Tales of the Texas Rangers
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Tales of the Texas Rangers, a western adventure old-time radio drama, premiered on July 8, 1950, on the US NBC radio network and remained on the air through September 14, 1952. Movie star Joel McCrea starred as Texas Ranger Jayce Pearson, who used the latest scientific techniques to identify the criminals and his faithful horse, Charcoal, to track them down. The shows were reenactments of actual Texas Ranger cases.
The series was produced by Screen Gems and directed by Stacy Keach, Sr., and was sponsored for part of its run by Wheaties.
Captain Manuel T. "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas, a Ranger for 30 years and who was said to have killed 31 men during his career, served as consultant for the series.
The series was adapted for television from 1955 to 1957. During the opening and closing credits of the TV show, the actors would march toward the camera and sing the theme song, "These Are Tales of Texas Rangers", to the tune of "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You", which is also the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad". The radio series used contemporary cases and modern detective methods to solve crimes. It was a procedural drama, in many ways Dragnet with a Western flavor. The TV series did both modern cases and cases set in the "Old West." With new cases using a car with horse float to get the rangers to their destinations it always made sure that the use of horses was only a step away. With older themes they would always ride into town on the horses to mete out their justice, they wore differing ranger attire for new and old scenes, also their weaponry was totally different. The TV show was aimed at kids (and aired on Saturday mornings) and was more of a traditional Western (with chases and shoot-outs).
Episode Log:
| Number | Title | Airdate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUD | Just A Number | 04-13-50 :27:40 | |
| 1 | Title Unknown | 07-08-50 :29:40 | |
| 2 | The White Elephant | 07-15-50 :29:40 | |
| 3 | Apache Peak | 07-22-50 :29:40 | |
| 4 | The Trigger Man | 07-29-50 :29:40 | |
| 5 | Quick Silver | 08-05-50 :29:30 | |
| 6 | The Broken Spur | 08-12-50 :29:10 | |
| 7 | Fool's Gold | 08-19-50 :29:40 | |
| 8 | The Open Range | 08-26-50 :29:40 | |
| 9 | Play For Keeps | 09-02-50 :29:50 | |
| 10 | Dead Or Alive | 09-09-50 :29:30 | |
| 11 | Candy Man | 09-16-50 :29:40 | |
| 12 | Open And Shut | 09-23-50 :29:20 | This is the broadcast of 11-11-51 of the same title. |
| 13 | Clean Up | 09-30-50 :29:40 | |
| 14 | Living Death | 10-08-50 :29:40 | Show moves to Sundays at this point |
| 15 | Dead Give-Away | 10-15-50 :29:40 | |
| 16 | Title Unknown | 10-22-50 :30:00 | |
| 17 | Soft Touch | 10-29-50 :29:50 | |
| 18 | The White Suit | 11-05-50 :30:00 | |
| 19 | Blood Relative | 11-12-50 :30:00 | |
| 20 | Hanging By A Thread | 11-26-50 :30:00 | show of 11-19 Pre-Empted for Hedda Hopper Program |
| 21 | Room 114 | 12-03-50 :30:00 | |
| 22 | The Lucky Dollar | 12-10-50 :30:00 | |
| 23 | The Cactus Pear | 12-17-50 :30:00 | |
| 24 | Christmas Present | 12-24-50 :30:00 | Christmas Program |
| 25 | The Devil's Share | 12-31-50 :30:00 | |
| 26 | Deadhead Freight | 01-07-51 :30:00 | |
| 27 | Death In The Cards | 01-14-51 :30:00 | |
| 28 | Blood Harvest | 01-21-51 :30:00 | |
| 29 | Title Unknown | 01-28-51 :30:00 | |
| 30 | Logger's Larceny | 02-04-51 :30:00 | |
| 31 | The Hatchet | 02-11-51 :30:00 | |
| 32 | Sweet Revenge | 02-18-51 :30:00 | |
| 33 | The Trap | 02-25-51 :30:00 | |
| 34 | Blind Justice | 03-11-51 :30:00 | Show of 3/4 Pre-empted for "Theatre Guild's" HAMLET |
| 35 | Death By Adoption | 03-18-51 :30:00 | |
| 36 | Breakdown | 03-25-51 :30:00 | |
| 37 | Pressure | 04-01-51 :30:00 | |
| 38 | Bad Blood | 04-08-51 :30:00 | |
| 39 | Conspiracy | 04-15-51 :30:00 | |
| 40 | Canned Death | 04-22-51 :30:00 | |
| 41 | Title Unknown | 04-29-51 :30:00 | |
| 42 | No Living Witnesses | 05-06-51 :30:00 | |
| 43 | Paid In Full | 05-13-51 :30:00 | |
| 44 | Squaredance | 05-20-51 :30:00 | |
| 45 | Joy Ride | 05-27-51 :30:00 | |
| 46 | Death Shaft | 09-30-51 :30:00 | |
| 47 | The Wheelchair Killer | 10-07-51 :30:00 | |
| 48 | Play For Keeps | 10-14-51 :30:00 | |
| 49 | Fugitive Trail | 10-21-51 :30:00 | |
| 50 | The White Elephant | 10-28-51 :30:00 | |
| 51 | Helping Hand | 11-04-51 :30:00 | |
| 52 | Open And Shut | 11-11-51 :30:00 | |
| 53 | Wild Crop | 11-18-51 :30:00 | |
| 54 | The Blow Off | 11-25-51 :30:00 | |
| 55 | The Dead Give-Away | 12-02-51 :30:00 | |
| 56 | Death Plant | 12-09-51 :30:00 | |
| 57 | Pick-Up | 12-16-51 :30:00 | |
| 58 | Christmas Payoff | 12-23-51 :30:00 | Christmas Program |
| 59 | Killer's Crop | 12-30-51 :30:00 | |
| 60 | Birds Of A Feather | 01-06-52 :30:00 | |
| 61 | Clip Job | 01-13-52 :30:00 | |
| 62 | Blood Trail | 01-20-52 :30:00 | |
| 63 | Night Chase | 01-27-52 :30:00 | |
| 64 | The Rub Out | 02-03-52 :30:00 | |
| 65 | Hitchhiker | 02-10-52 :30:00 | |
| 66 | Cold Blood | 02-17-52 :27:20 | |
| 67 | Bright Boy | 02-24-52 :30:00 | |
| 68 | The Ice Man | 03-02-52 :30:00 | |
| 69 | Dream Farm | 03-09-52 :30:00 | |
| 70 | Prelude To Felony | 03-16-52 :30:00 | |
| 71 | Nighthawk | 03-30-52 :30:00 | Program of 3-23 Preempted |
| 72 | Troop Train | 04-06-52 :30:00 | |
| 73 | Uncertain Death | 04-13-52 :30:00 | |
| 74 | Illusion | 04-20-52 :30:00 | |
| 75 | Address Unknown | 04-27-52 :30:00 | |
| 76 | Little Sister | 05-04-52 :30:00 | |
| 77 | Unleashed Fury | 05-11-52 :30:00 | |
| 78 | Smart Kill | 05-18-52 :30:00 | |
| 79 | Jailbird | 05-25-52 :30:00 | |
| 80 | Sell-Out | 06-01-52 :30:00 | |
| 81 | Illegal Entry | 06-08-52 :30:00 | |
| 82 | Travesty | 06-15-52 :30:00 | |
| 83 | Knockout | 06-22-52 :30:00 | |
| 84 | Ex-Con | 06-29-52 :30:00 | |
| 85 | The Boomerang | 07-06-52 :30:00 | |
| 86 | Finger Man | 07-13-52 :30:00 | |
| 87 | Round Trip | 07-20-52 :30:00 | |
| 88 | Stick-Up | 07-27-52 :30:00 | |
| 89 | Double Edge | 08-03-52 :30:00 | |
| 90 | Last Stop | 08-10-52 :30:00 | |
| 91 | Cover-Up | 08-17-52 :30:00 | |
| 92 | Three Victims | 08-24-52 :30:00 | |
| 93 | Misplaced Person | 08-31-52 :30:00 | |
| 94 | Alibi | 09-07-52 :30:00 | |
| 95 | Drive-In | 09-14-52 :30:00 |
