DEATH WATCH and WORTH ITS SALT LUKE SLAUGHTER OF TOMBSTONE
1001 Stories From the Old West
Release Date: 07/13/2025
1001 Stories From the Old West
"Have Gun Will Travel," the 106 episode radio Western created by Sam Rolfe & Herb Meadow (starring John Dehner as Paladin) was broadcast on CBS (ty jenni janzen, for the thumbs up!!) radio, November 23, 1958 to November 22, 1960. Paladin 'Gun For Hire' lived in & worked out of the Carleton Hotel, in 1875 San Francisco. During many episodes, we heard Paladin in conversation with the Carleton Hotel's Chinese bell hop, 'Hey-Boy' (starring Ben Wright). Have Gun Will Travel was one of those very rare programs which got its START as a top rated television show (CBS TV 1957 thru 1963,...
info_outline1001 Stories From the Old West
"Have Gun Will Travel," the 106 episode radio Western created by Sam Rolfe & Herb Meadow (starring John Dehner as Paladin) was broadcast on CBS (ty jenni janzen, for the thumbs up!!) radio, November 23, 1958 to November 22, 1960. Paladin 'Gun For Hire' lived in & worked out of the Carleton Hotel, in 1875 San Francisco. During many episodes, we heard Paladin in conversation with the Carleton Hotel's Chinese bell hop, 'Hey-Boy' (starring Ben Wright). Have Gun Will Travel was one of those very rare programs which got its START as a top rated television show (CBS TV 1957 thru 1963,...
info_outline1001 Stories From the Old West
"Have Gun Will Travel," the 106 episode radio Western created by Sam Rolfe & Herb Meadow (starring John Dehner as Paladin) was broadcast on CBS (ty jenni janzen, for the thumbs up!!) radio, November 23, 1958 to November 22, 1960. Paladin 'Gun For Hire' lived in & worked out of the Carleton Hotel, in 1875 San Francisco. During many episodes, we heard Paladin in conversation with the Carleton Hotel's Chinese bell hop, 'Hey-Boy' (starring Ben Wright). Have Gun Will Travel was one of those very rare programs which got its START as a top rated television show (CBS TV 1957 thru 1963,...
info_outline1001 Stories From the Old West
John Dehner was born John Forkum on November 23rd, 1915 in Staten Island, New York. His father Leroy was an artist. His career allowed John to attend school in Norway and France. John was also a gifted artist, and pianist. He studied at the Grand Central School of Art in New York, while simultaneously getting into acting. Forkum’s talent took him west. He found animation work at Disney before landing a job at KMPC. At the radio station, John did everything from dramatic work to newscasting. He later earned a Peabody Award for his coverage of the first U.N. Conference. He spent the last half...
info_outline1001 Stories From the Old West
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. The radio version ran from 1952 to 1961 and is commonly regarded as one of the finest radio dramas of all time. The television version ran from 1955 to 1975 and is the longest running prime time drama and the second-longest running prime time fictional program in U.S. television history, its record surpassed only by the Disney anthology television series (which, though...
info_outline1001 Stories From the Old West
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. The radio version ran from 1952 to 1961 and is commonly regarded as one of the finest radio dramas of all time. The television version ran from 1955 to 1975 and is the longest running prime time drama and the second-longest running prime time fictional program in U.S. television history, its record surpassed only by the Disney anthology television series (which, though...
info_outline1001 Stories From the Old West
Gunsmoke is set in and around Dodge City, Kansas, in the post-Civil War era and centers around United States Marshall Matt Dillon (William Conrad) as he enforces law and order in the city. The series also focuses on Dillon's friendship with three other citizens of Dodge City: Doctor Charles "Doc" Adams (Howard McNear), the town's physician; Kitty Russell (Georgia Ellis), owner of the Long Branch Saloon; and Chester Wesley Proudfoot (Parley Baer), Dillon's deputy.[ Other roles were played by a group of supporting actors consisting of John Dehner, Sam Edwards, Harry Bartell, Vic Perrin, Lou...
info_outline1001 Stories From the Old West
Gunsmoke is set in and around Dodge City, Kansas, in the post-Civil War era and centers around United States Marshall Matt Dillon (William Conrad) as he enforces law and order in the city. The series also focuses on Dillon's friendship with three other citizens of Dodge City: Doctor Charles "Doc" Adams (Howard McNear), the town's physician; Kitty Russell (Georgia Ellis), owner of the Long Branch Saloon; and Chester Wesley Proudfoot (Parley Baer), Dillon's deputy.[ Other roles were played by a group of supporting actors consisting of John Dehner, Sam Edwards, Harry Bartell, Vic Perrin,...
info_outline1001 Stories From the Old West
The Six Shooter brought James Stewart to the NBC microphone on September 20, 1953, in a fine series of folksy Western adventures. Stewart was never better on the air than in this drama of Britt Ponset, frontier drifter created by Frank Burt. The epigraph set it up nicely: "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. People call them both The Six Shooter." Ponset was a wanderer, an easy-going gentleman and -- when he had to be -- a gunfighter. Stewart was right in character as the slow-talking...
info_outline1001 Stories From the Old West
The Six Shooter brought James Stewart to the NBC microphone on September 20, 1953, in a fine series of folksy Western adventures. Stewart was never better on the air than in this drama of Britt Ponset, frontier drifter created by Frank Burt. The epigraph set it up nicely: "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. People call them both The Six Shooter." Ponset was a wanderer, an easy-going gentleman and -- when he had to be -- a gunfighter. Stewart was right in character as the slow-talking...
info_outlineLUKE SLAUGHTER OF TOMBSTONE
CBS started the year 1958 off with the introduction on January 1, 1958 of Frontier Gentleman. That series lasted 41 broadcasts. Near the end of the year, the network launched Have Gun, Will Travel on November 11, 1958, which continued for 106 programs. In between, a very short series was offered and discontinued after only 16 broadcasts, Luke Slaughter Of Tombstone. Sam Buffington starred as Luke Slaughter, a Civil War cavalryman who turned to cattle ranching in post war Arizona territory near Fort Huachuca. William N. Robson, known from his work with such series as Escape, Suspense and CBS Radio Workshop, directed.
Sam Buffington enacted the title role on Luke Slaughter of Tombstone, another of CBS's prestigious adult Westerns. The series was produced and directed by William N. Robson, one of radio's greatest dramatic directors and Robert Stanley producer was aired from February 23 through June 15, 1958. Buffington portrayed the hard-boiled cattleman with scripts overseen by Gunsmoke sound effects artist (and sometimes scriptwriter) Tom Hanley.
Each program had an authoritative opening statement: "Slaughter's my name, Luke Slaughter. Cattle's my business. It's a tough business, it's a big business. I got a big stake in it. And there's no man west of the Rio Grande big enough to take it away from me." Junius Matthews was heard as Slaughter's sidekick, Wichita.
In his first adventure, tough-as-nails westerner Luke Slaughter guarantees he will bring a cattle herd to Tombstone despite the threats of rustlers and a spy among the ranks of his cowboys. Like the other CBS radio westerns, Have Gun, Will Travel or Frontier Gentleman, this one had plenty of action, the productions were well done and well acted. Luke Slaughter was cut short, like a lot of other radio shows, by the steady pressure from TV.
This CBS western series was only a short 16 broadcasts before ending.