The Gene Autry Show

The Gene Autry Show

Title card
Also known as ''Melody Ranch''
Genre Western
Directed by George Archainbaud
D. Ross Lederman
Starring Gene Autry
Champion
Pat Buttram
Bob Woodward
Theme music composer Gene Autry
Ray Whitley
Opening theme "Back in the Saddle Again"
Ending theme Back in the Saddle Again
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 5
No. of episodes 91
Production
Running time 25 minutes
Production company(s) Flying 'A' Productions
Release
Original network CBS
Picture format Black-and-white
Audio format Monaural
Original release July 23, 1950 (1950-07-23) – August 7, 1956 (1956-08-07)
Chronology
Related shows The Adventures of Champion
Gene Autry's Melody Ranch
Buffalo Bill, Jr.

The Gene Autry Show is an American western/cowboy television series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23, 1950 until August 7, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley's Doublemint chewing gum.

Overview

Gene Autry

Series star Gene Autry had already established his singing cowboy character on radio and the movies. Now he and his horse Champion were featured in a weekly television series of western adventures. Gene's role changed almost weekly from rancher, to ranch hand, to sheriff, to border agent, etc. Gene's usual comic relief and sidekick, Pat, was played by Pat Buttram, better known to later television viewers as "Mr Haney" on "Green Acres". During the first season, Gene's sidekick was played by Chill Wills twice (as Chill) and by Fuzzy Knight four times (as Sagebrush). These two actors even wore Pat's costume. Alan Hale, Jr. (a.k.a. - "The Skipper" from "Gilligan's Island") played a bad guy in several episodes of Seasons 1 and 2, but he also played Gene's sidekick, Tiny, in two episodes of Season 1.

By this time, Autry had established his own production company, Flying 'A' Productions, and acted as executive director for the series.

The series lasted five seasons. The first four were in black and white, and the final season (thirteen episodes) was in color. Color was experimented with in two episodes of the first season. The theme song Back In the Saddle Again was written by Autry and Ray Whitley and sung by Autry.[1]

Among the guest stars, Nan Leslie and Mike Ragan were cast in different roles four times from 1950 to 1955. Both also appeared in many other western series during the 1950s.

Dick Jones was cast in ten episodes of The Gene Autry Show and acted in two other Flying A Productions, The Range Rider and Buffalo Bill, Jr..[2]

Spin-off

The Gene Autry Show had a 26-episode prime-time spin-off called The Adventures of Champion in 1955-1956.

Ewing Mitchell appeared seven times on The Gene Autry Show and seven times as well on The Adventures of Champion in the latter as Sheriff Powers.

DVD Releases

Timeless Media Group has released all five seasons on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.[3][4][5][6] All episodes have been fully restored and are presented in uncut form.

On December 10, 2013, Timeless Media will release The Gene Autry Show- The Complete series.[7]

DVD Name Ep # Release Date
The Complete First Season 26 June 7, 2011
The Complete Second Season 26 November 22, 2011
The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons 26 April 10, 2012
The Complete Fifth Season 13 May 21, 2013
The Complete Series 91 December 10, 2013

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.