Death Valley Days

Death Valley Days
Stanley Andrews as the first host of Death Valley Days, known as "The Old Ranger" (1953)
Genre	Anthology/Western
Presented by	Stanley Andrews (1952-1963) Ronald Reagan (1964-1965) Robert Taylor (1966-1969) Dale Robertson (1969-1972)
Narrated by	Merle Haggard
Theme music composer	Herbert Taylor
Country of origin	USA
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	18
No. of episodes	452
Production
Executive producer(s)	Gene Autry Louis Gray
Producer(s)	Dorrell McGowan Nat Perrin Armand Schaefer Robert Stabler
Editor(s)	Jack Wheeler Anthony Wollner
Cinematography	William Bradford Richard E. Cunha
Running time	25 min.
Production company(s)	McGowan Productions Flying 'A' Productions Filmaster Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndication
Original run	March 1, 1952 – 1970
External links
Website

Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945 and continued from 1952 to 1970 as a syndicated television series, with reruns (updated with new narrations) continuing through August 1, 1975.

The series was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Borax Company (20 Mule Team Borax, Boraxo) and hosted by Stanley Andrews (1952-1963), Ronald Reagan (1964-1965), Robert Taylor (1966-1969), and Dale Robertson (1969-1972). With the passing of Dale Robertson in 2013, all the former Death Valley Days hosts are now deceased.

Hosts

The 451 television episodes were introduced by a host. The longest-running was "The Old Ranger" from 1952 to 1965, played by Stanley Andrews, when the series was produced by McGowan Productions, producer of the Sky King television series. Filmaster Productions Inc., who produced the first several seasons of Gunsmoke for CBS Television, took over production of the series in the mid-1960s.

Following the departure of Andrews, Ronald Reagan became the host. He served in that position from 1964 to 1965 and it proved to be his final professional work as an actor. When Reagan entered politics, the role went to Robert Taylor. Taylor became gravely ill in 1969 and was replaced by Dale Robertson. Production of new episodes ceased in 1970. Merle Haggard provided narration for some previously made episodes in 1975. Reagan and Taylor also frequently appeared in the program as actors. While original episodes were still being made, older episodes were in syndication under a different series title with other hosts; the series could still be in competition with itself in syndication, and this also made it easier for viewers to distinguish the new episodes from the older ones. (This was common practice through the early 1980s among syndicated series.) The hosting segment at the beginning and the end was easily reshot with another performer having no effect on the story. Alternate hosts and titles included Frontier Adventure (Dale Robertson), The Pioneers (Will Rogers, Jr.), Trails West (Ray Milland), Western Star Theatre (Rory Calhoun) and Call of the West (John Payne). The last title was also often applied to the series' memorable, haunting theme music.

Borax

Under the Death Valley Days title, the program was sponsored by Pacific Coast Borax Company, which during the program's run changed its name to U.S. Borax Company following a merger. Advertisements for the company's best-known products, 20 Mule Team Borax, a laundry additive, Borateem, a laundry detergent, and Boraxo, a powdered hand soap, were often done by the program's host. Death Valley was the scene of much of the company's borax mining operations. The "20-Mule Team Borax" consumer products division of U.S. Borax was eventually bought out by the Dial Corporation, which as of 2010 still manufactures and markets them.

Death Valley Days is by far the most successful syndicated television Western, the most successful television Western ever in the half-hour format, and one of the longest-running and most successful of all scripted syndicated series. The end of the series, coupled with the concurrent end of Gunsmoke, marked the end of the traditional Western era in American television; by the mid-1970s, although Western elements were still fairly common in modern series, pure Western series were a thing of the past.

The stories used in the series were based on actual events. For example, the episode titled "Death Valley Scotty" was based on the record-breaking run of the 1905 Scott Special, chartered by Walter E. Scott, a.k.a. "Death Valley Scotty".

Guest stars

• Tol Avery appeared twice on the series, as Frank Brenner in "The Resurrection of Deadwood Dick" and as Walter Benson in "Doc Holliday's Gold Bars" (both 1966).
• Conlan Carter portrayed L. Frank Baum, the creator of The Wizard of Oz, in a 1970 episode.
• Dennis Cross appeared three times in episodes "Treasure of Elk Canyon" (1961), and "Captain Dick Mine" and "The Rider" (both 1965).
• Ben Cooper appeared as Jason Tugwell in the 1969 episode "Biscuits and Billy the Kid".
• Jim Davis, later Jock Ewing on Dallas, portrayed a U.S. representative from Nevada in the episode "Little Washington", set in 1878 in Carson City.
• John Doucette portrayed Apache Chief Geronimo in the 1961 episode "Gamble with Death". His co-stars included Dick Sargent and Tom Greenway.
• Ron Foster appeared as Silas Begg in the 1957 episode "Rough and Ready".
• Ron Hagerthy, formerly of Sky King, appeared as Felix in the 1958 episode "Old Gabe".
• Ron Hayes appeared as Dan Bartlett in the 1960 episode "Devil's Bar".
• Brad Johnson appeared five times on Death Valley Days, including the role of Bill Tilghman in the 1960 episode "The Wedding Dress".
• Chubby Johnson, as Jake in "The Tenderfoot" (1968) and as Davis in "The Other Side of the Mountain" (1969)
• I. Stanford Jolley, five appearances, as J.V. Langley in "The Kickapoo Run" (1954), as Colby in "California's First Ice Man" (1955), as a guide in "California Gold Rush in Reverse" (1957), and in the final role of Bart Taylor in "Eruption at Volcano" (1959)
• Barry Kelley as George Hearst in "The Paper Legacy" (1964)
• Brett King as Cassidy and Robert Knapp as Tom Dixon in "The Devil's Due" (1960)
• Harry Lauter, a character actor, appeared seven times, twice as Mel Hardin in "Gold Lake" and "Wheelbarrow Johnny" (both 1959).
• Dayton Lummis portrayed New Mexico Territorial Governor Lew Wallace in "Shadows on the Window" (1960), with Martin Braddock as Billy the Kid. He also played John De La Mar in "City of Widows" the same year.
• Tyler MacDuff played Norman Berry in "The Hoodoo Mine" (1956).
• Tyler McVey appeared four times, including as a priest in the 1962 episode "Abel Duncan's Dying Wish" and in the 1969 segment "The Oldest Outlaw".
• John M. Pickard appeared ten times, including the role of Sheriff McKittrick in the 1966 episode, "The Resurrection of Deadwood Dick" and as Lafe Ellsworth in "The Other Creek" (1968).
• Judson Pratt appeared twice: "The Left Hand is Damned" (1964) and as a general in "Raid on the San Francisco Mint" (1965)
• Stuart Randall appeared as Judge Reed in "The Pieces of the Puzzle" (1968).
• Karen Sharpe played Linda in "Claim Jumpin' Jennie", opposite Irene Burton as Jennie and Wallace Ford as Buck Hansen (1953).
• John Vivyan, earlier Mr. Lucky, guest starred in two episodes in 1962.
• Tony Young played Corbin in "Phanton Procession" (1963).
• Robert Yuro played the outlaw Curly Bill Brocius in the episode "A Mule ... Like the Army's Mule" (October 5, 1968). Also appearing in this episode are Sam Melville as Army Lt. Jason Beal and Luke Halpin as the young outlaw Sandy King, who was befriended by Beal. John Pickard played Baldy Johnson. Yuro also played the Texas gunfighter King Fisher in the 1970 episode "King of the Uvalde Road", with Dale Robertson.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Result	Category	Recipient
1955	Emmy Award	Nominated	Best Western or Adventure Series	-
1961	Western Heritage Awards	Won	Best Factual Television Program	Ruth Woodman and Nat Perrin (For episode "The Great Lounsberry Scoop")

In the 1955-1956 season, NBC offered Frontier, an anthology Western series similar to Death Valley Days hosted by Walter Coy. Though Frontier, a springboard for the Western actor Jack Elam, was nominated for an Emmy Award, it was cancelled after a single season.

References

• Tim Brooks & Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows

Listen to

• Radio Lovers: Death Valley Days (1936 episodes)

External links

• Death Valley Days Official Website
• Death Valley Days at the Internet Movie Database
• Death Valley Days at TV.com
• Death Valley Days, free downloads at the Internet Archive