HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – If you’re familiar with the hit show Yellowstone, a prequel series is coming to your television screen soon that will tell the story of a Fort Smith legend Bass Reeves.
Filmmakers of the show, titled “1883: The Bass Reeves Story”, used authentic gaming tables from the Hot Springs Gambling Museum to feature in the series.
“We look at it as if we’re preserving history,” co-owner of History of Hot Springs Gambling said.
The History of Hot springs Gambling Museum is where you can find an array of timeless treasures.
Recently, those collectables have sparked the interest of screenwriters who looked to the originators of American gambling in the 1800’s, right in Hot Springs.
“The lady explained to me that she worked with Kingstreet Productions, and they were filming a mini-series tied into the Yellowstone series about Bass Reeves,” Hendrix said.
Bass Reeves was the first African American U.S. Marshal in the United States and goes down in history as one of the greatest in law enforcement.
Something filmmakers wanted to capture on the big screen.
“They were looking for a roulette table,” Hendrix said. “They ended up with this roulette table which was an originally out of Illinois out a Capone gambling joint in Illinois.”
Hendrix said this isn’t the first time one of their pieces has been filmed in a movie.
“This table in our little saloon area,” Hendrix said. “It was actually John Wayne’s final scene of the movie The Shootist.”
Hendrix said he looks forward to sharing more of the history from the museum both on and off screen.
“We grow up hearing stories,” Hendrix said. “It’s a town where you can walk downtown, and touch history and we’ve tried to bring some of that here too.”
The Bass Reeves biopic series has already wrapped up filming in Fort Worth Texas and is set to hit tv screens later this year.