Pony Express (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Pony Express is a half-hour syndicated
western
television series which ended its 39-episode schedule in 1960, the centennial of the launching of the Pony Express
, a short-lived venture promoted by William Hepburn Russell
of the freight company Russell, Majors and Waddell
. The Pony Express existed from April 1860 to October 1861, and the series ran from the fall of 1959 to the summer of 1960. The Pony Express program starred four actors, none of whom became well-known: Grant Sullivan
as Brett Clark, a roving investigator for the Pony Express. Bill Cord appeared as Pony Express troubleshooter Tom Clyde; Don Dorrell, Donovan; and Robert Ivers
, Clarence McGrew. The series is unrelated to the highly fiction
al The Young Riders
, an hour-long western about Pony Express riders, starring Anthony Zerbe
and Josh Brolin
, which aired on ABC
from 1989-1992.
Pony Express is similar to Dale Robertson
's Tales of Wells Fargo
in that the series focuses on a Pony Express detective, a phenomenon which permitted a greater variety of themes and plots. Brett Clark and Tom Clyde solved Pony Express mysteries, much as Robertson's character, Jim Hardie, resolved problems encountered by Wells Fargo
. The syndicated Pony Express was not renewed for a second season, as too few affiliates carried the program to make an extension financially feasible. Dick Jones, the Snyder
, Texas
, native who had played the sidekick to Jock Mahoney
in the syndicated series The Range Rider
and headlined his own Buffalo Bill Jr.
, a Gene Autry
production, appeared in one Pony Express episode as a young rider. The only problem was that Jones had begun to age visibly, and no longer had that scrappy teenager look of his earlier work, even though he was cast in just such a part. However, Jones was beyond the years expected of a true Pony Express rider.
Selected episodes and notable guest stars include:
Pony Express was created by California National Productions and filed at Iverson's Movie Ranch
in Chatsworth in Los Angeles County, California
. Other CNP offerings were the syndicated Boots and Saddles
(1957–1958) and Union Pacific
(1959–1960) and the NBC
anthology series, Frontier
, which aired from 1955-1956.
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
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 which ended its 39-episode schedule in 1960, the centennial of the launching of the Pony Express
Pony Express
The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861...
, a short-lived venture promoted by William Hepburn Russell
William Hepburn Russell
William Hepburn Russell is often credited along with Alexander Majors and William B. Waddell as the founders, owners, and operators of the Pony Express. His public life is one of numerous business ventures, some successful and some failed...
of the freight company Russell, Majors and Waddell
Russell, Majors and Waddell
Russell, Majors and Waddell was a business partnership, based in Lexington, Missouri, between William Hepburn Russell, Alexander Majors, and William B. Waddell. It operated various transportation and communications services in the American West in the 1850s and early 1860s, including stagecoach...
. The Pony Express existed from April 1860 to October 1861, and the series ran from the fall of 1959 to the summer of 1960. The Pony Express program starred four actors, none of whom became well-known: Grant Sullivan
Grant Sullivan (actor)
Grant Sullivan was an American actor best known for starring in the American television series, Pony Express. Sullivan portrayed the investigator Brett Clark in Pony Express, which aired in syndication from 1959 to 1960....
as Brett Clark, a roving investigator for the Pony Express. Bill Cord appeared as Pony Express troubleshooter Tom Clyde; Don Dorrell, Donovan; and Robert Ivers
Robert Ivers
Robert Ivers, AKA Bob Ivers, Robert Ivers, AKA Bob Ivers, Robert Ivers, AKA Bob Ivers, (December 11, 1934 - 13 February 2003 was an American actor who appeared in films and television in the 1950s and 1960s.-Background:...
, Clarence McGrew. The series is unrelated to the highly fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al The Young Riders
The Young Riders
The Young Riders is an American Western television series created by Ed Spielman that presents a fictionalized account of a group of young Pony Express riders based at the Sweetwater Station in the Nebraska Territory during the years leading up to the American Civil War...
, an hour-long western about Pony Express riders, starring Anthony Zerbe
Anthony Zerbe
Anthony Jared Zerbe is an American stage, film and Emmy-winning television actor. Notable film roles include the post-apocalyptic cult leader Matthias in The Omega Man, a 1971 film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, I Am Legend; Milton Krest in the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill;...
and Josh Brolin
Josh Brolin
Josh James Brolin is an American actor. He has acted in theater, film and television roles since 1985, and won acting awards for his roles in the films W., No Country for Old Men, Milk and True Grit.-Early life:...
, which aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from 1989-1992.
Pony Express is similar to Dale Robertson
Dale Robertson
Dayle Lymoine "Dale" Robertson is an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the role of Jim Hardie in the TV series, Tales of Wells Fargo, and the owner of an incomplete railroad line in ABC's The Iron Horse, often appearing as the deceptively thoughtful but...
's Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 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:...
in that the series focuses on a Pony Express detective, a phenomenon which permitted a greater variety of themes and plots. Brett Clark and Tom Clyde solved Pony Express mysteries, much as Robertson's character, Jim Hardie, resolved problems encountered by Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home...
. The syndicated Pony Express was not renewed for a second season, as too few affiliates carried the program to make an extension financially feasible. Dick Jones, the Snyder
Snyder, Texas
Snyder is a city in and the county seat of Scurry County, Texas, United States. The population was 10,653 at the 2010 census. It is located on Deep Creek, a minor tributary of the Colorado River of Texas. Snyder is approximately 150 km southeast of Lubbock.Located in Snyder is the Scurry County...
, 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...
, native who had played the sidekick to Jock Mahoney
Jock Mahoney
Jock Mahoney was an American actor and stuntman of Irish, French, and Cherokee ancestry. Born Jacques O'Mahoney, he was credited variously as Jock Mahoney, Jack O'Mahoney or Jock O'Mahoney. He starred in two television series, both westerns...
in the syndicated series The Range Rider
The Range Rider
The Range Rider is an American Western television series that aired in syndication from 1951-1953. A single lost episode was first shown in 1959...
and headlined his own Buffalo Bill Jr.
Buffalo Bill Jr.
Buffalo Bill, Jr. is an American Western television series starring Dickie Jones that aired in syndication from March 1, 1955, until September 21, 1956.-Synopsis:...
, a Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
production, appeared in one Pony Express episode as a young rider. The only problem was that Jones had begun to age visibly, and no longer had that scrappy teenager look of his earlier work, even though he was cast in just such a part. However, Jones was beyond the years expected of a true Pony Express rider.
Selected episodes and notable guest stars include:
- "The Good Samaritan", series premiere (Whitney BlakeWhitney BlakeWhitney Blake was an American film and television actress, director and producer.Blake was born as Nancy Ann Whitney in 1926 in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California, the first child of Martha Mae Wilkerson and Harry Whitney...
) - "The Peace Offering"
- "Showdown at Thirty Mile Ridge" (Douglas FowleyDouglas FowleyDouglas Fowley was an American movie and television actor.Fowley was born Daniel Vincent Fowley in The Bronx, New York. The 5'11" actor is probably best remembered for his role as the movie director Roscoe Dexter in Singin' in the Rain . The actor appeared in over 240 films and later in dozens of...
) - "The Theft" (Ross ElliottRoss ElliottRoss Elliott was an American television and film character actor. He began his acting career with Orson Welles in Mercury Theatre, where he performed in Welles' famed radio program The War of the Worlds....
) - "Vendetta" (Steve BrodieSteve Brodie (actor)Steve Brodie was an American movie and television actor.Born John Stevenson in El Dorado, Kansas, he took his screen name from the Steve Brodie who claimed that he jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886 and survived...
) - "The Story of JulesburgJulesburg, ColoradoThe 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...
" (James BestJames BestJames 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:...
and Sebastian CabotSebastian Cabot (actor)Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot was an English film and television actor, best remembered as the gentleman's gentleman, "Giles French," opposite Brian Keith's character, in the 1960s sitcom Family Affair. He was also known for playing Dr...
) - "The Last Mile" (Grant Sullivan and Madlyn RhueMadlyn RhueMadlyn Soloman Rhue was an American character actress.Rhue was born in Washington, D.C. From the 1950s to the 1990s, Rhue appeared in some twenty films, including Operation Petticoat and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World...
as Ellen Fairchild) - "Special Delivery" (Denver PyleDenver PyleDenver Dell Pyle was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing Uncle Jesse in The Dukes of Hazzard .-Early life:...
) - "The Wedding of Big Zack"
- "The Renegade"
- "Justice for Jenny" (Walter CoyWalter CoyWalter Darwin Coy was an American stage, radio, film, and, principally, television actor, originally from Great Falls, Montana. He was best known for narrating the NBC western anthology series, Frontier, which aired early Sunday evenings in the 1955-1956 season.-Career:Coy performed on Broadway...
) - "Trial by Fury"
- "The Search", series finale (Ron HagerthyRon HagerthyRonald F. "Ron" Hagerthy is a former American actor known primarily for his guest-starring and supporting roles on television westerns. In 1952, he portrayed Clipper King in the modern western series, Sky King, with Kirby Grant in the title role of Clipper's uncle, Schuyler "Sky" King, pilot of...
and I. Stanford JolleyI. Stanford JolleyIsaac 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...
)
Pony Express was created by California National Productions and filed at Iverson's 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 in Los Angeles County, 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...
. Other CNP offerings were the syndicated Boots and Saddles
Boots and Saddles (TV series)
Boots and Saddles is an American Western television series that aired in syndication from 1957 to 1958. The series was created by Robert A. Cinader.-Synopsis:...
(1957–1958) and Union Pacific
Union Pacific (TV series)
Union Pacific is a Western television series starring Jeff Morrow, Judson Pratt and Susan Cummings that aired in syndication from 1958 until 1959...
(1959–1960) and the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
anthology series, Frontier
Frontier (1955 TV series)
This program should not be confused with Frontiers , the British program Frontier , Frontier Justice , Frontier Circus, or Frontier Doctor....
, which aired from 1955-1956.