Black Saddle
Black Saddle is an American Western television series starring Peter Breck that aired 44 episodes on NBC from January 10, 1959, to May 6, 1960. The half-hour program was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television, and the original backdoor pilot was an episode of CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, with Chris Alcaide originally portraying the principal character, Clay Culhane.[1]
| Black Saddle | |
|---|---|
 Peter Breck as Clay Culhane and Anna-Lisa as Nora Travers (1959) | |
| Genre | Western |
| Created by |
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| Starring | |
| Theme music composer |
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| Composers |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 44 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Hal Hudson |
| Producers |
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| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 24 mins. |
| Release | |
| Original network | |
| Original release | January 10, 1959 – May 6, 1960 |
Synopsis
Detailed in the second episode of season two ("The Saddle"), series star Peter Breck's character, Clay Culhane, is a gunfighter who becomes a lawyer after his two brothers are killed in a bushwhack. Clay is seriously injured, but survives thanks to a man called McKinney, who nurses him back to health. McKinney turns out to be a former judge, who retired after sentencing one of his own sons to death for murder. Under McKinney, Culhane decides that his life should take a different direction, and studies the judge's law books. He is further taught court procedure by the judge. A year later, having been taught by the ex-judge, he passes a verbal examination and becomes a lawyer. His mentor is then killed by his other son, who hates his father for sentencing his twin brother to death.
Cast
Main cast
- Peter Breck as Clay Culhane
- Russell Johnson as Marshal Gib Scott
- Anna-Lisa as Nora Travers
- J. Pat O'Malley as Judge Caleb Marsh
- Walter Burke as Tim Potter
Guest cast
Some of the Black Saddle guest stars include Chris Alcaide (who portrayed Clay Culhane in the original pilot), Fred Aldrich, John Anderson, Parley Baer, Raymond Bailey, Russ Bender, Paul Birch (in the role of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant in the episode "Mr. Simpson"), Lane Bradford, Paul Burke, Archie Butler, James Coburn, Dennis Cross, John Dehner, Frank Dekova, Alan Dexter, Buddy Ebsen, Hampton Fancher, Scott Forbes in Episode "Client: Steele"), James Franciscus, Jack Ging, Dabbs Greer, Robert Griffin, Clu Gulager, Robert Harland, Stacy Harris, Brett King, Jess Kirkpatrick, Robert Knapp, John Marley, Ken Mayer, Ann McCrea, Patrick McVey, James Parnell, Vic Perrin, Sam Reese, Stafford Repp, Bing Russell, Richard Rust, Simon Scott, Richard Shannon, Robert F. Simon, Quentin Sondergaard and Patrick Macnee.
Episodes
Season 1 (1959)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Client: Travers" | John English | John McGreevey | January 10, 1959 |
| 2 | 2 | "Client: Meade" | Roger Kay | John McGreevey | January 17, 1959 |
| 3 | 3 | "Client: McQueen" | John English | Robert Yale Libott | January 24, 1959 |
| 4 | 4 | "Client: Dawes" | Roger Kay | John McGreevey | January 31, 1959 |
| 5 | 5 | "Client: Starkey" | John English | Robert Yale Libott | February 7, 1959 |
| 6 | 6 | "Client: Tagger" | John English | Frederick Louis Fox | February 14, 1959 |
| 7 | 7 | "Client: Robinson" | John Florea | Jack Jacobs | February 21, 1959 |
| 8 | 8 | "Client: Martinez" | Francis D. Lyon | John Tucker Battle | March 7, 1959 |
| 9 | 9 | "Client: Northrup" | David Lowell Rich | John McGreevey | March 14, 1959 |
| 10 | 10 | "Client: Steele" | Francis D. Lyon | Rod Peterson | March 21, 1959 |
| 11 | 11 | "Client: Mowery" | David Lowell Rich | Frederick Louis Fox | March 28, 1959 |
| 12 | 12 | "Client: Braun" | David Lowell Rich | John McGreevey | April 4, 1959 |
| 13 | 13 | "Client: Banks" | John English | Antony Ellis | April 11, 1959 |
| 14 | 14 | "Client: Jessup" | John English | Stuart Jerome | April 18, 1959 |
| 15 | 15 | "Client: Frome" | John English | Frederick Louis Fox | April 25, 1959 |
| 16 | 16 | "Client: Nelson" | Boris Sagal | John McGreevey | May 2, 1959 |
| 17 | 17 | "Client: Neal Adams" | William D. Faralla | Ken Kolb | May 9, 1959 |
| 18 | 18 | "Client: Brand" | Gerd Oswald | Joe Stone & Paul King | May 16, 1959 |
| 19 | 19 | "Client: Reynolds" | David Lowell Rich | John McGreevey | May 23, 1959 |
| 20 | 20 | "Client: Vardon" | William D. Faralla | Frederick Louis Fox | May 30, 1959 |
Season 2 (1959–60)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 1 | "The Freebooters" | William D. Faralla | John McGreevey | October 2, 1959 |
| 22 | 2 | "The Saddle" | David Lowell Rich | John McGreevey | October 9, 1959 |
| 23 | 3 | "The Long Rider" | David Lowell Rich | Antony Ellis | October 16, 1959 |
| 24 | 4 | "The Hotel" | James Sheldon | Antony Ellis | October 23, 1959 |
| 25 | 5 | "Client: Peter Warren" | David Lowell Rich | Donn Mullally | October 30, 1959 |
| 26 | 6 | "The Freight Line" | David Lowell Rich | Antony Ellis | November 6, 1959 |
| 27 | 7 | "Murdock" | David Lowell Rich | Fred Frieberger | November 13, 1959 |
| 28 | 8 | "Apache Killer" | William D. Faralla | Joe Stone & Paul King | November 20, 1959 |
| 29 | 9 | "Four from Stillwater" | David Lowell Rich | George & Gertrude Fass | November 27, 1959 |
| 30 | 10 | "The Deal" | David Lowell Rich | William Link & Richard Levinson | December 4, 1959 |
| 31 | 11 | "Change of Venue" | William D. Faralla | John McGreevey | December 11, 1959 |
| 32 | 12 | "Blood Money" | Frank Baur | John McGreevey | December 18, 1959 |
| 33 | 13 | "The Killer" | William F. Claxton | Antony Ellis | January 1, 1960 |
| 34 | 14 | "Letter of Death" | David Lowell Rich | Frederick Louis Fox | January 8, 1960 |
| 35 | 15 | "Mr. Simpson" | David Lowell Rich | Antony Ellis | January 22, 1960 |
| 36 | 16 | "Means to an End" | Frank Baur | John McGreevey | January 29, 1960 |
| 37 | 17 | "The Indian Tree" | David Lowell Rich | John McGreevey & Antony Ellis | February 19, 1960 |
| 38 | 18 | "The Apprentice" | David Lowell Rich | John McGreevey | March 11, 1960 |
| 39 | 19 | "Burden of Guilt" | Elliott Silverstein | John McGreevey | March 18, 1960 |
| 40 | 20 | "The Cabin" | David Lowell Rich | Antony Ellis | April 1, 1960 |
| 41 | 21 | "The Return" | David Lowell Rich | John McGreevey | April 8, 1960 |
| 42 | 22 | "A Case of Slow" | David Lowell Rich | Antony Ellis | April 15, 1960 |
| 43 | 23 | "The Penalty" | William D. Faralla | John Falvo | April 22, 1960 |
| 44 | 24 | "End of the Line" | William F. Claxton | Richard Fielder | May 6, 1960 |
Production
Filming
Black Saddle was filmed at the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, California. Several years later, Peter Breck starred as Nick Barkley in another, more successful Four Star series, The Big Valley, on ABC.
Theme
Although the Black Saddle TV series was cancelled over 50 years ago, its original theme tune, written by Herschel Burke Gilbert and Arthur Morton, has lived on and is still often performed. Many cover versions of the tune have been recorded, some of which are available on YouTube.
Syndication as The Westerners
For syndicated reruns, Black Saddle was combined with three other Western series from the same company: Law of the Plainsman starring Michael Ansara, Johnny Ringo starring Don Durant and Mark Goddard, and The Westerner with Brian Keith, under the umbrella title, The Westerners, with new hosting sequences by Keenan Wynn.
References
- Aaker, Everett (2017). Television Western Players, 1960-1975: A Biographical Dictionary. McFarland. p. 54. ISBN 9781476662503. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
External links
- Black Saddle at IMDb
- Black Saddle at TVAddicts
- Black Saddle: Season 2, Ep.2 "The Saddle."