The Jack Benny Program (1962)

In our previous posts on The Jack Benny Program, we've noted how Benny has been credited with influencing modern comedy and helping create the sit-com format. One academic who has written extensively on Benny's earlier days in radio is Kathryn Fuller-Seeley, who describes in her article "How Jack Benny and Harry Conn Stumbled Onto the Formula for Situation Comedy" in a 2017 edition of Humanities, the magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities, that Benny and Conn were forced to come up with something to fill radio air time after Benny was hired to host The Canada Dry Program but felt he had run through his entire vaudeville stand-up repertoire after only two episodes. Benny then hired Conn, an experienced vaudeville joke writer for Mae West and many others, and the two began expanding the non-musical portion of the program to include sketches outside the studio, such as one set in the soda fountain located in the radio building lobby, with the sketch including other cast members as characters in the comedy routine. And thus the formula was born, though, of course, it was expanded, adapted, and otherwise shaped over the next several years that also included changing sponsors, networks, and cast members. Benny recruited his wife, billed as Mary Livingstone, to fill in one evening when the script ran short, and the audience response was so positive that she became a permanent cast member. Announcer Don Wilson joined the radio program in 1934, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson was added as Benny's valet in 1937, and tenor vocalist Dennis Day replaced Kenny Baker in 1939. Orchestra leader Phil Harris was also a regular on the radio program beginning in 1936 but did not make the transition to the TV version of the program as did the other characters. 

Given the show's origins in seemingly always in need of additional material to fill air time, it is not surprising that this deficit also became a regular part of the formula in recycling scripts from previous seasons as the show went on for over 20 years on radio and 15 seasons on television. Initially, the TV program aired only every other week until Season 11 in 1960 when it switched to a weekly formula, but even then it produced only 26-27 episodes per season instead of the then-customary 39. And still these 26-27 episodes often borrowed heavily from previous seasons. For the Season 12 episodes that aired in 1962, "Jack Gets a Passport" (January 21, 1962), "How Jack Met Rochester" (January 28, 1962), "Police Station Show" (February 4, 1962), "Ghost Town Western" (February 11, 1962), and "Modern Prison Sketch" (April 15, 1962) all borrow from previous seasons' episodes. But with the "Police Station Show" episode, recycled from "Jack's Maxwell Is Stolen" (November 18, 1956), the writers reworked a few elements of the show to make it funnier. In the earlier version, Benny comes out and does a standard monologue with several jokes about his cheapness before getting an urgent call from Rochester that his Maxwell automobile has been stolen. In the revised 1962 version the episode begins at rehearsal, not the actual aired version of the show, and Jack is late, so Fred the director has his new stand-in, played by Charles Cantor, begin the show. When Benny eventually shows up, he can't believe the smaller, mealy-mouthed Cantor is supposed to represent him, and when he begins doing his monologue, Cantor returns to give him advice on how to do Benny more accurately. Though the 1962 version does omit a humorous musical number by the Sportsmen Quartet in which they are still in the process of getting dressed while singing their number because they did not anticipate Benny leaving the show abruptly to go down to the Beverly Hills Police Station to report his stolen car, the scene featuring the police dispatchers at the police station is upgraded from having one of them entertaining the patrol car officers by playing Elvis Presley records to having dispatcher Corey be a top-notch Irish tenor who croons "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen." Given that the rest of the police station sketch is almost identical in both versions, Benny was perhaps counting on his audience not remembering an episode that aired 6 years earlier, particularly in an era without youtube or DVDs, but even so, reworking a previous episode and passing it off as new is yet another example of how the program exploded the artificial facade that typical television tries to maintain.

In fact, repetition is one of the key components of the Benny comic formula, along with humiliation. Not only are Benny's character flaws of cheapness, vanity, and horrible violin playing worked into every episode, but the same joke or sight gag is repeated multiple times throughout each episode. In "Ghost Town Western" Benny's character The Cactus Kid has a six gun that shoots crooked, which has him shooting the wrong man earlier in the sketch but ultimately saves him in the end. In "Jack Is a Violin Teacher" (April 8, 1962) Jack's imaginary wife Mabel reads off a list of clients for whom she cleans houses on each day of the week when the mother of one of Jack's pupils tries to hire her. When Mabel later complains that she never gets to go out, Benny recites the same list for her, saying she gets to go see Mrs. Johnson on Monday, etc. After Mabel leaves him and his violin students abandon him as well, Benny shows up at the home of Mrs. Johnson on a Monday dressed in Mabel's cleaning outfit. And in the "Phil Silvers Show" episode (October 9, 1962) the young Silvers shows up at Benny's doorstep looking to break into show business with a note pinned to his jacket from Benny's Aunt Sude asking him to help out the son of her best friend. During the remainder of the episode, whenever Benny gets fed up with Silvers' laziness and is about to throw him out, Silvers produces another handwritten note from Aunt Sude causing him to reconsider on her behalf. 

This formula of repetition and humiliation is the blueprint used many years later by Larry David on Seinfeld and even more so on Curb Your Enthusiasm on which David plays an unflattering version of himself much like Benny's character on The Jack Benny Program. Reviewer Philip Weiss made the connection between David and Benny in his 2002 column in The Observer "Who's Master Now?", noting not only the theme of humiliation but the use of real-world celebrities in dishing out the main character's penance. The repetition component is also a key part of David's humor in an episode such as "Krayzee-Eyez Killa" in which the primary plot revolves around Larry striking up a friendship with the titular rapper who also happens to be his wife's friend Wanda Sykes' fiance, but the subplot revolves around a hideous plaid jacket that Larry needs to retrieve to do some retakes for a movie he is making with Martin Scorsese. After Larry's wife Cheryl donates the jacket to a charity, not realizing it is part of Larry's movie wardrobe, Larry spends the rest of the episode trying to find another copy but being thwarted at every turn. He returns to the clothing store where the original was purchased to find they have one more jacket left but then offends the store clerk by insisting on refolding a sweater the wrong way so that the clerk refuses to sell him the jacket. He then finds that Krazee-Eyez Killa has a copy and even gets him to give it to Larry, but when Killa finds that Larry told Wanda that Killa has been cheating on her and calls off the engagement, Killa goes to Larry's house and demands he give the jacket back upon threat of physical violence. When Larry shows up the next day for the movie retake and confesses that he did not bring the jacket back because Cheryl donated it, the wardrobe supervisor reveals she has a backup copy, meaning that all his efforts to secure a replacement were unnecessary (it should be noted that Benny tangles with a wardrobe supervisor in the 1962 episode "Jack Is a Violin Teacher"). The episode also has Larry beginning the plot by stomping on bubblewrap, which comes back to haunt him later, and repeatedly choking on a pubic hair stuck in his throat at the most inopportune times, a motif that actually spans multiple episodes. Weiss notes that Jerry Seinfeld himself cited The Jack Benny Program as an influence on his sit-com, and it is clear that David has continued to mine Benny's comic formula for his own series. Carol Burnett, who stars in the 1962 episode "Jack Plays Tarzan" (November 13, 1962), obviously borrowed heavily from the Benny formula for her long-running variety series, and Steve Martin cites Benny as an influence in his masterclass.com segment "Steve's Comedic Inspirations." Benny's influence continues to be pervasive throughout comedy and television nearly 50 years after his death, all because very early on he learned the value of being able to laugh at himself.

But he also persuaded many of his celebrity guests to join in on the self-mockery, having Raymond Burr attempt stand-up comedy in "Air Force Sketch" (October 16, 1962), having Rock Hudson play a timid harmonica player and Hugh Downs play an overzealous version of himself in "Rock Hudson Show" (February 18, 1962), an episode in which Benny does a hilarious impersonation of Jack Paar, and having Jack Soo play a hip-talking talent agent before doing an absurd impersonation of Ed Sullivan in "Jack Meets a Japanese Agent" (November 27, 1962). Even Bob Hope comes off much funnier playing himself in another recycled episode "The Bob Hope Show" (December 4, 1962) than he does in his own movies and TV appearances. Benny and his writers had a knack for threading the needle between the truly humorous and the painfully cornball. Few comedians then or now have been able to match him.

As mentioned in the 1960 post for this series, there is a disorganized collection of various episodes from the show's 15 years issued by low-budget outfits like Alpha Video, Passport Video, and Echo Bridge in addition to a 3-disc "Lost Episodes" set released by Shout! Factory. The show is also currently airing on cable channel Antenna TV. From calendar year 1962, there are a total of 19 episodes available on youtube.com, archive.org, or broadcast on Antenna TV.

The Actors

For the biographies for Jack Benny, Eddie Anderson, Don Wilson, Dennis Day, and Frank Nelson, see the 1960 post for The Jack Benny Program. For the biography of Mel Blanc, see the 1960 post for The Flintstones.

Charlie Cantor

Born September 4, 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Cantor broke into radio at age 23 on WHN in New York and went on to have an extremely prolific career as a voice actor. At his peak, he was appearing on up to 40 different shows a week. Though he specialized in comic roles, he also found work playing straight characters and even villains. Appearing on everything from The Shadow and Dick Tracy to The Life of Riley and The Baby Snooks Show, Cantor's most famous roles were as Socrates Mulligan in the Allen's Alley segments of The Fred Allen Show beginning in 1940 and continuing until the series ended in 1949. He played bar patron Clifton Finnegan on Duffy's Tavern beginning in 1941 and appeared in the feature film based on the radio show in his movie debut in 1945. In 1942 he took over the role of Solomon Levy on Abie's Irish Rose but was soon replaced himself by Alan Reed, who would go on to become the voice of Fred Flinstone. Cantor's connection with Jack Benny began when he appeared on three episodes of his radio program as ardent Benny fan Logan Jerkfinkle in 1940. The Continuity Acceptance Department at NBC, however, felt that the word "jerk" was cheap, as reported in the May 8, 1940 edition of Variety, and though the character was scheduled to appear on the show's season finale on June 16, he never actually appeared on the program again. Meanwhile, Cantor continued with his radio work on other programs and made his television debut on a February 25, 1951 episode of The Colgate Comedy Hour. In 1952 he appeared in his second feature film, Stop, You're Killing Me, and in 1954 he made the first of 16 appearances on The Jack Benny Program TV series as a lingerie salesman.

Cantor played a variety of characters on the show, sometimes as himself, as when he played Jack's stand-in when Benny was late for rehearsal on "Police Station Show" (February 4, 1962). Though Cantor's appearances on the program were somewhat sporadic in the 1950s, the bulk of his work came during the show's final years of 1962-65. Meanwhile, he found work on a variety of other TV programs beginning in 1955 on shows such as Where's Raymond?, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Bachelor Father. His only recurring role was playing the character Gimpy on the legal comedy Harrigan and Son, which ran for only a single season of 34 episodes. Cantor appeared as Gimpy in 5 of them. He had guest roles on a number of other shows in the 1960s including The Joey Bishop Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and The Red Skelton Hour. His last credit came in a late 1965 episode of O.K. Crackerby! and passed away just after his 68th birthday on September 11, 1966.

Dale White

Dale Porter White was born January 13, 1932 in Otto, Wyoming. He grew up in Caspar, Wyoming, where he attended and graduated in 1950 from Natrona High School, also serving as Student Body Secretary and President of the Thespian Club. A lifelong devout Mormon, White attended Brigham Young University and Utah State University before moving to California to study at the Pasadena Playhouse. Though his ambition was to become a director, White was recruited by the producers of The Jack Benny Program to play Don Wilson's son Harlow, a role he appeared in 17 times between 1955 and 1964. He would never again act on television.

After the program ended, White taught acting at the Pasadena Playhouse and formed his own film company, White Productions, which mostly produced films for corporations and The Church of Latter Day Saints. In 1976 he wrote and directed his first feature-length film Runnin' Free. He also owned two live theaters, the Claremont Playhouse and the Sierra Madre Playhouse. But in 1990 he and his wife moved to Bountiful, Utah to be closer to family. There he and his son Frank bought a motorcycle shop in Centreville, and the two traveled the country to attend motorcycle races that Frank competed in. He died in Pella, Iowa on February 16, 2006 at the age of 74.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 12, Episode 12, "Jack Does Opera": Roberta Peters (shown on the left, world renowned opera soprano awarded the American National Medal of the Arts, appeared in Tonight We Sing and City Hall, and made a record 65 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show) plays herself. Herb Vigran (Judge Brooker on Gunsmoke) plays a press photographer. John Harmon (hotel clerk Eddie Halstead on The Rifleman) plays his assistant.

Season 12, Episode 16, "Police Station Show": Hayden Rorke (starred in Father's Little Dividend, When Worlds Collide, and Pillow Talk and played Steve on Mr. Adams and Eve, Col. Farnsworth on No Time for Sergeants, Dr. Alfred Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie, and Bishop on Dr. Kildare) plays police Sgt. Van Der Meer. Ross Elliott (Lee Baldwin on General Hospital and Sheriff Mark Abbott on The Virginian) plays Jack's director Fred. Joan Benny (Jack Benny's adopted daughter) plays the police station receptionist. Bob Hoy (Joe Butler on The High Chaparral and Cliff on Our House) plays a policeman. Michael Emmet (Cpl. Davis on Boots and Saddles) plays a member of Jack's orchestra.

Season 12, Episode 17, "Ghost Town Western Sketch": Giselle MacKenzie (shown on the right, popular singer, played Katherine Chancellor on The Young and the Restless) plays herself and saloon girl Tess MacKenzie. Will Wright (Ben Weaver on The Andy Griffith Show and Mr. Merrivale on Dennis the Menace) plays a ghost town cafe owner. Irene Tedrow (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Dennis the Menace) plays his wife. Gerald Mohr (narrator on 19 episodes of The Lone Ranger, Christopher Storm on Foreign Intrigue, voice of Mr. Fantastic and Reed Richards on Fantastic 4) plays notorious gunman Tombstone Harry. James Flavin (Lt. Donovan on Man With a Camera and Robert Howard on The Roaring 20's) plays bartender Joe. Benny Rubin (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Dick Tracy Show) plays a drunk.

Season 12, Episode 18, "Rock Hudson Show": Rock Hudson (starred in Magnificent Obsession, Giant, Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back, and Ice Station Zebra and played Stewart McMillan on McMillan & Wife, Brian Devlin on The Devlin Connection, and Daniel Reece on Dynasty) plays himself. Hugh Downs (shown on the left, announcer on the Jack Paar Tonight Show and long-time news host on Over Easy, 20/20, Live From Lincoln Center, and Today) plays himself. 

Season 12, Episode 19, "Julie London Show": Julie London (shown on the right, popular singer, starred in Nabonga, The Fat Man, and The George Raft Story and played nurse Dixie McCall on Emergency!) plays herself. Toni Marcus (violinist, composer, and teacher, composed the soundtrack for Summerspell, and performed the violin solo heard in the film An Officer and a Gentleman) plays herself as a 12-year-old autograph seeker. 

Season 12, Episode 20, "Alexander Hamilton Story": Jean Willes (shown on the left, appeared in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Ocean's 11, and Gypsy) plays mimeograph secretary Mamie and Elizabeth Hamilton. Ross Elliott (see "Police Station Show" above) returns as Jack's director Fred. Nancy Kulp (Pamela Livingstone on The Bob Cummings Show, Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies, Mrs. Gruber on The Brian Keith Show, and Mrs. Hopkins on Sanford and Son) plays script supervisor Jeannette. Gail Bonney (Goodwife Martin on Space Patrol and Madeline Schweitzer on December Bride) plays Elizabeth Hamilton's mother. Lester Matthews (Sir Dennis Nayland Smith on The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu and Fleming Pendleton on The Beverly Hillbillies) plays the Alexander Hamilton-Aaron Burr duel referee. 

Season 12, Episode 23, "Jack Goes Back Into Pictures": Billy Wilder (shown on the far right, Oscar-winning director who directed Ninotchka, Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd., Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment) plays himself. John Harmon (see "Jack Does Opera" above) plays a mailman.

Season 12, Episode 24, "Jack Is a Violin Teacher": Elvia Allman (Aunt Vera on I Married Joan, Jane on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Cora Dithers on Blondie, Mrs. Montague on The Bob Cummings Show, Elverna Bradshaw on The Beverly Hillbillies, and Selma Plout on Petticoat Junction) plays violin teacher Jack's wife Mabel. Barbara Pepper (Doris Ziffel on Green Acres and Petticoat Junction) plays wardrobe supervisor Maggie. Mary Treen (appeared in Babbitt, A Night at the Ritz, Love Begins at Twenty, and It's a Wonderful Life and played Emily Dodger on Willy and Hilda on The Joey Bishop Show) plays violin student's mother Mrs. Jameson. Herb Vigran (see "Jack Does Opera" above) plays violin student's father Mr. Tinmin. 

Season 12, Episode 25, "Modern Prison Sketch": Mickey Rooney (shown on the far left, starred in Captains Courageous, Boys Town, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Words and Music, Babyface Nelson, and Breakfast at Tiffany's as well as numerous Andy Hardy movies and played Mickey Mulligan on The Mickey Rooney Show, Mickey Grady on Mickey, Oliver Nugent on One of the Boys, Henry Dailey on The New Adventures of the Black Stallion, and Talbut on Kleo the Misfit Unicorn) plays himself and convict Killer Looney. Iris Adrian (appeared in Too Many Blondes, Career Girl, The Paleface, and G.I. Jane and played Dottie on The Ted Knight Show) plays a lunch counter waitress.  Ross Elliott (see "Police Station Show" above) returns as Jack's director Fred.  Alan Carney (played Mike Strager in a series of RKO comedies in the 1940s, appeared in The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and Herbie Rides Again, and played Herbie on The Jean Carroll Show) plays counterfeiter Inky Green. Richard Reeves (Mr. Murphy on Date With the Angels) plays convict Muggsy McGurk. Larry J. Blake (played the unnamed jailer on Yancy Derringer and Tom Parnell on Saints and Sinners) plays new convict Stranger.

Season 13, Episode 3, "Phil Silvers Show": Phil Silvers (shown on the right, starred in You're in the Army Now, Top Banana, Lucky Me, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Boatniks, and The Strongest Man in the World and played Msgt. Ernest G. Bilko on The Phil Silvers Show, Harry Grafton on The New Phil Silvers Show, and Shifty Shafer on The Beverly Hillbillies) plays himself. Joe Flynn (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet) plays Jack's barber. Gail Bonney (see "Alexander Hamilton Story" above) plays Jack's Aunt Sude.

Season 13, Episode 4, "Air Force Sketch": Raymond Burr (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1961 post on Perry Mason) plays himself. Roland Winters (played Charlie Chan in 6 feature films, appeared in Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, Follow the Sun, Cash McCall, and Blue Hawaii, and played J.R. Boone, Sr. in Meet Millie and Leonard J. Costello on My Brother the Angel) plays Air Force Gen. Sneed. Warren Vanders (Chuck Davis on Empire, Ben Crowley on Daniel Boone, and Brant on How the West Was Won) plays an Air Force pilot.

Season 13, Episode 5, "Lawrence Welk Show": Lawrence Welk (shown on the right, world renowned orchestra leader and host of The Lawrence Welk Show) plays himself. Madge Blake (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Real McCoys) plays Pasadena Jack Benny Fan Club President Nara. Jesslyn Fax (appeared in Rear Window, The Music Man, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, and The Love God? and played Angela Devon on Our Miss Brooks and Wilma Fritter on Many Happy Returns) plays her Vice President.

Season 13, Episode 6, "The Story of My Gang Comedy": Darla Hood (played Darla in 49 Our Gang shorts and appeared in Neighborhood House, Born to Sing, and The Bat, and was a regular on The Ken Murray Show) plays herself. Frances Mercer (starred in Crime Ring, Smashing the Rackets, The Mad Miss Manton, and There's Always Tomorrow and played Nurse Ann Talbot on Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal) plays Alfalfa's mother Mrs. Falfa. James Flavin (see "Ghost Town Western Sketch" above) plays a policeman. Benny Rubin (see "Ghost Town Western Sketch" above) plays a barber. 

Season 13, Episode 7, "Jack Plays Tarzan": Carol Burnett (shown on the left, regular cast member on The Garry Moore Show, host of The Carol Burnett Show and Carol and Company, and played Celia Howard on Stanley, Eunice Higgins on Mama's Family, Verla Grubbs on All My Children, and Theresa Stemple on Mad About You) plays herself. Peter Lupus (Willy Armitage on Mission: Impossible) plays Tarzan. Richard Peel (Mr. Withers on Family Affair) plays Jane's father.

Season 13, Episode 9, "Jack Meets a Japanese Agent": Romi Yamada (Japanese popular singer) plays herself. Jack Soo (starred in Flower Drum Song, Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?, and The Green Berets and played Rockwell Sin on Valentine's Day and Det. Sgt. Nick Yemana  on Barney Miller) plays her agent. Mel Blanc (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Flintstones) plays a microphone boom man. The Rocky Fellers (Filipino-born quintet and Scepter Records recording artists who had a hit with "Killer Joe" in 1963) play themselves.

Season 13, Episode 10, "Bob Hope Show": Bob Hope (shown on the right, legendary comedian who starred in Road to Singapore, Road to Zanzibar, My Favorite Blonde, My Favorite Brunette, The Paleface, and Bachelor in Paradise) plays himself. Jesse White (appeared in Harvey, Bedtime for Bonzo, The Bad Seed, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and The Reluctant Astronaut and played Mickey Calhoun on Private Secretary, Jesse Leeds on Make Room for Daddy, and Oscar Pudney on The Ann Sothern Show) plays talent agent Weber. Iris Adrian (see "Modern Prison Sketch" above) plays his secretary. Duke Johnson (juggler who appeared in Swing Fever, Texas Carnival, and Spartacus) plays a juggler. 

Season 13, Episode 11, "Jack Referees a Wrestling Match": Ruth Berle (shown third from left, wife of Milton Berle) plays herself. Anne Douglas (shown fourth from left, wife of Kirk Douglas) plays herself. Eden Hartford (shown second from left, wife of Groucho Marks) plays herself. Evelyn Patrick (shown on the far left, wife of Phil Silvers) plays herself. Maudie Prickett (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Hazel) plays Jack's secretary Miss Gordon. Roy Rowan (announcer on The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, Falcon Crest, and Dallas) plays a photographer. Billy Varga (professional wrestler who won the light heavyweight title in 1941) plays himself. Gene LeBell (professional wrestler and national judo champion) plays himself.

Season 13, Episode 12, "Jack and the Crying Cab Driver": Louis Nye (shown on the right, starred in Sex Kittens Go to College, The Facts of Life, The Stripper, and Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? and played Dr. Delbert Gray on The Ann Sothern Show, Sonny Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies, Harry Karp on Needles and Pins, and Jeff Greene's father on Curb Your Enthusiasm) plays a crying cab driver. Mel Blanc (see "Jack Meets a Japanese Agent" above) plays a Mexican named Sy. Bill Mumy (Will Robinson on Lost in Space, Weaver on Sunshine, and Lennier on Babylon 5) plays a young boy obsessed with weighing himself. Alice Backes (Vickie on Bachelor Father) plays his mother. Hank Brandt (Leonard Waggedorn on Julia, Morgan Hess on Dynasty, and Dr. Aaron Kranzler on Santa Barbara) plays young lover Bill. 

Season 13, Episode 13, "The Story of the New Talent Show": Mel Blanc (see "Jack Meets a Japanese Agent" above) plays animal impressionist Mr. Finque. Bernie Kopell (shown on the left, played Siegfried on Get Smart, Jerry Bauman on That Girl, Louie Palucci on The Doris Day Show, Charlie Miller on Needles and Pins, Alan-a-Dale on When Things Were Rotten, Dr. Adam Bricker on The Love Boat, and voiced Baron von Butcher, Creto, and Wang Fu on Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp) plays marksman Alberto Rinadli. Madge Blake (see "Lawrence Welk Show" above) plays Tillie, President of the Jack Benny Fan Club, Pasadena Chapter. Jesslyn Fax (see "Lawrence Welk Show" above) plays her Vice President Emma.

The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1961)

As we documented in our post for the 1960 episodes, The Barbara Stanwyck Show originated when Stanwyck was no longer sought out for feature film work after turning 50. She had originally wanted to star in a western series but said her agents were against it because the western was in decline. In a January 21, 1961 cover story for TV Guide, Stanwyck offers an alternative explanation--that she wanted to play a really active woman in the old west but none of the networks would buy it and instead she was offered the drama anthology series that would win her an Emmy for Best Actress but be canceled after a single season. In the show's last episode, Stanwyck was able to take a potshot at the genre that rejected her in "A Man's Game" (July 3, 1961). Stanwyck provides satiric narration about the current fad in westerns--the lone gunslinger--and portrays independent businesswoman/saloon owner Chris Mathews (note the male-sounding character name) who refuses to give up her career to marry retired, incognito gunslinger Ben Stockton. When the town's sheriffs keep getting murdered and no man is willing to step up and take over the job, Chris decides to take it on herself, a move that the men of the town think is outrageous and which is played entirely for laughs. But Chris is able to handle the petty drunks and small-time nuisances until she runs up against a real gunslinger, Billy Deevers, and finds herself unable to shoot him when she has the chance. Instead she has to be rescued by her suitor Stockton and decides that she really isn't cut out to play "a man's game," though she does insist on keeping her saloon and cajoling Stockton into taking the sheriff's job. This is one of the more disappointing episodes in the series because Stanwyck has the chance to show a woman can do a man's job, as she does in most of the other episodes, but decides in the end to revert to stereotype.

Her other old west episodes are some of the weaker stories in the series. In "Along the Barbary Coast" (February 27, 1961) she plays another saloon owner, Trixie Callahan, this time in 1899 San Francisco, so there are no evil gunslingers here, but she still has to be rescued from an unscrupulous business partner, Sam Verner, by her suitor, police detective and returning war hero Pete Bishop. Trixie is duped into being Verner's partner due to debilitating circumstances--her old place of business burns down and Verner offers to help her finance a new saloon. Given this act of generosity, she is blinded to his illicit side business of trafficking stolen goods and even willing to believe that he is being framed after he kills Bishop's young police partner. After Bishop reveals Verner for what he is and takes a bullet in the process, Trixie comes off her high horse and we hear wedding bells by episode's end. 

The other old west episode is "Little Big Mouth" (May 8, 1961) in which Stanwyck plays trailblazing newspaper reporter Nellie Bly, a concession to NBC's original plan of having her portray "one of history's most noble women" each week, an idea the modest Stanwyck refused to go along with. But in this episode her Nellie Bly is more of a bystander than change-maker. She travels to the Arapaho-Kiowa Indian reservation in turn-of-the-century Oklahoma hoping to uncover a scandal regarding the way the Indians are being cheated by the white settlers (as the real Bly exposed awful conditions for New York mental patients in 1887, while Stanwyck herself was a champion for Indians' rights). But Nellie instead witnesses the way in which one white man, Dr. Mark Carroll, not only tries to stop goods dealers from swindling the Indians but also has to win their trust to allow him to practice medicine, all while raising a 9-year-old daughter. Even though her job is to report on conditions, not change them, Bly does little except interfere in the relationship between father and daughter, thinking that she knows better about how a young girl should be raised. Still, such a depiction is in perfect keeping with Stanwyck's belief in humility--even trailblazers sometimes get it wrong.

The more contemporary episodes have Stanwyck leading businesses and blazing trails. In "Shock" (March 6, 1961) she plays a nuclear physicist who discovers a formula to create an impenetrable field against nuclear power, while in "Size 10" (January 16, 1961) she's Maggie Wenley, a no-nonsense head of a fashion house with men working underneath her. This story scores one for a woman's career over marriage as Maggie discovers that her suitor has been stealing her designs and selling them to a competitor to force her out of business so that her only option left is to marry him. Instead, after uncovering his duplicity, she decides that her work colleagues are her family and vows to give each of them a bigger share of the business. It's a role Stanwyck could empathize with as her career and charitable causes made up her whole life after her divorce from second husband Robert Taylor for his affair with Lana Turner. As she revealed in her TV Guide interview, she needed to work because she had no hobbies and felt that traveling alone was a bore. In "Big Career" (February 13, 1961) Stanwyck plays department store vice president Harriet Melvane, who was worked her way up from a shop girl but is still carrying her alcoholic, resentful, and womanizing husband Roy, who feels emasculated by her success. When Roy is killed crossing the street to get gas for their empty car, she at first blames herself until Roy's mother has a heart-to-heart to let her know that even she, his mother, knew that Roy was pathetic. However, after Harriet decides to move to New York in search of a new career, the mother-in-law encourages her old boss, who always carried a torch for her, to go after her, because that's what women really want.

However, we get a cautionary tale about a woman pushing too hard for what she wants in "The Golden Acres" (March 13, 1961). Stanwyck plays social climber Avis Fleming, who grew up poor and insecure because she was from the other side of the tracks. The man she hoped to marry, Dexter Willis, dumped her and chose someone else, so that when she learns he is coming back to town now a widower, she devises a scheme to quintuple her family estate by buying a local farm and selling it to a rubber manufacturer that is looking to open a new plant there. To make that happen she has to blackmail Dexter's father into signing a forged will and trick her brothers into signing away their objections to using the family estate to buy the coveted farmland. When Dexter learns from his father what she has done, he tells her that her behavior is precisely why he dumped her years ago--because he was afraid of her ruthless drive to get what she wanted. Fortunately, Avis is a woman who can learn from her mistakes and she backs out of the deal, showing Dexter that she is worthy of his affection after all.

But perhaps the best portrayal of the career vs. marriage dilemma is in "The Hitch-Hiker" (May 29, 1961) in which Stanwyck plays successful lawyer Maggie McClay, whose husband Mac is a novelist. When Maggie decides to defend an immigrant mother from a custody battle with her wealthy mother-in-law, the most powerful woman in town. Mac pooh-poohs Maggie's idealistic view of the law as being equal for everyone regardless of class and believes that she is making a mistake that will ruin her own career and perhaps even that of her father, for whose firm Maggie works. But after a bitter argument that Maggie believes may have damaged their marriage, Mac recants his position, confessing that he has opposed her career because he wanted to feel that he was all she needed. He then helps dig up some dirt on the mother-in-law and cheers Maggie on to victory. Marriage only works when both partners are on the same side, cheering each other's successes and commiserating their failures, and women aren't one-dimensional creatures whose lives are defined by the man they marry.

Stanwyck relives some of her past successes, too, in some of the series' noirish episodes. In her opening introduction, she compares the episode "Confession" (February 20, 1961) to one of her biggest hits, Double Indemnity. And the plot does mimic the Billy Wilder film's backwards chronology with Stanwyck's Paula Manning dictating her confession about a plot to free herself from a domineering husband, only this time she recruits a shady lawyer, rather than insurance salesman, to help her frame her husband for her supposed murder rather than killing him. "The Choice" (April 17, 1961) plays like a Hitchcock thriller as nightclub owner Amanda Prescott hears a radio report about a violent escaped mental patient and then has to figure out which of two men in her bar matching the escapee's description is the psychopath. "The Frightened Doll" (April 24, 1961) has Stanwyck's barfly Hazel Wexley on the run after befriending a mob bagman with a heart condition, then taking his satchel with $100,000 after he collapses dead. And "Sign of the Zodiac" (April 3, 1961) weaves in the occult when Stanwyck's Madge Terry visits a dockside fortune teller with her sister-in-law, then finds her dead husband's watch transported from the fortune teller's shack to her bedroom overnight.

Though the series had a secondary purpose of trying out potential future series ideas, such as Stanwyck's recurring episodes as Hong Kong-based importer/exporter Josephine Little (in "Dragon by the Tail" [January 30, 1961] and "Adventure on Happiness Street" [March 20, 1961], as well as the 1960 episode "The Miraculous Journey of Tadpole Chan") and Andy Devine as a portly police detective in "Big Jake" (June 5, 1961), The Barbara Stanwyck Show produced no spin-offs. But it kept Stanwyck busy, garnered her an Emmy, and paved the way for future television success on The Big Valley and The Colbys. It may have even helped her get a couple of guest spots as a police lieutenant on Season 4 of The Untouchables. After all, she had already proven that she could play any role a man could.

The Actors

For the biography for Barbara Stanwyck, see the 1960 post for The Barbara Stanwyck Show.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 1, Episode 14, "Night Visitor": Stanwyck plays wealthy doctor's wife Marian Andrews. Michael Ansara (shown on the near left, appeared in Julius Caesar, The Robe, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Harum Scarum, played Cochise on Broken Arrow and Deputy U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart on The Rifleman and the Law of the Plainsman, and voiced General Warhawk on Rambo) plays her servant Carl. Julie London (shown on the far left, popular singer, starred in Nabonga, The Fat Man, and The George Raft Story and played nurse Dixie McCall on Emergency!) plays Carol's wife Julie. 

Season 1, Episode 15, "Size 10": Stanwyck plays fashion designer Maggie Wenley. Robert Strauss (shown on the right, appeared in Stalag 17, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, The Seven Year Itch, The Man With the Golden Arm, and Girls! Girls! Girls! and played Sgt. Stan Gruzewsky on Mona McCluskey) plays her sales manager Herbie Harner. Naomi Stevens (Juanita on The Doris Day Show, Mama Rossini on My Three Sons, Rose Montefusco on The Montefuscos, and Sgt. Bella Archer on Vega$) plays her secretary Miss Pearl. Robert Paige (starred in The Main Event, Highway Patrol, Dancing on a Dime, Son of Dracula, and Bye Bye Birdie) plays Maggie's boyfriend Roger.

Season 1, Episode 16, "Dear Charlie": Milton Berle (shown on the left, legendary comedian, starred in Sun Valley Serenade, Always Leave Them Laughing, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, and The Loved One, hosted Texas Star Theatre, The Milton Berle Show, and Phillies Jackpot Bowling, and played Louie the Lilac on Batman) plays grifter Charlie Zane. Katherine Squire (Emma Simpson on The Doctors) plays spinster Elvie. Lurene Tuttle (appeared in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Ma Barker's Killer Brood, Psycho, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, and The Fortune Cookie and played Doris Dunston on Father of the Bride and Hannah Yarby on Julia) plays her sister Tessie. Virginia Vincent (Betty on The Joey Bishop Show, Dottie Clark on The Super, and Daisy Maxwell on Eight Is Enough) plays their maid Dulcy. 

Season 1, Episode 17, "Dragon by the Tail": Stanwyck returns as Hong Kong-based importer/exporter Josephine Little. James Hong (shown on the right, played Barry Chan on The New Adventures of Charlie Chan, Frank Chen on Jigsaw John, and Doctor Chen Ling on Dynasty) returns as her assistant Sam Wong. Anna May Wong (the first Chinese-American movie star, starred in The Thief of Baghdad, Peter Pan, Shanghai Express, and Island of Lost Men) plays her personal assistant A-Hsing. Weaver Levy (Oliver Kee on Adventures in Paradise) plays bartender Charley. J. Pat O'Malley (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Frontier Circus) plays sea captain Steve Connors. Victor Sen Yung (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Bonanza) plays nuclear scientist Dr. Wing Chin-Ni. Arthur Gould-Porter (Ravenswood on The Beverly Hillbillies) plays British war hero Sir Cedric Carstairs. Philip Ahn (Master Kan on Kung Fu) plays fixer Lee Chin.

Season 1, Episode 18, "Sisters": Stanwyck plays widow Janet Jones. Ellen Drew (starred in Sing, You Sinners, If I Were King, Women Without Names, and Christmas in July) plays her sister Kate. Michael Rennie (shown on the left, starred in The Day the Earth Stood Still, Les Miserables (1952), The Robe, Omar Khayyam, and The Lost World and played Harry Lime on The Third Man) plays Kate's estranged husband Julius Ulrich. 

Season 1, Episode 19, "Big Career": Stanwyck plays department store vice president Harriet Melvane. Frank Overton (starred in Desire Under the Elms, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Fail-Safe and played Major Harvey Stovall on 12 O'Clock High) plays her husband Roy. Gene Raymond (husband of Jeanette MacDonald, starred in Red Dust, Ex-Lady, Flying Down to Rio, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith) plays her boss Phil Bennington. Amanda Randolph (shown on the right, played Mama on The Amos 'n' Andy Show and Louise on Make Room for Daddy) plays her maid Cora. Elizabeth Patterson (appeared in The Boy Friend(1926), Daddy Long Legs (1931), Little Women, and Pal Joey and played Mrs. Trumbull on I Love Lucy) plays Roy's mother Millicent.

Season 1, Episode 20, "Confession": Stanwyck plays trapped wife Paula Manning. Kenneth MacKenna (starred in Man Trouble, Temple Tower, and Judgment at Nuremberg) plays her husband Morgan. Lee Marvin (shown on the left, starred in The Big Heat, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Cat Ballou, The Dirty Dozen, and Paint Your Wagon and played Det. Lt. Frank Ballinger on M Squad) plays ambulance-chasing lawyer Judson Hollister. Penny Santon (Madame Fatime in Don't Call Me Charlie, Madam Delacort on Roll Out, Mama Rosa Novelli on Matt Houston, Muriel Lacey on Cagney and Lacey, and Teresa Giordano on Life Goes On) plays Hollister client Mrs. Donati. Josephine Hutchinson (appeared in The Story of Louis Pasteur, Son of Frankenstein, Tom Brown's Schooldays, and North by Northwest) plays Paula's friend Betty Galloway.

Season 1, Episode 21, "Along the Barbary Coast": Stanwyck plays saloon owner Trixie Callahan. Jerome Thor (Robert Cannon on Foreign Intrigue) plays police detective Pete Bishop. Richard Eastham (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1960 post on Tombstone Territory) plays Trixie's business partner Sam Verner. Robert Armstrong (starred in King Kong, The Son of Kong, Framed, Dive Bomber, Blood on the Sun, and Mighty Joe Young and played Sheriff Andy Anderson on State Trooper) plays Bishop's boss Inspector Gunnison. Morris Ankrum (starred in Rocketship X-M, Invaders From Mars, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, and The Giant Claw and played the judge 22 times on Perry Mason) plays stolen goods dealer Walter Harwood. Karl Held (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Perry Mason) plays Bishop's colleague Detective Jones.

Season 1, Episode 22, "Shock": Stanwyck plays atomic scientist Rachel Harrison. Carol Nicholson (Laurie Rose on Room for One More) plays her daughter Shirley. Eduard Franz (shown on the left, starred in The Thing From Another World, Lady Godiva of Coventry, The Jazz Singer (1952), Sins of Jezebel, and The Indian Fighter and played Gregorio Verdugo on Zorro and Dr. Edward Raymer on Breaking Point) plays famous psychiatrist Dr. Paul Aldrich. Ross Elliott (Freddie the director on The Jack Benny Program and Sheriff Abbott on The Virginian) plays impatient army Col. Hawthorne. 

Season 1, Episode 23, "The Golden Acres": Stanwyck plays social climber Avis Fleming. John McGiver (shown on the right, appeared in Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Manchurian Candidate, The Glass Bottom Boat, Midnight Cowboy, The Apple Dumpling Gang and played J.R. Castle on The Patty Duke Show, Walter Burnley on Many Happy Returns, Barton J. Reed on Mr. Terrific, and Dr. Luther Quince on The Jimmy Stewart Show) plays her brother Collins. Robert Emhardt (Sgt. Vinton on The Kids From C.A.P.E.R.) plays her brother Ben. Kent Smith (starred in Cat People, This Land Is Mine, Hitler's Children, Curse of the Cat People, Nora Prentiss, The Spiral Staircase, and The Fountainhead and played Dr. Robert Morton on Peyton Place and Edgar Scoville on The Invaders) plays her former beau Dexter Willis. Jason Robards, Sr. (father of Jason Robards) plays Dexter's father Rupert.

Season 1, Episode 24, "Adventure on Happiness Street": Stanwyck returns as Hong Kong-based importer/exporter Josephine Little. Victor Sen Yung (see "Dragon by the Tail" above) plays sweatshop owner Mr. Chang. Lew Ayres (Dr. James Kildare in 9 Dr. Kildare features, starred in The Dark Mirror, Johnny Belinda, Donovan's Brain, Advise & Consent, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes and played Henry Wade Culver on Lime Street) plays American physician Dr. Paul Harris. Robert Culp (starred in Sunday in New York, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, and Breaking Point and played Hoby Gilman on Trackdown, Kelly Robinson on I Spy, Bill Maxwell on The Greatest American Hero, and Warren on Everybody Loves Raymond) plays Josephine's business colleague Archie Bishop.

Season 1, Episode 25, "High Tension": Stanwyck plays socialite Fran Elick. Nora Marlowe (shown on the left, played Martha Commager on Law of the Plainsman, Sara Andrews on The Governor and J.J., and Mrs. Flossie Brimmer on The Waltons) plays judgmental bus passenger Mill Seabright. Richard Hale (starred in Abilene Town, Kim, San Antone, Red Garters, and To Kill a Mockingbird) plays bus passenger Gibson Hunsucker. Nestor Paiva (Theo Gonzales on Zorro) plays bus station owner Joe.

Season 1, Episode 26, "Sign of the Zodiac": Stanwyck plays recently widowed Madge Terry. Joan Blondell (shown on the right, starred in The Public Enemy, Blonde Crazy, Topper Returns, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Desk Set, and The Cincinnati Kid and played Lottie Hatfield on Here Come the Brides and Peggy Revere on Banyon) plays her sister-in-law Helene Terry. Dan Duryea (starred in The Little Foxes, The Pride of the Yankees, Scarlet Street, and Winchester '73 and played China Smith in China Smith and The New Adventures of China Smith and Eddie Jacks on Peyton Place) plays fortune teller Pierre. James Chandler (Lt. Girard on Bourbon Street Beat) plays a police lieutenant.

Season 1, Episode 28, "The Choice": Stanwyck plays nightclub owner Amanda Prescott. Robert Horton (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on Wagon Train) plays bar customer Horace. James Best (Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard) plays robber Joe. Jimmy Lydon (starred in Tom Brown's School Days, Little Men, Joan of Arc, and 9 Henry Aldrich features and played Biff Cardoza on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, Andy Boone on So This Is Hollywood, and Richard on Love That Jill) plays bartender Harry. George Wallace (starred in Radar Men From the Moon, Destry, and Forbidden Planet and played Judge Milton Cole on Hill Street Blues and Grandpa Hank Hammersmith on Sons and Daughters) plays police officer Tony Johnson.

Season 1, Episode 29, "The Frigthened Doll": Stanwyck plays regular barfly Hazel Wexley. Wallace Ford (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Deputy) plays bartender Harry. Harold J. Stone (shown on the right, played John Kennedy on The Grand Jury, Hamilton Greeley on My World and Welcome to It, and Sam Steinberg on Bridget Loves Bernie) plays mob bagman Jake Lytel. Jackie Searl (began as a child actor, appearing in Tom Sawyer (1930), Huckleberry Finn (1931), Alice in Wonderland (1933), Great Expectations(1934), and Little Lord Fauntleroy) plays hotel clerk Roscoe. Wallace Rooney (Andrew Winters on The Doctors) plays police Capt. Foyle. Eloise Hardt (Karen Hadley on The Dennis O'Keefe Show) plays bar patron Annie.

Season 1, Episode 30, "Yanqui Go Home": Stanwyck plays oil company manager's wife Fran Evans. Dana Andrews (shown on the left, starred in Tobacco Road, The Ox-Bow Incident, Laura, The Best Years of Our Lives, Elephant Walk, and Airport 1975) plays her husband Clint. Rodolfo Acosta (Vaquero on The High Chaparral) plays revolutionary Profirio. 

Season 1, Episode 31, "Little Big Mouth": Stanwyck plays newspaper reporter Nelly Bly. Buddy Ebsen (shown on the right, played Sgt. Hunk Marriner on Northwest Passage, Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones on Barnaby Jones, and Roy Houston on Matt Houston) plays physician Dr. Mark Carroll. Judy Strangis (Helen Loomis on Room 222 and was the voice of Judy/Dyna Girl on Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Rota Ree on Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, and Goldie Gold on Goldie Gold and Action Jack) plays his daughter Mildred. Abel Fernandez (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Untouchables) plays white-educated Tom Tall Bear. Roberto Contreras (Pedro on The High Chaparral) plays self-appointed lawman Joe Jack Rabbit. Anthony C. Montenaro (Tony on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Rocky on Guestward Ho!) plays Indian boy Johnny Tail Feathers.

Season 1, Episode 32, "The Assassin": Stanwyck plays investment firm secretary Louise Forest. Leon Ames (starred in East Side Kids, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Son of Flubber and played Clarence Day, Sr. on Life With Father, Stanley Banks on Father of the Bride, and Gordon Kirkwood on Mister Ed) plays her boss Damon Carlisle. Peter Falk (shown on the left, starred in Robin and the 7 Hoods, Murder by Death, and The Cheap Detective and played Daniel O'Brien on The Trials of O'Brien and Columbo on Columbo) plays hired assassin Joe. Dub Taylor (starred in You Can't Take It With You, Bonnie & Clyde, and The Wild Bunch, played Cannonball in 53 western films, and played Wallie Simms on Casey Jones, Mitch Brady on Hazel, and Ed Hewley on Please Don't Eat the Daisies) plays real estate agent George B. Glimes. Lawrence Tierney (starred in Dillinger, Kill or Be Killed, Born to Kill, Back to Bataan, and Reservoir Dogs and played Sergeant Jenkins on Hill Street Blues) plays an unnamed police detective.

Season 1, Episode 34, "The Hitch-Hiker": Stanwyck plays lawyer Maggie McClay. Joseph Cotten (shown on the right, starred in Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Third Man, Niagara, and From the Earth to the Moon and hosted The Joseph Cotten Show: On Trial) plays her husband Mac. Addison Richards (starred in Boys Town, They Made Her a Spy, Flying Tigers, and The Deerslayer and played Doc Calhoun on Trackdown and Doc Landy on The Deputy) plays opposing lawyer James Fitzgibbon. John Gallaudet (Chamberlain on Mayor of the Town, Judge Penner on Perry Mason, and Bob Anderson on My Three Sons) plays Judge Simon. 

Season 1, Episode 35, "Big Jake": Andy Devine (shown on the left, starred in A Star Is Born(1937), Stagecoach, Pete Kelly's Blues, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and How the West Was Won and played Deputy Marshal Jingles P. Jones on Adventures of Wild Bill Hickock and Hap Gorman on Flipper) plays police detective Jake Sloan. Paul Bryar (Sheriff Harve Anders on The Long, Hot Summer) plays his colleague Leo Goodnight. Byron Morrow (Capt. Keith Gregory on The New Breed and Pearce Newberry on Executive Suite) plays their supervising lieutenant. John Harmon (Eddie Halstead on The Rifleman) plays safecracker Willie Teeter. Lawrence Tierney (see "The Assassin" above) plays known criminal Larry Duncan. John Qualen (appeared in The Three Musketeers(1935), His Girl Friday, The Grapes of Wrath, Angels Over Broadway, Casablanca, Anatomy of a Murder, and A Patch of Blue) plays ex-con Sam Lundborg. Patricia Huston (Addy Olson on Days of Our Lives and Hilda Brunschwager on L.A. Law) plays his daughter. Carol Anne Seflinger (Susan Talbot on Wonderbug) plays his grand-daughter.

Season 1, Episode 36, "A Man's Game": Stanwyck plays old west saloon owner Chris Mathews. Charles Drake (starred in Winchester '73, Harvey, It Came From Outer Space, Bonzo Goes to College, and I Was a Shoplifter and played John Burden on Rendezvous) plays retired gunslinger Ben Stockton. Edgar Buchanan (shown on the right, played Uncle Joe Carson on The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and Petticoat Junction, Red Connors on Hopalong Cassidy, Judge Roy Bean on Judge Roy Bean, Bob/Doc Dawson on Tales of Wells Fargo, Doc Burrage on The Rifleman, and J.J. Jackson on Cade's County) plays cat fancier Judge Franklin. Andy Albin (Andy Gosden on Julia) plays troublemaker Red Quincy. Sam Buffington (John Richards on Whispering Smith) plays bar patron Vic Trenton. Carl Crow (Teddy Nelson on National Velvet) plays a cowhand.