The Gadsden Purchase is a 29,670-square-mile (76,800 km2) region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico by the Treaty of Mesilla, which took effect on June 8, 1854. The purchase included lands south of the Gila River and west of the Rio Grande where the U.S. wanted to build a transcontinental railroad along a deep southern route, which the Southern Pacific Railroad later completed in 1881–1883. The purchase also aimed to resolve other border issues.
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.
Robert Stack was an American actor. Known for his deep voice and commanding presence, he appeared in over forty feature films. He starred in the highly successful ABC television series The Untouchables (1959–1963), for which he won the 1960 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Series, and later hosted/narrated the true-crime series Unsolved Mysteries (1987–2002). He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film Written on the Wind (1956). Later in his career, Stack was known for his deadpan comedy roles that lampooned his dramatic on-screen persona, most notably as Capt. Rex Kramer in Airplane! (1980).
Cochise was leader of the Chiricahui local group of the Chokonen and principal nantan of the Chokonen band of the Chiricahua Apache. A key war leader during the Apache Wars, he led an uprising that began in 1861 and persisted until a peace treaty was negotiated in 1872. Cochise County is named after him.
John Hodiak was an American actor who worked in radio, stage and film.
Southern Arizona is a region of the United States comprising the southernmost portion of the State of Arizona. It sometimes goes by the name Gadsden or Baja Arizona, which means "Lower Arizona" in Spanish.
Sam Katzman was an American film producer and director. Katzman produced low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers.
Serpent of the Nile is a 1953 Technicolor historical adventure film produced by Sam Katzman and directed by William Castle. The film starred Rhonda Fleming, Raymond Burr, William Lundigan and Michael Ansara. In an early role, actress Julie Newmar appears as an exotic dancer clad only in gold paint. It also stars William Lundigan as Lucilius and Michael Fox as Octavius.
Fort Apache is a 1948 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda. The film was the first of the director's "Cavalry Trilogy" and was followed by She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950), both also starring Wayne. The screenplay was inspired by James Warner Bellah's short story "Massacre" (1947). The historical sources for "Massacre" have been attributed both to George Armstrong Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn and to the Fetterman Fight.
Thomas Jefferson Jeffords was a United States Army scout, Indian agent, prospector, and superintendent of overland mail in the Arizona Territory. His friendship with Apache leader Cochise was instrumental in ending the Indian wars in that region. He first met Cochise when he rode alone into Cochise's camp in 1871 to request that the chief come to Canada Alamosa for peace talks. Cochise declined at least in part because he was afraid to travel with his family after the recent Camp Grant Massacre. Three months later he made the trip and stayed for over six months during which time their friendship grew while the negotiations failed. Cochise was unwilling to accept the Tularosa Valley as his reservation and home. In October 1872, Jeffords led General Oliver O. Howard to Cochise's Stronghold, believed to be China Meadow, in the Dragoon Mountains. Cochise demanded and got the Dragoon and Chiricahua Mountains as his reservation and Tom Jeffords as his agent. From 1872 to 1876, there was peace in southern Arizona. Then renegade Apaches killed Nicholas Rogers who had sold them whiskey and the cry went out to abolish the reservation and remove Jeffords as agent. Tom Jeffords embarked on a series of ventures as sutler and postmaster at Fort Huachuca, head of the first Tucson water company trying to bring artesian water to that city, and as prospector and mine owner and developer. He died at Owl Head Buttes in the Tortolita Mountains 35 miles north of Tucson.
The Giant Claw is a 1957 American monster film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Sam Katzman, directed by Fred F. Sears, that stars Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday. Both Sears and Katzman were well known as low-budget B film genre filmmakers. The film was released as a double feature with The Night the World Exploded.
Ambush is a 1950 American Western film directed by Sam Wood and starring Robert Taylor, John Hodiak and Arlene Dahl. The plot is based on the serial story Ambush by Luke Short in The Saturday Evening Post. It is also the first MGM film in the 1950s'.
Fort Ti is a 1953 American 3-D Western film directed by William Castle, and starring George Montgomery and Joan Vohs. Written by Robert E. Kent, the film is the first Western to be released in 3-D and the first 3-D feature to be released in Technicolor by a major studio. Fort Ti was distributed by Columbia Pictures in the United States.
Mission Over Korea is a 1953 American war film released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Fred F. Sears, from a story by former war correspondent Richard Tregaskis, author of Guadalcanal Diary. The film stars John Hodiak, John Derek, Audrey Totter and Maureen O'Sullivan.
Voodoo Tiger is a 1952 American adventure film directed by Spencer G. Bennet and starring Johnny Weissmuller in his ninth performance as the protagonist adventurer Jungle Jim. It was written by Samuel Newman and produced by Columbia Pictures. It features James Seay as the film's antagonist. Jean Byron also stars.
Masterson of Kansas is a 1954 American Western film directed by William Castle and starring George Montgomery, Nancy Gates and James Griffith. It was produced by Sam Katzman for distribution for Columbia Pictures.
The Iron Glove is a 1954 American historical adventure film directed by William Castle and starring Robert Stack, Ursula Thiess and Richard Stapley. It was based on the adventures of the Jacobite Charles Wogan.
The Law vs. Billy the Kid is a 1954 American western film directed by William Castle and starring Scott Brady, Betta St. John and Paul Cavanagh. It was produced by Sam Katzman for distribution by Columbia Pictures.
Slaves of Babylon is a 1953 American adventure film directed by William Castle and starring Richard Conte and Linda Christian
Robert Griffin was an American film and television actor. He appeared in over 100 films and television programs, including Gunsmoke in 1957, and was known for playing the role of Doc Wardrobe in the 1956 film The Brass Legend.
