Tales of the Texas Rangers

Harry Lauter used to turn up in so many shows during the 1950s and 1960s that my dad and I used to keep track of them so we could catch repeats. Yes, Harry was that good; an actor who came across as someone who could carry off any character with aplomb.

This series had probably the best theme outside of 'The Adventures of Superman'. Though I've not seen 'Texas Rangers' for decades, I can replay that theme, words and picture, in my mind without any trouble at all.

A series I'd love to find one day on DVD.

If anyone has the following episodes I would like to hear from you. Double Edge, Buckaroo from Powder River, Last Days of Boot Hill, Bandits of El Dorado, Panhandle, Key Witness, Quarter Horse, Whirlwind Raiders, Both Barrels Blazing, Traitor's Gold, Warpath, Midway Kewpie, Fifth Plague, Ambush. I have the remaining stories. Willard Parker was a good actor who played on Broadway and various B westerns in the fifties. I suspect his obvious resemblance to Randolph Scott hurt him. The show had three excellent supporting players. Moonlighting from his role as the Old Ranger on Death Valley Days, Stanley Andrews was in the Shooting of Sam Bass, The Hobo, Shorty Sees the Light, and The Black Eyes of Texas. Morris Ankram played Colonel Bryson in Trail Herd. Ken Christy was Windy Norton in Singing on the Trail.

SONY has the rights to the 13 unreleased episodes of the Tales of the Texas Rangers. They indicated that if enough people and/or dealers show interest, they will sell them on the market. In other words, it is up to us to contact SONY; or SONY may find it more convenient to just sell the entire 52 stories as one package. Suggest we fans move to request it. Unreleased: Both Barrels Blazing, Bandits of El Dorado, Last Days of Boot Hill, Whirlwind Raiders, Ambush, Warpath, Double Edge, Midway Kewpie, Quarter Horse, Jail Bird, Buckaroo from Powder River, Panhandle, Key Witness, Traitor's Gold. This was a very good series for its time and Willard Parker was an underrated actor

This is one series that was definitely "must see TV" in our house, although it did not appear on NBC. We see that, as remembered, it was over the "Tiffany Network", CBS that we first viewed TALES OF THE Texas RANGERS (Screen Gems Television, 1955-59).

The series boasted of the commanding presence of Jace Pearson (Willard Parker) and Clay Morgan (Harry Lauter). (No, Schultz; it's not Sir Harry Lauder, the Scottish Born British Music Hall Comedian!) The pair were inseparable as they traversed time and space in patrolling the vast Texas terrain, rendering it peaceful for the law-abiding. "Time" and "Space", what does that mean?

The special feature of TALES OF THE Texas RANGERS was that it featured stories on the wanted, the cold-blooded killers and any and all manner of wrong doers in any era in the History of the Lone Star State. That is, these two main characters would be depicted one week going after "Black Bart" or some such desperado of the Old West; only the very next week driving their truck with horse trailer in tow, working on some present day pattern of Bank Robberies.

That was the series' gimmick, and a good one at that. We never questioned it; just accepted it as a unique dramatic device. The series was aimed at juveniles; hence it was slotted on Saturday Mornings, somewhere between THE MIGHTY MOUSE PLAYHOUSE and a local RECORD HOP-type Teenagers' Show. We all knew it was something special to be displacing any animated antics.

There are certain details of the show that were most memorable to us and our impressionable little kids minds, that they persist, right up to the present moment.* Take for example, the theme song used at the opening and closing. The words (most of 'em, anyway!), the tune and the manner in which it was delivered seem as vivid now as ever, even though we're talking over 50 years now!

It would start with a quiet street in a "typical Western town." Ranger Jace Pearson (Mr. Willard Parker) looking very serious, was seen in close-up. The sounding of one single trumpet resonates the chords of the first line of the theme song all around the town. The music begins to pick up intensity, volume and speed as one by one, then in twos more and more Texas Rangers join in with Jace and Clay Morgan (Mr. Harry Lauter) in a highly energetic and even symbolic march down this main street. The theme song/march, while being done to the tune as "The Eyes of Texas" and/or "I've been working on the Railroad, had a set of original lyrics designed for the show. In part they wenta soma thinga lika thisa:

"Here's A Stalwart Man of Texas, Jace Pearson is his name' His Partner Clay is right beside him, Blank,blank blank, blank, blank, blank!…..

(And it finishes up something lika,) "They'll fight for Right, for Right and Justice, To Enforce the Law for You!"

It is only in recent years that we found out that there had been a TALES OF THE Texas RANGERS Radio Show on the NBC Radio Network from 1950-52. It starred Mr. Joel McCrae as lone-wolf type Jace Pearson, having no partner on the Radio version.

Like so many television shows of its day, TALES OF Texas RANGERS provided a clue to the young folks about right living, fair play,cultivating a law abiding attitude and behaviour pattern. All this was done in a suggestive, soft sell manner. Even the last line of its Theme/Signature song planted a small seed that could reap big results. Remember: "They'll fight for Right, for Right and Justice, to Enforce the Law for You!"

'Nuff said!

My father retired from the Texas Rangers in 1951, when I was about four years old. He and I watched this program every Saturday. Its tech adviser was Captain Clint Peoples, for whom my dad worked in his last years with the Rangers. I KNEW that Capt. Peoples played up his own role in all the episodes (???), but I also recognized my father's contributions (as he revealed them). In sum, when I look back, I think that there was a lot more realism than my fellow eight year old viewers knew. I am incredibly gratified, though, that kids from New Hampshire felt exactly as I did about the show. Small world. Thanks to you all "Yankees" for sharing your memories. If you're curious, my father's favorite TV crime show in the years before he died was Hawaii Five-O.