While this live television episode is far from perfect (which I'll get to in a bit), it's a must-see for western fans and is currently available on YouTube.
The show is hosted, as usual, by Dave Garroway and he spends it interviewing a variety of western stars, directors and stunt men. It's obviously done to help promote many of the network's western shows (which were super common back in 1958) but also gives you a chance to see the likes of John Ford, Gene Autry, John Wayne and many others talking somewhat off the cuff about westerns.
So what didn't I like about the show? Well, they feature a lot of western movie stars and the like but many are never mentioned, so it's far from comprehensive. Roy Rogers, Tim McCoy, Hopalong Cassidy and dozens of others aren't included among the guests...though the show does show clips and talks about many seminal actors, such as William S. Hart and Tom Mix. In other words, it gives a lot of history though it is spotty. As for why Autry is included and other B-movie stars aren't is probably because of the filming location...Autry's Melody Ranch where quite a few TV westerns were made.
I did enjoy the interviews (though it was obvious some of the folks weren't all that comfortable without cue cards), loved seeing how they did various stunts and thought it was a lovely look at westerns...albeit an imperfect one.
The show is hosted, as usual, by Dave Garroway and he spends it interviewing a variety of western stars, directors and stunt men. It's obviously done to help promote many of the network's western shows (which were super common back in 1958) but also gives you a chance to see the likes of John Ford, Gene Autry, John Wayne and many others talking somewhat off the cuff about westerns.
So what didn't I like about the show? Well, they feature a lot of western movie stars and the like but many are never mentioned, so it's far from comprehensive. Roy Rogers, Tim McCoy, Hopalong Cassidy and dozens of others aren't included among the guests...though the show does show clips and talks about many seminal actors, such as William S. Hart and Tom Mix. In other words, it gives a lot of history though it is spotty. As for why Autry is included and other B-movie stars aren't is probably because of the filming location...Autry's Melody Ranch where quite a few TV westerns were made.
I did enjoy the interviews (though it was obvious some of the folks weren't all that comfortable without cue cards), loved seeing how they did various stunts and thought it was a lovely look at westerns...albeit an imperfect one.
