Tales of Wells Fargo

Tales of Wells Fargo
Dale Robertson as James "Jim" Whitcomb Hardie, 1958.
Genre	Western
Created by	James Brooks Frank Gruber Gene Reynolds
Directed by	Earl Bellamy William F. Claxton Lewis R. Foster Jerry Hopper Leslie H. Martinson Gene Reynolds Sidney Salkow R. G. Springsteen George Waggner William Witney
Starring	Dale Robertson William Demarest Virginia Christine Jack Ging
Theme music composer	Mort Greene Harry Warren Stanley Wilson
Composers	Paul Dunlap Michael Greene Melvyn Lenard Morton Stevens Harry Sukman John Williams
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	201 (list of episodes)
Production
Producers	Nat Holt Earle Lyon
Running time	30 minutes (1957–1961) 60 minutes (1961–1962)
Production companies	Overland Productions Revue Studios
Distributor	MCA TV
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	Black and white (1957–1961) Color (1961–1962)
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	March 18, 1957 (1957-03-18) – June 2, 1962 (1962-06-02)

Tales of Wells Fargo is an American western television series starring Dale Robertson that ran from 1957 to 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour and switched from black and white to color.^[1][2]

Synopsis[]

Set in the 1870s and 1880s, the series starred Oklahoma native Dale Robertson as Wells Fargo special agent Jim Hardie, noted at the time as "the left-handed gun". The character was fictional, but the series' development was influenced by the biography of Wells Fargo detective Fred J. Dodge. Agent Hardie was shown working cases in many areas of the Old West, occasionally interacting with legendary outlaws such as Jesse James and Belle Starr, as well as with other American historical figures. Hardie's own history was rarely discussed, but one episode gave a detailed backstory, portraying him as a Louisiana-born drifter who almost became an outlaw before finding his true mission in life.

In the final season, when episodes were longer, Hardie was given a base of operations, in a town called Gloribee, and four regular supporting characters were added. Hardie usually rode a chestnut horse with a white blaze on his face and four white stockings. The horse actually belonged to Dale Robertson, and was named "Jubilee". In at least one episode, Jubilee came when Hardie whistled and called his name.

In the 1957 Christmas episode, titled "Laredo", Jim Hardie must track gunrunners across the United States/Mexican border in Laredo, Texas, a quest which keeps him from spending the holiday with friends as he had intended. Guest stars include Henry Rowland, , Karl Swenson and Pierre Watkin.^{[citation needed]}

The concept of Tales of Wells Fargo, a company troubleshooter in the American West, was also adapted by the syndicated series Pony Express, co-starring Grant Sullivan as detective Brett Clark, which aired in the 1959–1960 season, nearly coinciding with the centennial of the Pony Express. Even earlier, from 1954 to 1955, Jim Davis had starred as a railroad investigator, Matt Clark, in the syndicated Stories of the Century. Davis and Robertson, both of whom had unusual but similar-sounding speaking voices, each did the narration for their respective series. (And each actor later landed roles in 1980's primetime soaps: Davis on Dallas and Robertson on Dynasty.)

Cast[]

Lead[]

• Dale Robertson as Jim Hardie, Wells Fargo agent

Recurring[]

• Jack Ging as Beau McCloud
• William Demarest as Jeb Gaine (1961–1962)
• Virginia Christine as Ovie (1961–1962)
• Lory Patrick as Tina (1961–1962)

Notable guest stars[]

Episodes[]

Release[]

Broadcast[]

The pilot for Tales of Wells Fargo originally premiered as an episode of the anthology series Schlitz Playhouse of Stars.

In the 1960–61 season, Wells Fargo was scheduled opposite ABC's detective series Surfside 6 and CBS's new sitcom Bringing Up Buddy, starring Frank Aletter. Wells Fargo and Surfside 6 survived another year, but Bringing Up Buddy was cancelled. Wells Fargo was the lead-in that year to a new NBC Western, Klondike, but that series, set in the gold rush town of Skagway, Alaska, survived only seventeen episodes.

Home media[]

Timeless Media Group released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1.^[3]

Ratings[]

For its first two years, the series was in the top ten of the Nielsen Ratings. During the 1957–58 season, it was ranked #3,^[4] and during the 1958–59 season, it was ranked #7.^[5]

Merchandise[]

The television series also spawned a number of publications for young readers, including the hardcover book Danger at Dry Creek (Golden Press, 1959), a series of Dell Comics and Little Golden Books. One of the artists who created this comic book adaptation was Russ Heath.^[6]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tales of Wells Fargo.

• Tales of Wells Fargo at IMDb
• Tales of Wells Fargo at epguides.com