Wagon Train on Encore Western channel

[Tulsey, SASS#11236]

The Encore Western Channel started Monday running the old Wagon Train tv series on weekdays starting with episode one. They had a 24-hour marathon New Year's Day.

 

The episode Monday was interesting. It is the only one that Charley Wooster played by Frank McGrath is clean shaven and while I recognized the voice, the way he performed his lines were not the way I remember him from the later episodes I watched as a child. Ward Bond was of course the star and regulars Robert Horton, and Terry Wilson were there, but their parts were pretty small in the first episode. Ernest Borgnine and Andrew Duggan were guest stars. The theme music seemed bland and not what I remembered.

 

I did a little research and found the theme changed more than once. The show ran 8 seasons, 1957-1965, and moved from NBC to ABC during its run. The show was an hour long and in black and white except for the next to last year when it was 90 minutes long and in color.

 

Ward Bond died in 1960 at age 57 and Robert Horton left before the series ended. John McIntyre, Robert Fuller and Denny Miller joined Wilson and McGrath.

 

I guess what really surpised me in watching episode one Monday and several of the first year episodes on New Year's Day was the weaponry. The show was set just after the Civil War. The Colt Single Action Army was not to be found. Everyone with a revolver had a cap and ball. The holster belts had not belt loops. Of course when someone on horseback was chasing someone, there seemed like a whole lot more shots fired than were possible unless you were armed with Glocks and lots of extra magazines, but you never saw anyone reload a revolver.

 

Rifles used seemed like they tried to make it look right for the period. There were lots of single shot Springfield rifles and carbines, Not perfect, but a lot closer than shows that had calvary troops armed with Winchester 92s. The prop people must have supplied those Springfields with the easiest to find blanks they had because they were pretty weak. There were a few 92s present they were without forearms to make they look more like a Henry.

 

Interesting to look at.

[Col. Nathan C. Riddles, SASS # 7462]

Actually Tulsey WT ran all day New Years Day as a marathon. Had it on most of the day. Brought back a lot of childhood memories.