Tales of Wells Fargo

Tales of Wells Fargo
Dale Robertson as Jim Hardie, 1958.
Genre	Western
Created by	James Brooks Frank Gruber Gene Reynolds
Directed by	Earl Bellamy William F. Claxton Lewis R. Foster Jerry Hopper Leslie H. Martinson Gene Reynolds Sidney Salkow R.G. Springsteen George Waggner William Witney
Starring	Dale Robertson William Demarest Virginia Christine Jack Ging
Theme music composer	Mort Greene Harry Warren Stanley Wilson
Composer(s)	Paul Dunlap Michael Greene Melvyn Lenard Morton Stevens Harry Sukman John Williams
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	200
Production
Producer(s)	Nat Holt Earle Lyon
Running time	30 mins, (1957-1961) 60 mins. (1961-1962)
Production company(s)	Overland Productions Revue Studios
Distributor	NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	Black-and-white (1957-61) Color (1961-62)
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	March 18, 1957 – June 2, 1962

Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series starring Dale Robertson that ran from 1957 to 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.

Synopsis

Set in the 1870s and 1880s, the series starred the Oklahoma native Dale Robertson as special agent Jim Hardie, noted at the time as "the left-handed gun". The series development was influenced by the biography of Wells Fargo detective Fred J. Dodge. The concept of Tales of Wells Fargo, a company troubleshooter in the American West, was also adapted by the syndicated series Pony Express, co-starring Grant Sullivan as detective Brett Clark, which aired in the 1959-1960 season, nearly coinciding with the centennial of the Pony Express. Even earlier, from 1954 to 1955, Jim Davis had starred as a railroad investigator, Matt Clark, in the syndicated Stories of the Century. Davis and Robertson, both of whom had unusual but similar-sounding speaking voices, each did the narration for their respective series.

In the 1957 Christmas episode entitled "Laredo", Jim Hardie must track gunrunners across the United States/Mexican border in Laredo, Texas, a quest which keeps him from spending the holiday with friends as he had intended. Guest stars include Henry Rowland, Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr., Karl Swenson, and Pierre Watkin.^[1]

Cast

• Dale Robertson as Jim Hardie, Wells Fargo agent
• William Demarest as Jeb Gaine (1961-1962)
• Virginia Christine as Ovie (1961–1962)
• Jack Ging as Beau McCloud
• Lory Patrick as Tina (1961–1962)

Notable guest stars

Claude Akins Rico Alaniz Eddie Albert Chris Alcaide Roscoe Ates Roy Barcroft Trevor Bardette Hugh Beaumont as Jesse James Lane Bradford Johnny Mack Brown Edgar Buchanan Walter Burke James Coburn as Butch Cassidy Chuck Connors as Sam Bass Russ Conway Ben Cooper Jeanne Cooper as Belle Starr Walter Coy Dennis Cross John Dehner Francis De Sales John Doucette Buddy Ebsen Frank Ferguson Ron Foster Tom Greenway Ron Hayes Peter Helm Kelo Henderson as Ike Clanton Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr. Clegg Hoyt Brad Johnson I. Stanford Jolley

Bobby Jordan, as Bob Ford Robert Karnes Celia Kaye Douglas Kennedy Wright King Martin Landau as Doc Holliday Michael Landon Tyler MacDuff Ann McCrea Frank McGrath Steve McQueen Tyler McVey Carole Mathews James Millhollin Ewing Mitchell George Mitchell Read Morgan Alan Napier Jack Nicholson Simon Oakland Gregg Palmer John M. Picard Mike Ragan Gilman Rankin Dan Sheridan Quintin Sondergaard Warren Stevens as Clay Allison Barbara Stuart Olive Sturgess Grant Sullivan William Tannen Ray Teal Robert Vaughn

Broadcast history

The pilot for Tales of Wells Fargo originally premiered as an episode of the anthology series Schlitz Playhouse.

In the 1960-61 season, Wells Fargo was scheduled opposite ABC's detective series Surfside 6 and CBS's new sitcom Bringing Up Buddy, starring Frank Aletter. Wells Fargo and Surfside 6 survived another year, but Bringing Up Buddy was cancelled. Wells Fargo was the lead-in that year to a new NBC Western, Klondike, but that series, set in the Alaskan gold rush town of Skagway, survived only seventeen episodes.

Ratings

For its first two years, the show was also in the top ten Nielsen Ratings. During the 1957-58 season, it was ranked #3,^[2] and during the 1958-59 season, it was ranked #7.^[3]

DVD releases

Timeless Media Group released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1 for the first time.^[4]

DVD name	Ep #	Release date
The Complete First and Second Seasons	52	October 25, 2011

Merchandise

The TV show also spawned a number of publications for young readers, including the hardcover book Danger at Dry Creek (Golden Press, 1959), a series of Dell Comics and Little Golden Books.

References

1. ""Laredo", on Tales of Wells Fargo, December 23, 1957". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
2. "TV Ratings: 1957-1958". classictvhits.com.
3. "TV Ratings: 1958-1959". classictvhits.com.
4. http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Tales-Wells-Fargo-Seasons-1-and-2/15908

External links

• Tales of Wells Fargo at the Internet Movie Database
• Tales of Wells Fargo at TV.com
• Tales of Wells Fargo at epguides.com