Have Gun - Will Travel

The silhouette of a knight chess piece on Paladin's holster and business card, along with his interest in playing chess, reflects his self-image as a wandering knight who, under the name he is presumed to have chosen, tries to right wrongs. Even dressing entirely in black, like a black knight chess piece, contributes to this image.

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Paladin's real name was never revealed.

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The series was initially intended to be a private detective show rather than a western.

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Paladin always carried a Derringer, a pocket pistol concealed beneath his belt. "Derringer" is a misspelling of the surname of Henry Deringer, a nineteenth-century maker of small pistols.

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When not working, Paladin wore white; when working, he wore black.

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Paladin's horse was Rafter, a name chosen by Richard Boone. Over the six-year run, the horses were named Curley, Frisco, Rudy, Mexico and Rafter.

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As for the name "Paladin", it comes from "paladino" in old Europe, referring to a "palatine", a knight who fights for a noble cause, a heroic champion. "Paladin" can also refer to a military leader trusted by his king. Both "knight" (a "warrior") and "military leader" speak to the character's (Paladin's) military past. The story of the character's adoption of the nickname "Paladin" is told in Genesis (1962).

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Paladin's gun is an 1873 Colt Single Action Army revolver with a 7.5-inch barrel, in.44 or.45 caliber.

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Although the series title contains a hyphen, Paladin's business card did not.

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Paladin's real name was never mentioned on television or radio. A novel inspired by the series once gave him the name "Clay Alexander". In Hec Ramsey (1972), Ramsey (also played by Richard Boone) mentions that he was a gunfighter in his younger days but is not specific. His business cards read "Wire Palladin San Francisco", leading some to believe his first name was "Wire". In fact this refers to the telegraph and is the equivalent of a modern email address. Most western lawmen were former gunfighters (some were even outlaws), so it is possible that Ramsey was the former Palladin. Changing your name in the nineteenth century was also easy, meaning both "Hec Ramsey" and "Clay Alexander" could be aliases.

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Paladin's suite at the Carlton Hotel is number 314.

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Paladin's business card reads "Have Gun, Will Travel. Wire Paladin. San Francisco". It is printed over the silhouette of a knight chess piece.

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In the episode titled "Penelope", first broadcast on 12/08/1962, a man returning from his adventures must reconcile with a wife who misses her lost husband; it is a "modern, contemporary" "western cowboy" version of Homer's Odyssey.

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It inspired the British series Boon of the 80s/90s, which starred Michael Elphick.

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Have Gun Will Travel, Gunsmoke and Bonanza were all filmed at Paramount studios at that time. And if you look at the early episodes of the series, you see the same sets and even the same extras. They all shared the Paramount Western lot.

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In the episode where he is shown broke during a poker game at his hotel, he is shown flipping a quarter to cut for high card in the final quarter. However, the close-up of the quarter he throws onto the table was a reversed image of Washington Quarter, first minted in 1932, when Paladin lived in San Francisco in the 1870s. The appropriate quarter would have been the Liberty Seated Quarter. Even the Barber Quarter was not minted until 1892.

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