Burton Gilliam's New Chaps

       When you mention his name most people will have a puzzled look on their face,...but actor Burton Gilliam has been in over a dozen motion pictures, various television shows, and a ton of commercials. He brought Pace Pacante Sauce a ton of sales with his line about the foreign pacante sauce being made in New York City...and he cries, "New York City?...Get a rope!"
     His most famous scene came in the movie 'Blazing Saddles' with Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little. The cowboys are all gathered around the campfire eating beans when nature takes its course.

 Actually it was an all-star cast with names like Harvey Korman, Madelin Kahn, Slim Pickens, and Alex Karras also being featured performers. Denison's own John Hillerman also had a part in the flick, but would become prominent later in the TV series 'Magnum P.I.  He was the guy who was Magnum's boss.
     Back to the point of this posting,.. Burton Gilliam now does TV commercials for several area auto dealerships.. Remember the line, 'We don't care how you get here,..just get here?'  That's Burton !

            Burton was also in 'Paper Moon' with Ryan O'Neal... That was his first picture and impressed the director and producers with his natural Texas accent and sense of humor.
         He has worn those same chaps for almost fifteen years and they are starting to come apart. A mutual friend of ours brought Burton to our house for a fitting for a new pair of chaps. My wife is a seamstress without peer. If it can be made out of any material, my wife can do it, and most of the time without a pattern to work by. 
         Burton came by for a fitting and three weeks later came by to pick up the finished product.

             The next time they update his commercials for the dealerships look for the newer chaps. They are lighter than his old ones as they are made from buffalo hide. Momma reinforced all of the stress points and he seemed to be extremely pleased with the outcome.

        Not only did he like the chaps but now we are almost buddies. We are going to have lunch sometime soon,...IF he can find the time in his busy schedule.