Stagecoach West (TV series)

Synopsis

Two Civil War veterans, Luke Perry and Simon "Sime" Kane, run a stagecoach line together on the frontier. They take turns driving, and Sime’s brave, clever son Davey usually rides along. Their base is Outpost, a small, unincorporated settlement in Wyoming Territory. During their trips, they haul passengers and freight through all sorts of trouble: murders, robberies, swindles, hijackings, range wars, and attacks from renegade Indians, renegade soldiers, and Mexican revolutionaries.

Though the characters stay the same age, the stories seem to happen anywhere from the mid-1860s to the 1890s. Dan Murchison runs Outpost’s general store, which also works as a bank. Zeke Bonner keeps The Halfway House, a way station where the stage often stops. Cal works as the clerk in the stage line’s office in Timberline.

Hugh Strickland, the U.S. Marshal in Timberline, eventually makes Luke and Sime deputy marshals. Doc Apperson is the local doctor. Davey starts with a dog named Hannibal; after Hannibal runs away in the sixth episode, Davey gets a new dog from a passenger and calls him Hannibal II.

Production

Four Star-Hilgarde produced Stagecoach West, with Vincent M. Fennelly serving as producer. George Blair directed two episodes, Harry Harris Jr. directed one, and Donald McDougall or Thomas Carr directed the rest. D.D. Beauchamp and Mary M. Beauchamp wrote many episodes, with other writers including Bob Barbash, Martin Berkeley, and Will C. Brown. Skip Martin and Terry Gilkyson composed the music, and Bud & Travis sang the theme song over the closing credits.