Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (TV series)

Did You Know?

• Dell Comics produced Sergeant Preston comics based on the radio version, then from 1956 to 1959 issued 29 issues based on the television series.
• In the 1980s, Don Sherwood adapted the series into comic books with scripts by Stan Stunell.
• In 1955, Quaker Oats inserted genuine deeds to one square inch of Yukon Territory land into cereal boxes as part of the Klondike Big Inch Land Promotion tied to the show.

Synopsis

Richard Simmons portrayed Sergeant Preston, a North-West Mounted Police officer who patrolled the Yukon Territory during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, hunting renegades and outlaws. He was aided by his Alaskan Malamute Yukon King, raised by a female wolf, and in summer episodes rode his horse Rex. The show opened with an announcer describing Preston and King breaking trail in pursuit of lawbreakers, and each episode ended with Preston telling his dog, "Well, King, this case is closed." The theme music was the overture to Emil von Reznicek's opera Donna Diana.

Production

In March 1955, Quaker Oats signed a three-year $10 million sponsorship deal for the series. Filming took place in mountainous areas of Big Bear, California, and the historic mining ghost town of Ashcroft, Colorado, which was rebuilt to resemble Dawson and White Horse in Canada's Yukon Territory. Interior scenes for the first season and most of the second were shot at Westfilm Studios on Yucca Street in Hollywood, leased by Charles E. Skinner Productions in June 1955.

Trendle-Campbell-Meurer, Inc. Enterprise produced all three seasons with Charles E. Skinner Productions handling the first 52 episodes, and Tom R. Curtis Productions taking over on December 1, 1956, filming 26 additional episodes at Paramount Sunset Corporation rental studios on Bronson Avenue in Hollywood for the remainder of the second season and the third season. In June 1957, the Jack Wrather Corporation purchased all rights to the series and its 78 completed color episodes from George W. Trendle, Allen Campbell, and Raymond Meurer for $1.5 million.

Cast

Richard Simmons played Sergeant William Preston. The dog Yukon King and the horse Rex also appeared. Vic Perrin served as uncredited narrator for 48 programs across all three seasons, and Gayne Whitman as uncredited narrator for 10 programs in seasons two and three. Guest stars included Francis De Sales in five episodes, Kelo Henderson in the 1958 episode "Escape to the North", Ed Hinton in two 1956 episodes, I. Stanford Jolley in two episodes, Tyler MacDuff in the 1957 episode "Lost River Roundup", John M. Pickard in four episodes from 1956–1957, Robert Shayne in the 1957 episode "The Mark of Crime", William Boyett in two episodes, and Dan Blocker in the 1957 episode "Underground Ambush".

Release

Because it was filmed in color, the series remained popular after its original prime-time run and began airing on Saturday mornings in the early 1960s. It was shown internationally for decades. During the 2010s, it aired on GRIT and FETV. Timeless Media Group released a two-disc best-of set with ten episodes on November 21, 2006, and Infinity Entertainment released all three seasons on DVD in Region 1.