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Cowboys of the West |
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Many
of the legendary movie cowboys appeared on radio. Hopalong Cassidy, Tales of the Texas Rangers and The Six Shooter are fine examples of this genre on radio and they
are available separately from within this (Old Time Radio) section of the
website. Other
cowboys were heard on radio to a more limited extent, at least in terms of
that which has survived today - sometimes appearing on their own 15 minute
serials or guesting on anthology cowboy shows such as All-Star Western
Theater Your All-Star Western Theater is happy to
bring you hard riding, straight shooting star of the western screen:
Johnny Mack Brown All-Star
Western Theater delivered live
western-style entertainment during the mid to late 1940s. With music provided
by Foy Willing and the Riders
of the Purple Sage topping and
tailing each 30 minute episode, "your All-Star Western Theatre"
often contained excitingly dramatized 20 minute cowboy adventures starring movie western heroes. These western dramas
were especially (and well-) written for the relevant movie hero and were very
exciting examples of action radio at its very best. The most appeared western
movie star was Jimmy Wakely who
featured on All-Star Western Theatre a total of 3 times. Don
Red Barry, Johnny Mack Brown and Tex
Ritter each appeared in two
episodes with the latter also contributing a song (both times). Allan
"Rocky" Lane, Monte Hale
and Tim Holt guested on only one
occasion each, with Tim's appearance being significant in that he appeared
alongside his movie actor father, Jack & sister, Jennifer
(also an actress of note). Edited down to just the adventure, each of these 20 minute dramatizations is a good
listen and strongly appeal to the movie persona of the relevant cowboy guest. Want
to check out one of these? - why not "taste & try" Johnny
Mack Brown guesting on All-Star
Western Theater? This
episode can be freely downloaded to your computer - just right button click
on any link below and chose "Download Linked File" (or words to
that effect). The file is on an average about 16Mb - download time will
depend on your (broadband) speed ASWT_1946-10-20
The Man from Alabama.mp3 Wild
Bill Elliott, Buck Jones and Tom Mix had their own radio shows. "Wild
Bill" Elliott's cowboy serial commenced with: Look at him rope and look at him ride! "Up there boy, lets ride, Stormy" Its Wild Bill Elliott É in person And now for action and adventure,
western-style, its Bill Elliott, star of Republic Pictures
great western epics in his own radio program! Unfortunately,
only 3 episodes have survived of this 1948 series: the first, third &
fourth shows from the continuing adventure of "The Vanishing
Stagecoach" - itÕs a fun listen
and Wild Bill really make their presence felt in this exciting story. Buck
Jones' radio show, entitled "Hoofbeats" was an excitingly dramatized 15 minute serial
western playing 5 weekdays with our hero, Buck Jones (and horse Silver) Hoofbeats É howdy folks, you'll be mighty glad
to hear, I reckon, that we're gonna bring you America's most famous cowboy É
hard ridin', hard hittin', hard
to beat, everyone's favourite: Buck Jones At
the end of each episode, Buck invited kids to join the Buck Jones Club and receive a membership badge and club manual. All
you needed to join was one box top from Grape Nuts Flakes. Here again, only the first 3 episodes are all that
exists of this interesting and popular 1937 series. Legendary
movie cowboy, Tom Mix also (sort
of) had a radio show as well.
Even though he was better known as a star of the silents, his radio
series was a huge success without him through to 1951 É even after his death
in 1940! Tom Mix was most
successfully played by Joe "Curley" Bradley, who together with his horse Tony had many exciting western adventures in a (mostly)
15 minute continuing serial format. The Tom Mix Ralston Straight-Shooters are on
the air! É and here comes Tom Mix: America's favorite
cowboy É. "Up Tony, come on boy!" É the Tom Mix Ralston Straight-Shooters bring
you action, mystery and mile a minute thrills Unfortunately
there are not a lot of continuous episodes of this continuing series which
have survived however three episodes leading up to the last episode of the 1945
story: The Mystery of Vanishing Village are still in existence. The last and concluding episode of this
story has not survived but noted (& enthusiastic) radio identity Jim
Harmon produced and directed an
authorised re-enactment of this last instalment in 1982 with Curley
Bradley again playing Mix! So
The Mystery of Vanishing Village story
whilst not a complete adventure in full can now be enjoyed by way of the last four
15 minute episodes - note that the story can easily be "picked up"
- all one needs to know is that a village of 600 people have gone missing and
Tom Mix means to find out what
has happened! In
1949, the Tom Mix radio show moved to a 30 minute stand-alone format but only
one of these episodes has survived The Mystery of the Magic Mesa. Jim Harmon and his experienced cast did perform several further Tom Mix re-enactments in this 30 minute format but (out of
respect for their achievements) they are not included here. Tales
From the Diamond K was a quite
unique early 1950s radio series in that it delivered a 15 minute
self-contained "real-life story" told by Hollywood cowboy Ken
Maynard (and his horse, Tarzan) From the tack room of Ken Maynard's Diamond K
Ranch, we're bringing you transcribed stories of adventure É stories of
circus life É fascinating tales of the Old West where cowboys still follow
the cattle trails É stories of rodeos and parades É colourful legends of the
Red Man É hidden gold and buried treasure. These exciting tales from the Diamond K are
told by Hollywood's champion of western stars:
internationally famous Ken Maynard These
were really quite interesting tales (yarns?) and were well told in the first
person by Maynard who by then (the early 1950s) was not really a Hollywood
star anymore. However his delivery in this radio series was exemplary and
each action/adventure story was varied, intriguing and exciting. Thankfully
unlike the cowboy radio series mentioned above, a total of 38 episodes of
this fine series have survived. An added bit f fun comes from Ken's premiums:
Diamond K album of phonograph records comprising 2 Tales From the Diamond K
and personalised (by name) to the customer (buckaroo) and Ken's western K-Shirt, complete with a Diamond K brand on the front. Want
to check out one of these? - why not "taste & try"? This
episode can be freely downloaded to your computer - just right button click
on any link below and chose "Download Linked File" (or words to
that effect). The file is on an average about 11Mb - download time will
depend on your (broadband) speed TDKKM_1951
No. 11 Adventure in Maverick Valley.mp3 This
MP3 Disc contain the 20 minute dramatized appearances of Jimmy Wakely (3
times), Tim Holt (once), Tex Ritter (twice), Johnny Mack Brown (twice), Allan
"Rocky" Lane (once), Don Red Barry (twice) & Monte Hale (once)
on All-Star Western Theatre, all 3 surviving episodes of both the "Wild
Bill" Elliott and Buck Jones radio series, the final 4 episodes of the
Tom Mix adventure: The Mystery of the Vanishing Village (including the 4th
part 1982 Recreation), the only surviving 30 minute stand-alone Tom Mix
adventure and all 41 surviving episodes of Ken Maynard's Tales From the
Diamond K: A.
All-Star Western
Theatre: 1.
Jimmy Wakely ASWT_1946-08-18
Rose Of San Antone.mp3 ASWT_1946-11-17
Down Mexico Way.mp3 ASWT_1947-04-22
The Lone Bandit.mp3 2.
Tim Holt ASWT_1946-09-22
Drifting.mp3 3.
Tex Ritter ASWT_1946-10-06
Billy the Kid.mp3 ASWT_1946-10-13
I Came From Texas.mp3 4.
Johnny Mack Brown ASWT_1946-10-20
The Man from Alabama.mp3 ASWT_1947-02-02
The Marshall of Red Rock.mp3 5.
Allan "Rocky"
Lane ASWT_1946-10-27
At Sundown.mp3 6.
Don "Red"
Barry ASWT_1947-03-02
New Mexico Badman.mp3 ASWT_1947-05-10
Bid For Election.mp3 7.
Monte Hale ASWT_1947-04-08
Texas Adventure.mp3 B.
"Wild
Bill" Elliott WBE_1948-07-03
Vanishing Shadow No.1.mp3 WBE_1948-07-05
Vanishing Shadow No.3.mp3 WBE_1948-07-06
Vanishing Shadow No.4.mp3 C.
Buck Jones
"Hoofbeats" BJ_1936-xx-xx
Hoofbeats No. 1.mp3 BJ_1936-xx-xx
Hoofbeats No. 2.mp3 BJ_1936-xx-xx
Hoofbeats No. 3.mp3 D.
Tom Mix
"Ralston Straight-Shooters" TMRSS_1945-08-10
The Mystery of the Vanishing Village (I).mp3 TMRSS_1945-08-13
The Mystery of the Vanishing Village (II).mp3 TMRSS_1945-08-15
The Mystery of the Vanishing Village (III).mp3 TMRSS_1945-08-17
The Mystery of the Vanishing Village (IV)-1982R.mp3 TMRSS_1949-12-16
The Mystery of the Magic Mesa.mp3 E.
Ken Maynard
"Tales From the Diamond K" 1.
TDKKM_1951 No. 03
Rusty Bill.mp3 2.
TDKKM_1951 No. 04 The
Oklahoma Kid.mp3 3.
TDKKM_1951 No. 05 The
Squaw Man's Fortune.mp3 4.
TDKKM_1951 No. 06 Red
Ingles' Miracle.mp3 5.
TDKKM_1951 No. 07
Thunder Valley.mp3 6.
TDKKM_1951 No. 09 Gold
Fever.mp3 7.
TDKKM_1951 No. 10
Pirate Booty.mp3 8.
TDKKM_1951 No. 11
Adventure in Maverick Valley.mp3 9.
TDKKM_1951 No. 12
Broken Bridge.mp3 10.
TDKKM_1951 No. 13
Poison Gold.mp3 11.
TDKKM_1951 No. 14 The
Lake of Gold.mp3 12.
TDKKM_1951 No. 15
Cattle Rustling, Texas Style.mp3 13.
TDKKM_1951 No. 16
Windmill Jones.mp3 14.
TDKKM_1951 No. 17 The Lost
Fortune aka Hidden Fortune).mp3 15.
TDKKM_1951 No. 18
Devil's Kitchen.mp3 16.
TDKKM_1951 No. 19 The
Secret of Three Horn Ranch.mp3 17.
TDKKM_1951 No. 20 The
Lost City of the Incas.mp3 18.
TDKKM_1951 No. 21
Chuckaluck and the City of Gold.mp3 19.
TDKKM_1951 No. 22
Craters of the Moon.mp3 20.
TDKKM_1951 No. 23 The
Gold of Fort Ramirez.mp3 21.
TDKKM_1951 No. 24 The
Treasure of the Guadalupes.mp3 22.
TDKKM_1951 No. 25 The
Treasure of Cuengha Pass.mp3 23.
TDKKM_1951 No. 26 Peg
Leg Smith.mp3 24.
TDKKM_1951 No. 27 The
Ghost Rider of Loma Escondida.mp3 25.
TDKKM_1951 No. 28
Posthole Bank.mp3 26.
TDKKM_1951 No. 29 Pot
O' Gold.mp3 27.
TDKKM_1951 No. 30 The
Skeleton in the Well.mp3 28.
TDKKM_1951 No. 31 The
Bryfogel Mine.mp3 29.
TDKKM_1951 No. 32 The
Seven Cities of Sibola.mp3 30.
TDKKM_1951 No. 33 The
Unburied Treasure.mp3 31.
TDKKM_1951 No. 34 The
Lure of El Dorado.mp3 32.
TDKKM_1951 No. 35
Yankee Dan.mp3 33.
TDKKM_1951 No. 36 The
Adventure at Mud Creek.mp3 34.
TDKKM_1951 No. 37 The
Golden Chimney.mp3 35.
TDKKM_1951 No. 38
Tarzan's Mate.mp3 36.
TDKKM_1951 No. 39
Talbot's Bank.mp3 37.
TDKKM_1951 No. 40 Horse
Named Gunpowder.mp3 38.
TDKKM_1951 No. 41
Golden Spiders.mp3 |