Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Six Shooter" - The Coward (Aired September 27, 1953)


Though The Six Shooter wasn't the first popular adult western to air over Radio, a case can be made that it was the first to thoroughly legitimize the genre over the medium. Not only were The Six Shooter scripts--and casts--the equal of any of the first wave of adult westerns to air over Radio, but the series carried the considerable weight of James Stewart in the starring role as Britt Ponset, the reluctant, yet highly efficient, western gunslinger. For the era, James Stewart was a natural choice to popularize the genre over Radio. His ground-breaking--for Stewart--depiction of the angst and inner turmoil of his protagonist, Lin McAdam in Winchester '73 (1950), launched a series of James Stewart appearances in other taut Anthony Mann and Alfred Hitchcock psychological thrillers over the following ten years. More importantly, the timing was perfect to cast Stewart in a psychological western thriller for Radio. Stewart's extraordinary performance in Anthony Mann's twisty Winchester '73 (1950) was the most popular break-out rendition of the adult western genre in Film for its time. While the film is more about the elusive one-in-a-thousand Winchester rifle, the film also focuses on the various transformations that Stewart's Lin McAdam undergoes in his quest to recapture his fairly won prize, a rare, one of a kind--for its day-- .44 caliber Winchester Model 1873. Show Notes From The Digital Deli.

THIS EPISODE:

September 27, 1953. "Coward" - NBC network. Sponsored by: Coleman Home Heaters. Everyone knows that Will Fedder is a coward because he won't wear a gun. However, a man can be pushed just so far! The system cue has been deleted. Jimmy Stewart, Howard McNear, Michael Ann Barrett, Will Wright, Frank Burt (creator, writer), Basil Adlam (music), Jack Johnstone (director), Hal Gibney (announcer), Herb Ellis. 30:30. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.