Wagon Train

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wagon Train
Wagon Train cast (1964)
Format	Western
Starring	Ward Bond Robert Horton John McIntire Robert Fuller Michael Burns Frank McGrath Terry Wilson Denny Scott Miller
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	60 or 90 mins.
Broadcast
Original run	1957 – 1965
External links
IMDb profile

Wagon Train is a television Western series on NBC from 1957-1962 and then on ABC from 1962-1965. The show debuted at #15 in the Nielsen Ratings, rose to #2 in the next three seasons, and peaked at #1 in the 1961-1962 television season. After moving to ABC in the autumn of 1962, the ratings dropped though there appeared to have been no diminution in the quality of the episodes. Wagon Train did not again make the Top 20 listing.

The show was based on the 1950 film Wagon Master directed by John Ford and starring Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., and Ward Bond.

The show chronicles the adventures of a wagon train as it makes its way from Missouri to California. There were 284 episodes: the first aired on September 18, 1957, and the final segment was broadcast on May 2, 1965. Some of the actors appearing on Wagon Train included Ward Bond as wagon master Major Seth Adams (seasons 1-4), Robert Horton as scout Flint McCullough (seasons 1-5), John McIntire as wagon master Christopher Hale (seasons 4-8), Robert Fuller as scout Cooper Smith (seasons 7-8), Denny Scott Miller as Duke Shannon (seasons 5-7), Michael Burns as Barnaby West (seasons 4-8), Frank McGrath as Charlie Wooster (cook, seasons 1-8), and Terry Wilson as Bill Hawks. McIntire replaced Bond as wagon master upon Bond's death, and Fuller replaced Horton as scout when Horton opted to depart, an obvious choice since Fuller had already played a lead in another western series (Laramie on NBC) and physically resembled Horton. The eight-season one-hour show was filmed in black and white except for its seventh season, which was 90 minutes and in color.

When the Ward Bond episodes were broadcast weekday afternoons on ABC in 1963, a new series name and theme would have to be used to separate the two airings and avoid viewer confusion because Wagon Train was still on the ABC evening schedule. Trailmaster was the name given and a new theme song, the "Trailmaster Theme," was written and conducted by Stanley Wilson.

One of Ward Bond's first films had been a small but ubiquitous speaking part in the lavish widescreen 1930 epic The Big Trail, directed by Raoul Walsh and starring John Wayne in his first leading role, as a wagon train scout dressed similarly to Flint McCullough in a light-colored buckskin shirt. Bond's long screen career could be said to have begun and ended on a wagon train.

When pitching Star Trek to network TV executives in the mid-60s, Gene Roddenberry referred to his outer-space series as "a Wagon Train to the stars."^[1]

Contents 1 Cast 2 Theme music 3 Trivia 4 Footnotes 5 External links

[edit] Cast

• Ward Bond — Major Seth Adams (1957-1961)
• Robert Horton — Flint McCullough (1957-1962)
• John McIntire — Christopher Hale (1959-1965)
• Robert Fuller — Cooper Smith (1959-1965)
• Frank McGrath — Charlie Wooster (1957-1965)
• Terry Wilson — Bill Hawks (1957-1965)
• Denny Miller — Duke Shannon (1961-1964)
• Michael Burns — Barnaby West (1960-1965)

[edit] Theme music

The first season theme "Wagon Train" was written by Henri Rene and Bob Russell, and lyrics were not used. The theme was conducted by Revue musical director Stanley Wilson. In the second season, a new more modern sounding theme was introduced. "(Roll Along) Wagon Train" was written by Sammy Fain and Jack Brooks and sung by Johnny O'Neill. About midway through the second season this was replaced with an instrumental version by Stanley Wilson. In the third season a more traditional sounding score was introduced. "Wagons Ho!" was written and conducted by Jerome Moross. This theme would last through the series run and is the most remembered Wagon Train theme. Stanley Wilson re-recorded "Wagons Ho!" for the last two seasons.

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Ward Bond made a cameo appearance as Major Seth Adams in the film Alias Jesse James (1959).
• Ward Bond died of a heart attack on November 5, 1960, in the middle of the fourth season and was replaced by John McIntire as wagon master. No explanation was ever given on the show.
• John Ford directed an episode with John Wayne in the cast, but only Wayne's voice and shadow appeared.
• The episode, "The Elizabeth McQueeny Story," broadcast October 28, 1959, starred Bette Davis as Elizabeth McQueeny, and served as a pilot for a series of McQueeny adventures in California.
• Ernest Borgnine played Willy Moran in the pilot episode, broadcast September 18, 1957.
• Episodes of this series is credited among a list of television series for being included in past public film showings at the annual Mid atlantic nostalgia convention in Aberdeen, Maryland. Cast members such as Denny Miller have made guest appearances at the festival.
• Denny Miller played the recurring role of Duke Shannon in a total of only twenty-nine episodes.
• During a protest scene in The Simpsons, the character of Moe is seen holding up a sign stating: BRING BACK WAGON TRAIN.
• In the film Stand By Me, one of the young characters remarks, "Wagon Train's a really cool show, but did you ever notice that they never get anywhere? They just keep on Wagon Train-ing."
• The episode "Alias Bill Hawks", available on DVD, is a story of townspeople covering for a murder and trying to dig a needed artesian well. Terry Wilson, as the real "Bill Hawks", arrives to put the puzzle together.
• The episode "The Malachi Hobart Story" features Franchot Tone as a traveling preacher who loses confidence in his own message.
• Another episode features Theodore Bikel as a traveling musician who is transporting a mysterious shipment of dynamite to San Francisco for the Army.

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ "Roddenberry, Gene". The Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved on 2007-06-04.

[edit] External links

• Wagon Train Website
• Wagon Train
• Wagon Train at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e The films of John Ford 1910s The Tornado • The Fighting Gringo • The Trail of Hate • The Scrapper • Cheyenne's Pal • The Soul Herder • Straight Shooting • The Secret Man • A Marked Man • Bucking Broadway • The Phantom Riders • Wild Women • Thieves' Gold • The Scarlet Drop • Hell Bent • A Woman's Fool • The Craving (with Francis Ford) • Three Mounted Men • Roped • The Fighting Brothers • A Fight for Love • Rustlers • Bare Fists • Gun Law • By Indian Post • The Gun Packer • Riders of Vengeance • The Last Outlaw • The Outcasts of Poker Flat • Ace of the Saddle • Rider of the Law • A Gun Fightin' Gentleman • Marked Men 1920s The Prince of Avenue A • The Girl in Number 29 • Hitchin' Posts • Just Pals • The Big Punch • The Freeze-Out • The Wallop • Desperate Trails • Action • Sure Fire • Jackie • Little Miss Smiles • Silver Wings (with Edwin Carewe) • The Village Blacksmith • The Face on the Bar-Room Floor • Three Jumps Ahead • Cameo Kirby • North of Hudson Bay • Hoodman Blind • Hearts of Oak • Lightnin' • Kentucky Pride • Thank You • The Fighting Heart • The Shamrock Handicap • 3 Bad Men • Upstream • Four Sons • Napoleon's Barber • Strong Boy • The Black Watch 1930s Men Without Women • Born Reckless • Up the River • Seas Beneath • The Brat • Arrowsmith • Airmail • Pilgrimage • Doctor Bull • The Lost Patrol • The World Moves On • Judge Priest • The Whole Town's Talking • The Informer • Steamboat Round the Bend • The Prisoner of Shark Island • Mary of Scotland • The Plough and the Stars • Wee Willie Winkie • The Hurricane • Four Men and a Prayer • Submarine Patrol • Stagecoach • Young Mr. Lincoln • Drums Along the Mohawk 1940s The Grapes of Wrath • The Long Voyage Home • Tobacco Road • How Green Was My Valley • They Were Expendable • My Darling Clementine • The Fugitive • Fort Apache • 3 Godfathers • Pinky • She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1950s When Willie Comes Marching Home • Wagon Master • Rio Grande • The Quiet Man • What Price Glory? • The Sun Shines Bright • Mogambo • The Long Gray Line • Mister Roberts (with Mervyn LeRoy) • The Searchers • The Wings of Eagles • The Rising of the Moon • Gideon's Day The Last Hurrah • The Horse Soldiers 1960s Sergeant Rutledge • Two Rode Together • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance • How the West Was Won (with Henry Hathaway and George Marshall) • Donovan's Reef • Cheyenne Autumn • 7 Women Television "Fireside Theatre" (1949) • The Bamboo Cross (1955) • "Screen Directors Playhouse" (1955) • "Wagon Train" (1957-1965) Productions The Iron Horse (1924) • The Blue Eagle (1926) • Mother Machree (1928) • Hangman's House (1928) • Riley the Cop (1928) • Salute (1929) • Flesh (1932) • The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938) • Young Cassidy (1965) Documentaries Torpedo Squadron • Sex Hygiene (1942) • The Battle of Midway (1942) • December 7th (1943) • We Sail at Midnight (1943) • This Is Korea! (1951) • Korea (1959) • Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend (1976)