Howdy, landsmen!

Unless you're Frank Lautenberg, you're probably too young to remember Broncho Billy, the first movie cowboy. So, real quick: back before the talkies, young Max Aronson abandoned his rabbinical heritage to become Gilbert Maxwell Anderson and headed out to Niles, California. There, he directed, produced, and starred in some of the first ever Westerns.

As Broncho Billy, Anderson fought the good fight in 400 films from 1907 to 1918, discovered Charlie Chaplin and set the archetype for cowboy cinema along the way. Now there's an ancestor all those goyishe cowboys — your Eastwoods and Waynes — could never have expected.

Though we can't see why. After all, what's so un-Jewish about being a cowboy? They rope cows, not pigs. Long nights under the stars are great for study of Torah. And a Stetson covers the head better than any yarmulke could.

Seriously, if we can have gay cowboys, why not Jewish ones?