While Jim Hardie is in a town a Choctaw boy shows up with a note from Wells Fargo talking about a boy being ship to his parents from his grandmother. Hardie has to determine if the boy is th... Read allWhile Jim Hardie is in a town a Choctaw boy shows up with a note from Wells Fargo talking about a boy being ship to his parents from his grandmother. Hardie has to determine if the boy is the boy in the note and where his parents are.While Jim Hardie is in a town a Choctaw boy shows up with a note from Wells Fargo talking about a boy being ship to his parents from his grandmother. Hardie has to determine if the boy is the boy in the note and where his parents are.
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Richard Evans
- Indian Boy
- (as Dick Evans)
Howard Negley
- Sheriff
- (as Howard J. Negley)
Chick Hannan
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
Carol Henry
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
Fox O'Callahan
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
Lillian O'Malley
- Townswoman
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- GoofsJim Hardie is left handed but when he signed the hotel register, he used his right hand.
Featured review
"The birthmark! I knew durned well I hadn't imagined it!"
Jim Hardie is on hand when a young Choctaw teen arrives at the station with a very old note, describing a boy being sent on a Wells Fargo stage to meet his grandparents. The teen speaks no English, and Hardie finds that the stage mentioned in the note had been attacked years back with the loss of all aboard, but perhaps there was one survivor. Hardie must discover if this young Choctaw teen is the boy in the note, and whether or not a local woman may possibly be the key to his past.
This episode includes one of the most common plots used during Golden Age of TV Westerns. Most all of the series of the era featured at least one episode with a similar story, focusing on a young boy or girl that had been raised by Indians, and many had more than one. Among its multiple episodes, Cheyenne included "White Warrior", with a very young Michael Landon in the title role. Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Big Valley, Wagon Train, the Virginian, and Lawman are among other series that also included examples. Personally I don't have a problem with these kind of scripts, it was the late 50s and every western series had a version of it. For me it's the cast, characters, dialogue, and subplot that make them watchable.
The townspeople nearly always treated these unfortunate people with hatred and contempt, but there was typically an advocate, someone who would help and defend them. Jim Hardie is that here, being more than willing to defend the young man. When the young man eventually runs away back to the Choctaws, Hardie finds they don't want him when he visits their settlement. They tell Hardie the old chief took the young boy in as a son, but that chief died and the new chief, Running Bird, hates all white men and wants no "palefaces" living there. Hardie is told to take the boy and go.
This entry features a very high level Jim Hardie cool factor. Throughout the episode he stands up firmly and resolutely to a number of hostile, prejudiced townspeople as he's trying to integrate the young man back into society. These encounters are quite satisfying, as Hardie takes no gruff from anyone, even resorting to fisticuffs when it was deserved. As I've said many times over, Jim Hardie is one cool character.
Series veteran director Earl Bellamy helms the episode, and he manages the convergence of two plotlines deftly as it concludes. The 30min era of the series often featured quick-moving stories, as they didn't have the time to feature a more detailed backstory, as with all the half hour westerns of the era.
The cast includes a number of well-known faces. Neil Hamilton appeared as Niles Lawson. Although he is cemented into pop culture as Commissioner Gordon on Batman with Adam West, his career prior to that was very long. He began in silents, and by the time talkies arrived he had been a leading man for some years. He appeared in a number of pre-code pictures and beyond with many of the leading actresses of the day, including Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Constance Bennett, Ann Sothern, Irene Dunne, Fay Wray, and Jean Arthur, an impressive group. He also appeared alongside Maureen O'Sullivan in the first two Tarzan pictures with Johnny Weissmuller. He was strikingly handsome, and apparently rivalled Valentino with huge quantities of fan mail and an adoring female public. As he aged his career waned, and he moved into older type roles and eventually TV. Richard Evans appeared as the young teen, in his second credited role, and was a busy actor with a familiar face. I seem to recall him specializing in bullied or persecuted characters, such as here, or in his Cheyenne and Star Trek appearances. Glenn Strange appeared as Chief Running Bird. Before his last job as Sam on Gunsmoke, he was a familiar face in mostly villainous roles in many westerns, and as Boris Karloff's successor as the Frankenstein Monster. The remainder of the cast had hundreds and hundreds of roles in TV and motion pictures, which are far too numerous to mention.
So, ToWF's entry in the "young person raised by Indians" was a pretty decent watch, mostly due to the Jim Hardie cool factor. EWIBIG y'know.
This episode includes one of the most common plots used during Golden Age of TV Westerns. Most all of the series of the era featured at least one episode with a similar story, focusing on a young boy or girl that had been raised by Indians, and many had more than one. Among its multiple episodes, Cheyenne included "White Warrior", with a very young Michael Landon in the title role. Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Big Valley, Wagon Train, the Virginian, and Lawman are among other series that also included examples. Personally I don't have a problem with these kind of scripts, it was the late 50s and every western series had a version of it. For me it's the cast, characters, dialogue, and subplot that make them watchable.
The townspeople nearly always treated these unfortunate people with hatred and contempt, but there was typically an advocate, someone who would help and defend them. Jim Hardie is that here, being more than willing to defend the young man. When the young man eventually runs away back to the Choctaws, Hardie finds they don't want him when he visits their settlement. They tell Hardie the old chief took the young boy in as a son, but that chief died and the new chief, Running Bird, hates all white men and wants no "palefaces" living there. Hardie is told to take the boy and go.
This entry features a very high level Jim Hardie cool factor. Throughout the episode he stands up firmly and resolutely to a number of hostile, prejudiced townspeople as he's trying to integrate the young man back into society. These encounters are quite satisfying, as Hardie takes no gruff from anyone, even resorting to fisticuffs when it was deserved. As I've said many times over, Jim Hardie is one cool character.
Series veteran director Earl Bellamy helms the episode, and he manages the convergence of two plotlines deftly as it concludes. The 30min era of the series often featured quick-moving stories, as they didn't have the time to feature a more detailed backstory, as with all the half hour westerns of the era.
The cast includes a number of well-known faces. Neil Hamilton appeared as Niles Lawson. Although he is cemented into pop culture as Commissioner Gordon on Batman with Adam West, his career prior to that was very long. He began in silents, and by the time talkies arrived he had been a leading man for some years. He appeared in a number of pre-code pictures and beyond with many of the leading actresses of the day, including Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Constance Bennett, Ann Sothern, Irene Dunne, Fay Wray, and Jean Arthur, an impressive group. He also appeared alongside Maureen O'Sullivan in the first two Tarzan pictures with Johnny Weissmuller. He was strikingly handsome, and apparently rivalled Valentino with huge quantities of fan mail and an adoring female public. As he aged his career waned, and he moved into older type roles and eventually TV. Richard Evans appeared as the young teen, in his second credited role, and was a busy actor with a familiar face. I seem to recall him specializing in bullied or persecuted characters, such as here, or in his Cheyenne and Star Trek appearances. Glenn Strange appeared as Chief Running Bird. Before his last job as Sam on Gunsmoke, he was a familiar face in mostly villainous roles in many westerns, and as Boris Karloff's successor as the Frankenstein Monster. The remainder of the cast had hundreds and hundreds of roles in TV and motion pictures, which are far too numerous to mention.
So, ToWF's entry in the "young person raised by Indians" was a pretty decent watch, mostly due to the Jim Hardie cool factor. EWIBIG y'know.
helpful•10
- ben-thayer
- Dec 23, 2023
Details
- Runtime30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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