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American TV series or program
Wichita Town
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Original title card for the series
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Starring
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Country of origin
| United States
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No.
of seasons
| 1
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No.
of episodes
| 26
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|
Running time
| 30 minutes
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Network
| NBC
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Release
| September 30, 1959
(
1959-09-30
)
?
April 6, 1960
(
1960-04-06
)
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Wichita Town
is a half-hour
Western television series
starring
Joel McCrea
,
Jody McCrea
,
Carlos Romero
, and
George Neise
that aired on
NBC
from September 30, 1959, until September 23, 1960.
[1]
[2]
Joel McCrea played
Marshal
Mike Dunbar, in charge of keeping the peace in the booming
cattle town
of
Wichita
,
Kansas
. His deputies were Ben Matheson, played by McCrea's real life son, Jody, and Rico Rodriquez, portrayed by Carlos Romero. Making occasional appearances were the town doctor, Nat Wyndham (played by George Neise), the blacksmith, Aeneas MacLinahan (played by
Robert Anderson
), and the bartender in the local saloon, Joe Kingston, played in six episodes by
Robert Foulk
.
The model for shows such as these had already been laid out by other Westerns such as
Gunsmoke
,
Lawman
, and
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
, so
Wichita Town
may not have been unique in its plotting and structure.
[
citation needed
]
The two most unusual features about the series were the presence of Joel McCrea, a favorite of Western film audiences for his performance in such films as
Union Pacific
,
Buffalo Bill
, and
Ramrod
, and the fact that his real life son was in
Wichita Town
, but did not play his son.
[
citation needed
]
Wichita Town
was produced by
Mirisch Company
and Joel McCrea's Production company for
Four Star Television
and aired for a single season.
Guest stars
[
edit
]
- Richard Coogan
, formerly of NBC's
The Californians
, was cast as the Reverend Nichols in "The Devil's Choice" (1959).
- Ben Cooper
, as Tom Warren in "Passage to the Enemy"
- Dennis Cross
, as Fred Keever in "Second Chance" (1960)
- Gene Evans
, earlier of
My Friend Flicka
, as Otis Stockert in "The Frontiersman" (1960)
- Yvonne Lime Fedderson
, as Fran in "Biggest Man in Town" (1959)
- Frank Ferguson
, as Mayor Eric Holbein in "The Night the Cowboys Roared" (1959) and "The Frontiersman (1960)
- Jock Gaynor
's first acting appearance was as Joe Malone in
Wichita Town
. Later that year he landed a supporting role on another NBC Western,
Outlaws
.
- Ron Hagerthy
, formerly of
Sky King
, as Tod in "Biggest Man in Town" (1959)
- Ron Hayes
, as Scotty in the episode "Sidekicks"
- I. Stanford Jolley
, as Smokey, and
John McIntire
, as Frank Matheson prior to his Chris Hale starring role in
Wagon Train
, were cast together in the episode "Paid in Full".
- Keith Larsen
, star of NBC's
Northwest Passage
, appeared on
Wichita Town
in the role of the Indian, Blue Raven, in "Seed of Hate" (1960).
- Nan Leslie
, formerly of NBC's
The Californians
, cast on
Wichita Town
as Margaret Cook in "Day of Battle" (1959)
- Suzanne Lloyd
, as Laura in "Afternoon in Town" and "Sidekicks" (1960)
- Mort Mills
, as Pete Bennett in "Man on the Hill" (1959)
- John M. Pickard
, formerly of
Boots and Saddles
, appeared twice in episodes "Wyndham's Way" and as a character named Bain in the episode "Second Chance".
- Robert F. Simon
, as Walt McCloud in "Second Chance"
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]