In our retrospective of old-time radio, we have the chance to looks at all performances with our "telescopes" (mp3) and listen to in the neighborhood of 40% of all major radio performances.
Sure, that's 60% not covered but of that 60%, most of it is stuff we probably wouldn't to hear anyway and probably 75% of it is music.
At any rate, there have been some fine performances along the way. It is often pointed out on this website how great Orson Welles was and I like to think of Lurene Tuttle as being a female version of Welles. And you know I like Agnes Moorehead but I probably like many others just as much.
I mentioned those 3 actors specifically because they are about fourth of the dozen or so actors and actresses I can recall playing star dual roles in OTR.
Well I heard another one not too long ago. Sometime, check out Frontier Gentleman and episode "Belljoy's Prisoner" (580608) when versatile John Dehner plays J.B. Kindle, the Frontier Gentleman and a crazy fat guy from the backwoods. It's pretty good stuff. Two completely different roles and done so well, it's hard to imagine they are the same man.
©Jimbo 2010/2011
Showing posts with label Frontier Gentleman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frontier Gentleman. Show all posts
Monday, September 19, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
One of the best: Frontier Gentleman
Another of the late-1950's radio entries, Frontier Gentleman was all about J.B. Kendall, a newspaper writer for the London Times who was making his way westward in the United States for a little bit of it's flavor. He would write a story and send it back to London to be published and was always waiting for his money to catch up with him. While he was never broke - that I recall - he was down to coins, or seemed to be in most episodes.
Kendall was a gentleman, no doubt. But he was also tough. He owned a gun but rarely used it. We get the feeling that he was one of the best bare-knuckle fighters in the Radio Old West - not that he looked for a fight, he didn't do that. But he was going to do what was right and if that meant having to use his fists to defend himself, he was by no means a coward. He was hard to beat as well. The only time he lost a fight is when someone would sneak up behind him and plop him on the head with the barrel of their gun while he was fighting someone else.
John Dehner played Kendall and while Dehner played a million Western parts in radio (in every other Gunsmoke episode and as Paladin in Have Gun Will Travel) I think he was best as Kendall. He was smart, sympathetic but also a moralist. Add the toughness in there and what you have is a bonafide Western hero - who didn't go around gunning people - in some ways he was like Matt Dillon or even Paladin. The only odd thing - he didn't own a horse and is almost never heard riding one!
As a gentleman, Kendall would often find himself the guest of a town's mayor or even a governor. He met up with some of the West's urban legends, such as Wild Bill Hickock and came really close to being with General Custer on that fateful day when Custer foolishly led his men into their last battle.
The sound quality of the series is superb. It sounds as good as anything out there; seems most of the Westerns of the late 1950's have this advantage over other series. I know some people refuse to listen to old radio that is even half-way fuzzy.
This series is one of the best out there.
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| John Dehner |
John Dehner played Kendall and while Dehner played a million Western parts in radio (in every other Gunsmoke episode and as Paladin in Have Gun Will Travel) I think he was best as Kendall. He was smart, sympathetic but also a moralist. Add the toughness in there and what you have is a bonafide Western hero - who didn't go around gunning people - in some ways he was like Matt Dillon or even Paladin. The only odd thing - he didn't own a horse and is almost never heard riding one!
As a gentleman, Kendall would often find himself the guest of a town's mayor or even a governor. He met up with some of the West's urban legends, such as Wild Bill Hickock and came really close to being with General Custer on that fateful day when Custer foolishly led his men into their last battle.
The sound quality of the series is superb. It sounds as good as anything out there; seems most of the Westerns of the late 1950's have this advantage over other series. I know some people refuse to listen to old radio that is even half-way fuzzy.
This series is one of the best out there.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
1950's trauma: Shocked by radio Westerns
The 1950's (and in particular, the years of 1955 on) saw a tide of Westerns sweep over radio at an enormous rate.
These weren't the Westerns folks were used to listening to. In the 1930's and '40's, radio was ripe with such easy-going kid fare as The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, Hopalong Cassidy, Sgt. Preston and the Challenge of the Yukon plus a whole mini-genre of happy-as-all-get-out singing cowboys like Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Gene Autry.
Any title or name in the above paragraph bears the fruit of complete trust that you'd have in letting your child listen to those particular programs. There would be no suggestion of sex of any kind (and probably no kissing either.) There might be some shooting, but rest assured, The Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers were always aiming for the outlaw's hand. Why, Sgt. Preston rarely ever used a gun at all; he more often than not allowed his trusty dog to rip the flesh from the bones of frigid criminals (and radio dogs inflicting bodily damage seemingly has no effect on listening audiences of any age!)
And then you had the simple Western, such as The Six-Shooter, where Brit Ponsit was an ex-gunslinger (but a good guy) whose aim at life was to visit friends and neighbors each week. Unless really provoked, the only damage he wanted to do was to consume a whole pan of cornbread. Played by the almost milquetoast (or at the very least, quiet and empathetic) Jimmy Stewart, violence was the last thing on the mind of the listener. The Six Shooter is a calm -almost sad- show; after all the show's main theme music is slow and yes, sad.
Then when 'the wave' hit, it must has greatly shocked those radio listeners, especially those who did not have television or rarely went to see films at their local theaters.
Gunsmoke, for instance, revolved around Matt Dillon, easily one of the toughest radio characters ever. He didn't want to have to shoot someone. He would rather mangle someone with his hands and did so often, incorporating thoughts of bloody body parts everywhere in the radio listener's mind.
Not only that but Dillon was not married. His favorite hangout was the Long Branch Saloon and the writers, directors and actors made no bones about it: the iniquity den was loaded with prostitutes (it attracted the cattlemen who had just got paid.) And to top it all off (no pun intended) Dillon had a girl at the saloon who wanted him to marry her (Kitty.)
While no one came right out in the open and said, "Kitty is a prostitute and Matt probably doesn't have to pay" - you certainly get that idea while listening to the show. And somewhere, Roy Rogers was probably freaking out over this.
There exists, somewhere (because I used to have it) some audio clips of Matt and Kitty [in character] "having sex" in a squeaky bed - I kid you not.) But I can't seem to find them anywhere now.
In the beginning weeks of Gunsmoke, Doc's character was potrayed as being a greedy businessman who attended to burials rather than the cheerful, sympathetic doctor of Dodge City.
And Gunsmoke was just one show. Have Gun Will Travel was clearly about a hired gun name Paladin. Generally, he would rather not kill. But then again, he did so often - and got paid for it.
Other shows like Luke Slaughter of Tombstone, Frontier Town and even Frontier Gentleman are vivid with all sorts of people getting killed (Luke Slaughter's last name isn't that by accident) including pseudo-genocidal cleansing of Indians from America's Western breach.
John Dehner as the Frontier Gentleman was a vicious bare-knuckled fighter and I don't ever recall losing at fisticuffs.
So when the tide came, there must have been some sort of cultural trauma, because it all happened at once.
These weren't the Westerns folks were used to listening to. In the 1930's and '40's, radio was ripe with such easy-going kid fare as The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, Hopalong Cassidy, Sgt. Preston and the Challenge of the Yukon plus a whole mini-genre of happy-as-all-get-out singing cowboys like Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Gene Autry.
Any title or name in the above paragraph bears the fruit of complete trust that you'd have in letting your child listen to those particular programs. There would be no suggestion of sex of any kind (and probably no kissing either.) There might be some shooting, but rest assured, The Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers were always aiming for the outlaw's hand. Why, Sgt. Preston rarely ever used a gun at all; he more often than not allowed his trusty dog to rip the flesh from the bones of frigid criminals (and radio dogs inflicting bodily damage seemingly has no effect on listening audiences of any age!)
And then you had the simple Western, such as The Six-Shooter, where Brit Ponsit was an ex-gunslinger (but a good guy) whose aim at life was to visit friends and neighbors each week. Unless really provoked, the only damage he wanted to do was to consume a whole pan of cornbread. Played by the almost milquetoast (or at the very least, quiet and empathetic) Jimmy Stewart, violence was the last thing on the mind of the listener. The Six Shooter is a calm -almost sad- show; after all the show's main theme music is slow and yes, sad.
Then when 'the wave' hit, it must has greatly shocked those radio listeners, especially those who did not have television or rarely went to see films at their local theaters.
Gunsmoke, for instance, revolved around Matt Dillon, easily one of the toughest radio characters ever. He didn't want to have to shoot someone. He would rather mangle someone with his hands and did so often, incorporating thoughts of bloody body parts everywhere in the radio listener's mind.
Not only that but Dillon was not married. His favorite hangout was the Long Branch Saloon and the writers, directors and actors made no bones about it: the iniquity den was loaded with prostitutes (it attracted the cattlemen who had just got paid.) And to top it all off (no pun intended) Dillon had a girl at the saloon who wanted him to marry her (Kitty.)
While no one came right out in the open and said, "Kitty is a prostitute and Matt probably doesn't have to pay" - you certainly get that idea while listening to the show. And somewhere, Roy Rogers was probably freaking out over this.
There exists, somewhere (because I used to have it) some audio clips of Matt and Kitty [in character] "having sex" in a squeaky bed - I kid you not.) But I can't seem to find them anywhere now.
In the beginning weeks of Gunsmoke, Doc's character was potrayed as being a greedy businessman who attended to burials rather than the cheerful, sympathetic doctor of Dodge City.
And Gunsmoke was just one show. Have Gun Will Travel was clearly about a hired gun name Paladin. Generally, he would rather not kill. But then again, he did so often - and got paid for it.
Other shows like Luke Slaughter of Tombstone, Frontier Town and even Frontier Gentleman are vivid with all sorts of people getting killed (Luke Slaughter's last name isn't that by accident) including pseudo-genocidal cleansing of Indians from America's Western breach.
John Dehner as the Frontier Gentleman was a vicious bare-knuckled fighter and I don't ever recall losing at fisticuffs.
So when the tide came, there must have been some sort of cultural trauma, because it all happened at once.
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