classicsoncall
The golden age of TV Westerns consisted roughly of the half decade from 1957 to 1962, and network TV was just loaded with them. The A list included classics like 'Gunsmoke' and 'Rawhide', but there was a respectable second tier of shows like 'Colt .45', 'The Texan', and this one - 'Tombstone Territory', starring Pat Conway as Sheriff Clay Hollister. Each show opened with a brief narration by Richard Eastham who portrayed the editor of The Tombstone Epitaph, Harris Cliburn, stating that the episode to follow was based on news that appeared within it's pages. I don't know if that was true or not, but it sounded cool enough, and I don't doubt that some of them actually could have been.Knowing a little bit about the history of the Old West in general, and the OK Corral in particular, it's curious to me now how the series avoided mentioning the Earp Brothers. The infamous gunfight took place on October 26th, 1881, which would have placed it squarely within the dates cited every week by Editor Cliburn for when the episodes took place, roughly spanning the years 1880 through 1886. However the show did use other historical figures of the era like Johnny Ringo, Doc Holliday and Geronimo, and actor Robert Foulk had a recurring role in the first season as amiable outlaw Curly Bill Broscious.Over the past couple of months I've been able to watch about sixty of the show's total of ninety two episodes spanning 1957 to 1960. Something I found interesting was that beyond the first season, when actor Gil Rankin appeared as Hollister's deputy Charlie Riggs, the sheriff wound up with various other deputies from show to show named Pete, Fred and Quint. None of them were portrayed by known actors, and since the closing credits listed the players by name only and not their characters, I have no idea who was who. Not a big deal, but it's just one of those things I'd like to know.As with all TV Westerns of the time, a great list of guest actors would make their appearance in 'Tombstone Territory', names like Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef, Andrew Duggan, William Conrad, Michael Landon and Pernell Roberts. Warren Oates showed up a couple of times as different characters, and even though I wasn't surprised to see Angie Dickinson in one of the shows, one guest that caught me off guard was Dyan Cannon showing up at the tail end of the third season in 'The Injury'.One of the things I liked about the show was that Hollister and Cliburn developed a pretty strong relationship during the series run. Clay almost always called him Mr. Cliburn, and it wasn't unusual to see the newspaper man take a heated stand to back up the sheriff, like he did in #1.7 - 'Guns of Silver'. Pat Conway for his part was the classic TV lawman, squaring back his shoulders and moving straight ahead whenever he got ready to perform his duties. One of his best efforts came in episode #1.6 - 'Killer Without a Conscience' when he faced down Bruce Gordon as a sadistic lawman who wanted to take Hollister's place in Tombstone. That was one of Hollister's finest moments in a classic showdown that Westerns like these were noted for.Something I'll have to get around to at some point is finding out how the three major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) operated back in the day. I say that because when the second season of 'Tombstone Territory' ended on October 9th, 1958, Pat Conway appeared in an episode of 'The Texan' on CBS that aired on October 13th. Oddly, that's the only time I've ever seen Conway outside of his regular series, even though he had a fair number of appearances in other vehicles, almost all in TV shows from the mid-Fifties to the early Seventies. An interesting trivia note is that he appeared in episodes of 'Gunsmoke' in 1955, and then again in 1973! How cool is that?
BERECAT
6ft.3in.Pat Conway starring Sherriff Clay Hollister was in charge of keeping thing orderly in the "Town Too Tough To Die". The show originally ran on ABC from October 16, 1957 to October 9, 1959. Richard Eastham played double duty as editor of the Epitaph and as narrator of the show.Tombstone Territory came out of the stable that produced the likes of Bat Masterson and Highway Patrol and a slew of other popular 1950 TV series.Pat Conway handled his role as Clay Hollister quite well as his family are no strangers to the performing arts.(His mother was silent screen star Francis Bushman).Tombstone Territory was never short on shoot-em ups or fistic violence as was the norm for westerns of its day.Has it changed? As a kid in the fifties I had an ear for those catchy tunes that were so prevelant back in those days and "Whistle Me Up A Memory" was one of the best.As with so many other entertaining TV show from yesteryear (and many from ZIV) the only copies available from this show are a few 16mm transfers. What a shame!
