The Six Shooter
Encyclopedia
The Six Shooter was a weekly old-time radio
program in the United States
. It was created by Frank Burt
, who also wrote many of the episodes, and lasted only one season of 39 episodes on NBC
(Sept. 20, 1953-June 24, 1954). Through March 21, 1954 it was broadcast Sundays at 8 p.m. Beginning April 1, 1954 through the final episode it was on Thursdays at 8 p.m.
James Stewart
starred as Britt Ponsett, a drifting cowboy in the final years of the wild west
. Episodes ranged from straight western drama to whimsical comedy. A trademark of the show was Stewart's use of whispered narration during tense scenes that created a heightened sense of drama and relief when the situation was resolved.
Some of the more prominent actors to perform on the program included Parley Baer
, Virginia Gregg
, Harry Bartell
, Howard McNear
, Jeanette Nolan
, Dan O'Herlihy
, Alan Reed
, Marvin Miller
and William Conrad
(often credited as "Julius Krelboyne" because he was also the star of CBS
' Gunsmoke
at the time). Some did multiple episodes playing different characters.
Each episode opened with the announcer (Hal Gibney; John Wald in later episodes) stating: The man in the saddle is angular and long-legged. His skin is sun-dyed brown. The gun in his holster is gray steel and rainbow mother-of-pearl, its handle unmarked. People call them both "the Six Shooter".
The haunting theme music was "Highland Lament" by series composer Basil Adlam. Jack Johnstone was the producer-director for NBC Radio, in association with Revue Productions.
The final broadcast "Myra Barker" provided a satisfying (if melancholy) finale to the series: Ponsett falls in love with Myra, and proposes marriage. Myra, after thinking it over, appears to accept -- but then tells Britt she's heard that Sheriff Jennings of Eagle Falls has asked for his help, and Britt admits that he feels obligated to go. Myra tells Britt to go and not come back -- telling him some adventure will always call him, and he'll always go, or regret not going. Britt goes, resuming his wanderings, but not before revealing to the audience that he knows he was *not* needed in Eagle Falls -- and knows Myra knows that too. The moment comes across of a moment of supreme self-realization by Britt that he always will be a wanderer.
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
program in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was created by Frank Burt
Frank Burt (screenwriter)
Frank Burt was an American screenwriter, who wrote for TV, film, and radio.He was one of the writers of the James Stewart radio drama The Six Shooter. He also co-wrote the Stewart film The Man from Laramie. He was highly regarded by Stewart....
, who also wrote many of the episodes, and lasted only one season of 39 episodes on 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...
(Sept. 20, 1953-June 24, 1954). Through March 21, 1954 it was broadcast Sundays at 8 p.m. Beginning April 1, 1954 through the final episode it was on Thursdays at 8 p.m.
James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
starred as Britt Ponsett, a drifting cowboy in the final years of the wild west
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
. Episodes ranged from straight western drama to whimsical comedy. A trademark of the show was Stewart's use of whispered narration during tense scenes that created a heightened sense of drama and relief when the situation was resolved.
Some of the more prominent actors to perform on the program included Parley Baer
Parley Baer
Parley Edward Baer was an American actor in film, television, and radio.-Radio:Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Baer had a circus background, but began his radio career at Utah station KSL...
, Virginia Gregg
Virginia Gregg
Virginia Gregg Burket was an American actress best known for her many roles in radio dramas.Born in Harrisburg, Illinois, Virginia Gregg was the daughter of musician Dewey Alphaleta and businessman Edward William Gregg.-Radio:Gregg was a prolific radio actor, heard on such programs as The...
, Harry Bartell
Harry Bartell
Harry Bartell was an American actor and announcer in radio, television and film. With his rather youthful sounding voice, Bartell was one of the busiest West Coast character actors from the early 1940s until the final end of network radio drama in the 1960s.Bartell was born in New Orleans,...
, Howard McNear
Howard McNear
Howard Terbell McNear was an American film, television and radio character actor. McNear is best remembered as Floyd Lawson, the barber in The Andy Griffith Show and as Doc Charles Adams in CBS Radio's Gunsmoke .-Career:McNear was born in Los Angeles, California to Luzetta M. Spencer and Franklin...
, Jeanette Nolan
Jeanette Nolan
Jeanette Nolan was an American radio, film and television actress. Nolan was nominated for four Emmy Awards.-Early life:...
, Dan O'Herlihy
Dan O'Herlihy
Daniel O'Herlihy was an Oscar nominated Irish film actor.-Early life:O'Herlihy was born in Wexford, Ireland in 1919. His family moved to Dublin at a young age...
, Alan Reed
Alan Reed
Alan Reed was an American actor and voice actor, best known as the original voice of Fred Flintstone on The Flintstones and various spinoff series...
, Marvin Miller
Marvin Miller (actor)
Marvin Elliott Miller was an American film and voice-over actor. Possessing a deep, baritone voice, he began his career in radio in St. Louis, Missouri before becoming a Hollywood actor...
and William Conrad
William Conrad
William Conrad was an American actor, producer and director whose career spanned five decades in radio, film and television....
(often credited as "Julius Krelboyne" because he was also the star of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
at the time). Some did multiple episodes playing different characters.
Each episode opened with the announcer (Hal Gibney; John Wald in later episodes) stating: The man in the saddle is angular and long-legged. His skin is sun-dyed brown. The gun in his holster is gray steel and rainbow mother-of-pearl, its handle unmarked. People call them both "the Six Shooter".
The haunting theme music was "Highland Lament" by series composer Basil Adlam. Jack Johnstone was the producer-director for NBC Radio, in association with Revue Productions.
The final broadcast "Myra Barker" provided a satisfying (if melancholy) finale to the series: Ponsett falls in love with Myra, and proposes marriage. Myra, after thinking it over, appears to accept -- but then tells Britt she's heard that Sheriff Jennings of Eagle Falls has asked for his help, and Britt admits that he feels obligated to go. Myra tells Britt to go and not come back -- telling him some adventure will always call him, and he'll always go, or regret not going. Britt goes, resuming his wanderings, but not before revealing to the audience that he knows he was *not* needed in Eagle Falls -- and knows Myra knows that too. The moment comes across of a moment of supreme self-realization by Britt that he always will be a wanderer.
Episodes
| Ep # | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| — | Hollywood Star Playhouse | April 13, 1952 |
| — | (Audition Program) | July 15, 1953 |
| 01 | "Jenny" | September 20, 1953 |
| 02 | "The Coward" | September 27, 1953 |
| 03 | "The Stampede" | October 4, 1953 |
| 04 | "Silver Annie" | October 11, 1953 |
| 05 | "Rink Larkin" | October 18, 1953 |
| 06 | "Red Lawson's Revenge" | October 25, 1953 |
| 07 | "Ben Scofield" | November 1, 1953 |
| 08 | "The Capture of Stacy Gault" | November 8, 1953 |
| 09 | "Escape from Smoke Falls" | November 15, 1953 |
| 10 | "Gabriel Starbuck" | November 22, 1953 |
| 11 | "Sheriff Billy" | November 29, 1953 |
| 12 | "A Pressing Engagement" | December 6, 1953 |
| 13 | "More Than Kin" | December 13, 1953 |
| 14 | "Britt Ponset's Christmas" | December 20, 1953 |
| 15 | "Cora Plummer Quincy" | December 27, 1953 |
| 16 | "A Friend in Need" | January 3, 1954 |
| 17 | "Hiram's Goldstrike" | January 10, 1954 |
| 18 | "The Silver Buckle" | January 17, 1954 |
| 19 | "Helen Bricker" | January 24, 1954 |
| 20 | "Trail to Sunset" | January 31, 1954 |
| 21 | "Apron Faced Sorrel" | February 7, 1954 |
| 22 | "Quiet City" | February 14, 1954 |
| 23 | "Battle at Tower Rock" | February 21, 1954 |
| 24 | "Cheyenne Express" | March 7, 1954 |
| 25 | "Thicker Than Water" | March 14, 1954 |
| 26 | "Duel at Lockwood" | March 21, 1954 |
| 27 | "Aunt Em" | April 1, 1954 |
| 28 | "General Gillford's Widow" | April 8, 1954 |
| 29 | "Crises at Easter Creek" | April 15, 1954 |
| 30 | "Johnny Stringer" | April 22, 1954 |
| 31 | "Revenge at Harness Creek" | April 29, 1954 |
| 32 | "Anna Norquest" | May 6, 1954 |
| 33 | "The Double Seven" | May 13, 1954 |
| 34 | "The Shooting of Wyatt King" | May 20, 1954 |
| 35 | "Blood Relations" | May 27, 1954 |
| 36 | "Silver Threads" | June 3, 1954 |
| 37 | "The New Sheriff" | June 10, 1954 |
| 38 | "When The Shoe Doesn't Fit" | June 17, 1954 |
| 39 | "Myra Barker" | June 24, 1954 |
Trivia
- A pilot for the show entitled simply "The Six Shooter" was broadcast April 13, 1952 as an episode of the anthology Hollywood Star Playhouse (aka The Baker’s Theater Of Stars) on NBC. This used the "Ben Scofield" script which was also used for the audition episode and (with a slightly different opening) the seventh episode of the series.
- The unaired audition episode, recorded July 15, 1953, includes a personal message by James Stewart in the middle and end trying to sell the program to potential sponsors.
- Stewart revived the Ponsett character for the Feb. 10, 1957 episode of the television anthology program General Electric TheaterGeneral Electric TheaterGeneral Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald W. Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.-Radio:...
titled "The Town with a Past". The script was based on the "Silver Annie" episode of the radio show. - The Dec. 15, 1957 episode of G.E. Theater "The Trail to Christmas" was based on the radio episode "Britt Ponset's Christmas Carol", although in this instance Stewart's character was renamed Bart. And the Dec. 15, 1959 episode of the television anthology program Startime "Cindy's Fella" was based on the radio episode "When the Shoe Doesn't Fit." Stewart took the role of peddler Azel Dorsey while George GobelGeorge GobelGeorge Leslie Gobel was an American comedian and actor. He was best known as the star of his own weekly NBC television show, The George Gobel Show, which ran from 1954 to 1960 .-Early years:He was born George Leslie Goebel in Chicago, Illinois, His father, Hermann Goebel, was a...
played an unnamed drifter in place of Ponsett. - Ponsett's horse was named Scar.
- In the fall of 1957, the original radio series was adapted for television by MCA/Revue as The Restless GunThe Restless GunThe Restless Gun is a western television series that appeared on NBC between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy in the era after the American Civil War. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict...
, starring John PayneJohn Payne (actor)John Payne was an American film actor who is mainly remembered as a singer in 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC western television series The Restless Gun.-Background:Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia...
as "Vint Bonner", a thinly-disguised version of Britt Ponsett (in fact, in the series' original pilot episode that aired on Schlitz PlayhouseSchlitz Playhouse of StarsSchlitz Playhouse of Stars, is a weekly CBS anthology television series, was telecast on Friday nights from 1951 until 1959. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by Schlitz beer...
on March 29, 1957, Payne appeared as "Britt Ponsett").
Listen to
- The Six Shooter 1953-07-15 (Audition Show) The first episode of The Six Shooter radio show starring Jimmy Stewart with commentary by Mr. Stewart.