Hashknife Hartley

*Hashknife Hartley*
Genre	Western
Running time	30 minutes
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
Syndicates	Mutual
Hosted by	W.C. Tuttle
Announcer	Don McCall
Created by	W.C. Tuttle
Written by	Fred Luke; Burt Kennedy
Directed by	Tom Hargis
Produced by	Tom Hargis
Original release	July 2, 1950 – December 30, 1951

Hashknife Hartley is an American old-time radio Western program. It was broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System from July 2, 1950, until December 30, 1951.^[1]

Schedule[]

Hashknife Hartley began as a summer replacement series,^[2] filling the time slot of Juvenile Jury. Paired with Hopalong Cassidy in the following half-hour, the substitution gave Mutual a one-hour Western block on Sunday afternoons.^[3] In September 1950, the block was extended to 90 minutes when Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders was added in the half-hour before Hashknife Hartley.^[4]

Format[]

The program featured the adventures of Hashknife Hartley and Sleepy Stevens, characters created by W.C. Tuttle, who served as narrator.^[5] Hartley was a western detective, and Stevens was his sidekick; the pair traveled around the old West, solving crimes in various towns.^[6]

Hashknife[]

The word "hashknife" has two meanings in the context of western adventures.

A hashknife was a tool that camp cooks used to slice beef cubes in preparation for making corned beef hash. That implement also was the basis for a cattle brand that was designed to foil rustlers by making it difficult to superimpose a new brand over the existing brand. The Vandevert family, which developed the brand, became known as "the Hashknife Outfit", and in turn that group inspired the printed stories and the radio program.^[7]

Personnel[]

Frank Martin in the title role and Barton Yarborough as Stevens had the only two regular roles in the series. Don McCall was the announcer. Tom Hargis was the producer and director.^[8] Writers Fred Luke and Burt Kennedy adapted Tuttle's stories into scripts.^[7]

References[]

^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 310. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved 2019-10-16. Hashknife Hartley, western melodrama.
^ Butterfield, C.E. (June 21, 1950). "Radio Day By Day". Mt. Vernon Register-News. Illinois, Mt. Vernon. p. 12. Retrieved March 29, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "MBS Schedules New Series of Western Adventure Stories". The Times. Louisiana, Shreveport. June 25, 1950. p. 12-A. Retrieved March 29, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Wild-West fever; will it sell for you?" (PDF). Sponsor. 4 (19): 23. September 11, 1950. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
^ Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4.
^ Server, Lee (2014). Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers. Infobase Publishing. p. 259. ISBN 9781438109121. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
^ ^a ^b French, Jack; Siegel, David S. (2013). Radio Rides the Range: A Reference Guide to Western Drama on the Air, 1929-1967. McFarland. pp. 86–88. ISBN 9780786471461. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
^ Cox, Jim (2010). Radio Crime Fighters: More Than 300 Programs from the Golden Age. McFarland. pp. 126–127. ISBN 9781476612270. Retrieved 29 March 2018.