Lawman (TV series)

Lawman
John Russell and Peggie Castle, 1959.
Format	Western
Starring	John Russell Peter Brown Peggie Castle
Country of origin	USA
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	156
Production
Executive producer(s)	William T. Orr
Running time	30 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	October 5, 1958 – June 24, 1962

Lawman is an American Western television series originally telecast from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay on the ABC Television Network. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during the mid to late 1870s. Warner Bros. already had several western series on the air at the time. This began in 1955 with Cheyenne. It continued in 1957 with the additions of Maverick, Colt .45, and Sugarfoot. One year later, they added Lawman and Bronco. Prior to the beginning of production, John Russell, Peter Brown, and producer Jules Schermer made a pact to maintain the quality of the series so that it would not be seen as just another western. At the start of season two, Russell and Brown were joined by Peggie Castle as Lily Merrill, the owner of the Birdcage Saloon, and a love interest for Dan. In its last season, Lawman was the lead-in on ABC for Marilyn Maxwell's unsuccessful series Bus Stop, which failed to compete successfully with Bonanza on NBC. The series can currently be seen in re-runs Monday thru Friday at 9am ET on the Encore Westerns Channel.

Premise

Dan Troop left Abilene, Kansas for the town of Laramie, Wyoming. He was offered the town marshal's job after the previous marshal, David Lemp, was murdered. On the way into town, he met Johnny McKay, who was placing a tombstone on Lemp's grave. Johnny mistook Dan for a crook, but they met up later again at the cafe owned by Lemp's widow, Dru, played by Bek Nelson, where Johnny worked as a dishwasher. Dan put a sign in the window of the marshal's office that said, "Deputy Wanted." Johnny applied for the job, but Dan turned him down, because he felt that at 19 years old, he was just too young. Dan later came across Lacey Hawks, played by Edd Byrnes, in the Bluebonnet Saloon. Lacey tried to coax Dan into a gunfight, but Dan arrested him instead. Lacey promised Dan that his two brothers Flynn, played by Jack Elam, and Walt, played by Lee Van Cleef, would come after him. Johnny told Dan that Flynn is the one that killed Marshal Lemp, and that the whole town saw him do it, but were too afraid to stand up to him. He again volunteered to help Dan take them down, but Troop refused. Johnny told him that he cannot take both remaining Hawks Brothers alone. Dan went out to face them anyway. Dan shoots Flynn, but then hears another shot from behind him. Dan saw Walt fall dead, and then turned around to see Johnny standing there with a rifle in hand. Dan motioned for Johnny to follow him back into the office, and then took the "Deputy Wanted" sign down. During the course of season one, we saw Dan teaching Johnny the fundamentals of being in law enforcement. In many of the big situations, he would leave Johnny behind to guard the town, while he chased after the bad guy. However, in seasons two thru four, Johnny would start getting more involved in the action, and in some cases getting to carry entire episodes by himself. During the first season, the episodes stayed with a serious tone. However, when Lily arrived at the start of season two, they branched out by adding more comedy and even some romance into the scripts.

Main characters

Dan Troop, played by John Russell, is the town marshal of Laramie. Russell based the character on an officer he knew in the Marines. Dan was a hardnosed, by-the-book, seasoned lawman, who is quick with a gun, and also good with his fists. Russell, who was 37 years old when he got the part, theorized that Dan would have to be older to have this much experience as a lawman. From the third episode on, Russell had white streaks added to his hair to make him appear older. In addition to being marshal, Dan was both a mentor and friend to his deputy, Johnny McKay. According to Brown on his website, Dan and Johnny's relationship mirrored the relationship he had with Russell. While Dan was teaching Johnny how to be a lawman, Russell was teaching Brown how to be an actor. Dan also had a romantic relationship with saloon owner, Lily Merrill. Dan cared for Lily very deeply, but his job often got in the way of their happiness. He also had one brother, Clay Troop, played by James Drury, who was killed in the season one episode, "The Gang". In this episode, it was revealed that the woman Dan loved and wanted to marry, before her death, married his brother Clay instead. According to Clay, being a gunfighter and an outlaw, "she couldn't resist trying to reform him", even though she loved Dan a little more. There were times when the townspeople would second guess him, but he always stuck to his guns and was determined to do the right thing.

Brown as Johnny McKay.

Johnny McKay, played by Peter Brown, is the deputy marshal of Laramie. Dan was hesitant to hire Johnny as his deputy, because of his young age, but he later proved his worth. Johnny was orphaned at age 10 in Kansas. His father was killed by raiders, and his mother died on a wagon train. The season one episode, "The Joker," dealt with Johnny's origin when an outlaw named Barney Tremain, played by Jeff York, showed up in town claiming to be Johnny's real father. It was never revealed whether or not he was telling the truth. Johnny was more easy going, but he was also brave, extremely fast with a gun, and very loyal to Dan, who he always referred to as, "Mr. Troop." He was close friends with Lily, but they had more of a brother-sister dynamic going. In the first season, Dan many times left Johnny behind, but in the later years, he got more involved in the action as Dan started to see him as more of a partner in the fight against crime than his humble apprentice. Johnny actually quit three times. Once because if Tremain was his father, he thought that meant he had outlaw blood in him. The second time, he thought Dan was taking credit for a kill he made, but he later found out Dan was trying to protect him. The third time, Johnny had to shoot a friend of his, and lost his nerve to be a lawman. Somehow though, he always would eventually come back.

Lily Merrill, played by Peggie Castle, is the owner of the Birdcage Saloon. In addition to serving as hostess, she also sang and danced on a regular basis. Lily was formerly married to outlaw Frank Quinlaven, played by Mike Road in the season two episode, "The Exchange." They had a son named Tommy, played by Bryan Russell, who lived with her sister. Frank tried to use Tommy as a bargaining chip to get Lily to help him rob the Laramie bank, but Dan stopped him at the last minute. Dan and Johnny often used Lily as a sounding board whenever they had a problem. Lily was beautiful, feisty, courageous, extremely loyal, and a couple times even used a gun herself to help Dan and Johnny when no one else would. In addition to running her saloon, Lily was also elected the town fire chief, and briefly filled in as schoolmarm.

Recurring characters

Dru Lemp, played by Bek Nelson, appeared in eight episodes of season one. She owned a local cafe, and was the widow of the previous town marshal David Lemp.

Judge Trager, played by Harry Cheshire, appeared in 15 episodes over all four seasons. Judge Trager oversaw all of the court cases in Laramie. He was also a member of the town council, and a close friend of Dan's.

Harry Tate, played by Jon Lormer, appeared in five episodes in season one. He was the editor of the town newspaper, and a close friend of Dan's. He was killed by mistake, when he was wearing the intended victim's hat. Tate had a daughter named Julie.

Julie Tate, played by Barbara Lang, appeared in four episodes of season one. She took over as editor for the newspaper after he father was killed. While her relationship with Dan got off to a rocky start, they eventually grew closer.

Tom Pike, played by Lane Chandler, appeared in four episodes of season one. He was a member of the town council, and was constantly second guessing Dan's decisions.

Hank the Bartender, played by Emory Parnell, appeared in 11 episodes of the first two seasons. He was the bartender at the Bluebonnet Saloon, a precursor to the Birdcage.

Doc Stewart was played the first appearance by James Bell, and for seven other episodes by Tom Palmer. He was the town doctor.

Timmo McQueeney, played by Clancy Cooper, appeared in 15 episodes in season two. He was Lily's main bartender, and a right hand man. Timmo was a big burly guy, who talked with a thick Irish accent.

Jake Summers, played by Dan Sheridan appeared in 38 episodes in seasons three and four. Jake became Lily's main bartender, and right hand man. He was also kept his eyes open in order to let Dan and Johnny know if any strangers came into town. Prior to becoming Jake, Sheridan guest starred twice in two separate roles.

Owny O'Reilly, played by Joel Grey appeared in three episodes in seasons 2-4. Owny started out as the brother of an outlaw, but eventually became close friends with Dan and Johnny. Although, Owny was supposed to be younger than Johnny, Grey is actually three and a half years older than Peter Brown. Owny was a lovable comedy sidekick, which included a hilarious brief stint as Dan's deputy while Johnny was away in the season three episode, "The Return of Owny O'Reilly."

Jack Stiles, played by Doodles Weaver appeared in four episodes of season two. He was the clerk at the Hotel Laramie, and one of Dan and Johnny's informants.

Oren Slauson, played by Vinton Hayworth appeared in nine episodes of seasons 2-4. He was the manager of the Laramie Bank, which seemed to get robbed on quite a regular basis.

Ben Toomey, played by Grady Sutton appeared in 12 episodes of seasons 3-4. He took over as clerk at the Hotel Laramie, and like Jack before him gave Dan and Johnny information on a regular basis.

The female audience

In an attempt to attract female viewers,^{[citation needed]} the producers tried to find the right love interest for Dan. They started off with Dru Lemp, widow of the previous town marshal. Dan admitted in the first episode he had a previous relationship with a woman who was killed by a stray bullet. Midway through the first season, the character was dropped due to Russell and Nelson having a lack of chemistry.

Later in the first season, Barbara Lang was brought in as Julie Tate, the daughter of Harry Tate, played by Jon Lormer, who was the editor of the town newspaper. She and Dan did not hit it off right away, because she felt he was not doing enough to find her father's killer. After four episodes, she was never seen again.

Lily Merrill then came to town as the owner of the Birdcage Saloon. Lily had been run out of Billings, Montana, by a crooked sheriff. She at first thought Dan was crooked, and Dan thought she was a crook. After finding out that they were both wrong, Dan and Lily became very close during the remainder of the show's run. As their relationship grew, Lily often dropped hints about wanting to marry Dan, and he would pretend that he did not get it. Their relationship was very similar to Matt Dillon and Kitty Russell of Gunsmoke^{[citation needed]} in that they were clearly in love, but his job kept preventing him from getting closer to her. Dan made a large amount of enemies in his time, and was afraid of them using Lily to get to him.

Guest stars

• Edd Byrnes appeared in twice in two different roles, once as Lacey Hawks in the pilot, "The Deputy."
• John Carradine appeared as out of work actor Jeffrey Hendon in "The Actor."
• Sammy Davis Jr. appeared as singing cowboy Willie Shay in "Blue Boss and Willie Shay."
• John Dehner appeared as Marshal Ben Wyatt in "The Long Gun."
• Jack Elam appeared five times in five different roles, one of which was as Flynn Hawks in the pilot.He would later go on to co-star with Larry Ward in another ABC/Warner Bros. western series,The Dakotas, a popular, but controversial series cancelled after only 1 season.
• Louise Fletcher appeared as Betty Horgan in the season one episode, "The Encounter."
• L.Q. Jones appeared as Ollie Earnshaw, the richest man in Laramie, who gets swindled by con artists in "The Bride."
• Allan Lane appeared as Joe Hoyt in "The Payment."
• Suzanne Lloyd appeared as "The Girl From Grantsville."
• Gerald Mohr appeared as a mysterious thimblerigger in "The Thimblerigger."
• Robert Reed appeared as Jim Malone in "The Left Hand of the Law."
• Suzanne Storrs appeared as Amy Saunders in "Fast Trip to Cheyenne"
• Randy Stuart appeared as Rose Grant in "The Judge" (1960) and as Jessica Kindle in "The Frame-Up" (1961).
• Lee Van Cleef appeared four times, including the role of Walt Hawks in the series pilot.
• Dawn Wells appeared as Elly Stratton in "No Contest."
• Adam West appeared as Doc Holliday in the "The Wayfarer."

Production

Being part of the Warner Bros. array of westerns, Lawman participated in two crossovers. John Russell and Peter Brown appeared in the "Hadley's Hunters" episode of Maverick. Peter Brown and Adam West also appeared as Johnny McKay and Doc Holliday, respectively, in the Sugarfoot episode "The Trial of the Canary Kid", which was a sequel to the Lawman episode, "The Wayfarer." The premise was that the Canary Kid, Sugarfoot's twin cousin, was in the Laramie jail at the same time as Holliday, and McKay and Holliday were called in to testify to that.

The studio routinely recycled scripts through their various series to save money on writers, frequently crediting the results to "W. Hermanos" (Spanish for W. Brothers). Two Lawman scripts, "The Payment" and "The Judge" were renamed from episodes of Cheyenne and edited down from 60 minutes to 30.

Merchandise

Lawman also spawned a variety of merchandise during the show's run. There were lunchboxes, puzzles, boots, arcade cards, sheet music, action figures, toy rifles, and cap pistols There was also a Lawman comic, which ran eleven issues from 1958–1962 and was drawn by Dan Spiegle.

External links

• Lawman at the Internet Movie Database
• Lawman at TV.com
• Unofficial Lawman homepage
• Roy Huggins' Archive of American Television interview

References

Lackmabb, Ron (2003). The Encyclopedia of 20th-Century American Television. Checkmark Books. p. 195. ISBN 0-8160-4555-0.