Stories of the Century is a Western

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 that ran in syndication through Republic Pictures

Republic Pictures

Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....

 between January 23, 1954, and March 11, 1955.

Synopsis

Jim Davis

Jim Davis (actor)

Jim Davis was an American actor, best known for his role as Jock Ewing in the CBS prime-time soap Dallas, a role which he held up until his death in April 1981.-Biography:...

  (who later played "Jock Ewing

Jock Ewing

John Ross Ewing, Sr., better known as Jock Ewing, is a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Jim Davis and Dale Midkiff in Dallas: The Early Years...

" on the television series Dallas

Dallas (TV series)

Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...

) portrayed the role of fictitious Southwestern Railroad detective

Detective

A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

 Matt Clark. Davis also did narration for each episode. Mary Castle

Mary Castle

Mary Ann Castle was an American actress of early film and television whose personal problems destroyed her once burgeoning career. Her best known role was as female detective Frankie Adams in the syndicated western series, Stories of the Century, which aired from 1954 to 1955.-Early years:Castle...

 co-starred in twenty-six episodes as Clark’s attractive assistant, Frankie Adams. Castle left the program and was replaced by Kristine Miller

Kristine Miller

Kristine Miller is an American actress who appeared in various supporting roles throughout the 1940s to the early 1960s.-Early life:...

 who appeared in fourteen episodes as Margaret Jones, or "Jonesy".

Production notes

In 1955, Stories of the Century became the first western to win an Emmy Award

Emmy Award

An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 in the then category of "Western or Adventure Series".

The series was the first television production of the defunct Republic Pictures, later CBS Paramount Television

CBS Paramount Television

CBS Television Studios is an American television production/distribution company that was formed on January 17, 2006 by CBS Corporation merging Paramount Television and CBS Productions...

, which then used the named Hollywood Television Service. The thirty-nine episodes were filmed at the Iverson Movie Ranch

Movie ranch

A movie ranch is a ranch that is at least partially dedicated to being used as a site for the creation and production of motion pictures, and television productions...

 in Chatsworth, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The series also filmed some scenes at Vasquez Rocks

Vasquez Rocks

Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park is a 905-acre northern Los Angeles County, California, USA park acquired by the Los Angeles County government in the 1970s...

. In later rebroadcasts, the program was entitled The Fast Guns. It was released in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 in 1962.

Historical episodes

Clark and his female associates traveled the American West weekly seeking to capture the most notorious badmen. Clark's appearances seemed contrived, as when he appears just at the time young Robert Ford

Robert Ford (outlaw)

Robert Newton "Bob" Ford was an American outlaw best known for killing his gang leader Jesse James in 1882. Ford was shot to death by Edward O'Kelley in his tent saloon with a shotgun blast to the front upper body...

 was assassinating Jesse James

Jesse James

Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...

. The stories have limited educational value because each episode follows the basic facts of history. The budget for the series was quite modest.

Though fictional, the black-and-white

Black-and-white

Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...

 program uses newspaper accounts and some records of the American West to enforce historical

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 accuracy. Various episodes focus on Clark and Adams or Jones seeking to capture notorious bad men, such as John Wesley Hardin

John Wesley Hardin

John Wesley Hardin was an American outlaw, gunfighter, and controversial folk hero of the Old West. He was born in Bonham, Texas. Hardin found himself in trouble with the law at an early age, and spent the majority of his life being pursued by both local lawmen and federal troops of the...

, Billy the Kid

Billy the Kid

William H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier...

, Sam Bass

Sam Bass

Sam Bass was a nineteenth-century American train robber and outlaw.-Early life:Bass was orphaned at the age of 10. For the next five years, he and his siblings lived with an abusive uncle. In 1869, he set out on his own and spent the next year in Mississippi...

, the Dalton Brothers, the Younger Brothers, and Johnny Ringo

Johnny Ringo

John Peters "Johnny" Ringo was an outlaw Cowboy of the American Old West who was affiliated with Ike Clanton and Frank Stilwell in Cochise County, Arizona Territory during 1881-1882.-Early life:...

, depicted as the outlaw Johnny Ringgold. Fess Parker

Fess Parker

Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. was an American film and television actor best known for his portrayals of Davy Crockett in the Walt Disney 1955-56 TV mini-series and as TV's Daniel Boone from 1964-70...

, Myron Healey

Myron Healey

Myron Daniel Healey was an American actor. He began his Hollywood, California, career during the early 1940s in bit parts and minor supporting roles at various studios.-Early years:...

, and Robert Bray

Robert Bray

Robert E. Bray was an American film and television actor probably best remembered for his role as the forest ranger Corey Stuart in the long-running CBS series Lassie.-Life and career:...

 appeared as the Dalton brothers, Grat Dalton, Bob Dalton, and Emmett Dalton

Emmett Dalton

Emmett Dalton was an American outlaw, train robber and member of the Dalton Gang in the American Old West. Part of the ill-fated Dalton raid on two banks in Coffeyville, Kansas, he survived despite receiving 23 gunshot wounds...

, respectively.

Other segments focus on Doc Holliday

Doc Holliday

John Henry "Doc" Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral...

, Tom Horn

Tom Horn

Thomas "Tom" Horn, Jr. was an American Old West lawman, scout, soldier, hired gunman, detective, outlaw and assassin. On the day before his 43rd birthday, he was hanged in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for the murder of Willie Nickell.-Early life:Born to Thomas S. Horn, Sr...

, Nate Champion

Nate Champion

Nathan "Nate" D. Champion was a key figure in the Johnson County War. Labeled falsely by the wealthy cattlemens association in Wyoming as a rustler, Champion was the first person murdered by a band of hit men hired by the cattlemen...

, Cherokee Bill, Clay Allison

Clay Allison

Clay Allison was a Texas cattle rancher and gunfighter. He is one of the best known historic figures of the American Old West.-Early life:...

, Black Jack Ketchum, Black Bart

Charles Bolles

Charles Earl Bowles , better known as Black Bart, was an English-born American Old West outlaw noted for his poetic messages left after two of his robberies. Also known as Charles Bolton, C.E...

, Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse was a Native American war leader of the Oglala Lakota. He took up arms against the U.S...

, the Wild Bunch

Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang or the Oklahombres, was a gang of outlaws based in the Indian Territory that terrorized Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Territory during the 1890s—robbing banks and stores, holding up trains, and killing lawmen. They were...

 of Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

, William Quantrill

William Quantrill

William Clarke Quantrill was a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War. After leading a Confederate bushwhacker unit along the Missouri-Kansas border in the early 1860s, which included the infamous raid and sacking of Lawrence, Kansas in 1863, Quantrill eventually ended up in...

, Geronimo

Geronimo

Geronimo was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States for their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars. Allegedly, "Geronimo" was the name given to him during a Mexican incident...

, Jesse James

Jesse James

Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...

, Frank James

Frank James

Alexander Franklin "Frank" James was a famous American outlaw. He was the older brother of outlaw Jesse James.-Childhood:...

, Billy the Kid

Billy the Kid

William H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier...

, Belle Starr

Belle Starr

Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr , better known as Belle Starr, was a notorious American outlaw.-Early life:...

, and Cattle Kate Watson.

Guest stars

Notable guest stars included Marie Windsor

Marie Windsor

Marie Windsor . Born as Emily Marie Bertelson in Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, Windsor was an actress known as "The Queen of the Bs" because she appeared in so many film noirs and B-movies like Cat-Women of the Moon...

 as Belle Starr; the series premiere; Richard Jaeckel

Richard Jaeckel

Richard Hanley Jaeckel was an American actor of film and television.-Life and career:Jaeckel was born in Long Beach, New York. A short, but tough guy, he played a variety of characters during his fifty years in movies & television and became one of Hollywood's best known character actors...

 as Billy the Kid; Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef was an American film actor who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes led to his being cast as a villain in scores of films such as High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Good The Bad and the Ugly.-Early life:Van Cleef was...

 as Jesse James, Tyler MacDuff

Tyler MacDuff

Tyler MacDuff, born Tyler Glenn Duff, Jr. , was an American actor, primarily on television westerns and dramas who was cast as Billy the Kid in The Boy from Oklahoma.-Biography:...

 as Jesse James's assassin, Bob Ford

Robert Ford (outlaw)

Robert Newton "Bob" Ford was an American outlaw best known for killing his gang leader Jesse James in 1882. Ford was shot to death by Edward O'Kelley in his tent saloon with a shotgun blast to the front upper body...

, Henry Brandon as Nate Champion, the first casualty of the Johnson County Range War in Wyoming, and Richard Webb

Richard Webb (actor)

Richard Webb was a film, television and radio actor. He was born in Bloomington, Illinois.He appeared in more than fifty films, including many westerns and films noir including Out of the Past , Night Has a Thousand Eyes , I Was a Communist for the FBI and Carson City...

 as John Wesley Hardin. Jean Parker

Jean Parker

-Career:Born as Lois Mae Green in Deer Lodge, Montana, she appeared in 70 movies from 1932 through 1966. She was discovered by Ida Koverman, secretary to MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer, after she saw a poster featuring Parker portraying Father Time. She attended Pasadena schools and graduated from John...

 appeared as Ella "Cattle Kate" Watson, and James Seay

James Seay

James Seay was an American character actor who often played minor supporting roles as government officials....

 portrayed her companion, the storekeeper James "Jim" Averell.

Don Haggerty

Don Haggerty

Don Haggerty was an American film actor appearing in films in the 1940s and 1950s. Before entering films in 1947, Haggerty was a Brown University athlete and served in the US military...

 played the bandit Sam Bass; however, Haggerty was forty when he donned the role of Bass, but the real Bass was gunned down in Round Rock

Round Rock, Texas

Round Rock is a city in Travis and Williamson counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the metropolitan area. The 2010 census places the population at 99,887....

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, at the age of twenty-seven. Denver Pyle

Denver Pyle

Denver Dell Pyle was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing Uncle Jesse in The Dukes of Hazzard .-Early life:...

 played Bass henchman Bill Hayes. Brad Johnson appeared in a small part as a deputy on a train in the episode "Cherokee Bill" on February 1, 1955, while was also appearing as deputy sheriff Lofty Craig on Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley (TV series)

Annie Oakley is an American Western television series which fictionalized the life of famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley. It ran from January 1954 to February 1957 in syndication. ABC showed reruns on Saturday and Sunday daytime from 1959–1960 and from 1964-1965...

.

Other guests: Chief Yowlachie

Chief Yowlachie

Chief Yowlachie was a Native American actor from the Yakama tribe in the state of Washington, known for playing supporting roles and bit parts in numerous films....

 as Geronimo; Richard Webb

Richard Webb (actor)

Richard Webb was a film, television and radio actor. He was born in Bloomington, Illinois.He appeared in more than fifty films, including many westerns and films noir including Out of the Past , Night Has a Thousand Eyes , I Was a Communist for the FBI and Carson City...

  as John Wesley Hardin; Kim Spalding

Kim Spalding

Kim Spalding was an American actor who appeared on television and in film between 1950 and 1961.Spalding's first role was as an uncredited clerk in the 1950 film The Gunfighter, starring Gregory Peck as Jimmy Ringo. From 1950-1953, Spalding appeared in different roles in the western television...

 as Doc Holliday, the frontier dentist

Dentist

A dentist, also known as a 'dental surgeon', is a doctor that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. The dentist's supporting team aides in providing oral health services...

 and gunfighter; Sheb Wooley

Sheb Wooley

Shelby F. "Sheb" Wooley was a character actor and singer, best known for his 1958 novelty song "Purple People Eater"...

, as Jim Younger

Jim Younger

James Hardin "Jim" Younger was a notable American outlaw and member of the James-Younger gang. He was the brother of Cole, John and Bob Younger-Life:...

; Rick Jason

Rick Jason

Rick Jason , born Richard Jacobson, was an American actor, born in New York City, and most remembered for his role as 2nd Lt. Gil Hanley in the ABC television drama Combat! .-Biography:...

 as Joaquin Murietta, and Anthony Caruso

Anthony Caruso (actor)

Anthony Caruso was an American character actor in over 100 American films, usually playing villains, including the First Season of Walt Disney's Zorro as Don Juan Ortega...

 as California bandit Tiburcio Vasquez

Tiburcio Vasquez

Tiburcio Vásquez was a Californio bandit who was active in California from 1854 to 1874. The Vasquez Rocks, 40 miles north of Los Angeles, were one of his many hideouts and are named for him.-Early life:...

. Glenn Strange

Glenn Strange

Glenn Strange was an American actor who appeared mostly in Western films. He is best known for playing the Frankenstein Monster in three Universal films during the 1940s and for his role as Sam Noonan, the bartender on CBS's Gunsmoke television series...

 portrayed Sheriff Billy Rowland; John Dehner

John Dehner

John Dehner was an American actor in radio, television, and films, playing countless roles, often as a droll villain. Between 1941 and 1988, he appeared in over 260 films and television programs. Prior to acting, Dehner had worked as an animator at Walt Disney Studios, and later became a radio...

 appeared as Sheriff Henry Plummer

Henry Plummer

Henry Plummer served as sheriff of what became Bannack, Montana, from May 24, 1863 until January 10, 1864, when he was hanged without legal system trial by the controversial Montana Vigilantes. [Notes of historical clarification: the original Idaho Territory, declared July 4, 1863 at Lewiston,...

; Douglas Kennedy

Douglas Kennedy (actor)

Douglas Richards Kennedy was an American supporting actor who appeared in over 190 films between 1935 and 1973. He was born in New York City.-Career:...

 starred as gunfighter William P. Longley

William P. Longley

William Preston Longley , also known as Wild Bill Longley, was an American Old West outlaw and gunfighter noted for his ruthless nature, speed with a gun, quick temper, and unpredictable demeanour...

, Jack Elam

Jack Elam

William Scott "Jack" Elam was an American film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies .-Early life:...

 portrayed the role of Black Jack Ketchum, and I. Stanford Jolley

I. Stanford Jolley

Isaac Stanford Jolley, Sr., known as I. Stanford Jolley was a prolific American character actor of film and television, primarily in western roles as cowboys, law-enforcement officers, or villains...

 played Sheriff Bascome in the episode "Black Bart

Black Bart

Black Bart may refer to:*Black Bart , notorious American Old West outlaw* Bartholomew Roberts , Welsh pirate in the late 17th and early 18th centuries* Black Bart , a musical theater group...

", with Arthur Space

Arthur Space

Charles Arthur Space was an American film, television and stage actor. He was best known as Doc Weaver in the long running television series, Lassie.-Career:...

 in the title role.

Gloria Winters

Gloria Winters

Gloria Winters was an actress most remembered for having portrayed the well-mannered niece, Penny King, in the 1950s-1960s American television series Sky King.-Early life and career:Gloria Winters grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, but later moved to Hollywood...

 appeared as Little Britches in the episode of the same name; James Best

James Best

James Best is an American actor best known for his role as bumbling Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the CBS television series The Dukes of Hazzard. He has also worked as an acting coach, artist, and musician.-Early years:...

 co-starred with Winters as Dave Ridley. Other guest stars on Stories of the Century included Jack Kelly

Jack Kelly (actor)

Jack Kelly was an American film and television actor most noted for the role of "Bart Maverick" in the TV series Maverick, which ran on ABC from 1957 to 1962...

 who portrayed Clay Allison. John Smith

John Smith (actor)

John Smith was an American actor remembered in particular for two NBC western television series.-Early life and career:He was born Robert Errol Van Orden, in Los Angeles, California...

  as Sontag, and Paul Picerni

Paul Picerni

-Life and career:Picerni was born in New York City, New York. He was an Eagle Scout who joined the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, where he served as a B-24 Liberator bombardier in the China-Burma-India Theater. He flew 25 combat missions with the 493rd Bomb Squadron of the 7th...

 as Rube Burrows.

Gregg Palmer

Gregg Palmer

Gregg Palmer, originally Palmer Lee is an American actor, known primarily for his prolific work in television westerns...

, a prolific western actor mostly unknown by name, appeared in the penultimate episode as Joseph A. "Jack" Slade of Julesburg

Julesburg, Colorado

The historic town of Julesburg is a statutory town that is the county seat of Sedgwick County, Colorado, United States. The town is located on the north side of the South Platte River. The population was 1,467 at the U.S. Census 2000...

, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, who killed and mutilated the horse thief, Jules Beni. In the final segment, John Archer

John Archer (actor)

John Archer was an American movie and television actor.-Biography:Born Ralph Bowman in Osceola, Nebraska, Archer moved to California at the age of five...

 appeared as L.H. Musgrove

L.H. Musgrove

L. H. Musgrove was an outlaw of the American West who was sprung from jail in Denver, Colorado, and hanged by a vigilante mob. Over a number of years, he had been was charged with several murders and the theft of horses....

, who steals a herd of horses from a railroad stockyard. Matt Clark tracks the stolen herd, while Jonesy investigates a murder at the railroad telegraph office. The detectives soon suspect that both matters are related. In 1868, Musgrove was sprung from jail and lynched by a vigilante

Vigilante

A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....

 mob in Denver

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

, Colorado.