The Rebel (TV series)

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The Rebel
Nick Adams The Rebel.JPG
Nick Adams as Johnny Yuma
Format Western
Created by Andrew J. Fenady
Nick Adams
Starring Nick Adams
Country of origin USA
No. of episodes 76
Production
Running time 30 minutes
(per episode)
Production company(s) Celestial Productions
Fen-Ker-Ada Productions
Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions (filmed at the studios of Paramount Pictures)
Distributor Viacom
Paramount Television
CBS Paramount Television
CBS Television Distribution (current)
Broadcast
Original channel ABC
Original run October 4, 1959 – June 18, 1961

The Rebel is a 76-episode American western television series that ran originally on the ABC network from 1959 to 1961. The Rebel was one of the few Goodson-Todman Productions outside the game show ventures. Starting in December 2011, reruns of The Rebel began to air on Me-TV.

Contents

Synopsis [edit]

The series is about the adventures of young Confederate Army veteran Johnny Yuma, an aspiring writer, played by Nick Adams. Haunted by his memories of the American Civil War, Yuma, in search of inner peace, roams the American West, specifically the Texas Hill Country and the South Texas Plains. He keeps a journal of his adventures and fights injustice wherever he finds it with the help of a double-barreled shotgun with a sawed-off stock and barrel.

Cast [edit]

Nick Adams was the star and sole regular actor of this series. He was also involved in the show's design, inception, and writing, along with the producer, Andrew J. Fenady, who was cast twice in the series, once as United States Army General Philip Sheridan in the episode "Johnny Yuma at Appomattox", which also features George Macready as General Robert E. Lee.[1] John Carradine appeared in two episodes as Elmer Dodson, the newspaper editor in Johnny Yuma's hometown of fictitious Mason City, Texas, who encourages Yuma to keep a journal of his travels.[2]

John M. Pickard, formerly of the syndicated Boots and Saddles television series appeared three times on The Rebel, including the role of Sheriff Pruett in "Run, Killer, Run". Hal Stalmaster played Skinny in the 1959 episode "Misfits," with includes Malcolm Cassell as Billy the Kid and Hampton Fancher as "Bull". The young "Misfits" enlist The Rebel's "help" so that they can rob a bank and in their mind live thereafter a life of leisure. Leonard Nimoy was cast as Jim Colburn in the 1960 episode "The Hunted", the story of an innocent man on the run from a posse which does not know that Colburn has been acquitted by a jury.[3]

Other guest stars [edit]

Series highlights [edit]

The first episode, "Johnny Yuma", is set in early 1867. It shows Johnny Yuma returning to his hometown nearly two years after the end of the war. His father, Ned Yuma, the town sheriff, had been killed by a gang that had taken control of the town. Dan Blocker of "Bonanza" fame plays the gangleader. This epidode is where Yuma gets his shotgun.

The third episode of the series entitled "Yellow Hair" has Yuma captured by the historical Kiowa chief Satanta, played by the native Mexican Rodolfo Acosta, whose fictional adopted white daughter is played by Carol Nugent, Nick Adams' wife.[4]

Several place names mentioned throughout the series clearly place the action in post-Civil War Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Forts frequently noted in episodes, such as Fort Griffin and Fort Concho, were real frontier Texas outposts of the late 1860s and are now state historic sites; they act as markers for viewers as they follow the ill-defined travels of Johnny Yuma. In one first-season episode, Yuma encounters rag-tag rebel CSA soldiers in the corrupt mining town of La Paz, Arizona. The real town of La Paz was the county seat of Yuma County between 1862 and 1870; it stood in the Confederate Arizona Territory which existed briefly during the Civil War. Nothing remains of La Paz except crumbling foundations and a historical marker.

In "Vicious Circle", Yuma identifies the Confederate unit he served with as the 3rd Texas, but does not indicate the branch of service. Other episodes show him with saddlebags stenciled with CSA and an old uniform jacket with yellow collar and cuffs, indicating his regiment was likely the 3rd Texas Cavalry.

After the show's original broadcast run on ABC finished in June 1961, it was picked up by NBC and rerun as a summer replacement series from June to September 1962.

Theme song [edit]

The show’s theme song, "The Ballad of Johnny Yuma", was composed by Richard Markowitz, with lyrics by Andrew J. Fenady. It was recorded for the original broadcasts by Johnny Cash, but it was not released as a single until April 1961, shortly before the show went off the air in June. Nick Adams had recorded the theme himself, which was released on Mercury Records (#71607) by March 1960. Sometime during the show's run in syndication, the theme song was replaced by instrumental music, also by Richard Markowitz.

Popular culture [edit]

Two episodes of the sitcom Seinfeld referenced the first line of The Rebel theme song. In the episode "The Heart Attack", Jerry retorts to Kramer that Johnny Yuma is a Rebel.

References [edit]

  1. ^ ""Johnny Yuma at Appomattox", September 18, 1960". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved March 18, 2013. 
  2. ^ ""The Bequest", September 25, 1960". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved March 18, 2013. 
  3. ^ ""The Hunted", November 6, 1960". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved March 18, 2013. 
  4. ^ ""Yellow Hair", The Rebel, October 18, 1959". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved March 19, 2013. 

External links [edit]

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