Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Fort Laramie" - War Correspondents (05-13-56)

Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Fort Laramie" - War Correspondents (Aired May 13, 1956)


Fort Laramie opened with "Specially transcribed tales of the dark and tragic ground of the wild frontier. The saga of fighting men who rode the rim of empire and the dramatic story of Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry". When Norman Macdonnell created Fort Laramie in late 1955, he made it clear to his writers that historical accuracy was essential to the integrity of the series. Correct geographic names, authentic Indian practices, military terminology, and utilizing actual names of the original buildings of the real fort, was insisted upon. So when the radio characters referred to the sutler's store (which is what the trading post was called prior to 1870), the surgeon's quarters, Old Bedlam (the officers' quarters) or the old bakery, they were naming actual structures in the original fort. While Macdonnell planned to use the same writers, soundmen, and supporting actors in Fort Laramie that he relied upon in Gunsmoke, he naturally picked different leads. Heading up the cast was a 39 year old, Canadian-born actor with a long history in broadcasting and the movies, Raymond Burr. He had begun his career in 1939, alternating between the stage and radio. He turned to Hollywood, and from 1946 until he got the part of Captain Lee Quince in Fort Laramie in 1956, he had appeared in thirty-seven films. A few were excellent (Rear Window, The Blue Gardenia) some were average (Walk a Crooked Mile, A Place in the Sun) but many were plain awful (Bride of Vengeance, Red Light, and Abandoned). With Burr in the lead, Macdonnell selected two supporting players: Vic Perrin as "Sgt. Goerss" and Jack Moyles as "Major Daggett", the commanding officer of the post.

THIS EPISODE:

May 13, 1956. CBS network origination, AFRTS rebroadcast. "War Correspondents". A reporter from a New York newspaper comes west to tell the "truth" and also to learn of the "real" west. The program was recorded April 19, 1956. Raymond Burr, Kathleen Hite (writer), Sam Edwards, Parley Baer, Lawrence Dobkin, Lou Krugman, Norman Macdonnell (producer, director), Amerigo Moreno (musical supervisor), Bill James (sound patterns), Ray Kemper (sound patterns), Harry Bartell, Jack Moyles. 29:51.

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