley shot several hundred photographs and dozens of commercials - almost all photographed or filmed in the King County area. Sales for Marlboro cigarettes soared and Marlboro became a best seller. In fact, in his more than 22-year career, Bigun accepted only a few days from work each year for the Stamford Rodeo in Jones County, and in 1966 he took off two days to marry Glenda Reese.įrom 1963 to 1970, Bigun Bradley was the main Marlboro Man. Cowboys like Bigun worked seven days a week, well over 40 hours per week and enjoyed few days away from the job. ![]() For as long as most he could remember, his workdays started before sunup and ended long after sundown.Ī cowboy’s schedule is not like that of a corporate executive. Despite the long working hours, he attended school and graduated from Knox City High School in 1956.Īfter high school Bradley worked his way up from everyday cowhand to wagon boss. Bigun Bradley began day-working around Knox and King County before, at age 14, he started cowboying exclusively for the 6666. He hired Bradley on the spot.īradley was born February 9, 1937, in Knox City to Carl “Banty” and Mae Bradley. Bradley had a face meant for any advertisement involving a cowboy. McBain knew instantly he wanted the young cowboy, who stood about 5 feet 11 and smoked only Kools, for the Marlboro campaign. Giving orders to his cowboys at the Supply House that morning was Carl “Bigun” Bradley. McBain stopped in Guthrie at the 6666 Supply House, the only general store in town. Fortunes turned for Marlboro when a Burnet art director scout, Neil McBain, came through the Rolling Plains of Texas, in 1963, looking for rustic settings for a Camay soap advertisement.
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