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Cimarron City (TV series)

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Cimarron City
George Montgomery as Matthew Rockford, with guest star Fred MacMurray, in
"I, the People" (1958)
GenreWestern
Written by
  • Norman Jolley
  • Richard Morgan
  • Tom Seller
Directed by
Starring
Theme music composer
ComposerPaul Dunlap
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes26
Production
Producers
  • Richard Bartlett
  • Norman Jolley
Cinematography
  • Jack MacKenzie
  • William A. Sickner
  • John F. Warren
EditorLee Huntington
Running time60 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 27, 1958 (1958-09-27) –
April 4, 1959 (1959-04-04)

Cimarron City is an American one-hour Western television series, starring George Montgomery as Matt Rockford and John Smith as Lane Temple, airing on NBC from October 11, 1958, to September 26, 1959.[1] Cimarron City is a boomtown in Logan County, Oklahoma, north of Oklahoma City. Rich in oil and gold, Cimarron City aspires to become the capital of the future state of Oklahoma, to be created in 1907.

Synopsis

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Matthew Rockford is the son of an area cattle rancher, who is the founder and mayor of Cimarron City. Lane Temple, the blacksmith, serves also as the deputy sheriff. He maintains the law amid the crooked schemes concocted in Cimarron City.

Audrey Totter played Beth Purcell, the owner of the boarding house.[1] The episodes were supposed to rotate equally among Montgomery, Smith, and Totter. The writers, however, did not give Totter enough stories as promised, and she was phased out in favor of male leads.[2]

Cimarron City also featured Dan Blocker (before Bonanza) in two roles. In the second episode, Blocker plays outlaw Carl Budinger, who is killed. In the fourth episode, he reappears as Carl's good-hearted brother, Tiny Budinger, who becomes one of Rockford's ranch hands.

Production notes

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The producers were Richard Bartlett and Norman Jolley.[1] Stanley Wilson wrote the theme music.[3]

In its initial run, Cimarron City was placed opposite two half-hour Western programs on CBS, Have Gun, Will Travel and Gunsmoke,[1] from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturdays. From June 1960 to September 1960, reruns were shown on Fridays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, again on NBC.[4]

Newspaper columnist Erskine Johnson wrote that NBC created Cimarron City expressly "to shoot it out with CBS TV's two guns – the half-hour Have Gun and the top-rated Gunsmoke, in most sections of the country."[5] When the show's ratings failed to meet NBC executives' expectations, Smith's and Totter's roles grew in size and Montgomery "became a wanderer instead of a stay-at-home"; writers and directors were also changed.[5] NBC spent additional money to bring in guest stars while sponsors were leaving the show, with several episodes having no sponsor. Toward the end of the series' original run, NBC found four rotating sponsors, some of whom limited their involvement to purchasing spot announcements.[5]

Cast

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Guest stars

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Episode list

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No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
1"I, the People"Jules BrickenFenton EarnshawOctober 11, 1958 (1958-10-11)
2"Terror Town"Richard H. BartlettTrebor LewisOctober 18, 1958 (1958-10-18)
3"To Become a Man"Richard H. BartlettNorman JolleyOctober 25, 1958 (1958-10-25)
4"Twelve Guns"Richard H. BartlettLew Richards & Norman JolleyNovember 1, 1958 (1958-11-01)
5"The Medicine Man"Richard H. BartlettNorman JolleyNovember 8, 1958 (1958-11-08)
6"Hired Hand"John BrahmLew RichardsNovember 15, 1958 (1958-11-15)
7"Kid on a Calico Horse"Herschel DaughertyE. Jack NeumanNovember 22, 1958 (1958-11-22)
8"The Beast of Cimarron"Abner BibermanNorman JolleyNovember 29, 1958 (1958-11-29)
9"A Respectable Girl"Richard H. BartlettLeo TownsendDecember 6, 1958 (1958-12-06)
10"The Blood Line"Douglas HeyesDouglas HeyesDecember 13, 1958 (1958-12-13)
11"Cimarron Holiday"Richard H. BartlettNorman JolleyDecember 20, 1958 (1958-12-20)[7]
12"McGowan's Debt"Herschel DaughertyJames Charles LynchDecember 27, 1958 (1958-12-27)
13"The Bitter Lesson"John Meredyth LucasErnest HaycoxJanuary 3, 1959 (1959-01-03)
14"A Legacy of Ossie Harper"Jules BrickenErnest Kinoy Jameson BrewerJanuary 10, 1959 (1959-01-10)
15"Child of Fear"Richard H. BartlettVirginia SpiesJanuary 17, 1959 (1959-01-17)
16"Burn the Town Down"Richard H. BartlettRalph WintersJanuary 24, 1959 (1959-01-24)
17"Runaway Train"Richard H. BartlettNorman JolleyJanuary 31, 1959 (1959-01-31)
18"The Beauty and the Sorrow"Richard H. BartlettHalsted WellesFebruary 7, 1959 (1959-02-07)
19"Return of the Dead"Richard H. BartlettTom SellerFebruary 14, 1959 (1959-02-14)
20"Blind is the Killer"John Meredyth LucasDavid Henry LordFebruary 21, 1959 (1959-02-21)
21"The Unaccepted"Jerry HopperCyril HumeFebruary 28, 1959 (1959-02-28)
22"The Ratman"Richard H. BartlettRichard CarlyleMarch 7, 1959 (1959-03-07)
23"Have Sword --Will Duel"Sidney LanfieldTom SellerMarch 14, 1959 (1959-03-14)
24"Chinese Invasion"Justus AddissWilliam E. RaynorMarch 21, 1959 (1959-03-21)
25"The Town is a Prisoner"Richard H. BartlettRichard MorganMarch 28, 1959 (1959-03-28)
26"The Evil One"Christian NybyDavid BoehmApril 4, 1959 (1959-04-04)

Home media

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On March 6, 2012, Timeless Media Group released Cimarron City: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 164. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
  2. ^ Brode, Douglas (2010-01-01). Shooting Stars of the Small Screen: Encyclopedia of TV Western Actors, 1946–Present. University of Texas Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-292-78331-7.
  3. ^ Burlingame, Jon (March 28, 2023). Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television Themes and Scoring. Oxford University Press. pp. 91–92. ISBN 978-0-19-061830-8. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (June 24, 2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Random House Publishing Group. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-307-48320-1. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Johnson, Erskine (March 21, 1959). "NBC 'Buck'-Shot Fails To Gun Down Two CBS Shows". The Times Herald. Michigan, Port Huron. NEA. p. 11. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Terrace, Vincent (January 10, 2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-7864-8641-0. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  7. ^ Terrace, Vincent (January 27, 2023). Holiday Specials on Television, 1939-2021. McFarland. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-4766-4813-2. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  8. ^ "Cimarron City: The Complete Series". Amazon. September 2020.
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