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Title: Westerns on Old Time Radio (Smithsonian Collection) by Radio Spirits ISBN: 1-57019-038-0 Publisher: Radio Spirits Pub. Date: 30 November, 2001 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 4 List Price(USD): $24.98

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: How the West was Fun
Comment: I'm not much of a Western fan, but the collection contained a "Tales of the Texas Rangers" episode, so I bought it. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised. The "Texas Rangers" story was, of course, a 20th Century detective story, but it had a Western setting, and Ranger Jase Pearson got to ride his trusty horse Charcoal as he tracked the bad guy through the mesquite. "Texas Rangers" was a little out of place, but not much.

The other stories easily divided themselves into three types:

[1] Juvenile Westerns: "The Lone Ranger", "Hopalong Cassidy", and "The Cisco Kid". All three were boyhood heroes of mine, and the stories proved quite enjoyable. "Hopalong Cassidy" actually turned in a creditable mystery. I also learned that Clayton Moore was not the only person ever to play the Lone Ranger. Brace Beamer did a superlative job of playing the masked man.

[2] Western episodes from anthology series: "The Lux Radio Theatre" turned in a radio dramatization of the movie "The Plainsman", an inaccurate, forgettable biopic on Wild Bill Hickock. "Screen Director's Assignment" presented "Stagecoach", directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Ward Bond. The production values were excellent. They had to cut some characters and delete plot features to compress the movie into a 30 minute radio play, but the story was still compelling. "Wild Jack Rhett", from "Escape", inspired the long running radio and TV series "Gunsmoke". The show might also have influenced John Wayne's final Western, "The Shootist".

[3] Adult Westerns: "Gunsmoke" has to be the archetypical adult Western, and William Conrad makes for a convincing Matt Dillon. Hearing his voice, however, I couldn't help but conjure up a mental image of his later TV character, "Cannon". The other offerings, however, were every bit as good. Jimmy Stewart turned in a great performance as "The Six Shooter" in a melodramatic murder mystery. The episode from "Frontier Gentleman" may have been influenced by the Greek myth of the Bed of Procrustes. It might very well also have influenced or been influenced by Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". "Have Gun, Will Travel" presented a rather trite story of the dude Easterner coming of age in the rough and tumble West.