Editing Kit Carson (section)

==In popular culture==
=== Early movies and television ===
Grand popular culture imagery of Carson, expressed through Hollywood cinema, began with the 1928 silent film ''[[Kit Carson (1928 film)|Kit Carson]]'' from Paramount, a purported real-life story of Carson and the conquest of California. It was followed with a talking movie series begun in 1933, with 12 chapters, titled ''[[Fighting with Kit Carson]]'' with a cast including [[Johnny Mack Brown]] (as Kit) and both [[Noah Beery]] and [[Noah Beery Jr.]], with "plenty of stunts and action". Paramount's crew converted the series into a feature-length film, ''Fighting with Kit Carson'', in 1946. These popular matinee westerns strove for entertainment, not for accuracy, and exploited the Kit Carson name and myth.

The Kit Carson character played minor roles in other 1930s Westerns like the 1936 ''[[Sutter's Gold]]'', loosely about the California gold discovery; and the 1939 ''[[Mutiny on the Blackhawk]]'', an odd western with a mutiny on a slave ship that lands in California with Kit Carson and others ready to save the day. The 1940 western titled ''[[Kit Carson (1940 film)|Kit Carson]]'' stars [[Jon Hall (actor)|Jon Hall]] (as Kit), [[Dana Andrews]] (as Fremont), and others. Kit joins Captain John Fremont to guide a wagon train just as Mexican General Castro orders all Americans from California, then the conquest of California begins, a tale enlivened with gratuitous Indian attacks. Filmed in [[Kayenta, Arizona]], and nearby [[Monument Valley]], Navajo were hired as part of the crew.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gallup Independent |date=July 13, 1940}}</ref>

From 1951 to 1955, the television show ''[[The Adventures of Kit Carson]]'' ran for 105 episodes. He was a buckskin-clad heroic character who fights robbers, villains, and other bad guys. [[Bill Williams (actor)|Bill Williams]], who played Kit, complained that the show lacked the drama of the real Kit because of censors, NAFBRAT, wanting to eliminate violence from children's show. "Its all in the history books", Williams told the press, "the real Kit should be tough", fighting bears and mountain lions. He was a "famous Indian fighter". To him, TV Kit was "a sissy on horseback".<ref>{{cite news |title=Baytown Sun |date=January 1, 1955}}</ref>

=== "Kit Carson Days" celebrations ===
The celebration of a community's past was a popular event by early in the twentieth century.  A mountain man or "Kit Carson" themed history celebration was one of many that began to appear.  They were not events to retell the accurate life of Kit Carson, but the mythic Kit.  [[Alamosa, Colorado]], [[Taos, New Mexico]], [[Jackson, California]] and elsewhere all had begun hosting "Kit Carson Days" celebrations by the 1930s.  The event would have a mountain man camp, part of a living history spectacle, and include muzzle loading musket firing.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chattanooga News |date=February 18, 1937}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Miami News |date=March 10, 1940}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=San Francisco Examiner |date=May 25, 1941}}</ref>

By the 1960s, [[Escondido, California]]'s "Kit Carson Days" celebration included a reenactment of the "Battle of San Pasqual" and Indian dances at Kit Carson Park.<ref>{{cite news |title=Times Advocate |date=July 15, 1969}}</ref> Some advertised an emphasis on family fun, with children at the end of a parade—the "Kiddie Carson" parade—and young women competing to be "Kittie Carson".<ref>{{cite news |title=Times Advocate |date=October 10, 1969}}</ref> Because of COVID-19, none were scheduled for 2020.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kit Carson Mountain Man Days |url=https://suttercreek.org/sutter-creek-events-kit-carson-mountain-men-days-of-49-wagon-train/#:~:text=KIT%20CARSON%20MOUNTAIN%20MEN%20%E2%80%9CDAYS%20OF%2049%E2%80%9D%20WAGON%20TRAIN,-(canceled)&text=The%20colorful%20Kit%20Carson%20Mountain,and%20encampments%20along%20the%20way. |website=Sutter Creek.org |access-date=September 10, 2020}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite web |title=Kit Carson Days |url=http://mocobps.com/KCMM.htm |access-date=September 10, 2020}}</ref>

=== Historic preservation ===

Though structures that Carson would have known had been preserved before 1950, full scale historic preservation projects of sites specifically significant for their association with Kit Carson did not begin until 1950s. In 1952, the Masonic Lodge of Taos, which had inherited the Carson home, restored and opened his classic adobe house as the Kit Carson Home and Museum, one representative of the early 19th century architecture and Hispano family setting but significant because of Carson.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kitcarsonmuseum.org/|title=Kit Carson House & Museum|website=www.kitcarsonmuseum.org|accessdate=September 14, 2021}}</ref> That same year, the state of New Mexico acquired the grave site and established Kit Carson State Park and Memorial Cemetery. The museum emphasized his early career, from around 1843 (when the Carsons bought the home) into the 1850s. Nearby, the former site of his Rayado home, acquired by the Boy Scouts of America, was reconstructed in spirit if not accuracy (no original architectural documents are extant) during the 1950s.<ref>{{cite news |title=Santa Fe New Mexican |date=May 26, 1957}}</ref>

=== Media portrayals ===

* [[Harry Carey (actor)|Harry Carey]] played Carson in the 1936 film ''[[Sutter's Gold]]''.
* [[Jon Hall (actor)|Jon Hall]] played Carson in the 1940 [[Western (genre)|Western]] film ''[[Kit Carson (1940 film)|Kit Carson]]''.
* [[Bill Williams (actor)|Bill Williams]] played Carson in the TV mini-series 1951–1955 ''[[The Adventures of Kit Carson]]''.
* [[Rip Torn]] played Carson in the 1986 [[miniseries]] ''[[Dream West]]''.
* Carson was the inspiration for a same-named character in the popular Italian comic book series ''[[Tex Willer]]''.
* Carson was a regular character in various UK publications, mostly from Amalgamated  Press (IPC), including ''Cowboy Picture Library'', ''Kit Carson Annual'' and weekly comics. Some of these were written by [[Michael Moorcock]] as a youth, as well as Carson being a supporting character in Moorcock's "Whitefriars" trilogy.
* Carson is a supporting character in [[Willa Cather]]'s novel, ''Death Comes for the Archbishop''.
* Carson is a vital supporting character in ''[[Flashman and the Redskins]]'', an installment of the [[The Flashman Papers|Flashman]] series by [[George MacDonald Fraser]].
* Carson appeared in the INSP television series ''[[Into the Wild Frontier]]''.
* Carson is the main character in Kevin Hauser's Dutch novel ''Als de ratelslang aanvalt'' (2024).