Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Tales Of The Texas Rangers" - Last Stop (Aired August 10, 1952)


Captain Manuel T. "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas, a Ranger for 30 years and who was said to have killed 31 men during his career, served as consultant for the series. The series was adapted for television from 1955 to 1957 and produced by Screen Gems. For the TV version, Willard Parker took over the role of Jace Pearson. On radio, Pearson often worked by request with a local sheriff's office or police department but on the TV show, he had a regular partner, Ranger Clay Morgan (who had been an occasional character on the radio show), played by Harry Lauter. During the opening and closing credits of the TV show, the actors would march toward the camera and sing the theme song, "These Are Tales of Texas Rangers", to the tune of "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You", which is also the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad". The radio series used contemporary cases and modern detective methods to solve crimes; it was a procedural drama, in many ways Dragnet with a Western flavor. The TV show was aimed at kids (and aired on Saturday mornings) and was more of a traditional Western (with chases and shoot-outs). The TV series did both modern cases and cases set in the "Old West."

THIS EPISODE:

August 10, 1952. NBC network. "Last Stop". Sustaining. Based on the events of July, 1931. A disastrous train wreck was caused by a railroad tie on the tracks, and it looks like it was done deliberately! Bert Holland, Hal Gibney (host), Jeffrey Silver, Joel McCrea (guest), Ken Christy, Leo Cleary, Stacy Keach (producer, director), Tony Barrett, Whitfield Connor. 26:41. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.