The Charles Maury Story

This was a Wagon Train episode I remember well mainly because of Wanda Hendrix and her portrayal of a southern belle who does not recognize the surrender at Appomattox. But Charleston just isn't the same after General Sherman went through it. So she and Aunt Frieda Inescourt and her maid Susanna Harbin are going west to that genteel city of San Francisco.

Another unreconstructed rebel is Charles Drake who leads a band of Mosby like raiders who also haven't surrendered. Now they're just outlaws and Ward Bond and Robert Horton's good instincts foil a raid they try on the Wagon Train for supplies.

But Drake is wounded and Hendrix spirits him back to his gang. Let's just say the experience is a cold bath of a reality check for both.

Drake does very well in his title role, but it's Wanda Hendrix who you will remember in the best Scarlett O'Hara tradition.

The Wagon Train "regulars" have little to do in this episode, and perhaps they departed early in 1958 for summer break. This is just my personal assessment of Wanda Hendrix's performance: awful. Perhaps she was so focused on her bizarre accent than she had little energy left for acting.

The plot involves a rather strange "twist" on the aftermath of the Civil War. As best I can tell, there is a band of ex-Confederates in the West, under the leadership of Captain Maury (Charles Drake) and this band of rebels dress in Union uniforms in their raids. Juliette (Wanda) hates all Yankees. There follows a scene in which Maura attempts to seduce Juliet while wearing his Union uniform. This scene involves a lot of non-consensual neck-kissing while Juliet talks of her hatred for all Yankees.

Then a plot development occurs and after a commercial break, Juliet is in Confederate camp and . . . It just gets stranger and more absurd.