Chronicles: Bigun Bradley first real Marlboro Man cowboy

EDITOR’S NOTE:Caprock Chronicles is written or edited by Paul Carlson, emeritus professor of history at Texas Tech. Today’s essay by Ashley Pettiet Branch, curator of the King County Museum, discusses Guthrie’s Bigun Bradley, the original Marlboro Man of the giant tobacco company.

Bigun Bradley, a rugged-looking cowboy on the 6666 Ranch in Guthrie, Texas, became in 1963 the first real Marlboro Man cowboy.

It is an interesting story that grew from the desire of Marlboro advertising executives to establish a rugged, masculine image for their cigarette, a product that at the time attracted more female than male users.

Looking to revamp the cigarette’s image, the tobacco company in 1954 hired Chicago-based advertiser Leo Burnett. It gave him instructions to find a way to appeal to men.

At one of the subsequent but early advertising meetings, Burnett asked a group of Marlboro researchers, “What is the most masculine figure in America?”

The group threw around a number of ideas, including soldiers and police officers. After someone suggested cowboys, the discussion turned immediately in that direction, and a “cowboy” image was begun.

The first men photographed for the campaign were male models merely dressed up as cowboys. The marketing team found the early advertisements lacking. They did not present the “cowboy” as a rugged, solid, self-assured and independent individual they wanted.

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.

McBain stopped in Guthrie at the 6666 Supply House, the only general store in town. Giving orders to his cowboys at the Supply House that morning was Carl “Bigun” Bradley.

McBain knew instantly he wanted the young cowboy, who stood about 5 feet 11 and smoked only Kools, for the Marlboro campaign. Bradley had a face meant for any advertisement involving a cowboy. He hired Bradley on the spot.

Bradley was born February 9, 1937, in Knox City to Carl “Banty” and Mae Bradley. Bigun Bradley began day-working around Knox and King County before, at age 14, he started cowboying exclusively for the 6666. Despite the long working hours, he attended school and graduated from Knox City High School in 1956.

After high school Bradley worked his way up from everyday cowhand to wagon boss. For as long as most he could remember, his workdays started before sunup and ended long after sundown.

A cowboy’s schedule is not like that of a corporate executive. Cowboys like Bigun worked seven days a week, well over 40 hours per week and enjoyed few days away from the job.

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.

From 1963 to 1970, Bigun Bradley was the main Marlboro Man. Sales for Marlboro cigarettes soared and Marlboro became a best seller. 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.”

During his time as Marlboro Man, Bradley shot several hundred photographs and dozens of commercials — almost all photographed or filmed in the King County area.

In early May of 1973, Bigun’s father sold a colt to a neighbor named Bill Flowers. The Flowers’s foreman could not handle the young colt and he called Bigun to help.

Bigun saddled the wild horse late that afternoon and rode off. Late in the evening Bigun’s wife, Glenda, called Flowers to ask if he and his family had seen Bigun.

They hadn’t but, Flowers and his foreman said they would drive around to find him.

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.

At midnight, Flowers drove over to see Glenda and tell her that they had found the horse but not Bigun’s body. 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.

Local volunteers came over and began dragging the tank. Bigun’s body was pulled from the tank around 2 a.m. There were signs of a blow over one eye and behind his ear.

Bigun Bradley was pronounced dead from accidental drowning on May 10, 1973. He was 36 years old.

At the time, Bigun was no longer the Marlboro Man. He had stepped away from the advertising campaign two years previous.

But from Bigum’s start in 1963, Marlboro only used real cowboys. 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.

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.