Rampant nostalgia, that is what this annotated catalogue of TV Westerns, screened over a period of nearly 50 years, represents. The distinctive label, TV Westerns, is necessary since the programmes listed do not include films previously made for the big screen, although old cinema favourites like Rin Tin Tin, The Cisco Kid, Gabby Hayes, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, and Wild Bill Hickok (who drew his six guns cross‐arm at lightning speed), all of whom your correspondent avidly watched either in B pictures to the main film, or at Saturday morning pictures, half a century ago, reappear in the early television series. It is also reassuring to find Fuzzy Knight listed in a number of Gene Autry and Wild Bill Hickok episodes, although no trace could be found of the Sons of the Pioneers and Riders of the Purple Sage, who provided songs round the camp fire, or to underline the up‐beat atmosphere when the goodies had triumphed and the baddies were safely in the town gaol, and without whom no B Western worthy of the name was complete. Perhaps Harris M. Lentz, an obvious enthusiast, could be persuaded to provide us with a filmography, a discography, and an identity parade of who exactly was who, and which individual was in which band of songsters. Most likely most of them were in both.
All episodes of no fewer than 180 Western series, some still remembered, others long buried in well‐deserved obscurity, are recorded in this substantial volume, most of them set in the apparently totally lawless American West of the second half of the nineteenth century, although there are exceptions to this period both earlier and later. The entries are arranged A‐Z by series and follow a consistent format. Each entry opens with a listing of the series’ broadcasting history, including original network, day and time, followed by the regulars in the cast, and a brief outline of the series’ theme. For example, that of Gunsmoke, which was first broadcast 10 September 1955, and lasted for 20 years until 31 March 1975 (635 episodes in all) related the adventures of US Marshall Matt Dillon (played by James Arness) in Dodge City, Kansas, during the 1860s. Subsequently, five tele‐films were broadcast 1987‐1994. Playing the same character 40 years! Series most familiar to UK viewers include Bonanza, Bart Maverick, Cheyenne, Gunsmoke, The High Chaparral, Little House on The Prairie, Maverick, Rawhide, The Virginian, and Wagon Train. Flitting through the personnel index picks up some well‐known cinema names, June Allyson, Mary Astor, Lew Ayres, Anne Bancroft, Harry Carey Jr, James Coburn, Steve Cochran, Brian Donlevy, Clint Eastwood and the incomparable Jack Elam, who made villainous black stubble into a major art form.
A bibliography of books and periodicals; a storyline index; and a personnel index complement the text. How many UK reference libraries will accession this remarkable book there is no way of telling. But one thing is certain, they don’t make ‘em like that any more!
