ArizonaRealCountry.com 9 September 2018 Guns for Hire was a successful entertainment/stunt group begun in the late 1960's that performed western shootout shows at many of the resorts in and around the Scottsdale and Carefree areas. Their regular haunts were at Pinnacle Peak Patio, Reata Pass, the Camelback Inn, Mountain Shadows, and the Wigwam Resort west of Phoenix. Many more would call, leading to calls from TV and movie production companies. Looking back on some of those wild west shows, Ken McConnell, a founding member of “Guns For Hire Inc.” shared a couple of fun memories with me. Their popularity garnered them an opportunity to fly to New York and appear on the famous television show “To Tell the Truth.” Randy Hill and Ken McConnell were selected to make the trip. Since New York had strict gun laws it was necessary to arrive a day early to be fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed for a one-day firearms permit. It took all of 8 hours for the process and at the end of the day, a police officer proudly presented each of them with their firearms carry permits. There was only one problem. Randy’s photo was on Ken’s permit and vice versa. “Should we tell them,” Randy asked. “Nope” was the answer. By Bob Roloff, “The Arizona Duuude” You can follow Bob Roloff on Facebook. THE ARIZONA DUUUDE to expect. There were a series of explosions followed by gunshots and masked men running out of the desert toward the buses. Except on one occasion when a substitute driver was called in at the last minute. The driver, who happened to be from New York City, was a last minute substitute due to illness. He was the last bus in a series of four. As he rounded that infamous curve in the road, smoke was rising from the desert, guns were blazing and masked men were making a dash directly for his bus. In a flash, he dropped the bus in compound low and left the road bouncing a 20-ton bus loaded with tourists across the desert floor, through the cactus and sagebrush, in an attempt to heroically save his passengers. After making it past the chaos and what he felt was safety he returned to the road and at a high rate of speed made it to the parking lot of Pinnacle Peak Patio. Exiting the bus in a dead run and yelling at those standing around about the holdup he was stopped by one of the employees and told not to worry, it was just part of the show. The performances at Pinnacle Peak Patio consisted of not only gunfire but a generous helping of pyrotechnics. There was a cannon that fired and blew up an outhouse. Black powder was used for all of the special effects. The outhouse charge consisted of a walnut size package of black powder on the inside of the outhouse to create smoke and on the roof, a large grapefruit size bundle of powder was used to simulate the explosion. One evening a new person was being trained on how to rig the outhouse. “Remember the small package goes inside and the large one goes on top” were his instructions. My guess is he was dyslexic because the two packages were reversed. When the cannon fired the outhouse exploded and on that particular evening the outhouse did exactly that. The button was pushed and the outhouse lifted about 2 feet off the ground. The stuntmen inside were literally blown out the door. Fortunately, the only damage was to a nylon shirt one of the actors was wearing. It sort of melted around him. Other than the shirt, no one was hurt. A new pyrotechnic specialist was later trained. After many years of serving those 32-ounce steaks, bread, and beans, Pinnacle Peak Patio has disappeared into history. Today the original Guns for Hire is only a fond memory to those aging actors that regularly fired the cannon and blew up the outhouse. Much like the Old West that has faded from the minds of the younger generation, Guns for Hire is gone but not forgotten. The Old West Guns Are Silent Now The performances at Pinnacle Peak Patio were often at the request of a tourist group that had arrived from the east wanting to know what it was like “Out West” And of course no show at the “Peak” was complete without holding up the tourist buses on their way up. The holdups usually took place on a specific turn in the road and the bus drivers, who had been held up a number of times knew what Their popularity garnered them an opportunity to fly to New York and appear on the famous television show “To Tell the Truth.” The performances at Pinnacle Peak Patio consisted of not only gunfire but a generous helping of pyrotechnics. When the cannon fired the outhouse exploded and on one particular evening the outhouse did exactly that. The button was pushed and the outhouse lifted about 2 feet off the ground. The stuntmen inside were literally blown out the door.