Editing Kit Carson (section)

=== Early movies and television ===
Grand popular culture imagery of Carson, expressed through Hollywood cinema, began with the 1928 silent film ''[[Kit Carson (1928 film)|Kit Carson]]'' from Paramount, a purported real-life story of Carson and the conquest of California. It was followed with a talking movie series begun in 1933, with 12 chapters, titled ''[[Fighting with Kit Carson]]'' with a cast including [[Johnny Mack Brown]] (as Kit) and both [[Noah Beery]] and [[Noah Beery Jr.]], with "plenty of stunts and action". Paramount's crew converted the series into a feature-length film, ''Fighting with Kit Carson'', in 1946. These popular matinee westerns strove for entertainment, not for accuracy, and exploited the Kit Carson name and myth.

The Kit Carson character played minor roles in other 1930s Westerns like the 1936 ''[[Sutter's Gold]]'', loosely about the California gold discovery; and the 1939 ''[[Mutiny on the Blackhawk]]'', an odd western with a mutiny on a slave ship that lands in California with Kit Carson and others ready to save the day. The 1940 western titled ''[[Kit Carson (1940 film)|Kit Carson]]'' stars [[Jon Hall (actor)|Jon Hall]] (as Kit), [[Dana Andrews]] (as Fremont), and others. Kit joins Captain John Fremont to guide a wagon train just as Mexican General Castro orders all Americans from California, then the conquest of California begins, a tale enlivened with gratuitous Indian attacks. Filmed in [[Kayenta, Arizona]], and nearby [[Monument Valley]], Navajo were hired as part of the crew.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gallup Independent |date=July 13, 1940}}</ref>

From 1951 to 1955, the television show ''[[The Adventures of Kit Carson]]'' ran for 105 episodes. He was a buckskin-clad heroic character who fights robbers, villains, and other bad guys. [[Bill Williams (actor)|Bill Williams]], who played Kit, complained that the show lacked the drama of the real Kit because of censors, NAFBRAT, wanting to eliminate violence from children's show. "Its all in the history books", Williams told the press, "the real Kit should be tough", fighting bears and mountain lions. He was a "famous Indian fighter". To him, TV Kit was "a sissy on horseback".<ref>{{cite news |title=Baytown Sun |date=January 1, 1955}}</ref>