Black Saddle

Black Saddle is an American Western television series starring Peter Breck as that aired 44 episodes on NBC from January 10, 1959, to May 6, 1960. The half-hour program was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television, and the original backdoor pilot was an episode of CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, with Chris Alcaide originally portraying the principal character, Clay Culhane.[1]

Black Saddle
Peter Breck as Clay Culhane and Anna Lisa as Nora Travers (1959)
Genre	Western
Created by	Hal Hudson John McGreevey
Written by	Antony Ellis George Fass Gertrude Fass John Falvo Richard Fielder Frederick Louis Fox Hal Hudson Jack Jacobs Stuart Jerome Paul Kelly Paul King Ken Kolb Richard Levinson Robert Libott William Link John McGreevey Don Mullally Rod Peterson Joseph Stone John Tucker Battle
Directed by	Frank Baur William F. Claxton John English William D. Faralla Robert Florey Roger Kay Francis D. Lyon Gerd Oswald David Lowell Rich Boris Sagal James Sheldon Elliott Silvertstein
Starring	Peter Breck Russell Johnson Anna-Lisa J. Pat O'Malley Walter Burke
Theme music composer	Jerry Goldsmith Arthur Morton
Composers	Michael Hennagin Arthur Morton
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	44
Production
Executive producer	Hal Hudson
Producers	Antony Ellis Hal Hudson
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	24 mins.
Release
Original network	NBC (1959) ABC (1959-1960)
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural Stereo
Original release	January 10, 1959 – May 6, 1960

Synopsis

Detailed in the second episode of season two ("The Saddle"), series star Peter Breck's character, Clay Culhane, is a gunfighter who becomes a lawyer after his two brothers are killed in a bushwhack. Clay is seriously injured, but survived thanks to a man who nursed him back to health, whom he finds out was a judge who seems to have retired after sentencing one of his sons to death for murder. Under McKinney, Culhane decides that his life should take a different direction, and studies the judge's law books, and is further taught court procedure by the judge. A year later, having been taught by the ex-judge, he passes a verbal examination and becomes a lawyer. His mentor is then killed by his other son, who hates his father for sentencing his twin brother to death.

Breck starred along with Russell Johnson (several years before his role as the Professor on Gilligan's Island) and Anna-Lisa in the roles of US Marshal Gib Scott and Nora Travers, respectively. Other recurring roles were filled by character actors J. Pat O'Malley in eight episodes as Judge Caleb Marsh and Walter Burke in five segments as Tim Potter.

Russell Johnson as Marshal Gib Scott

In the episode "Client Neal Adams" (May 9, 1959), James Drury (more than three years before the premiere of his own series The Virginian on NBC) guest stars as Neal Adams, an old friend of Culhane's who has robbed a bank of $8,000. Shot in the back by a pursuing bounty hunter, played by Charles Aidman, Adams asks Culhane for help. Adams claims that the bounty hunter is the brother of a man whom Adams had earlier killed in self-defense. From the start, Marshal Scott doubts Adams' story and questions Culhane's judgment in the matter.[2]

In "Client Peter Warren" (October 30, 1959), John Lupton, a year after the close of his Broken Arrow Western series, plays a man accused by townspeople of starting a fire that caused the death of his estranged wife's wealthy and respected aunt. The motive is inheritance of joint property from the aunt's pending estate. Culhane agrees to defend Warren, but instead finds evidence that Warren had been present at the scene of the fire. Ed Nelson portrays Lee Coogan, a hot-headed man and a former suitor of Mrs. Warren, played by Aneta Corsaut. Coogan is also determined to show Warren's guilt.[3]

In "Apache Trail" (November 20, 1959), Culhane and Nora go to an Indian outpost to collect a debt owed to her. There, they encounter Sam King (DeForest Kelley), accused of defrauding tribesmen. King is beaten with a whip, but survives the ordeal, only to be shot and killed.[4]

Cast

Main cast

• Peter Breck as Clay Culhane
• Russell Johnson as Marshal Gib Scott
• Anna-Lisa as Nora Travers
• J. Pat O'Malley as Judge Caleb Marsh
• Walter Burke as Tim Potter

Guest cast

Some of the Black Saddle guest stars include Chris Alcaide (who portrayed Clay Culhane in the original pilot), John Anderson, Parley Baer, Raymond Bailey, Paul Birch (in the role of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant in the episode "Mr. Simpson"), Lane Bradford, Paul Burke, James Coburn, John Dehner, Frank Dekova, Buddy Ebsen, Hampton Fancher, James Franciscus, Jack Ging, Dabbs Greer, Clu Gulager, Robert Harland, Stacy Harris, Brett King, Robert Knapp, John Marley, Ann McCrea, Patrick McVey, Vic Perrin, Stafford Repp, Bing Russell, Richard Rust, Robert F. Simon, and Patrick Macnee.

Episodes

Season 1 (1959)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"Client: Travers"	John English	John McGreevey	January 10, 1959
2	2	"Client: Meade"	Roger Kay	John McGreevey	January 17, 1959
3	3	"Client: McQueen"	John English	Robert Yale Libott	January 24, 1959
4	4	"Client: Dawes"	Roger Kay	John McGreevey	January 31, 1959
5	5	"Client: Starkey"	John English	Robert Yale Libott	February 7, 1959
6	6	"Client: Tagger"	John English	Frederick Louis Fox	February 14, 1959
7	7	"Client: Robinson"	John Florea	Jack Jacobs	February 21, 1959
8	8	"Client: Martinez"	Francis D. Lyon	John Tucker Battle	March 7, 1959
9	9	"Client: Northrup"	David Lowell Rich	John McGreevey	March 14, 1959
10	10	"Client: Steele"	Francis D. Lyon	Rod Peterson	March 21, 1959
11	11	"Client: Mowery"	David Lowell Rich	Frederick Louis Fox	March 28, 1959
12	12	"Client: Braun"	David Lowell Rich	John McGreevey	April 4, 1959
13	13	"Client: Banks"	John English	Antony Ellis	April 11, 1959
14	14	"Client: Jessup"	John English	Stuart Jerome	April 18, 1959
15	15	"Client: Frome"	John English	Frederick Louis Fox	April 25, 1959
16	16	"Client: Nelson"	Boris Sagal	John McGreevey	May 2, 1959
17	17	"Client: Neal Adams"	William D. Faralla	Ken Kolb	May 9, 1959
18	18	"Client: Brand"	Gerd Oswald	Joe Stone & Paul King	May 16, 1959
19	19	"Client: Reynolds"	David Lowell Rich	John McGreevey	May 23, 1959
20	20	"Client: Vardon"	William D. Faralla	Frederick Louis Fox	May 30, 1959

Season 2 (1959–60)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
21	1	"The Freebooters"	William D. Faralla	John McGreevey	October 2, 1959
22	2	"The Saddle"	David Lowell Rich	John McGreevey	October 9, 1959
23	3	"The Long Rider"	David Lowell Rich	Antony Ellis	October 16, 1959
24	4	"The Hotel"	James Sheldon	Antony Ellis	October 23, 1959
25	5	"Client: Peter Warren"	David Lowell Rich	Donn Mullally	October 30, 1959
26	6	"The Freight Line"	David Lowell Rich	Antony Ellis	November 6, 1959
27	7	"Murdock"	David Lowell Rich	Fred Frieberger	November 13, 1959
28	8	"Apache Killer"	William D. Faralla	Joe Stone & Paul King	November 20, 1959
29	9	"Four from Stillwater"	David Lowell Rich	George & Gertrude Fass	November 27, 1959
30	10	"The Deal"	David Lowell Rich	William Link & Richard Levinson	December 4, 1959
31	11	"Change of Venue"	William D. Faralla	John McGreevey	December 11, 1959
32	12	"Blood Money"	Frank Baur	John McGreevey	December 18, 1959
33	13	"The Killer"	William F. Claxton	Antony Ellis	January 1, 1960
34	14	"Letter of Death"	David Lowell Rich	Frederick Louis Fox	January 8, 1960
35	15	"Mr. Simpson"	David Lowell Rich	Antony Ellis	January 22, 1960
36	16	"Means to an End"	Frank Baur	John McGreevey	January 29, 1960
37	17	"The Indian Tree"	David Lowell Rich	John McGreevey & Antony Ellis	February 19, 1960
38	18	"The Apprentice"	David Lowell Rich	John McGreevey	March 11, 1960
39	19	"Burden of Guilt"	TBA	TBA	March 18, 1960
40	20	"The Cabin"	David Lowell Rich	Antony Ellis	April 1, 1960
41	21	"The Return"	David Lowell Rich	John McGreevey	April 8, 1960
42	22	"A Case of Slow"	David Lowell Rich	Antony Ellis	April 15, 1960
43	23	"The Penalty"	William D. Faralla	John Falvo	April 22, 1960
44	24	"End of the Line"	William F. Claxton	Richard Fielder	May 4, 1960

Production

Filming

Black Saddle was filmed at the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, California. Several years later, Peter Breck starred as Nick Barkley in another, more successful Four Star series, The Big Valley, on ABC.

Scheduling

Black Saddle originally aired on NBC at 9 pm on Saturdays from January 10—May 30, 1959, before moving to ABC in October of that year, where it aired at 10:30 pm on Fridays after another Four Star production, The Detectives, starring Robert Taylor. Its competition on CBS was the interview program Person to Person created by Edward R. Murrow. NBC aired the 45-minute Gillette Cavalcade of Sports in the same time slot.

Theme

Although the Black Saddle TV series was cancelled over 50 years ago, its original theme song, written by Herschel Burke Gilbert and Arthur Morton, has lived on... and is still often performed. Many cover versions of the song have been recorded, some available on YouTube.

Syndication as The Westerners

For syndicated reruns, Black Saddle was combined with three other Western series from the same company: Law of the Plainsman starring Michael Ansara, Johnny Ringo starring Don Durant and Mark Goddard, and The Westerner with Brian Keith, under the umbrella title, The Westerners, with new hosting sequences by Keenan Wynn.

References

1. Aaker, Everett (2017). Television Western Players, 1960-1975: A Biographical Dictionary. McFarland. p. 54. ISBN 9781476662503. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
2. "Black Saddle: "Client Neal Adams", May 9, 1959". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
3. "Black Saddle: "Client Peter Warren", October 30, 1959". imdb.com. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
4. "Apache Trail, November 20, 1959". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved June 10, 2014.

External links

• Black Saddle at IMDb
• Black Saddle at TV.com
• Black Saddle at TVAddicts
• Black Saddle: Season 2, Ep.2 "The Saddle."