" 'Laramie' was getting tons of publicity. We were, frankly, not prepared," he said of the interest the show generated in the city. Nor did he expect to receive numerous inquires about the city from people living in countries such as Japan, Germany and France. "They wanted to know all about Laramie, so we'd send them a brochure," he said.
"We had people coming in the office all the time, and they would come in madder than hell. They were really angry we weren't walking around on wooden sidewalks and riding horses up and down the street and the whole bit," said Roberts, the director of the Albany County Tourism board. Now, 40 years after it aired, the show has maintained an energetic following. Fans remember "Laramie," which was filmed in California, for its handsome leading actors, archetypal themes and family values.
The Festival of the West in Wild Horse Pass, Ariz., which attracts almost 60,000 people each year, paid a special tribute to "Laramie" this year and presented star John Smith a posthumous Cowboy Spirit Award.
The festival asked the city to send a representative to the tribute ceremony, so City Councilman Joe Schumway attended. And to capitalize on the interest, Roberts took a display board down to the festival to advertise the city from a tourist standpoint.
Roberts said the interest the show generated in the city even helped create the city's image as a Western town, something the tourism board still promotes today with its motto: "An outdoor town with an outlaw past."
"At the time, we were having a hard time deciding whether we were a Western town, a railroad town, or a university town," he said. "And at least when those shows were featuring Laramie, I don't know about in our eyes, but in the eyes of everyone who came here, we were a Western town."
"Laramie" is about two brothers, one in his 20s - Slim Sherman, played by Smith - and one in his teens, Andy, played by Bobby Crawford. The brothers operate a ranch 12 miles outside Laramie. The ranch has a stage stop, which brings in a steady stream of new characters to give the show momentum, said Mary Brown, founder of Festival of the West.
Brown, a huge fan of the show who watched it when she was younger, doesn't try to contain her enthusiasm in sharing why she enjoys it. "It was just a very, very good show," she said. "It was a really outstanding show. It was a little bit before its time, but its timing was perfect."
She said the friendship between the characters played by Smith, who died in 1995, and Fuller set it apart from other Westerns of the time, which were usually about lone cowboys. The friendship gave the show depth because though the men were opposites, they accepted each other's differences.
She continued, "Their stories are really quite timeless. Very family-oriented stories. Very much defending your family, your friends. Sticking up for what's right in the world. It was a good series."
Carol Marsella, a New Jersey resident and the owner of the Yahoo-based Robert Fuller Fan Club, said in an e-mail that "Laramie" and Fuller are two of her favorite subjects.
"Its characters were righteous, but not perfect; handsome, but not pretty; strong, but not superheroes," she said. "And who can resist a wee bit of occasional romance, especially with two such brilliant, sizzling leading men as Robert Fuller and John Smith?"
"You can watch it until your eyes give out and you will never see scene stealing, upstaging or any of that stuff that tends to ruin a good script. The chemistry was definitely there; it was perfectly balanced," she said.
The series isn't available on DVD, although Brown said there is a push to change that. A link from Marsella's fan club Web site allows people to add their names to a list requesting a DVD release.
Marsella said her fan club has 85 members, but she also has at least 400 people on her e-mail list. She took over the fan club in 2004 and said her initial intention was to make it a news center for Robert Fuller appearances. But since then, it has become much more than that.
"But within a week, much to my surprise, I began to receive e-mails from excited fans from all over the world thanking me for setting the club back up," she said. "We know one another's families and share in each other's victories and tragedies. It's amazing. Some of the folks I have met through this group have become integral figures in my everyday life. I cannot remember life without them."
The club has members from across the United States as well as Japan, Germany, England, Scotland, Australia and Canada. They gather at Western festivals around the country, like the Festival of the West, mingle with the stars and share their interest in the show.
At this year's tribute, all the show's living cast members were present, including Fuller, and Brown said people came from Europe, Asia and Australia specifically for the tribute.
She said there wouldn't even be a Festival of the West if it weren't for the TV show. After the show ended, she met John Smith and they became friends, and through that friendship she attended a Western film festival in North Carolina and loved it so much she decided to start her own.
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