Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre


Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.

Overview

Created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace, Zane Grey Theatre was originally based on the short stories and novels of Western author Zane Grey, but as the episodes continued, new material was included. Aaron Spelling wrote twenty Zane Grey episodes. The series opened each week with a prelude of the episode followed by the introduction, the firing of a gun, with the proclamation: "From out of the West, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater." Much of the musical score was handled by Four Star's Herschel Burke Gilbert.
Powell appeared as various characters in 15 of the 149 episodes and hosted the entire run. A half-hour program, Zane Grey Theatre debuted at 8:30 Eastern on Friday, October 5, 1956, and ran until the end of the 1960–1961 season, when Powell switched to NBC for a new hour-long anthology of drama and comedy called The Dick Powell Show.

Spin-offs

Zane Grey Theatre was ground-breaking in that five episodes were developed into subsequent series: Trackdown starring Robert Culp as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman, Johnny Ringo, starring Don Durant, both on CBS, The Rifleman with Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain on ABC, The Westerner on NBC, starring Brian Keith as Dave Blassingame, and Black Saddle, also on ABC.
In addition, , with Steve McQueen playing the bounty hunter Josh Randall, was a CBS spinoff of Trackdown, and Law of the Plainsman, starring Michael Ansara as a Harvard-educated, Native American U.S. Marshal, was an NBC spin-off of The Rifleman.
Outdoor sequences for many episodes of the series were filmed on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif.

Selected episodes

played an old outlaw, Joe, in the episode, "Vengeance Canyon," which originally aired on November 30, 1956. In the story line, Joe tries to warn a young gunslinger, Clint Harding, of the danger of seeking vengeance. Sheb Wooley played another outlaw, Brock.
Jack Palance was cast in 1956 as Dan Morgan in the fifth episode of the series entitled, "Lariat." In the story line, Morgan spends five years in prison for accidentally causing the death of a man by the misuse of his lariat. Out of prison, he returns to exact revenge on Judge Lovett but instead takes a job from the judge and falls in love with the judge's daughter, Laura.
Celeste Holm was cast as Sarah Kimball opposite Eddie Albert as Sam Barlow in the 1957 episode, "Fugitive." In the story line, Sarah finds the fugitive Barlow hiding in her barn. Barlow soon reveals that he killed Sarah's husband in Civil War fighting. Sarah nevertheless draws close to Barlow. Peter J. Votrian was cast as her teen-aged son, Jody.
Dewey Martin and Anne Bancroft were cast as Ethan Bowan and Isabelle Rutledge in the gripping 1957 segment, "Episode in Darkness." In the story line, Bowan, a cattleman, is framed for robbery and the murder of an elderly passenger on a stagecoach. Isabelle, the witness who can clear him, is blind but possessed with a keen sense of hearing which enables her to solve the case. The murder victim was Isabelle's aunt. Bowan urges Isabelle not to dwell in her past, when she was a dancer, and instead focus on her future.
Sterling Hayden was cast as unreformed bounty hunter Link Stevens in the 1957 episode, "The Necessary Breed." Jean Willes played Kate Asher, his romantic interest who tries to convince him to give up bounty hunting because of the danger in his work.
Tom Tryon played a former Confederate soldier, Jeff Anderson, in the 1957 episode, "Black is for Grief." In the story line, Anderson returns home after the war and finds that his wife, Barbara has been unfaithful to him while he was in battle. She is murdered shortly before his return. Though he sets out to find her killer, the surprise ending reveals that he was the actual culprit.
John Forsythe was cast four months before the launching of his Bachelor Father situation comedy in the 1957 episode, "Decision at Wilson's Creek." Forsythe played Confederate lieutenant David Marr who resigned his command to return to his wife, Amy, who is married to his friend, Colonel Overton. Michael Landon played Overton's nephew, Dan Overton, who wants to emulate Gorman's prowess with a weapon. Meanwhile, the restless Marcy indicates that she would leave her husband to be with Gorman, but he rejects her suggestion.
Scott Brady, prior to Shotgun Slade, was cast as Jeff Duane, a gunfighter who follows a dead man's horse in hopes of finding water in the desert, in the 1957 episode, "Man on the Run." In the story line, he comes upon an isolated ranch, owned by the two Longstreth sisters, which has been taken over by outlaws. One of the sisters asks Duane to take her away with him.
MacDonald Carey played Tom Baker, a wounded sheriff awaiting the arrival of unruly cattle drovers, in the 1958 episode, "License to Kill." Macdonald Carey played Tom Baker, a wounded sheriff facing the arrival of unruly cattle drovers. The mayor, played by Jacques Aubuchon, hires Lane Baker, portrayed by John Ericson, as the town marshal to assist the sheriff but against the sheriff's wishes. Lane turns out to be the sheriff's younger brother. The two differ on law enforcement techniques but are eventually reconciled from a long-term family split. Stacy Harris plays Doc Currie, who set Tom Baker's broken arm.
In "Let the Man Die", Dick Powell portrayed Dr. Mike Reynolds, who must operate on Dolpf Akins (Brett King

Other guest stars

The Rifleman pilot was broadcast in 1958, and a few months later, the new series began its five-year run on ABC.
That episode is part of The Rifleman rerun package.
The Westerners rerun package utilizes the Black Saddle theme music, with Dick Powell's hosting segments replaced with new ones by Keenan Wynn. That format was used for a separate but connected rerun repackaging of four short-lived Western series from Four Star, Black Saddle, Johnny Ringo, The Westerner and Law of the Plainsman. An earlier rerun package was Frontier Justice, a summer replacement series on CBS in 1958, 1959 and 1961, hosted by Lew Ayres, Melvyn Douglas and Ralph Bellamy, one each summer.

Ratings

The series finished at #21 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1957-1958 season, at #13 for 1958-1959 and at #22 for 1959-1960.

Home media

In June 2009, VCI Entertainment released the complete first season of the series on Region 1 DVD in the United States. As of September 2014, this release has been discontinued and is out of print.
On April 11, 2014, it was announced that Timeless Media Group had acquired the rights to the series and would release the second season on DVD on September 9, 2014. It was subsequently released on September 30, 2014. Season 3 was released on December 2, 2014.