Temple Houston (TV series)

Last updated
Temple Houston
Jeffrey Hunter Temple Houston 1963.JPG
Jeffrey Hunter in Temple Houston (1963)
Genre Western
Legal drama
Comedy
Directed by Leslie H. Martinson
William Conrad
Robert Totten
Irving J. Moore
Alvin Ganzer
Robert D. Webb
Starring Jeffrey Hunter
Jack Elam
James Best
Frank Ferguson
Chubby Johnson
Mary Wickes
Opening theme"The Yellow Rose of Texas"
as arranged by
Frank Comstock and
Ned Washington
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes26
Production
Executive producers William T. Orr
Jack Webb
Jeffrey Hunter
ProducersRichard M. Bluel
Joseph Dackow
Lawrence Dobkin
Jimmy Lydon
EditorByron Chudnow
Running time60 minutes
Production companiesApollo Productions
Rancom Productions Inc.
Temple Houston Company
Warner Bros. Television
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseSeptember 19, 1963 (1963-09-19) 
April 2, 1964 (1964-04-02)

Temple Houston is an American Western television series starring Jeffrey Hunter as real-life 19th century Texas lawyer Temple Lea Houston. It ran for one season on NBC from 1963 to 1964. It is considered "the first attempt ... to produce an hour-long western series with the main character being an attorney in the formal sense." [1] Temple Houston was the only program which Jack Webb sold to a network during his ten months as the head of production at Warner Bros. Television. [2] It was also the lone series in which Hunter played a regular part. [3] The series' supporting cast features Jack Elam and Chubby Johnson.

Contents

Plot

Temple Houston is based loosely on the career of the real-life circuit-riding lawyer Temple Lea Houston (1860–1905), son of the more famous Sam Houston. Little, however, binds all the episodes together under a common framework. The series variously cast the characters and situations in both an overtly humorous and a deadly serious light. Author-historian (and attorney) Francis M. Nevins asserts of the first episode entitled "The Twisted Rope", "Clearly, the concept here is Perry Mason out West", going so far as to note that Temple Houston's court opponent "apes Hamilton Burger by accusing Houston of 'prolonging this trial with a lot of dramatic nonsense'". [1] Later episodes turned Houston into more of a detective than a lawyer. Over the course of the series, the bulk of the narrative sees Houston actually gathering evidence, rather than trying cases. In the end, the series largely eschewed criminal law in favor of overtly humorous plots, such as in the episode "The Law and Big Annie", in which Houston uses his legal expertise to help a friend decide what to do after he inherits an elephant. [1]

The producers tried to avoid any storylines that would embarrass the two surviving children of Temple Houston who were still living when the series aired. [4]

Cast

Main cast

Guest stars

Episode list

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
0"The Man from Galveston" William Conrad Dean Riesner,
Michael S. Zagor
N/A
1"The Twisted Rope" Abner Biberman S: James Warner Bellah;
T: Jack Turley
September 19, 1963 (1963-09-19)
2"Find Angel Chavez"Herman HoffmanJohn Hawkins,
Steve McNeil
September 26, 1963 (1963-09-26)
3"Letter of the Law" Robert Totten Donald S. Sanford October 3, 1963 (1963-10-03)
4"Toll the Bell Slowly" Gerd Oswald Robert Leslie Bellem,
Carey Wilber
October 17, 1963 (1963-10-17)
5"The Third Bullet" Alvin Ganzer Antony Ellis October 24, 1963 (1963-10-24)
6"Gallows in Galilee"Robert TottenE.M. ParsonsOctober 31, 1963 (1963-10-31)
7"The Siege at Thayer's Bluff"Alvin GanzerPreston WoodNovember 7, 1963 (1963-11-07)
8"Jubilee"Robert TottenJohn Robinson,
Paul Savage
November 14, 1963 (1963-11-14)
9"Thunder Gap" Leslie H. Martinson Harold Jack Bloom,
Thomas Thompson,
Preston Wood
November 21, 1963 (1963-11-21)
10"Billy Hart"William ConradHerman Groves,
Norman Jolley
November 28, 1963 (1963-11-28)
11"Seventy Times Seven"Robert Totten D.D. Beauchamp,
Arthur Browne Jr.
December 5, 1963 (1963-12-05)
12"Fracas at Kiowa Flats"Leslie H. MartinsonCarey WilberDecember 12, 1963 (1963-12-12)
13"Enough Rope" Irving J. Moore Robert Vincent WrightDecember 19, 1963 (1963-12-19)
14"The Dark Madonna" John Florea Gerry Day December 26, 1963 (1963-12-26)
15"The Guardian" Robert D. Webb Donald S. SanfordJanuary 2, 1964 (1964-01-02)
16"Thy Name Is Woman"William ConradKen PettusJanuary 9, 1964 (1964-01-09)
17"The Law and Big Annie"Ken PettusCecil SmithJanuary 16, 1964 (1964-01-16)
18"Sam's Boy"Irving J. Moore Warren Douglas January 23, 1964 (1964-01-23)
19"Ten Rounds for Baby"Irving J. Moore William R. Cox January 30, 1964 (1964-01-30)
20"The Case for William Gotch"Leslie H. MartinsonHerman GrovesFebruary 6, 1964 (1964-02-06)
21"A Slight Case of Larceny"William ConradKen PettusFebruary 13, 1964 (1964-02-13)
22"Last Full Moon"Leslie H. MartinsonRobert SabaroffFebruary 27, 1964 (1964-02-27)
23"The Gun That Swept the West"William ConradUnknownMarch 5, 1964 (1964-03-05)
24"Do Unto Others, Then Gallop"Leslie H. MartinsonRon BishopMarch 19, 1964 (1964-03-19)
25"The Town That Trespassed"William ConradJack TurleyMarch 26, 1964 (1964-03-26)
26"Miss Katherine"Leslie H. MartinsonKen PettusApril 2, 1964 (1964-04-02)

Production

Pilot

The earliest known conceptual documents for Temple Houston date back to 1957. [5] It took about six years for a pilot to be filmed. That pilot, The Man from Galveston, was filmed in March 1963, but was never broadcast on television. Instead, the 57-minute film was released theatrically late in 1963. The series used a different cast from the movie pilot. [6] Jeffrey Hunter was the only cast member to star in both pilot and series, although his character was re-dubbed Timothy Higgins in the pilot when it was released as a theatrical film.

The series was produced by Warner Bros. Television and Apollo Productions, a company co-owned by star Jeffrey Hunter, who had demanded to produce it in exchange for a film and television commitment to Warner Bros. [5]

By December 1963, the series was rated 31st of the 32 new shows that season. [5] NBC then ordered a switch back to more humorous stories. [7] but the change merely allowed the series to continue to the end of the season.

Cancellation

Temple Houston was pulled after one season of twenty-six episodes. Hunter later indicated that he thought the series failed because of an inability to establish a consistent tone.

Syndication

Because the show produced so few episodes, it had little presence on the domestic syndication market. However, it appears to have enjoyed limited international syndication. The series was shown in Japan in 1963, [8] and on Australian regional television station GTS-4 in 1974. [9]

In the United Kingdom the series was shown on BBC One television between October 1964 and July 1965, inspiring one of the few pieces of memorabilia from the show—a 1965 British annual. [10] As in the US, the pilot The Man From Galveston was never shown on UK TV but did duty as a cinema second feature in April 1964 (supporting Warner's Mary, Mary).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Webb</span> American actor, producer, director, and writer (1920–1982)

John Randolph Webb was an American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter, most famous for his role as Joe Friday in the Dragnet franchise, which he created. He was also the founder of his own production company, Mark VII Limited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Hunter</span> American actor (1926–1969)

Jeffrey Hunter was an American film and television actor and producer known for his roles in films such as The Searchers and King of Kings. On television, Hunter is known for his 1965 role as Captain Christopher Pike in the original pilot episode of Star Trek: The Original Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner Bros. Television Studios</span> Television arm of Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television, is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of Warner Bros., a flagship studio of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Launched on March 21, 1955 by William T. Orr, it serves as a television production arm of DC Comics productions by DC Studios and, alongside Paramount Global's CBS Studios, The CW, the latter that launched in 2006 and WBD has a 12.5% ownership stake. It also serves as the distribution arm of WBD units HBO, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Format Films</span> Television animation studio

Format Films was an animation studio which was founded by Herbert Klynn in 1959 with Jules Engel as vice president, Bob McIntosh and Joseph Mugnaini, all of whom were animators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clint Walker</span> American actor (1927–2018)

Norman Eugene "Clint" Walker was an American actor. He played cowboy Cheyenne Bodie in the ABC/Warner Bros. western series Cheyenne from 1955 to 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Elam</span> American actor (1920–2003)

William Scott "Jack" Elam was an American film and television actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies. His most distinguishing physical quality was his misaligned eye. Before his career in acting, he took several jobs in finance and served two years in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Elam performed in 73 movies and in at least 41 television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark VII Limited</span> Production company of actor and filmmaker Jack Webb

Mark VII Limited was the production company of actor and filmmaker Jack Webb, and was active from 1951 until his death in 1982. Many of its series were produced in association with Universal Television; most of them were originally broadcast on the NBC television network in the United States.

<i>Brainstorm</i> (1965 film) 1965 film by William Conrad

Brainstorm is a 1965 neo-noir thriller film starring Jeffrey Hunter and Anne Francis. It was produced and directed by William Conrad, who was better known as an actor in such television series as Cannon and Jake and the Fatman, and was one of three suspense thrillers directed by Conrad for Warner Bros. in 1965, which also included Two on a Guillotine and My Blood Runs Cold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Provine</span> American singer, dancer, actress and comedienne ( 1935–2010)

Dorothy Michelle Provine was an American singer, dancer and actress. Born in 1935 in Deadwood, South Dakota, she grew up in Seattle, Washington, and was hired in 1958 by Warner Bros., after which she first starred in The Bonnie Parker Story and played many roles in TV series. During the 1960s, Provine starred in series such as The Alaskans and The Roaring Twenties, and her major film roles included It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Good Neighbor Sam (1964), The Great Race (1965). That Darn Cat! (1965), Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966), Who's Minding the Mint? (1967), and Never a Dull Moment (1968). In 1968, Provine married the film and television director Robert Day and mostly retired. She died of emphysema on April 25, 2010, in Bremerton, Washington.

<i>Sugarfoot</i> American Western TV series

Sugarfoot is an American Western television series that aired for 69 episodes on ABC from 1957-1961 on Tuesday nights on a "shared" slot basis – rotating with Cheyenne ; Cheyenne and Bronco ; and Bronco. The Warner Bros. production stars Will Hutchins as Tom Brewster, an Easterner who comes to the Oklahoma Territory to become a lawyer. Brewster was a correspondence-school student whose apparent lack of cowboy skills earned him the nickname "Sugarfoot", a designation even below that of a tenderfoot.

<i>The Dakotas</i> (TV series) American Western drama television series

The Dakotas is an ABC/Warner Bros. Western television series starring Larry Ward and featuring Jack Elam, Chad Everett, and Michael Greene, broadcast during 1963. The short-lived program is considered a spin-off of Clint Walker's Cheyenne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Colbert</span> American actor (b. 1931)

Robert Louis Colbert is an American actor best known for his leading role as Dr. Doug Phillips on the ABC television series The Time Tunnel and his two appearances as Brent Maverick, a third Maverick brother in the ABC/Warner Brothers western Maverick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Duggan</span> American actor (1923–1988)

Andrew Duggan was an American character actor. His work includes 185 screen credits between 1949 and 1987 for roles in both film and television, as well a number more on stage.

<i>Cheyenne</i> (TV series) TV program

Cheyenne is an American Western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1962. The show was the first hour-long Western, and was the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season. It was also the first series to be made by a major Hollywood film studio which did not derive from its established film properties, and the first of a long chain of Warner Bros. original series produced by William T. Orr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Brown (actor)</span> American actor (1935-2016)

Pierre Lynn de Lappe, also known as Peter Brown, was an American actor. He portrayed Deputy Johnny McKay opposite John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop in the 1958 to 1962 ABC-Warner Brothers western television series Lawman and Texas Ranger Chad Cooper on NBC's Laredo from 1965 to 1967.

<i>Kraft Suspense Theatre</i> American television anthology series

The Kraft Suspense Theatre is an American television anthology series that was produced and broadcast from 1963 to 1965 on NBC. Sponsored by Kraft Foods, it was seen three weeks out of every four and was pre-empted for Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall specials once monthly. Como's production company, Roncom Films, also produced Kraft Suspense Theatre.. Writer, editor, critic, and radio playwright Anthony Boucher served as consultant on the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chubby Johnson</span> American character actor and journalist

Charles Randolph "Chubby" Johnson was an American film and television supporting character actor with a genial demeanor and warm, country-accented voice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Lea Houston</span> American politician (1860–1905)

Temple Lea Houston was an American attorney and politician who served from 1885 to 1889 in the Texas State Senate. He was the last-born child of Margaret Lea Houston and Sam Houston, the first elected president of the Republic of Texas.

<i>Laredo</i> (TV series) American Western television series

Laredo is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1965–67, starring Neville Brand, William Smith, Peter Brown, and Philip Carey as Texas Rangers. It is set on the Mexican border around Laredo in Webb County in South Texas. The program presented 56 episodes in color. It was produced by Universal Television. The series has a comedic element, but like another NBC series that premiered in 1965, The Wackiest Ship in the Army, it was an hour in length, had no laugh track, and characters were not infrequently killed in it, thus going against three unofficial rules for sitcoms at the time.

<i>The Boy from Oklahoma</i> 1954 film by Michael Curtiz

The Boy from Oklahoma is a 1954 American western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Will Rogers Jr., Nancy Olson and Anthony Caruso. It was produced and distributed by the major studio Warner Bros.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Nevins, Frances M. "Westerns". Prime Time Law: Fictional Television as Legal Narrative. Robert M. Jarvis and Paul R. Joseph, Editors. Carolina Academic Press. 1998. p. 212-213
  2. "Jack Webb at The Museum of Broadcast Communications". Archived from the original on 2013-08-22. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  3. Jeffrey Hunter's Notable Television Appearances Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Production memo, Temple Houston files, Warner Bros. Archives, Cinema-Television Library, University of Southern California. The producers did not consult with Houston's family about the series, other than to inquire if any direct descendants were still living. Frank X. Tolbert, "Temple Houston's Family Speaks Up," Dallas Morning News , August 25, 1963, sec. 1, p. 23
  5. 1 2 3 Jeffreyhuntermovies.com Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine Glenn A. Mosley, "Temple Houston: The Story Behind a Forgotten Western". Wildest Westerns Magazine, Issue No. 2, 2000. Under this contract, Hunter appeared in the Warner Bros. 1965 theatrical releases Murieta (1965) and Brainstorm .
  6. Production memo, Temple Houston files, Warner Bros. Archives, Cinema-Television Library, University of Southern California.
  7. J. D. Spiro. "Happy in Hollywood". The Milwaukee Journal . 4 July 1965.
  8. "Japanese Net Buys 'Houston' in TV Package," Dallas Morning News , August 27, 1963, sec. 3, p. 5.
  9. 1974 Australian television schedule Archived 2007-08-31 at the Wayback Machine
  10. The 1965 Temple Houston Annual at booksandcollectibles.com.au.