Frontier Doctor

Frontier Doctor
Format	Western
Starring	Rex Allen
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	39
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndication
Picture format	Black and white (1958-1959)
Original run	September 26, 1958 – June 3, 1959

For the NBC program similarly named, see Frontier (1955 TV series).

Frontier Doctor is an American Western television series starring Rex Allen that aired in syndication from September 26, 1958, until June 20, 1959.

Synopsis

Frontier Doctor followed the exploits of small town doctor, Dr. Bill Baxter, who rode in a buggy with his black bag and found more than his share of trouble as he came to the aid of people who crossed his path. Operating from "Rising Springs", Dr. Baxter often found trouble with the patients he treated, such as outlaws like Butch Cassidy. Allen was from Willcox, Arizona, and the program was set in the Arizona Territory. there. Several actors appeared occasionally on the program, including Stafford Repp as Sheriff Brawley.

Allen, a veteran Western movie actor and singer, knew the genre, but this series failed to attract needed viewers. There was speculation that Dr. Baxter was detached as a character and that Allen, an otherwise talented raconteur, delivered his lines in a bland fashion.

In the 1958 episode "The Outlaw Legion", Dr. Baxter discovers that the men he is treating in a remote cabin are Butch Cassidy and members of the "Hole in the Wall Gang". Native Canadian Joe Sawyer portrayed a boorish Cassidy. Doris Singleton, previously of CBS's I Love Lucy sitcom, appeared as Laura, Cassidy's unhappy girlfriend who saves Dr. Baxter's life and tries to put her shady past behind her. Michael Ansara of Law of the Plainsman, appeared as Will Carver, a Cassidy henchman.

Other guest stars:

• Chris Alcaide as Ed Slater in "Broken Barrier" (1959)
• Mary Castle in the episode "The Big Gamblers"
• Virginia Christine and Robert Vaughn as a troubled brother and sister whose relationship leads to the murder of a young woman in the episode "The Twisted Road".
• Francis De Sales as Tom Lynch in "Double Boomerang" (1958)
• Ron Hagerthy as Pa Helbrog in "The Homesteaders" (1959)
• Tyler McVey as Sheriff Ed Wilson in "The Great Stagecoach Robbery" (1958)
• Gregg Palmer as Charlie Pierce in "Crooked Circle" (1958)
• Glenn Strange (Sam Noonan the Bartender, on Gunsmoke and a cousin of Rex Allen's) in "Queen of Cimarron"

References

McNeil, Alex. Total Television (1996). New York: Penguin Books ISBN 0-140-24916-8 Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows (1999). New York: Ballantine Books ISBN 0-345-42923

External links

• Frontier Doctor at the Internet Movie Database
• Frontier Doctor at TV.com
• Frontier Doctor (The German TV-Title is: "Dr. Bill Baxter, Arzt in Arizona")