THE ALASKANS - "Gold Sled"
(approx 60 min)
The first episode of the 1959-60 series starring Roger Moore and Dorothy Provine. Set in the northernmost U.S. possession during the height of late 19th Century gold fever, The Alaskans tells the story of Rocky Shaw (Dorothy Provine), an entertainer with a taste for the finer things in life, who hooks up with Silkie Harris (Roger Moore) and Reno (Jeff Yorke), two adventurers of less-than-total-honesty.
In this episode, news of a dogsled buried in a remote part of the Yukon with $100,000 in gold sends the trio, along with an old sourdough (Allyn Joslyn) and a dishonest guide, scrambling north in search of the fortune. Double- and triple-crosses abound as they make their way to the gold, followed by a mysterious stranger and the constant threat of death from animals, avalanche, and each other. Also features coming attractions for episode two and ads for Chesterfield cigarettes, Dial soap, Oasis cigarettes, and Prestone anti-freeze.
ROBIN HOOD ROBIN HOOD Volume 1
(approx 55 min)
ROBIN HOOD, formally known as THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, starred Richard Greene as the outlaw baron, battling Prince John to protect the rule of his absent brother, King Richard, and the rights of the oppressed Saxons.
The series was several cuts above other costume/adventure shows of the period, with an unusually cordial relationship depicted between Robin and the Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Wheatley), who are the "best of enemies." The scripts are very well thought out, and the acting above average, featuring not only Greene, but Donald Pleasence as Prince John (and occasionally in other roles) and Paul Eddington (YES, PRIME MINISTER).
"ISABELLA": Robin and the Men of Sherwood accidentally discover a new scheme of Prince John's to take over England. The Prince (Donald Pleasence) plans on divorcing Princess Avis of Gloucester, his Saxon wife, and marrying Isabella of Angelais, a French noblewoman, which will give King Phillip of France the reason he needs to recognize John's claim to the throne of England. Avis wants Robin's help in protecting Richard's crown and her Saxon people, and Robin believes the best way to do that is to warn Isabella of what John's real plans are.
But Isabella proves to be ambitious in her own right--she regards John's plans as appropriate for a king who wants to gain and hold power. So Robin comes up with an alternate plan to halt the wedding--he vows to humiliate Prince John by showing up his cowardly side, in a daring attempt to steal Isabella's dowry right out from under his nose.
"THE TRUCE": Mark Crispin is the champion archer of England, but his encounter with Robin while on his way to the estate of Lord Repton gives Robin a chance to show off his superior ability. Repton has maneuvered the Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Wheatley) into making a bet on a contest pitting their best archers against each other, and the Sheriff appeals to Robin for help, vowing that if he wins the 500 marks, they'll split it, but if the Sheriff loses it, he'll have to collect it from the people of Nottingham.
Robin agrees to shoot in the contest, carrying a safe conduct from the Sheriff (which will spell his doom, if Prince John finds out about it), but Lord Repton begins to suspect a trick, and tries to turn the tables on Robin and the Sheriff.
THE BUCCANEERS with ROBERT SHAW
(approx. 60 min.)
Two shows.
Filmed in London's Twickenham Studios, THE BUCCANEERS captured the imaginations of Americans in the Fifties. This tape contains two classic episodes of this hit English adventure series. Robert Shaw (FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, JAWS) plays Captain Dan Tempest, our swashbuckling hero.
Featuring fabulous dueling scenes and thrilling confrontations between Tempest and Lt. Beamish who ran the British-held islands, this Sylvania-sponsored show premiered on September 22, 1956, and was retitled DAN TEMPEST when it became syndicated. One of the episodes included here features a teenaged actress named Jane Asher, future girl friend of Paul McCartney, co-star of the movie THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, and sister of mid-1960's pop star (and future Linda Ronstadt producer) Peter Asher.
CAPTAIN GALLANT OF THE FOREIGN LEGION--Volume One
(approx 60 min)
This adventure series, which ran from 1954 thru 1957, starred Buster Crabbe in the title role, of an officer serving in the modern French Foreign Legion (which still exists in the 1990's). Also in the cast were Crabbe's son Cuffy as a young ward of the captain, son of an officer killed in action; Fuzzy Knight as Fuzzy, a veteran Legionnaire; Daniel Lecourois as the Colonel in command; and Gilles Queant as Sergeant Du Val.
What really distinguished CAPTAIN GALLANT, however, was the fact that until 1956, it was filmed on location in North Africa--the opening credits acknowledge the cooperation of the French Defense Minister and the Legion command, and the cooperation of the Legionnaires, who appear as themselves in various scenes, as well as various Legion forts throughout Morocco.
Episode One: Captain Gallant looks into the murder of three Legionnaires at an oasis and uncovers a gang of arms smugglers--seeking out a double agent within their ranks, he is tricked by a woman imposter and imprisoned, but he manages to escape with Fuzzy's help and they begin tracking the killers. (Best Scene: An informant takes Gallant to the local morgue, and goes from slab-to-slab lifting the sheets looking for someone he knows).
Episode Two: A Legion patrol under attack is rescued with the help of Gallant and Fuzzy, but then they must find out if the attackers were working under the orders of the supposedly friendly Sheik Achmed Ben-Asra. With the French District Commissioner in tow, they sneak into his fortress in disguise, but are captured and threatened with torture if they don't cooperate by telling what they know. The Legion attacks under a pre-arranged plan, but Gallant discovers that the path they're using is mined, and makes a last ditch effort to save his comrades.
IVANHOE--Volume One
(approx 60 min)
This series, adapted from the writings of Sir Walter Scott, starred a young pre-MAVERICK Roger Moore in the title role as Sir Wilfrid of Ivanhoe, son of Sir Cedric of Rotherwood. Set during the reign of King Richard I (aka Richard the Lionhearted). The Crusades have ended in disaster for the English king, who is believed dead--were that the case, Richard's brother, the ambitious and malevolent Prince John (Andrew Keir) would become king, and strip the people of their rights and their land.
Ivanhoe and his companions Bart (Andrew Pike) and Gurth (Robert Brown--no, not the star of HERE COMES THE BRIDES, but an older British actor), ex-slaves that he freed from bondage to the sadistic and treacherous Sir Maurice of Melensford (Anthony Dawson--of DIAL M FOR MURDER and DR. NO). The running plot of this series mostly concerns Prince John's various efforts to claim the British Crown and Ivanhoe's counter-moves, and his attempts to secure justice for the populace despite John's illicit rule. What makes this show hold up well, apart from lots of action, is the sheer amount of plot piled into each half-hour (check out episode two of Volume One).
Episode One: Sir Gilbert is to announce to a gathering of nobles that King Richard is dead, and produce a false witness to his death, in order to get them to declare Prince John as king. But Sir Rufus of Salisbury, who has fought alongside Richard, arrives unexpectedly to reveal that Richard has been taken prisoner in Europe. Gilbert captures Rufus just as he tells the story to Ivanhoe, and plans to kill him before he can tell the world his news.
But Ivanhoe frees Rufus and gets him to a nearby Abbey, where he is put under holy sanctuary. Rufus makes his way to Hull and a waiting ship under the protection of the Church, but he is attacked by assassins sent by Gilbert, and Ivanhoe must take up the fight on his behalf.
Episode Two: Now that it is known that King Richard is being held captive in Europe, Ivanhoe must openly declare his loyalty to the king, but Prince John has other ideas--he has Ivanhoe brought to Sir Maurice of Melensford, who tries to persuade him to be a little less enthusiastic in his rejection of John.
Failing that, Maurice tries to kill Ivanhoe during a contest for the freedom of two slaves, but the knight survives and escapes with his two new friends. Ivanhoe returns to his father's castle, only to find that he has been disowned because of his decision to join Richard in the Crusades.
He goes to join his father at Prince John's castle, only to find that Sir Cedric and his ward the Lady Rowena have been taken prisoner by Maurice to break the resistance to John's rule. But Ivanhoe intervenes with five men against Maurice's 20 and frees his father and the other captives.
KIT CARSON and THE HAWK
(approx 55 min)
KIT CARSON--"Highway To Doom" starring Bill Williams (father of GREATEST AMERICAN HERO William Katt, and husband of PERRY MASON's Barbara Hale) and Don Diamond (much better known as Crazy Cat on F-TROOP) as his sidekick EL TORO, was one of the earlier syndicated western series to appear in the wake of HOPALONG CASSIDY, THE ROY ROGERS SHOW, and THE GENE AUTRY SHOW.
Directed by Richard Irving and Alfred Hitchcock alumnus Norman Lloyd, the show covered Carson's western adventures amid the opening of the frontier. In this episode, Carson and El Toro investigate a series of stage hold-ups and their tie-in with the acts of violence committed against the owner (Doris Merrick) of a local newspaper. Denver Pyle co-stars, and Hank Patterson (Mr. Ziffle from GREEN ACRES) appears in the opening and closing sequences, hawking Coca Cola, the show's sponsor. KIT CARSON is doubly interesting for the blatant plugging of Coca Cola, which is featured prominently on-screen being hawked by the cast and crew.
THE HAWK - Richard Coogan (CAPTAIN VIDEO, LOVE OF LIFE, THE CALIFORNIANS) plays Hawk Landry, a special agent for the Secretary of War, who rides the western frontier tracking down outlaws. In this first episode, Landry is busted out of the army to establish his cover as a disgraced ex-cavalryman, joined in his travels his friends, former Indian scouts Elko (Armand Alzamora) and Honda (John Duke).
Landry immediately goes after a band of gunrunners selling Henry repeating rifles to the Cheyenne Indians--he stages a fight with a trio of the toughest cavalrymen in the territory and manages to gain the confidence of ring members Luke Trasher (Claude Akins) and Roy Storm (John Day), and comes up with a way of side-tracking the guns and getting the Indians to lead him to the man behind the guns. The action is fast and furious, and the plotting is clever in this series which, in many respects, anticipates the Chuck Connors series BRANDED.
THE OVERLAND TRAIL: "The Baron's Castle"
(approx 60 min)
William Bendix and a pre-Virginian/pre-Checkmate Doug McClure starred in this entertaining and intelligent western series that ran from February thru September 1960. Bendix plays Fred Kelly, the superintendant and owner of the Overland Stage Company, and McClure plays "Flip" Flippen, his helpful but occasionally slow-on-the-uptake head driver.
"The Baron's Castle" (directed by Tay Garnett and produced by Samuel A. Peeples, of Star Trek renown) is a sort of sequel to the Vincent Price movie "The Baron of Arizona," with Gerald Mohr playing mysterious stranger Jack Morton, who rescues Kelly and Flippen from an ambush by two bandits and works his way into their confidence--he turns out to be James Addison Revus, the so-called "Baron of Arizona," who tried to use a fake Spanish land claim to set up his own country.
Revus swindles homesteader Denver Pyle and his daughter Lucy Marlow out of their money, and ends up pursued by Kelly and Flippen, who suddenly find themselves facing the wrong end of a rope in an outlaw-run town ready to follow Revus.
RAMAR OF THE JUNGLE
(approx. 60 min.)
Swimming star Jon Hall brought his athletic abilities to TV on October 7, 1952, in Good 'n Plenty's show which followed the adventures of Dr. Reynolds, known among the natives as "Ramar" ("White Witch Doctor"), who had long known jungle ways since his parents had died of fever when he was a child. The show deals with the period when he returns to the jungle to share his scientific knowledge with the natives.
Each week, Reynolds would travel through either darkest Africa or exotic India, fighting off evil-doers and primitive superstition along the way. Aided by Professor Ogden (played by Ray Montgomery) and his native boy Sahib (played by Mm'liss McClure), "Ramar" also did good deeds and wrestled animals.
REBEL & ANNIE OAKLEY
(approx 60 min)
THE REBEL - Nick Adams stars in this groundbreaking western series of the early 1960's as Johnny Yuma, a former Confederate soldier who goes west after the War Between the States, looking to make a new life for himself but always ready to stand up for a cause he believes in.
In this episode, Johnny Yuma finds the remains of a wagon after an Indian raid and one survivor, a young Mexican woman (Gigi Perreau) of good family who was on her way to her wedding--after overcoming her fear of travelling unescorted with a man she hardly knows. Johnny brings her to the bridegroom's ranch in Mexico, fighting off a trio of armed bandits in the bargain--but when she falls in love with Johnny, her would-be husband does his best to bait him into fighting a duel. Country music star Johnny Cash sang the title theme of the show, which remains one of the most popular western series ever, and served as the inspiration for Branded, among other programs that followed.
ANNIE OAKLEY: "THE GRUBSTAKE BANK." Gail Davis--whom Gene Autry once called "the perfect western actress"--plays Annie Oakley, a rancher outside the town of Diablo who works for law and order. In this episode, Annie tries to help prospector Scissorbill Childers (Raymond Hatton) protect his gold strike from a band of outlaws (including Slim Pickens as a gunman) and an overly curious Eastern reporter. But when Scissorbill is shot on the trail, it looks like his gold strike and his dream of establishing a bank to lend other prospectors money may disappear. Brad Johnson co-stars as deputy sheriff Lofty Craig.
ROY ROGERS & BUFFALO BILL JR.
(approx 60 min.) Revised Edition
We wanted to give you a great hour of classic Western thrills, so we matched an episode of ROY ROGERS with a BUFFALO BILL JR. show. Originally aired on March 26, 1955 and sponsored by Mars/Milky Way, the show featured Dick Jones as Buffalo Bill himself, Nancy Gilbert as his younger sister Calamity, and Henry Cheshire as Judge Ben Wiley.
SHENANIGANS and SPACE PATROL
(approx 60 min)
SHENANIGANS - Stubby Kaye hosts this classic Saturday morning kids game show sponsored by Milton Bradley, and featuring challenges and hazards like the Pie In the Eye, the Sword of Damocles, and the Dog House. The games and toys featured and plugged by Kaye and company include Milton Bradley's Kookie Chicks, Pow! and Wow!, Time Bomb, Tussle, and the Shenanigans home game. Also includes plugs and advertisements for Westclox clocks, an archery set, Compton's Encyclopedia, Seven-Up, Carnation Ice Cream, Chunky candy bars, Beatles Hohner harmonicas and the Hohner console organ, Schwin bicycles, and various RCA Victor electronic products.
SPACE PATROL - Commander Buzz Corey (Edward Kemmer) and Cadet Happy (Lyn Osborn) investigate the disappearance of Dr. Lambert (serial actor I. Stanford Jolley) in the Karnakan ruins on Mars, and discover a group of men from New Karnaka, who are trying to recover their ancestors' lost treasure. The Karnakans, led by Sollum (veteran movie and T.V heavy Ben Welden), turn out to be thieves trying to steal the treasure, who imprison Corey and Happy, and try to torture Dr. Lambert into revealing the location of the treasure.
The opening credits of this episode (which carries the syndicated television title SATELLITE POLICE) include shots of a Jupiter-C rocket at launch, and the show's music includes material best known from the creepy background score of the first black-and-white season of The Adventures of Superman.
SKY KING/YANCY DERRINGER
(approx 60 min)
SKY KING - One of the most fondly remembered adventure shows of the 1950's (and made by the same team responsible for The Lone Ranger), SKY KING--all about rancher Sky King (Kirby Grant) and his twin engine Cesna "The Songbird"--holds up remarkably well. In "The Porcelein Lion," a wealthy art dealer arranges for a pilot to fake the crash of his plane, in order to steal a valuable art object, and murders the pilot.
But Sky King's niece Penny (Gloria Winters) and his nephew Clipper (Ron Hagerty) find the wreck and the body, and King and the Sheriff (Bert Freed) suspect foul play. Sky King tries to crack the case by posing as a would-be buyer, but Clipper ends up being held at gunpoint by the thieves as they make their getaway.
YANCY DERRINGER - Jock Mahoney stars as a playboy with a strong sense of justice in post-Civil War New Orleans. This was one of the finest half-hour action series of the 1950's. This episode concerns an attempt by a pair of investors (Robert Lowery, John Stephenson) to buy up the shops adjoining the waterfront--but each store owner turns up dead after selling out, their money gone.
Derringer takes this personally when one of his best friends becomes a target of the pair. The action is nicely paced in this series, with excellent performances all around, including Kevin Hagen as city administrator John Colton and, best of all, X Brands as Derringer's silent Native American companion Pahoo Ka-Ta-Wah. SKY KING comes complete with the show's original opening and closing plugs for Nabisco ("Reach For Nabisco").
SKY KING & BROKEN ARROW
(approx 60 min)
SKY KING - In this episode, from the later run of the series (after Lone Ranger producer George W. Trendle relinquished his control of the series), rancher King is forced to hire a pair of bounty hunters to kill the coyotes that have been killing his stock. But the two hunters in their small plane are doing precious little time hunting coyotes and a lot more flying south of the border.
King and his niece Penny set a trap with the sheriff, and plan to follow them in King's twin-engine Cesna 310B, but they get captured instead and end up being taken as prisoners into Mexico, to the ranch of the mysterious man behind those midnight flights (played by Edward D. Wood Jr. alumnus George Becwar (Bride of the Monster).
BROKEN ARROW - Based on the movie starring James Stewart and Jeff Chandler, with John Lupton in the part of Indian Agent Tom Jeffords and Michael Ansara as the Apache chief Cochise, was one of the better westerns of the late 1950's. In "Powder Keg," former army officer Jim Perry--who made his name with a bloody raid on the Apaches--returns to Tucson, Arizona 25 years later as an appointed official to investigate the handling of Indian affairs in the territory, and an Apache tribesman is suspected of planning to kill Perry. When he is shot, the Indian is hunted by the law while Jeffords tries to prove his innocence. SKY KING comes with the original opening and closing Nabisco plugs, including the country-and-western-style jingle "Reach For Nabisco."
M-SQUAD & SKY KING
(approx 60 min)
M-SQUAD: "THE HUMAN BOND." Starring Lee Marvin as Lt. Frank Ballinger of the Chicago Police Department, M-SQUAD was one of the first hit adult series to go directly into syndication, without any network run, and helped revolutionize off-network television in the process back in 1959. In this episode, Ballinger and his chief, Capt. Gray (John Newlan) try to find out who put up the $80,000 bail for Ed Carty.
They discover that bail-bondsman Arthur Michaels put up the money himself, because Carty's men are holding Michaels' son Paul hostage--Ballinger must get to Carty before he decides that keeping Michaels alive is riskier than killing him. The search takes him to the piers, and a boat chase and gun battle as Carty tries to make it into Canada.
The Count Basie theme music and the Benny Carter background score, coupled with some incredible location shots around Chicago, make M-SQUAD hum much better than any plot description could ever convey, and Lee Marvin is so imposing as Ballinger--who exudes the potential for violence in his every move--that M-SQUAD ends up as one of the most memorable cop shows in history. With guest star Carolyn Craig (THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL), and produced by Maxwell Shane (director of the classic juvenile delinquency/film noir CITY ACROSS THE RIVER).
SKY KING - Sky King and his niece Penny (Gloria Winters) investigate a signal from a supposedly deserted town and find wanted man Paul Fallon (Myron Healy), who has forced Dr. Sommers (I. Stanford Jolley) to perform plastic surgery on him. Fallon holds them at gunpoint, nervously awaiting the arrival of his gang and unsure whether they're plan on killing him for his money. As a dodge, he bandages King's face and uses him as a decoy, and then a pitched three way battle breaks out with Penny, the doctor, and King caught in the middle.
STEVE CANYON and SPACE PATROL
(approx 55 min)
STEVE CANYON - Milton Caniff's jet-age comic strip hero came to television for NBC's 1958-59 season, and is represented here by a real jewel of an episode, directed by Lamont Johnson, the man behind such superb thrillers as THE GROUNDSTAR CONSPIRACY and ESCAPE FROM IRAN in the 1970's and 1980's, and boasts a near-all-star guest cast.
Colonel Steve Canyon (Dean Fredericks, remembered in sci-fi circles for THE PHANTOM PLANET) and his co-pilot Major Willie Williston (Jerry Paris, pre-Dick Van Dyke Show and Mork & Mindy) are flying to Big Thunder Air Force Base when they are waylaid by a trio of stowaways (Gavin McLeod, Jack Weston, Vito Scotti) who are planning to rob the bank at Penrose Air Force Base. Faking engine trouble, they land at Penrose and McLeod and Scotti impersonate Canyon and Williston, while Weston holds the real pilots on the plane, and explains that neither of them will survive to tell what really happened. Canyon and Williston, bound and gagged in the back of their plane with an armed man as guard, have only 30 minutes to halt the thieves and save their own lives.
SPACE PATROL - The legendary sci-fi series of the 1950's, which ran from 1950-55 on ABC, returns with an episode featuring veteran character actor George Chandler (Lassie, Abbott & Costello, Superman etc.--Chandler was also Ronald Reagan's successor as president of the Screen Actors' Guild in the early 1960's) as a scientist threatened by a mysterious bomber trying to kill him for an unknown reason. Commander Buzz Corey of Space Patrol steps in, with help from his assistant, Cadet Happy (Lyn Osborn) and Carol (Virginia Hewitt), daughter of the Secretary General of the United Planets, and finds the culprit is a good deal closer to the victim than anyone could have guessed.
TERRY AND THE PIRATES Volume 1
(approx 60 min)
Milton Caniff's long-running comic book hero came to television in this 1952 syndicated series starring John Baer as former U.S. Air Force Colonel Terry Lee and William Tracy as his sidekick, co-pilot Hotshot Charlie (aka Charles C. Charles), ex-members of the Far East Fighter Command who now fly for Air Cathay, a passenger and cargo transport service owned by the slightly larcenous Chopstick Joe (Jack Reitzen). In the first episode, veteran character actor Frank Jenks (Oscar Shapely from IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT) plays Red Irish, an ex-buddy of
Terry's who is convinced he's found a way to manufacture perfect diamonds. This leads to several murder attempts and a kidnapping before the heroes manage to get the upper hand. In episode two, Chopstick Joe sends Hotshot on a special flight with a load of Japanese gold bullion, but the plane is hijacked by a pair of armed stowaways, and Terry has to follow the shipment to the only logical place it could have been taken--Macao ("six square miles of iniquity"), where there is no limit to the price of gold. And once there, Terry finds himself up to his neck in intrigue, at a suspicious entertainment establishment run by the mysterious Madame Roulette, where his incredibly well-proportioned blonde ladyfriend Burma (Sandra Spence) is singing.
T.V. AWARD SHOWS
(approx 50 min)
The first "TV GUIDE AWARD SHOW OF 1960" is a campy look into the effect television's first full decade has had on a typical American community, acted and hosted by Robert Young (stepping in and out of his "Father Knows Best" character), Fred MacMurry, Joe Besser of the Three Stooges, and Nanette Fabray, directed by Bud Yorkin and written by Norman Lear. Montage scenes include clips from the top shows of the era, and Chrysler commercials are also featured. Music is provided by David Rose and his Orchestra. Quality of the print is good, not great, but the show is historically important.
The second show is of fair to poor quality, but again historically fascinating: The Look magazine awards for the best TV shows of 1953, hosted by Paul Winchell. Meet up with Ed Sullivan and his production staff on Toast of the Town, Miss Francis of Ding Dong School. Jack Webb is presented with the best director award for his show Dragnet by legendary director George Stevens, and Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca receive the award for best comedy team, for their work on Your Show of Shows.
WHIRLYBIRDS
(approx 30 min)
This 1957 syndicated series, starring Kenneth Tobey and Craig Hill, a pair of chopper pilots working for Whirlybird Air Service, owned by Mr. Carver (Raymond Bailey) and based at Longwood Field. In this episode, the two pilots are flying into trouble fast, in the form of an electrical storm, when they take on a mission to get a portable iron lung to a remote village where a boy has been injured in a rockslide. They make it through, but with only 20 minutes of fuel remaining, and then the power fails, threatening the boy's life once again, and they have to get to the repairman and get him to the break in the lines.
Meanwhile, a cynical reporter (Claude Akins) listening to the action from the company headquarters starts to believe that the whole rescue mission is a fake, trumped up to get some free publicity. Veteran Republic Pictures stuntman David Sharpe plays the lineman, and Sandra Spence (TERRY AND THE PIRATES) plays Janet Carver, the daughter of the Whirlybird company owner.
CHEYENNE: "Johnny Brassbuttons"
(approx 60 min)
starring Clint Walker, Tony Young, Michael Pate, Yale Summers
A 1957 episode, which includes original network commercials for Norelco shavers ("with floating heads and rotary blades"), Cheer detergent, and Lucky Strike cigarettes. Johnny Brassbuttons (Tony Young) is friend of Cheyenne Bodie (Clint Walker), and an Indian scout for the U.S. cavalry, assigned to guide an army-escorted wagon train led by a new lieutenant (Yale Summers) conducting two women to a distant town. Johnny's brother Chato (Michael Pate), jealous of Johnny's status in the army and his winning of the hand of White Bird in marriage, lures the lieutenant onto Apache land and into an ambush that kills everyone except Johnny and White Bird, who is carried off as a hostage.
The army court martials Johnny for dereliction of duty, but the friends of the two woman victims want him dead. Sentenced to 20 years in a federal prison, he escapes, and Cheyenne helps him prove his innocence, rescue White Bird, and stay ahead of the vengeful lawmen out to bring him in dead. Directed by George waGGner (THE WOLFMAN etc.) The show is good, but almost as enjoyable is the commercial featuring a group of cheerleaders jumping and singing around a laundry room about the virtues of Cheer detergent.
ADVENTURES IN PARADISE: "Somewhere South of Suba"
(approx 55 min)
starring Gardner McKay, Albert Salmi, Alexis Smith
ADVENTURES IN PARADISE (1959-62) was one of the most highly touted ABC series of its era, a creation of author James A. Michener (TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC, THE BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI etc.), who sold it to 20th Century-Fox and the network. Patterned vaguely after such adventure series as WAGON TRAIN, it told the story of the two-masted schooner the Tiki and her skipper/owner Adam Troy, played by the darkly handsome Gardner McKay, himself the great-grandson of a renowned 19th century sailing man.
Troy and the Tiki, and a cast of crewmen that changed somewhat during the three seasons sailed around the South Pacific, hauling cargo and transporting passengers that usually included some well-known older names from movies (Joan Blondell, Alexis Smith), up-and-coming stars (France Nuyen, Ina Balin, Pilar Seurat), or top-notch character actors (John Larch, Henry Silva, Albert Salmi), each with a special story. The series used four versions of the Tiki, including a fully operational miniature and a scaled down version for action involving the players, as well as the real ship, which McKay purchased after the series' run was over.
When businessman Lucky Lucas dies of heart failure, he leaves his company to charity, and leaves his partner Paul LeBlanc (Albert Salmi) the ownership of the Tai Kun, the third largest diamond in the world--if he can find it. The Tai Kun was lost on December 8, 1941 when Lucas's daughter flew out of the Phillipines in her cargo plane, not knowing that the diamond was hidden beneath the instrument panel, and the plane was later reported lost without a trace and presumed crashed.
LeBlanc hires the Tiki and its captain, Adam Troy (Gardner McKay), to try and trace the plane 19 years later--Troy does just that, and finds not only the wreck, but Lucas's daughter Loraine (Alexis Smith), alive all of those years and hiding a terrible secret about her father. LeBlanc shows up to try and find the diamond and bury the secret. This episode features a lot of Sea Hunt-style underwater action.
ADVENTURES IN PARADISE: "The Forbidden Sea"
starring Gardner McKay, Joan Blondell, John McGiver, Robert Douglas, and Henry Silva.
The Tiki is carrying a trio of passengers and a cargo when it runs into a typhoon. Soon after, they spot an outrigger canoe with two men aboard clinging to life. One of them, Raoul Marchette, keeps talking about a group of 37 Polynesians on a small, uncharted island who need help, and convinces Troy to divert course, much to the dsitress of his passengers. On the island, Troy and company provide supplies to the travellers, who are being led by Marchette to what he claims is a rich, green island 300 miles south. But once the Tiki is enroute, it recieves a radio message warning all ships to avoid a specific area of the ocean where a nuclear test is about to take place--the exact location Marchette and his people are headed. Troy turns back to warn them, only to learn that Marchette planned on bringing them to the test site, and using their presence--and their deaths, if necessary--as a protest to halt nuclear bomb tests.
ADVENTURES IN PARADISE: "Castaways"
(approx 55 min)
starring Gardner McKay, Viveca Lindfors, John Larch, George Mathews
The Tiki is on its way to the strife torn island of Mai Sai with a cargo of serum to fight a cholera epidemic when they pick up three men stranded on a tiny atoll, who claim to be survivors of a shipwreck. Captain Troy (Gardner McKay) forces the truth of them--they were part of a crew of gunrunners from a ship called the Punjab Trader, whose captain was murdered while enroute to Mai Sai. The first mate was sure that one of them did it and stranded all three before Troy picked them up. The trio, led by the second mate (John Larch), take over the Tiki, threatening to kill the nun (Viveca Lindfors) who is transporting the serum, and go after the Punjab Trader.
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