Lawman (TV series)

Did You Know?

• Warner Archive has released all four seasons on DVD in Region 1 as manufacture-on-demand (MOD) releases.
• Lawman merchandise included lunchboxes, puzzles, boots, arcade cards, sheet music, action figures, toy rifles, and cap pistols.
• A Lawman comic drawn by Dan Spiegle ran for eleven issues from 1958 to 1962.

Premise

Dan Troop left Abilene, Kansas, and headed for Laramie, Wyoming, where the town offered him the marshal's job after the previous marshal, David Lemp, was murdered. On his way into town, he encountered Johnny McKay, who was placing a tombstone on Lemp's grave. Johnny thought Dan was a criminal, but they met again at the cafe run by Lemp's widow Dru, where Johnny worked washing dishes. Dan put a sign in the marshal's office window that said "Deputy Wanted."

Johnny applied, but Dan refused him, thinking the 19-year-old was too young. Dan later arrested Lacey Hawks in the Bluebonnet Saloon, and Lacey warned that his brothers Flynn and Walt would come after him. Johnny told Dan that Flynn had killed Marshal Lemp, and the whole town had seen it but was too scared to act. Dan went out alone to face the Hawks brothers; he shot Flynn, but then heard another shot from behind and saw Walt fall dead, with Johnny holding a rifle.

Dan motioned for Johnny to follow him back into the office and took down the "Deputy Wanted" sign. In season one, Troop taught Johnny the basics of law enforcement, often leaving him to guard the town. In seasons two through four, Johnny took a bigger role and carried some episodes on his own. Season one had a serious tone, but when Lily Merrill arrived at the start of season two, the scripts added comedic elements and romance as Dan and Lily's friendship grew.

Johnny always called Dan "Mr. Troop" or "Sir." Dan initially called Johnny "Boy" to highlight his youth, but as the series went on, he used Johnny's name more often and only occasionally said "Boy," now as a friendly term.

Production

As part of Warner Bros.' Western lineup, Lawman had two crossover events. In the Maverick episode "Hadley's Hunters," Russell and Brown appeared alongside Jack Kelly's Bart Maverick. Later, Peter Brown and Adam West played Johnny McKay and Doc Holliday in the Sugarfoot episode "The Trial of the Canary Kid," which followed up on the Lawman installment "The Wayfarer." To cut costs, the studio reused scripts across shows, often crediting them to "W. Hermanos." Two Lawman scripts, "The Payment" and "The Judge," were adapted from Cheyenne episodes, trimmed from sixty minutes to thirty.