The Rebel (1961)

Bob Anderson's interview with writer, producer, and co-creator Andrew J. Fenady in the Shout! Factory Season 2 DVD set for The Rebel fails to shed any light on why Fenady and star Nick Adams chose to base their western on a former Confederate soldier. Like his interview with Boyd Magers' Western Clippings web site, which we mentioned in the post on the 1960 episodes, Fenady maintains that he wanted to create a Jack London-type wandering writer who based his works on his own experiences, and since westerns were the dominant genre in terms of popularity on television in the late 1950s, he obviously chose to set the drama in the old west. But that still doesn't explain why he and Adams chose to make Johnny Yuma a former Confederate, or the series completely skirting the issue of slavery and portraying most of the surviving southerners as pitiable victims who have lost an enviable way of life. Anderson completely whiffs on digging into why the series' creators chose to show that there were very fine people on both sides.

However, the interview does shed some light on why The Rebel was canceled. Anderson notes that the series was ABC's highest-rated show airing on Sunday night, even though it never cracked the top 30 of the overall ratings, and Fenady and partner Irvin Kershner decided to develop a companion piece called The Yank, which would tell the story of a young man named Matthew Dorn who on the day he graduates from medical school learns that his father, an officer in the Union Army, is killed in the Battle of Fredericksburg. So rather than pursuing a medical career and taking the Hippocratic Oath, he enrolls at West Point, becomes a Union officer himself under William Tecumseh Sherman, and takes part in the destruction of the South. But once the war is over, Dorn takes to heart the words from Lincoln's second inaugural address about binding the nation's wounds and decides to retrace his path as a soldier and eventually use his medical training to help bring healing to the South. It's worth noting that of the two companion series, the former Union soldier is the one who feels compelled to embark on a tour of atonement, while the former Confederate sees no need to make amends.

Fenady and Kershner filmed a pilot episode that starred James Drury as Dorn, shortly before he landed the title role in The Virginian, with a supporting cast including John McIntire, Harry Townes, L.Q. Jones, and John Sutton. ABC was thrilled with the pilot and wanted to pick it up immediately, but since the 1960-61 season was already half over, they offered production company president Bill Todman 16 episodes to start right away. However, Todman wanted a full-season commitment of 36 episodes and decided instead to shop the show to NBC, where he had a friend in vice president of programming David Levy, offering both it and The Rebel as a package deal. Levy agreed to take both The Yank and The Rebel at 36 episodes each beginning the next season, so Todman went back to ABC and, according to Fenady's account, told them to "go to hell." Understandably ABC dropped The Rebel at the end of its second season. However, before NBC could pick it up for the 1961-62 season, Levy had left NBC in the wake of allegations by producer Ivan Tors during Congressional hearings on sex and violence in TV that Levy had insisted that sex and violence be added to Tors' series The Man and the Challenge before he would agree to add it to NBC's lineup. In other words, Todman's decision to burn his bridges with ABC spelled the demise of The Rebel.

But in the remaining episodes that aired in 1961, Fenady and company try to walk a fine line between exonerating the South while also saying that slavery is wrong, at least when it involves white people. In "The Promise" (January 15, 1961), Yuma rides into the town of Three Points to deliver a watch and a locket from a fallen war buddy to the man's daughter Laurie Buford only to discover that she is in effect enslaved by Hobie Kincaid, leader of a local vigilante outfit. At first Kincaid tries to make it appear that Laurie is merely his housekeeper, but he also plans to force her to marry his nephew Billy Joe as a final repayment for his having paid for her mother's doctor bills when she gave birth to Laurie. Yuma, of course, has to speak up against the marriage at the ceremony, prompting the minster to refuse to complete it, and then eventually Yuma guns down Billy Joe when he and Hobie try to find another minister in the next town and he tries to stop them. Then Hobie attempts to frame Yuma for Billy Joe's murder. Since there are no African-Americans ever depicted in the 1961 episodes of The Rebel, this is as close as the show ever gets to freeing the slaves.

In "Mission--Varina" (May 14, 1961) we see a sympathetic Jefferson Davis, one-time president of the Confederacy, being released from prison but in need of an armed escort to ensure that he can make the journey to a marina where he will be joined by his wife to sail back home. Yuma is recruited as one of Davis' escorts by Mrs. Davis because he served in a fictional secret mission that tried to end the war in 1863 but was sabotaged. Mrs. Davis fears that her husband has enemies on both sides of the war who may try to assassinate him if they learn of his travel plans, and his escort by the U.S. government will end 1 mile short of the marina to avoid drawing attention to his identity aboard the ship. However, another escort is Charles Ashbaugh, another member of the secret mission who was the one who sabotaged the peace deal (though it appears Yuma is the only one who knows this) by firing at a Union officer when the representatives from both sides met to sign the agreement. Unbeknownst to anyone until almost too late, Ashbaugh secretly harbors hate for Davis because he thinks he surrendered too easily, and Yuma has to gun down Ashbaugh when he tries to kill Davis. But before they reach the final confrontation, one of the U.S. government soldiers making up the escort asks Davis how, as a graduate of West Point and a member of the U.S. Army for 9 years, he could choose to secede from the country he had sworn to defend. Davis' answer is the sort of emotionally laden non-answer one expects from a career politician--that when forced to choose between family and country, of course one would choose family. The fact that everyone listening accepts his diversion without blinking an eye is yet another example of the way The Rebel sought to smooth over what really caused the Civil War.

However, the most ironic episode of 1961 is undoubtedly "Paperback Hero" (January 29, 1961) in which Yuma is sought out by Missouri-based newspaper writer Emily Stevens because she is looking for a western hero she can write about to please her editor and father back home. The plot is hardly original--many westerns of the era take potshots at eastern journalists and novelists who are thrilled by the tall tales of the west and decide to head there to witness the sensationalized action firsthand, only to realize that the deadly stakes involved are far more serious than they first realized. So the way the plot evolves is hardly novel, but what is interesting is the way Stevens builds up Yuma's character in her first articles--describing him as adorned with a chestful of medals, swaggering about like a cavalier, and claiming that he fought in the Civil War to "defend the dignity of gracious living." Though his only medal is an eagle's claw given to him by a Kiowa chief who considered him a blood brother because of his bravery, Yuma's depiction on The Rebel is not far off from Stevens' account. He portrays himself as a tough guy, who in the words of Fenady's theme song "figured that he'd been pushed enough," and never has to own up that he fought to defend a way of living that included enslaving other humans. Unwittingly, this episode undercuts Yuma's heroic status by exposing the facade of the South's "noble cause" and provides a perfect example that his character is not all he's cracked up to be. Furthermore, Yuma is engaged in the exact same occupation as Stevens, since he periodically sends sections of his journal to be published in his hometown newspaper in Mason City. Since we never see his completed newspaper columns, how do we know that his accounts of his exploits are any less sensationalized than those of Stevens? As one of Fenady's Shakespeare-quoting characters would have said, "Ay, there's the rub."

The Actors

For the biography of Nick Adams, see the 1960 post for The Rebel.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 2, Episode 16, "The Liberators": Joan Vohs (shown on the near left, played Jan Dearing on My Three Sons and Miss Cummings on Family Affair) plays abandoned physician Dr. Bless Stelling. Jody Warner (shown on the far left, played Penny Cooper on One Happy Family) plays her sister Hope. Nick Dennis (starred in A Streetcar Named Desire, East of Eden, and Kiss Me Deadly and played Nick Kanavaras on Ben Casey and Constantine on Kojak) plays Mexican revolutionary Greco. 

Season 2, Episode 17, "The Guard": Ed Nelson (shown on the right, played Michael Rossi on Peyton Place and Ward Fuller on The Silent Force) plays former Union prison guard Clint Mowbree. William Phipps (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays his brother Ben. Dee Pollock (Billy Urchin on Gunslinger) plays his brother Charlie.

Season 2, Episode 18, "The Promise": Gigi Perreau (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Betty Hutton Show) plays daughter of Yuma war buddy Laurie Buford. Peter Whitney (Sergeant Buck Sinclair on The Rough Riders and Lafe Crick on The Beverly Hillbillies) plays her employer Hobie Kincaid. Victor Izay (starred in Dr. Sex, The Astro-Zombies, and Blood Orgy of the She-Devils and played Judge Simmons on The D.A., Bull on Gunsmoke, and Dr. Matthew Vance on The Waltons) plays general store owner Abel Hawkins.

Season 2, Episode 19, "Jerkwater": John Dehner (shown on the right, played Duke Williams on The Roaring '20's, Commodore Cecil Wyntoon on The Baileys of Balboa, Morgan Starr on The Virginian, Cyril Bennett on The Doris Day Show, Dr. Charles Cleveland Claver on The New Temperatures Rising Show, Barrett Fears on Big Hawaii, Marshal Edge Troy on Young Maverick, Lt. Joseph Broggi on Enos, Hadden Marshall on Bare Essence, and Billy Joe Erskine on The Colbys) plays Yuma's fishing partner John Sims. John Marley (starred in Cat Ballou, Love Story, and The Godfather) plays Campbelltown patriarch George Campbell. James Chandler (Lt. Gerard on Bourbon Street Beat) plays Campbelltown physician Dr. Raydon. 

Season 2, Episode 20, "Paperback Hero": Virginia Gregg (shown on the left, starred in Dragnet, Crime in the Streets, Operation Petticoat and was the voice of Norma Bates in Psycho and was the voice of Maggie Belle Klaxon on Calvin and the Colonel) plays eastern newspaper writer Emily Stevens. Bobby Diamond (Joey Newton on Fury and Duncan Gillis on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) plays shoeshine boy Jody Webster. Marie Selland (wife of director Sam Peckinpah) plays a saloon girl.

Season 2, Episode 21, "The Actress": Virginia Field (appeared in Little Lord Fauntleroy, Thank You, Jeeves!, Stage Door Canteen, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court) plays renowned actress Lotta Langley. Sandra Knight (shown on the right, ex-wife of Jack Nicholson, appeared in Thunder Road, Frankenstein's Daughter, and Blood Bath) plays her daughter Ruth Revere. Vic Perrin (the narrator on Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, the control voice on The Outer Limits, and did voicework on Jonny Quest, Star Trek, Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, and Mission: Impossible!) plays widower farmer Will Arvid. Robert Hickman (makeup artist who worked on Creature From the Black Lagoon and Around the World in Eighty Days as well as TV series Burke's Law, Honey West, and H.R. Pufnstuf) plays a deputy.

Season 2, Episode 22, "The Threat": Trevor Bardette (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays Big Rescue Sheriff Ike Howard. Richard Bakalyan (starred in The Delicate Delinquent, The Cool and the Crazy, Juvenile Jungle, Hot Car Girl, Paratroop Command, and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes) plays extortionist Bart Vogan. Aladdin (Cesare on My Three Sons) plays banker Ambrose Pack.

Season 2, Episode 23, "The Road to Jericho": Robert Middleton (Barney Wales on The Monroes) plays scam artist Arthur Sutro. Warren Stevens (shown on the right, starred in The Frogmen, The Barefoot Contessa, Deadline U.S.A., and Forbidden Planet, played Lt. William Storm on Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers, and was the voice of John Bracken on Bracken's World) plays pacifist Christopher Portal.

Season 2, Episode 24, "The Last Drink": Tom Drake (starred in Meet Me in St. Louis, Words and Music, Mr. Belvedere Goes to College, and The Sandpiper) plays notorious gunslinger Trace Dawes. Steve Marlo (Jack Casey on Ben Casey) plays his pursuer Ben Culver.

Season 2, Episode 25, "The Burying of Sammy Hart": George Wallace (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays rancher Aaron Wallace. Eugene Mazzola (Joey Drum on Jefferson Drum) plays his son Billy. Charles Maxwell (shown on the left, played Special Agent Joe Carey on I Led 3 Lives and was the voice of the radio announcer on Gilligan's Island) plays his foreman Deeb Ericksen. Peggy Stewart (starred in Oregon Trail, Son of Zorro, and Desert Vigilante and played Cherien's mother on The Riches) plays his wife Sarah. Iron Eyes Cody (played the Indian who sheds a single tear in the "Keep America Beautiful" commercial that began running in 1971) plays dying Indian Sammy Hart.

Season 2, Episode 26, "The Pit": Olive Sturgess (Carol Henning on The Bob Cummings Show) plays wife of missing prospector Charity Bruner. Myron Healey (Doc Holliday on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays postal clerk Mac MacGowan. Ralph Reed (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays his son Slip. Steve Franken (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) plays Slip's friend Ruck. Ned Glass (shown on the right, played MSgt. Andy Pendleton on The Phil Silvers Show, Sol Cooper on Julia, and Uncle Moe Plotnick on Bridget Loves Bernie) plays assayer Sam. Sheldon Allman (Norm Miller on Harris Against the World) plays enforcer Hunk.

Season 2, Episode 27, "Shriek of Silence": Tom Nolan (Jody O'Connell on Buckskin, Officer Hubbell on Jessie, and Mick on Out of This World) plays deaf/mute boy Paul Fellows. Yvette Vickers (starred in Reform School Girl, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, and Attack of the Giant Leeches) plays saloon girl Nancy. Frank DeKova (shown on the left, played Chief Wild Eagle on F Troop and Louis Campagna on The Untouchables) plays outlaw Dick Sturgis. Anna Karen (Anna Chernak on Peyton Place) plays farm wife Bess Warren.

Season 2, Episode 28, "Two Weeks": 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 former Union Army prisoner John Galt. Jamie Farr (shown on the right, appeared in The Blackboard Jungle, With Six You Get Eggroll, The Cannonball Run, and Scrooged and played Maxwell Klinger on M*A*S*H and AfterMASH and Dudley on The Cool Kids) plays his ranch-hand Pooch. Shirley Ballard (Miss California of 1944, wife of Jason Evers, continuity supervisor on Water Under the Bridge and The Sullivans) plays Galt's wife Ann. 

Season 2, Episode 29, "Miz Purdy": Patricia Breslin (shown on the left, plated Amanda Peoples Miller on The People's Choice, Laura Brooks on Peyton Place, and Meg Bentley on General Hospital) plays ranch wife Elizabeth Purdy. Jason Evers (starred in The Brain That Wouldn't Die, House of Women, The Green Berets, and Escape From the Planet of the Apes and played Pitcairn on Wrangler, Prof. Joseph Howe on Channing, and Jim Sonnett on The Guns of Will Sonnett) plays ex-Confederate marauder George Tess. Ken Mayer (Maj. Robbie Robertson on Space Patrol) plays his cohort Deacon.

Season 2, Episode 30, "The Ballad of Danny Brown": William Bryant (McCall on Combat!, President Ulysses S. Grant on Branded, Col. Crook on Hondo, Lt. Shilton on Switch, and the Director on The Fall Guy) plays just-released ex-con Danny Brown. Gail Kobe (Penny Adams on Trackdown, Doris Schuster on Peyton Place, and Dean Ann Boyd Jones on Bright Promise and produced over 200 episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful) plays his fiance Emily Hardy. Tex Ritter (shown on the right, singing cowboy star of 1930s and 40s B westerns, who sang the Oscar-winning theme for High Noon and is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame) plays the Shady Grove marshal. Stephen Joyce (Bubba Wadsworth on Texas, Admiral Walter Strichen on Wiseguy, and George Connor on All My Children) plays Emily's nephew Isham.

Season 2, Episode 31, "The Proxy": Vaughn Taylor (starred in Jailhouse Rock, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Psycho, and In Cold Blood and played Ernest P. Duckweather on Johnny Jupiter) plays fugitive banker Houghton. Vic Damone (shown on the left, popular singer once married to Diahann Carroll, starred in Rich, Young and Pretty, Hit the Deck, and Hell to Eternity) plays posse member Jess Wilkerson. Royal Dano (appeared in The Far Country, Moby Dick, and The Outlaw Josey Wales) play posse member Ben Crowe. William Bryant (see "The Ballad of Danny Brown" above) plays U.S. Army Maj. Lipscott.

Season 2, Episode 32, "Decision at Sweetwater": William Phipps (see "The Guard" above) plays mining engineer Morton Bishop. Carla Belanda (Patricia Hardy on The Mickey Rooney Show, Betty Leonard on The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu, and Miss Hazllit on Lassie) plays his wife Mary. Yvette Vickers (shown on the right, see "Shriek of Silence" above) plays saloon dancer Catherine Jewel. 

Season 2, Episode 33, "Helping Hand": Ray Stricklyn (Dr. James Parris on The Colbys and Senator Pickering on Wiseguy) plays family feuder Carl Blaine. Lee Erickson (Woody on Lassie) plays his brother Dave. Jack Elam (shown on the left, played Deputy J.D. Smith on The Dakotas, George Taggart on Temple Houston, Zack Wheeler on The Texas Wheelers, and Uncle Alvin Stevenson on Easy Street) plays his Uncle Luce. Eddie Ryder (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Dr. Kildare) plays Luce's son Web.

Season 2, Episode 34, "The Uncourageous": George Dolenz (shown on the right, father of Micky Dolenz, appeared in The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler, Vendetta, Scared Stiff, and The Last Time I Saw Paris and played Edmond Dantes/The Count of Monte Cristo on The Count of Monte Cristo) plays matador Juan Amontillo. Renata Vanni (appeared in Pay or Die!, A Patch of Blue, and Fatso and played Rose Brentano on That Girl) plays his wife Rosa.  

Season 2, Episode 35, "Mission--Varina": Richard Gaines (shown on the left, appeared in The Howard of Virginia, Double Indemnity, Unconquered, and Ace in the Hole and played the judge 14 times on Perry Mason) plays former Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Frieda Inescourt (appeared in Pride and Prejudice, The Return of the Vampire, A Place in the Sun, The She-Creature, and The Alligator People) plays his wife Varina. William Schallert (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) plays former Confederate soldier Charles Ashbaugh. Dan Sheridan (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Lawman) plays retiring U.S. Army Sgt. Mundale. Ralph Reed (see "The Pit" above) plays his subordinate Pvt. Gaines.

Season 2, Episode 36, "The Calley Kid": Richard Bakalyan (see "The Threat" above) plays wounded outlaw Calley Dawson. 

Season 2, Episode 37, "Ben White": Charles Aidman (narrator on the 1985-87 version of The Twilight Zone) plays wanted bank robber Ben White. Mary Murphy (shown on the right, appeared in The Wild One, Beachhead, The Mad Magician, The Desperate Hours, and Junior Bonner) plays his wife T. Bruno VeSota (see "Decision at Sweetwater" above) plays cantina owner Basto.

Season 2, Episode 38, "The Found": Karl Held (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Perry Mason) plays wanted bank robber Danny Heathers. 

Season 2, Episode 39, "The Hostage": Lon McAllister (shown on the left, starred in Winged Victory, Thunder in the Valley, Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!, and The Story of Seabiscuit) plays Yuma's war buddy Coley Wilks. Ed Kemmer (Commander Buzz Corry on Space Patrol, Paul Britton on The Secret Storm, Dick Martin on As the World Turns, and Ben Grant on Somerset) plays his brother Sheriff Jesse Wilks. Stephen Joyce (see "The Ballad of Danny Brown" above) plays convicted murderer Frank Daggett. Corey Allen (went on to direct multiple episodes of Dr. Kildare, Police Woman, Dallas, Hunter, and Star Trek: The Next Generation) plays his brother Yancey. Barry Russo (Roy Gilroy on The Young Marrieds) plays Yancey's cohort Charles Kane. Aladdin (see "The Threat" above) plays local Judge Baylon. Jean Inness (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Dr. Kildare) plays murder victim's widow Martha Randall. William Bryant (see "The Ballad of Danny Brown" above) plays poker player Bill.

Season 2, Episode 40, "The Executioner": Barry Atwater (Dr. John Prentice on General Hospital) plays Shoshone chief LeBlanc. Arthur Peterson (shown on the right, played The Major on Soap) plays the Carson City sheriff. Charles Aidman (see "Ben White" above) plays hostage Ferguson. Ken Mayer (see "Miz Purdy" above) plays hostage Andrews. Terry Moore (claimed to be secretly married to Howard Hughes though over the same period married and divorced several other men, including football star Glenn Davis, starred in Mighty Joe Young, Come Back, Little Sheba, Daddy Long Legs, and Peyton Place, and played Connie Garrett on Empire and Venus on Batman) plays hostage Janice Dutton.

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1961)

Today it is usually lumped in with the also-ran westerns of the 1950s and 1960s, behind such ratings leaders as Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and Have Gun--Will Travel, but as we touched on in our post about the 1960 episodes, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp was perhaps the more innovative series in its use of historical events and characters and its experimentation with story arc continuity. As we mentioned in our last post on this program, dramatic television series employed a strictly episodic structure in which each show was a self-contained narrative that rarely ever referred to events from earlier shows. But the producers of Wyatt Earp obviously had a more continuous structure in mind by setting the series' first four episodes in Ellsworth, Kansas before having Earp move on to his next stop in his law enforcement career in Wichita for the remainder of Season 1 and the first episode of Season 2. Starting with the second episode of Season 2 he advances to his next destination of Dodge City for three seasons and then finishes the series in Tombstone, Arizona over the final two seasons. While most of the episodes prior to Season 6 were unrelated, the overall progression of the series followed the geographical sequence of the real-life Earp's travels.

But the way the producers chose to end the series over the last half of Season 6 was perhaps the first instance of a continuous story arc in dramatic television history. To see how revolutionary this technique was, consider that authors David Marc & Robert J. Thompson in their book Prime Time Prime Movers credit producer Stephen J. Cannell with originating the concept of the story arc for prime-time dramas (as opposed to the drawn-out, glacially paced narrative arcs used in daytime soap operas) in his series Wiseguy 26 years after Wyatt Earp:

The obvious innovation of Wiseguy [in 1987] was Cannell's introduction of the "arc" structure to prime-time series television. This is a formatting hybrid that introduces elements of nighttime soap opera (e.g., Dallas, Hill Street Blues) into the content of the traditional action/adventure series. A Wiseguy story might extend for eight or ten weeks by making use of direct episode-to-episode narrative continuity. This "arc" would then come to a narrative climax.

Though his life had many twists and turns afterward, Earp is probably best remembered for his shoot-out with Clanton-gang-affiliated outlaws at the O.K. Corral in 1881. The series begins to hint that this will also be the defining event of the final season as a new opening credits sequence is used in most of the 1961 episodes featuring Wyatt stopping to pose with a sign for the O.K. Corral featured prominently in the background. Then in "Doc Holliday Faces Death" (February 28, 1961) we are introduced to the trope that Earp's staunchest supporter (though he often scoffs at his friend's upright defense of the law at his own peril) is in ill health and that he has a strong dislike for Frank and Tom McLowery, feared gunmen working for Old Man Clanton. In this episode, Holliday is literally drinking himself to death and Earp tries to intervene by conspiring with all the bartenders in town to serve Holliday only a watered-down version of his favorite brand of whiskey. Holliday's failing health is referred to several more times in the remaining episodes, and in the climactic penultimate episode "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (June 20, 1961), he exits his hotel walking with a cane and is given a shotgun to use in the great gunfight because Earp's brother Virgil assumes that his aim is no longer what it once was due to his debilitated condition.

After several more unrelated episodes, the thread of the story is picked up again in "Until Proven Guilty" (April 11, 1961) where we first see the fissures beginning to form in the Clanton gang when Curly Bill Brocious and Johnny Ringo object to patriarch Old Man Clanton that their bought-and-paid-for sheriff Johnny Behan has taxed them for cattle stolen during a job in which Behan himself participated. Though they want to do him harm, Clanton tells them to leave him alone because he is too valuable to the organization due to his connections to the corrupt political hierarchy in Tucson. Knowing that Holliday hates Behan and will resort to tactics that Earp would reject, Brocious and Ringo persuade Holliday to help them frame Behan for a stage robbery their men commit by having an actress that Behan is courting (and over whom Holliday has leverage concerning her past) plant some of the stolen money on him. Earp sniffs out the frame-up but is almost hung by Brocious before Clanton is also tipped off and stops the hanging to avoid having the federal government on his neck, but the bad blood between Brocious and Ringo against Clanton and Earp has not abated.

After two more unrelated episodes, the plot picks up again in "The Law Must Be Fair" (May 2, 1961), which centers around the McLowerys, who wind up moving into Tombstone into a house owned by Clanton next to the O.K. Corral, which he also owns, to placate Tom McLowery's wife Aithra, a city girl from Chicago who can't stand living on a ranch. But Brocious and Ringo, in their quest to take over the Clanton gang operations, see this as an opportunity to get rid of Clanton's two best gunmen by planting a dead corpse in the corral's stable so that the McLowerys will be suspected of murder. Wyatt doesn't think the McLowerys killed the dead man because he was hanged and their modus operandi is typically shooting, but he is forced to arrest them until he can prove who the real killer was. The hanging looks like the typical fate out-of-town rancher Captain Roland reserves for cattle rustlers, so Earp sends Holliday out to Roland's ranch to see if he has hung anybody recently, while Clanton rounds up his gang, including Brocious, to try to break the McLowerys out of jail. Holliday gets back into town just in time to stop Clanton's gang from overpowering Earp and Shotgun Gibbs and brings news that Roland confirmed he gave the body of the dead rustler to Brocious and Ringo, who claimed the deceased was a friend of his that he wanted to give a proper burial. While they are talking Brocious sneaks off to his horse and rides off with Clanton cursing after him, but it won't be Brocious' last attempt against Clanton.

This episode is immediately followed by a rarity in early 1960s television--a well-orchestrated send-off for a long-time primary character in "A Papa for Butch and Ginger" (May 9, 1961). More common for the era was the disappearance of recurring characters with no explanation for their departure or a brief reference to where they went after they have already departed. But in the run-up to the fateful "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," the producers began clearing the decks of characters who weren't around for the final melee. Earp's trusted deputy Shotgun Gibbs, a fictional creation rather than a historical figure, was the first to go. In this episode Gibbs meets a widow with two young children trying to make a wagon trip to Colorado while being taken advantage of by unscrupulous ruffians she has hired to accompany her. Her two young children, Butch and Ginger, take an immediate liking to Gibbs, who runs off one of her antagonists, and though he won't admit it at first, Gibbs takes a liking to the widow Byfield as well. Holliday is the first to sense Gibbs' attraction and knowing that Gibbs feels beholden to Earp and his duty as a deputy, Holliday begins working on Earp to convince him that it would be in Gibbs' best interests to marry the widow and accompany her to Colorado. Holliday even tells Earp that Gibbs will one day meet his death from a faster and heavier armed gunslinger since Gibbs only uses a double-barreled shotgun and has to reload after two shots. So Earp finds a flimsy excuse to fire Gibbs for not following orders but can't face him as he tells him he is dismissed. The final scene shows Gibbs driving the widow's wagon with her by his side trying to convince him that Earp fired him out of love not animosity, while Butch and Ginger ride behind the wagon on Gibbs' beloved mule Roscoe. This sort of farewell is today standard practice but in 1961 it was quite extraordinary.

However, finding a replacement for Gibbs proves to be a challenge for Earp as the next episode, "Hiding Behind a Star" (May 23, 1961), shows Earp hiring a deputy who proves to be a sadistic psychopath as well as a bigamist who is finally exposed and arrested. Gibbs' departure is also the driving force two episodes later in Mayor Clum summoning Earp's brothers Virgil and Morgan from Prescott, Arizona to help support Wyatt against an increasingly fractious Clanton gang, which is thrown into disarray by the next major character send-off depicted in "Requiem for Old Man Clanton" (May 30, 1961). Though Brocious and Ringo have attempted to undermine Clanton at least twice in previous episodes and he is aware of their machinations, he still does not take seriously enough the warning that they may try to ambush him when he goes below the Mexican border to bring back a herd of stolen cattle because the warning comes from Earp. He also reasons that Brocious and Ringo won't attack him because some of the cattle he is bringing back belong to them, but he doesn't realize that they have paid off a long-time nemesis of his, the Mexican bandit king Don Pedro, to ambush him. Though Earp and Holliday try to find Don Pedro and stop the attack, they are too late, and Clanton and his helpers are gunned down by the bandits. Clanton's killing is remarkably violent even for an era that loved The Untouchables and had seen some of Sam Peckinpaugh's early work on The Rifleman and The Westerner. But what makes Clanton's death more striking is that he is a major figure in the series, not some rent-a-thug who is brought in for a single episode for the express purpose of being cannon fodder. Major characters simply did not get killed off in early 1960s TV dramas, which is yet another reason why the final season of Wyatt Earp seems more akin to The Sopranos than it does to its contemporaries.

The next two episodes depict the ratcheting of tensions between the Clantons, Brocious and Ringo, and Earp, which will lead to the great gunfight. In "Wyatt's Brothers Join Up" (June 6, 1961), we see Clum secretly convince Earp's brothers to leave Prescott to come to his aid, but before they get to Tombstone, Holliday intercepts them and cajoles them into a conspiracy to kidnap corrupt sheriff Johnny Behan and hold him in a remote location in order to stoke animosity between the Clantons and Brocious and Ringo, each of whom considers Behan an essential ally due to his connections to the Tucson political machine. Holliday's plan is to incite the rival outlaw factions to kill each other off, but eventually Wyatt uncovers Holliday's conspiracy and releases Behan even though doing so allows one of his principal enemies to still work against him. Wyatt is the ultimate by-the-book lawman, and kidnapping another law officer is illegal, no matter how villainous that law officer may be. In "Just Before the Battle" (June 13, 1961) we are shown how a stage robbery perpetrated by Brocious and Ringo sets the stage for the gunfight because it raises the ire of Ike Clanton that the two gunmen who had previously worked for his father have cut him and his other two brothers out of the take from the robbery. Feeling that he has been disrespected and his authority challenged, Ike is willing to sell out Brocious and Ringo to Wyatt and pick up some reward money in the bargain. But Ringo figures out that someone must have tipped Wyatt off when he almost catches the robbers at their camp outside town, and Ringo's suspicions are confirmed when a telegraph boy working for him tells him he saw Holliday and Ike talking at the Alhambra saloon. Ringo then jokingly tells the McLowerys that he heard that Ike had ratted out the robbers to Earp, and despite his denials, Ike is given the assignment to kill Wyatt in order to prove that he isn't in cahoots with him. Since he also believes that Wyatt must have been the one to tell Ringo about his perfidy, Ike has even more incentive to carry out Frank McLowery's ultimatum. Being a coward, he has to get liquored up in Tombstone that evening to shout out to Earp as he rides into town that he is going to kill him tomorrow.

The footage of Ike threatening Wyatt at the end of "Just Before the Battle" is replayed at the beginning of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (June 20, 1961), a technique usually only reserved for 2-part episodes given the same title. But the technique is used again to stitch together the last two episodes--"Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" and the series finale "The Outlaws Cry Murder" (June 27, 1961) where a scene in the Earp brothers' hotel room in which Wyatt asks Holliday to go across the street to negotiate with Brocious and Ringo is replayed. These replays have the same effect as the technique employed by many story-arc-driven series today in which each successive episode begins with a "Previously on [insert series name here]" followed by a montage of short clips that set up the narrative about to unfold in this week's episode. But that type of linkage was virtually unheard of in 1961, except for the aforementioned 2-part episodes that were treated as long self-contained stories. The last two episodes of Wyatt Earp remain true to history in the characters killed during the great 30-second gunfight and in the Earps and Holliday being charged with murder despite, in this telling, acting in self-defense. But the series does not tie things up neatly at the end of the final episode--the Earps and Holliday still face charges, though they have managed to avoid spending the weekend in jail or being sent to Tucson as the result of a change of venue request orchestrated by Behan, and have therefore avoided being bushwhacked, as Behan intends, while in custody. The final episode ends with Wyatt telling his compatriots that they are not out of the woods yet, but that he would tell any inquiring newspaper reporter that he ain't dead yet. Wyatt himself would live many more years, though far away from Arizona; his brother Morgan would not be so lucky. But the series producers decided to end the story on a high note--the victory at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. What would come afterward would be harder to render in such a positive light.

The complete series has been released on DVD by SFM Entertainment. It is also still in rotation on the Encore Westerns cable channel.

The Actors

For the biographies of Hugh O'Brian, Morgan Woodward, Douglas Fowley, Trevor Bardette, Stacy Harris, James Seay, Damian O'Flynn, Carol Thurston, Steve Rowland, William Phipps, Steve Brodie, Steve Pendleton, Rayford Barnes, Ralph Reed, John Anderson, Ray Boyle, and William Mims, see the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.

George Wallace

George Dewey Wallace was  born in New York City on June 8, 1917, the great-great grandson of legendary U.S. Navy Admiral George Dewey, after whom he was named. When he was 13,his family moved to West Virginia, and Wallace worked in the coal mines there while still a teenager. He joined the Navy in 1936, was discharged in 1940, but rejoined during World War II, serving a total of 8 years, after which he worked a number of odd jobs from meat packer to lumberjack until he was spotted as a singing bartender in a Hollywood bar by gossip columnist Jimmy Fidler. After Fidler made some introductions into the film business, Wallace began attending drama school at night and working as a groundskeeper at MGM. He finally made his movie debut in 1950 in an uncredited part in The Sun Sets at Dawn and had his first credited part a year later in Submarine Command. But his big break came in 1952 when he was cast in the leading role as Commando Cody in the science fiction serial Radar Men From the Moon. He also broke into television that same year, appearing in episodes of Hopalong Cassidy, Dangerous Assignment, and Chevron Theatre. He would work steadily for the rest of his life. While acting in a supporting role in Forbidden Planet in 1955, he was introduced to the great composer Richard Rodgers by Walter Pidgeon and soon would add theatre work to his resume, debuting opposite opera soprano Helen Traubel in the 1955 production of Rodger and Hammerstein's Pipe Dream that same year. In 1957 he was nominated for a New York Drama Critics Circle Award for his work in New Girl in Town playing opposite Gwen Verdon. He was chosen to replace John Raitt in the Broadway production of The Pajama Game and starred with Mary Martin in the 1963 box office flop Jennie in 1963. 

He appeared four times as Frank McLowery on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp in 1961 but did not land a recurring role until being cast as Dr. Leo Gault on the daytime soap The Edge of Night in 1980. After four appearances as Judge Milton Cole on Hill Street Blues in 1983 and three turns as Arthur Nicholls on The Young and the Restless in 1986, he finally landed another recurring role as Grandpa Hank Hammersmith on Sons and Daughters in 1991. But he also continued to get dozens of guest spots on a variety of programs as well as occasional feature film parts such as in Postcards From the Edge. His last credits were episodes of The King of Queens in 2003 and Joan of Arcadia in 2004, but in the latter year he suffered a fall while vacationing in Pisa, Italy and died from complications after returning home on July 22, 2005 at the age of 88.

Gregg Palmer

Born Palmer Lee on January 25, 1927 in San Francisco, both of Palmer's parents had emigrated from Norway. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, serving as a cryptographer, and was discharged in 1946, after which he worked as a radio DJ, bouncer, truck driver, and construction worker. His deep voice reading the news on radio led to his first film role as an uncredited ambulance attendant in the Martin & Lewis comedy My Friend Irma Goes West in 1950. In 1951 he was signed to a 5-year contract with Universal and was billed under his birth name until 1954 when he appeared in Taza, Son of Cochise, Playgirl, and Magnificent Obsession. His work in TV began the same year with a guest appearance on The Lone Ranger. He auditioned for a TV version of Li'l Abner opposite Marilyn Monroe as Daisey Mae, but neither actor got the part. But Palmer's work continued to be steady and voluminous, particularly in western TV series such as The Restless Gun, 26 Men, and Gunsmoke, on which he guest starred 21 times between 1958 and 1975. He also appeared in 18 episodes of Death Valley Days between 1956 and 1969.

His four appearances as Tom McLowery on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp came the same year he appeared in the first of six John Wayne movies, The Comancheros. Though he never landed a recurring role lasting more than 4 episodes, he logged some 166 credits in a career spanning until 1982, at which point he retired from acting after a painful knee injury while working on The Blue and the Gray mini-series and settled in Encino, California to play golf and make appearances for charitable causes. He died October 31, 2015 at age 88.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 6, Episode 14, "Billy Buckett, Incorporated": Andy Clyde (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Real McCoys) plays prospector Billy Buckett. Barney Phillips (Sgt. Ed Jacobs on the original Dragnet, Lt. Sam Geller on Johnny Midnight, Lt. Avery on The Brothers Brannagan, Doc Kaiser on 12 O'Clock High, Mike Golden on Dan August, and Fletcher Huff on The Betty White Show) plays saloon owner Lou Rickabaugh. Bartlett Robinson (Frank Caldwell on Mona McCluskey) plays banker Paul Scott. Dan Sheridan (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Lawman) plays investor Jack Morrow. Ann Robinson (starred in The War of the Worlds, Dragnet, and Midnight Movie Massacre and played Queen Juliandra on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger and Helen Watkins on Fury) plays widow Hetty Doane.

Season 6, Episode 15, "Horse Thief": Robert Bice (appeared in  Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, The Snow Creature, and It! The Terror From Beyond Space and played Police Capt. Jim Johnson on The Untouchables) plays Charleston roadhouse bartender J.B. Ayres. Herbert Rudley (shown on the right, played Sam Brennan on The Californians, Lt. Will Gentry on Michael Shayne, General Crone on Mona McCluskey, and Herb Hubbard on The Mothers-in-Law) plays Old Man Clanton's lawyer Sanders.

Season 6, Episode 16, "Terror in the Desert": Richard Crane (shown on the left, played Rocky Jones on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, Dick Preston on Commando Cody, Sky Marshal of the Universe, and Lt. Gene Plehn on Surfside 6) plays freight operation owner Tom Grover. Jacqueline Scott (starred in House of Women, Empire of the Ants, and Telefon and played Donna Kimble Taft on The Fugitive) plays his wife Beth. Richard Reeves (Mr. Murphy on Date With the Angels) plays prison wagon driver Bucko. Stanley Clements (played Stanislaus "Duke" Coveleskie in 6 Bowery Boys feature films) plays his partner Dugan. David Fresco (Albert Wysong on Murder One) plays prisoner Moody. Peter Mamakos (Jean Lafitte on The Adventures of Jim Bowie) plays prisoner Baxter. Sam Flint (Mr. Armstead on Father Knows Best and earlier had played Judge Jewett on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays a transport company worker.

Season 6, Episode 17, "Old Slanders": Tyler McVey (Gen. Maj. Norgath on Men Into Space) plays a corrupt Tuscon politician. Charles Watts (Judge Harvey Blandon on Bachelor Father) plays newspaper publisher Dameron. Anne Bellamy (Aunt Polly on The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) plays saloon girl Audrey Johnson.

Season 6, Episode 18, "Loyalty": William Fawcett (Clayton on Duffy's Tavern, Marshal George Higgins on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, and Pete Wilkey on Fury) plays an old prospector. Jan Arvan (shown on the far right, played Nacho Torres on Zorro and Paw Kadiddlehopper on The Red Skelton Hour) plays maitre 'd Emile. Paula Winslowe (shown on the near right, played Martha Conklin on Our Miss Brooks) plays housekeeper Ella Mae Stoney. Michael Hinn (George Haig on Johnny Ringo) plays cowhand Van Horn. Dennis Moore (Deputy Lee on Tombstone Territory) plays cowhand Dusty Claypool. Richard Benedict (appeared in A Walk in the Sun, Crossfire, and Ace in the Hole and directed multiple episodes of Hawaiian Eye, Run for Your Life, Ironside, Medical Center, Police Story, and Hawaii Five-O) plays crook Briscoe.

Season 6, Episode 19, "Johnny Behan Falls in Love": Andy Albin (Andy Gosden on Julia) plays Clanton man Limpy Davis.

Season 6, Episode 20, "Casey and the Clowns": L.Q. Jones (Beldon on The Virginian, Sheriff Lew Wallace on The Yellow Rose, and Nathan Wayne on Renegade) plays bank-robbing gang leader Tex. Ken Drake (Bragan on Not for Hire) plays gang member Tim Murdock. Kenneth MacDonald (shown on the left, played the judge 32 times on Perry Mason, played Col. Parker on Colt .45, and appeared in several Three Stooges shorts) plays Tombstone Bank manager Howard Stacey. Sam Flint (see "Terror in the Desert" above) plays Arizona Bank manager Mr. Borden.

Season 6, Episode 21, "Doc Holliday Faces Death": Dub Taylor (shown on the right, 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 bartender Hogan. 

Season 6, Episode 22, "Apache Gold": Robert Cabal (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on Rawhide) plays Apache brave Nulah.

Season 6, Episode 23, "The Good Mule and the Bad Mule": Stephen Wootton (Soapie Weaver on This Is Alice) plays young liar Ollie Burton. Clancy Cooper (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Lawman) plays mine foreman Morgan. Norman Leavitt (Ralph on Trackdown) plays livery man Phillips. Hal Needham (Hollywood's highest-paid stuntman who invented numerous stunt devices, was a double for Richard Boone and Burt Reynolds, and directed Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, and Cannonball Run) plays one of Dameron's printers.

Season 6, Episode 24, "Clanton and Cupid": Harlan Warde (shown on the right, played John Hamilton on The Rifleman and Sheriff John Brannan on The Virginian) plays lawyer Tom Ware.

Season 6, Episode 25, "Wyatt Takes the Primrose Path": William Thourlby (the original Marlboro man, a friend of Jim Thorpe, and author of the best-selling book Passport to Power) plays Apache chief Nachez. X Brands (Pahoo-Ke-Ta-Wah on Yancy Derringer) plays one of his braves.

Season 6, Episode 26, "The Convict's Revenge": Robert Carson (Mr. Maddis on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show) plays ranch owner Sam Davies. Robert Harland (shown on the left, played Deputy Billy Lordan on Law of the Plainsman, Jack Flood on Target: The Corruptors, and Sgt. Older on The Rookies) plays his son Phil. Ken Mayer (Maj. Robbie Robertson on Space Patrol) plays gambler Dapper Courtney.

Season 6, Episode 27, "Until Proven Guilty": Britt Lomond (Captain Monastario on Zorro) plays gunman Johnny Ringo. Kasey Rogers (shown on the right, played Julie Anderson on Peyton Place and Louise Tate on Bewitched) plays actress Dora Madison. 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 prosecuting attorney Tom Fitch. Robert Bice (see "Horse Thief" above) returns as Charleston roadhouse owner J.B. Ayres.

Season 6, Episode 28, "The Shooting Starts": Barney Phillips (see "Billy Buckett, Incorporated" above) returns as saloon owner Lou Rickabaugh. Diane Jergens (shown on the left, appeared in Teenage Rebel, Desk Set, High School Confidential!, and Island of Lost Women and played Francine Williams on The Bob Cummings Show and Susie Jackson on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet) plays his niece Edith. Leo Gordon (Dr. Big Mike McComb on Maverick) plays rival saloon owner Miggles Hannegan. Steve Raines (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Rawhide) plays saloon owner Big Dora's henchman.

Season 6, Episode 29, "Wyatt Earp's Baby": Marie Windsor (shown on the right, starred in Outpost in Morocco, Dakota Lil, Cat-Women of the Moon, Swamp Women, and The Day Mars Invaded Earth) plays saloon owner Lily Henry. Sean McClory (Jack McGivern on The Californians and Myles Delaney on Bring 'Em Back Alive) plays blacksmith and freighter Edgar Boles. Frank Ferguson (Gus Broeberg on My Friend Flicka, Eli Carson on Peyton Place, and Dr. Barton Stuart on Petticoat Junction) plays Pima County Sheriff Slim Lydell.

Season 6, Episode 30, "The Law Must Be Fair": Louise Fletcher (shown on the left, starred in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Exorcist II, and The Cheap Detective and played Nora Bloom on VR.5 and Kai Winn on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) plays Tom McLowery's wife Aithra.

Season 6, Episode 31, "A Papa for Butch and Ginger": Dorothy Green (Lavinia Tate on Tammy) plays traveling widow Amy Byfield. Kevin Brodie (son of Steve Brodie, wrote and directed A Dog of Flanders) plays her young son Butch. Debbie Megowan (Dorine Peters on My Three Sons) plays her young daughter Ginger.

Season 6, Episode 32, "Hiding Behind a Star": James Griffith (Deputy Tom Ferguson on U.S. Marshal) plays Earp's new deputy Tim Connell. Gloria Talbott (shown on the right, starred in The Cyclops, Daughter of Dr. Jekyll,  and I Married a Monster From Outer Space and played Moneta on Zorro) plays his wife Martha. Roy Engel (Doc Martin on Bonanza, the police chief on My Favorite Martian, and President Ulysses S. Grant on The Wild, Wild West) plays rancher Zack Herrick. Paul McGuire (Phillip on The Living Bible) plays gunman Jack Renfro. Charles Wagenheim (Halligan on Gunsmoke) plays gunsmith Spangenberg.

Season 6, Episode 33, "Requiem for Old Man Clanton": Don Haggerty (shown on the left, played Jeffrey Jones on The Files of Jeffrey Jones, Eddie Drake on The Cases of Eddie Drake, Sheriff Dan Elder on State Trooper, and Marsh Murdock earlier on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays cattle drover Mort Herrick. Norman Alden (Grundy on Not for Hire, Captain Horton on Rango, Tom Williams on My Three Sons, Coach Leroy Fedders on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and Al Cassidy on Fay) plays gunman Johnny Ringo. Robert Bice (see "Horse Thief" above) returns as Charleston roadhouse owner J.B. Ayres.

Season 6, Episode 34, "Wyatt's Brothers Join Up": Adele Mara (wife of Maverick producer Roy Huggins who appeared in Wake of the Red Witch, Sands of Iwo Jima, and The Big Circus) plays Behan's love interest Thelma Callum.

Season 6, Episode 35, "Just Before the Battle": Harry Harvey (Sheriff Tom Blodgett on The Roy Rogers Show and Mayor George Dixon on Man Without a Gun) plays the Tombstone telegrapher. Gene Collins (shown on the right, appeared in The Pride of the Yankees, The People's Choice, and Kelly's Heroes and played Willy Quill on Yancy Derringer) plays his young assistant.

Season 6, Episode 36, "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral": Terry Frost (Sgt. Moore/Morse/Morris on Highway Patrol) plays messenger Coleman.

Season 6, Episode 37, "The Outlaws Cry Murder": Jimmy Lydon (shown on the left, see "Until Proven Guilty" above) returns as lawyer Tom Fitch. Charles Watts (see "Old Slanders" above) returns as newspaper editor Dameron.