Cimarron Strip
Encyclopedia
Cimarron Strip is an American Western
television series
that aired on CBS
from September 1967 to March 1968. Starring Stuart Whitman
as Marshal Jim Crown, the series was produced by the creators of Gunsmoke
. The show had a brief return of sorts when reruns of the original show were aired in the summer of 1971.
Cimarron Strip was one of only three 90 minute weekly Western series that aired during the 1960s (the others being The Virginian
and, for one season, Wagon Train
), and the only 90 minute series of any kind to be centered primarily around one lead character. Cimarron Strip was set in the Oklahoma Panhandle
, which comprises, east to west, Beaver
, Texas
, and Cimarron
counties. The show is set in 1888, just as the continuous frontier of the West, which once ran from the Canadian to the Mexican border, was closing. In less than five years there would no longer be that "continuous frontier," only pockets of undeveloped land. This was the late "Wild West" which Marshall Jim Crown was called to defend.
Jim Crown (Stuart Whitman
), having led a rather wild life and cleaned up Abilene was assigned to Cimarron (one of the towns in the Cimarron Strip), the outlet had been leased and controlled by cattlemen, but the local farmers were expecting authorities in Washington to send news that they would be given rights to the land, for which they had been campaigning. Crown arrives to find that the sheriff has resigned, leaving Crown on his own to settle the increasing unrest caused by the news he brings - the cattlemen's leases have been revoked and a final decision on the land is postponed indefinitely. With no sheriff and no support from Army troops, Crown is on his own to keep law and order in this borderland between the Kansas Territory
and Indian Territory.
Dulcey Coopersmith (Jill Townsend
), born in England in 1869, arrives in Cimarron City on the same train as Marshal Crown, two months after her mother's death in Providence. Dulcey worked as an upstairs maid and travelled to Cimarron to be with her father she had not seen since the age of five, only to discover he had been killed by a beer wagon.
Her father's partner was MacGregor (Percy Herbert
), a Scotsman, who had let the Wayfarer's Inn fall into disrepair. He was a retired Colonel
in Her Majesty's (Queen Victoria) forces.
Another friend of Dulcey's father was Francis Wilde (Randy Boone
), born in St. Louis and trying to make his way in the world as a reporter and photographer.
was executive producer. The series was produced in association with The Stuart Whitman Organisation (Stuart Whitman, Inc. on later episodes).
Set in Oklahoma, the series was shot at CBS Studio Center
in Studio City
. Other shooting locations included the Alabama Hills
near Lone Pine, California
; Bishop, California
; Kanab, Utah
; and Tucson, Arizona
.
Unlike with the producers' other series, Gunsmoke
, critics routinely singled out the comparatively weak supporting cast.
The series theme and pilot incidental music was written by Maurice Jarre
, who also scored Lawrence of Arabia
and Doctor Zhivago
, among many others.
The actual running time of each 90-minute episode, less the commercials, was 72 minutes. With 23 episodes filmed, 27.6 hours of Cimarron Strip exists.
Supporting cast member Randy Boone
was related to pioneer Daniel Boone
, a nephew of series guest star Richard Boone
, and also closely related to singers Pat Boone
and Debby Boone
.
The Flying Nun
, Batman
and Bewitched
, and NBC
's Daniel Boone
and Ironside
. Due to low ratings coupled with high production costs, the series was canceled after just one season.
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
that aired on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
from September 1967 to March 1968. Starring Stuart Whitman
Stuart Whitman
Stuart Maxwell Whitman is an American actor.Stuart Whitman is arguably best-known for playing Marshal Jim Crown in the western television series Cimarron Strip in 1967...
as Marshal Jim Crown, the series was produced by the creators of Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
. The show had a brief return of sorts when reruns of the original show were aired in the summer of 1971.
Cimarron Strip was one of only three 90 minute weekly Western series that aired during the 1960s (the others being The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
and, for one season, Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
), and the only 90 minute series of any kind to be centered primarily around one lead character. Cimarron Strip was set in the Oklahoma Panhandle
Oklahoma Panhandle
The Oklahoma Panhandle is the extreme western region of the state of Oklahoma, comprising Cimarron County, Texas County, and Beaver County. Its name comes from the similarity of shape to the handle of a cooking pan....
, which comprises, east to west, Beaver
Beaver County, Oklahoma
Beaver County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,636. The county seat is Beaver....
, Texas
Texas County, Oklahoma
Texas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Texas County was formed at Oklahoma statehood from the central one-third of "Old Beaver County" also known as "No Man's Land"...
, and Cimarron
Cimarron County, Oklahoma
Cimarron County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Throughout most of its history it has had the smallest population and the lowest population density of any county in Oklahoma. As of 2010 census, the population was 2,475...
counties. The show is set in 1888, just as the continuous frontier of the West, which once ran from the Canadian to the Mexican border, was closing. In less than five years there would no longer be that "continuous frontier," only pockets of undeveloped land. This was the late "Wild West" which Marshall Jim Crown was called to defend.
Plot outline
In the late 1880s, the Cherokee Outlet across the Cimarron River was the last free homestead land in America. Before U.S. MarshalUnited States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
Jim Crown (Stuart Whitman
Stuart Whitman
Stuart Maxwell Whitman is an American actor.Stuart Whitman is arguably best-known for playing Marshal Jim Crown in the western television series Cimarron Strip in 1967...
), having led a rather wild life and cleaned up Abilene was assigned to Cimarron (one of the towns in the Cimarron Strip), the outlet had been leased and controlled by cattlemen, but the local farmers were expecting authorities in Washington to send news that they would be given rights to the land, for which they had been campaigning. Crown arrives to find that the sheriff has resigned, leaving Crown on his own to settle the increasing unrest caused by the news he brings - the cattlemen's leases have been revoked and a final decision on the land is postponed indefinitely. With no sheriff and no support from Army troops, Crown is on his own to keep law and order in this borderland between the Kansas Territory
Kansas Territory
The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Kansas....
and Indian Territory.
Dulcey Coopersmith (Jill Townsend
Jill Townsend
Jill Townsend, born 25 January 1945 in Santa Monica, California, United States, is an actress best known for her roles as Elizabeth Warleggan in Poldark and Dulcey Coopersmith in the 1967 western television series Cimarron Strip...
), born in England in 1869, arrives in Cimarron City on the same train as Marshal Crown, two months after her mother's death in Providence. Dulcey worked as an upstairs maid and travelled to Cimarron to be with her father she had not seen since the age of five, only to discover he had been killed by a beer wagon.
Her father's partner was MacGregor (Percy Herbert
Percy Herbert (actor)
Percy Herbert was an English character actor who often played soldiers, most notably in The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Wild Geese and Tunes of Glory. However, he was equally at home in comedies and science fiction...
), a Scotsman, who had let the Wayfarer's Inn fall into disrepair. He was a retired Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
in Her Majesty's (Queen Victoria) forces.
Another friend of Dulcey's father was Francis Wilde (Randy Boone
Randy Boone
Clyde Wilson Randall Boone, Jr., known as Randy Boone , is a former actor who co-starred in two of the three 90-minute westerns telecast during the 1960s on the national television networks, NBC's The Virginian and CBS's Cimarron Strip...
), born in St. Louis and trying to make his way in the world as a reporter and photographer.
Regular cast
- Stuart WhitmanStuart WhitmanStuart Maxwell Whitman is an American actor.Stuart Whitman is arguably best-known for playing Marshal Jim Crown in the western television series Cimarron Strip in 1967...
as MarshalUnited States Marshals ServiceThe United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
Jim Crown - Jill TownsendJill TownsendJill Townsend, born 25 January 1945 in Santa Monica, California, United States, is an actress best known for her roles as Elizabeth Warleggan in Poldark and Dulcey Coopersmith in the 1967 western television series Cimarron Strip...
as Dulcey Coopersmith. - Percy HerbertPercy Herbert (actor)Percy Herbert was an English character actor who often played soldiers, most notably in The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Wild Geese and Tunes of Glory. However, he was equally at home in comedies and science fiction...
as MacGregor - Randy BooneRandy BooneClyde Wilson Randall Boone, Jr., known as Randy Boone , is a former actor who co-starred in two of the three 90-minute westerns telecast during the 1960s on the national television networks, NBC's The Virginian and CBS's Cimarron Strip...
as Francis Wilde
Recurring characters
- Karl SwensonKarl SwensonKarl Swenson was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor.-Biography:Born in Brooklyn, New York of Swedish parentage, Swenson made several appearances with Pierre-Luc Michaud on Broadway in the 1930s and 40s, including the title role in Arthur Miller's first production, The Man Who...
as Doctor Kihlgren - Jack Braddock as Fabrizio the bartender of the Wayfarers Inn
- Andrew DugganAndrew Duggan-Career:During World War II, Duggan was in the 40th Special Services Company, led by actor Melvyn Douglas in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. His contact with Douglas later led to his performing with Lucille Ball in the play Dreamgirl. He developed a friendship with Broadway...
as Maj. Ben Covington of the nearest Army fort
Production notes
Cimarron Strip was created (though he only received "developed by" credit) by Christopher Knopf, who also served as supervising producer. Philip LeacockPhilip Leacock
Philip David Charles Leacock was an English television and film director and producer. His brother was documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock.-Career:...
was executive producer. The series was produced in association with The Stuart Whitman Organisation (Stuart Whitman, Inc. on later episodes).
Set in Oklahoma, the series was shot at CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. It is located at 4024 Radford Avenue and takes up a triangular piece of land, with the Los Angeles River bisecting the site...
in Studio City
Studio City, Los Angeles, California
Studio City is an affluent residential neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California in the San Fernando Valley. Studio City expands over four ZIP code areas: 91604 and sections of 91602, 91607 and 90210....
. Other shooting locations included the Alabama Hills
Alabama Hills
Alabama Hills are a "range of hills" and rock formations near the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Owens Valley, west of Lone Pine in Inyo County, California....
near Lone Pine, California
Lone Pine, California
Lone Pine is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. Lone Pine is located south-southeast of Independence, at an elevation of 3727 feet . The population was 2,035 at the 2010 census, up from 1,655 at the 2000 census. The town is located in the Owens Valley, near the...
; Bishop, California
Bishop, California
Bishop is a city in Inyo County, California, United States. Though Bishop is the only city and the largest populated place in Inyo County, the county seat is Independence. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of 4147 feet . The population was 3,879 at the...
; Kanab, Utah
Kanab, Utah
Kanab is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Utah, United States. The area was first settled in 1864 and the town was founded in 1870 when ten Mormon families moved into the area. The population was 3,564 at the 2000 census...
; and Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
.
Unlike with the producers' other series, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, critics routinely singled out the comparatively weak supporting cast.
The series theme and pilot incidental music was written by Maurice Jarre
Maurice Jarre
Maurice-Alexis Jarre was a French composer and conductor.Although he composed several concert works, he is best known for his film scores, and is particularly known for his collaborations with film director David Lean. Jarre composed the scores to all of Lean's films since Lawrence of Arabia...
, who also scored Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia (film)
Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel through his British company, Horizon Pictures, with the screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely...
and Doctor Zhivago
Doctor Zhivago (1965 film)
Doctor Zhivago is a 1965 epic drama-romance-war film directed by David Lean and loosely based on the famous novel of the same name by Boris Pasternak...
, among many others.
The actual running time of each 90-minute episode, less the commercials, was 72 minutes. With 23 episodes filmed, 27.6 hours of Cimarron Strip exists.
Supporting cast member Randy Boone
Randy Boone
Clyde Wilson Randall Boone, Jr., known as Randy Boone , is a former actor who co-starred in two of the three 90-minute westerns telecast during the 1960s on the national television networks, NBC's The Virginian and CBS's Cimarron Strip...
was related to pioneer Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
, a nephew of series guest star Richard Boone
Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.-Early life:...
, and also closely related to singers Pat Boone
Pat Boone
Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...
and Debby Boone
Debby Boone
Deborah Anne Boone is an American singer and stage actress. She is best known for her 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life," which spent a then record ten weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and led to her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist the following year...
.
Cancellation
Cimarron Strip aired on Thursdays opposite ABC'sAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
The Flying Nun
The Flying Nun
The Flying Nun is an American sitcom produced by Screen Gems for ABC based on the 1965 book The Fifteenth Pelican, by Tere Rios, which starred Sally Field as Sister Bertrille...
, Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
and Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
, and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (TV series)
Daniel Boone is an American action/adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Native American friend, for the...
and Ironside
Ironside (TV series)
Ironside is a Universal television series which ran on NBC from September 14, 1967 to January 16, 1975. The show starred Raymond Burr as the wheelchair-using Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside. The character's debut was in a TV-movie on March 28, 1967. The original title of the show in the...
. Due to low ratings coupled with high production costs, the series was canceled after just one season.
Episode list
| Episode # | Prod # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | Music |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
External links
- Cimarron Strip website
- Cimarron Strip at The TV IVThe TV IVThe TV IV is a MediaWiki-powered website that was launched in July 2005 as a response to TV Tome becoming TV.com. It is in the top thirty wikis on the web in both size and views...