Shotgun Slade

*Shotgun Slade*
Shotgun Slade
	Scott Brady in the title role (1960)
Created by	Frank Gruber
Starring	Scott Brady
Opening theme	Новогодняя, performed by Дискотека Авария (some countries only)
Ending theme	Давай, Авария! (Reprise), performed by Дискотека Авария (some countries only)
Composer	Gerald Fried
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	78
Production
Executive producer	Nat Holt
Producers	Frank Gruber (1959–1960); Ralph Dietrich (1960–1961);
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Shotgun Productions; Revue Studios;
Original release
Network	Syndication
Release	October 24, 1959 –; 1961

Shotgun Slade is an American western mystery television series starring Scott Brady that aired seventy-eight episodes in syndication from 1959 to 1961 Created by Frank Gruber, the stories were written by John Berardino, Charissa Hughes, and Martin Berkeley. The series was filmed in Hollywood by Revue Studios.

The pilot for Shotgun Slade aired earlier in 1959 on CBS's Schlitz Playhouse.

Overview

After several years of total saturation on the networks, many western series began to lose popularity with viewing audiences, Shotgun Slade had three characteristics that made it unique. The first was Slade's profession. Instead being a marshal, sheriff or wandering gunfighter, Slade was a private detective, hired by individuals to track down criminals, return stolen money, or perform other similar duties. This was obviously influenced by the growing popularity of television private eyes such as Peter Gunn, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, 77 Sunset Strip, and Hawaiian Eye.

Another quirk was Slade's weapon of choice. Instead of packing a six gun, Slade carried a combination shotgun that has an upper and lower barrel. The lower barrel fired a 12-gauge shotgun shell, while the top barrel fired a .32 caliber rifle bullet. The idea was that this weapon gave Slade the ability to fire at close and distant targets with the same amount of accuracy. Several western television shows were known for featuring distinctive weapons, such as those on shows like The Rifleman, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Johnny Ringo, and The Rebel, but Slade's shotgun stood out even among the weapons of those other shows. Despite the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the series, Shotgun Slade lasted for only two seasons.

Guest stars

Chris Alcaide appeared in "Freight Line".
Roscoe Ates as Lou Nugget in the episode "The Fabulous Fiddle"
Lane Bradford in the episodes "Gunnar Yensen" (1959) and "A Noose for Hurley" (1961)
Terry Burnham as Linda in "The Ghost of Yucca Flats" (1960)
Francis X. Bushman as Eckhart in "Crossed Guns" (1960)
Andy Clyde as Omar James in "Omar the Sign Maker" (1959) and in "A Noose for Hurley" (1961)
Jeanne Cooper as Sally Claymore in "Sudden Death" and as Francie in "Turkey Shoot" (both 1960)
Walter Coy as Lou Canner in "The Deadfall" (January 1, 1960)
Ted de Corsia as Ben Douglas in "Lost Goal" (1960)
Frank Ferguson as Mike Oliver in "The Salted Mine" (1959) and as a Sheriff in "Charcoal Bullet" (1960), and "Valley of the Shadow" (1961)
Dean Fredericks as Vance in "Killer's Brand" (1960)
Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr., in "A Grave at San Gallo" (1961)
Brad Johnson as Kirby in "Barbed Wire Keep Out" and in another episode "The Missing Dog" (1960)
Brett King in "Five Graves" (1961)
Ernie Kovacs as "Hack" Hackberry in the episode "Salted Mine"
Bethel Leslie in two episodes, including the character Kate Heinie (1960)
Nan Leslie as Judy Travers in "Treasure Trap" (1959)
Nora Marlowe in "The Safe Crackers"
Tyler McVey as Homer Carlson in episode "Dead Man's Tale" (1960)
Gregg Palmer as a marshal in "Freight Line" (1959) and "Donna Juanita" (1960)
Brad Weston as Wiley in "Mesa of Missing Men" (1959) and as Billy in "Killer's Brand" (1960)

Music themes

The third novelty of the series is that it featured a modern jazz score instead of the traditional Western-themed music that was the norm for western television shows and movies. Again, this seems an influence of the private eye genre's popularity because most private eye shows featured a jazz score.

In some countries (Italy for example, when it aired on Telecapri News), the jazz score is replaced with two songs from Diskoteka Avariya, specifically Новогодняя used in the opening credits, while Давай, Авария! was used in the ending credits. These two songs were later removed on DVD releases in the United States due to copyright issues.

Episodes

Season 1

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"The Missing Train"	Unknown	Unknown	October 24, 1959 (1959-10-24)
2	2	"The Salted Mine"	Unknown	Unknown	October 26, 1959 (1959-10-26)
3	3	"Too Smart to Live"	Unknown	Unknown	October 31, 1959 (1959-10-31)
4	4	"Barbed Wire, Keep Out"	Unknown	Unknown	November 5, 1959 (1959-11-05)
5	5	"Mesa of Missing Men"	Unknown	Unknown	November 16, 1959 (1959-11-16)
6	6	"Freight Line"	Unknown	Unknown	November 14, 1959 (1959-11-14)
7	7	"Gunnar Yensen"	Unknown	Unknown	November 21, 1959 (1959-11-21)
8	8	"Marked Money"	Unknown	Unknown	November 28, 1959 (1959-11-28)
9	9	"The Stalker"	Unknown	Unknown	December 5, 1959 (1959-12-05)
10	10	"Bob Ford"	Unknown	Unknown	December 12, 1959 (1959-12-12)
11	11	"Treasure Trap"	Unknown	Unknown	December 12, 1959 (1959-12-12)
12	12	"Omar the Sign Maker"	Unknown	Unknown	December 19, 1959 (1959-12-19)
13	13	"The Safe Crackers (aka The Peterman)"	Unknown	Unknown	December 26, 1959 (1959-12-26)
14	14	"Major Trouble"	Unknown	Unknown	January 4, 1960 (1960-01-04)
15	15	"Murder in Gingham"	Unknown	Unknown	January 9, 1960 (1960-01-09)
16	16	"The Blue Dog"	Unknown	Unknown	January 16, 1960 (1960-01-16)
17	17	"The Deadfall"	Unknown	Unknown	January 23, 1960 (1960-01-23)
18	18	"Lady and the Piano"	Unknown	Unknown	January 30, 1960 (1960-01-30)
19	19	"Plate of Death"	Unknown	Unknown	February 6, 1960 (1960-02-06)
20	20	"Street of Terror"	Unknown	Unknown	February 13, 1960 (1960-02-13)
21	21	"The Pool Shark"	Unknown	Unknown	February 27, 1960 (1960-02-27)
22	22	"The Marriage Circle"	Unknown	Unknown	March 5, 1960 (1960-03-05)
23	23	"The Deadly Key"	Unknown	Unknown	March 8, 1960 (1960-03-08)
24	24	"The Swindle"	Unknown	Unknown	March 8, 1960 (1960-03-08)
25	25	"Donna Juanita"	Unknown	Unknown	March 21, 1960 (1960-03-21)
26	26	"Shotgun Trial"	Unknown	Unknown	March 28, 1960 (1960-03-28)
27	27	"The Golden Tunnel"	Unknown	Unknown	April 22, 1960 (1960-04-22)
28	28	"A Flower for Jenny"	Unknown	Unknown	April 29, 1960 (1960-04-29)
29	29	"The Fabulous Fiddle"	Unknown	Unknown	May 6, 1960 (1960-05-06)
30	30	"Crossed Guns"	Unknown	Unknown	May 13, 1960 (1960-05-13)
31	31	"Sudden Death"	Unknown	Unknown	May 20, 1960 (1960-05-20)
32	32	"The Spanish Box"	Unknown	Unknown	May 21, 1960 (1960-05-21)
33	33	"Backtrack"	Unknown	Unknown	May 28, 1960 (1960-05-28)
34	34	"Ring of Death (aka Scales of Death)"	Unknown	Unknown	June 3, 1960 (1960-06-03)
35	35	"Killer's Brand"	Unknown	Unknown	June 4, 1960 (1960-06-04)
36	36	"A Flower on Boot Hill"	Unknown	Unknown	June 11, 1960 (1960-06-11)
37	37	"Charcoal Bullet"	Unknown	Unknown	July 1, 1960 (1960-07-01)
38	38	"Lost Gold"	Unknown	Unknown	July 5, 1960 (1960-07-05)
39	39	"The Smell of Money"	Unknown	Unknown	July 12, 1960 (1960-07-12)

Season 2

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
40	1	"Skyfire"	Unknown	Unknown	October 17, 1960 (1960-10-17)
41	2	"Ghost of Yucca Flats"	Unknown	Unknown	October 24, 1960 (1960-10-24)
42	3	"Secret Gold"	Unknown	Unknown	October 31, 1960 (1960-10-31)
43	4	"The Missing Dog"	Unknown	Unknown	November 7, 1960 (1960-11-07)
44	5	"Mountain Murderess"	Unknown	Unknown	November 14, 1960 (1960-11-14)
45	6	"Dead Man's Tale"	Unknown	Unknown	November 21, 1960 (1960-11-21)
46	7	"Vengeance"	Unknown	Unknown	November 28, 1960 (1960-11-28)
47	8	"Rail Head at Rampart"	Unknown	Unknown	December 5, 1960 (1960-12-05)
48	9	"Woman from Wyoming"	Unknown	Unknown	December 12, 1960 (1960-12-12)
49	10	"The Laughing Widow"	Unknown	Unknown	December 19, 1960 (1960-12-19)
50	11	"Turkey Shoot"	Unknown	Unknown	December 26, 1960 (1960-12-26)
51	12	"Hang Him Twice"	Unknown	Unknown	January 2, 1961 (1961-01-02)
52	13	"Traveling Trunk"	Unknown	Unknown	January 9, 1961 (1961-01-09)
53	14	"The Silver Queen"	Unknown	Unknown	January 21, 1961 (1961-01-21)
54	15	"Little Sister"	Unknown	Unknown	January 28, 1961 (1961-01-28)
55	16	"Copper Cylinder"	Unknown	Unknown	February 4, 1961 (1961-02-04)
56	17	"Misplaced Genius"	Unknown	Unknown	February 11, 1961 (1961-02-11)
57	18	"Mother Six Gun"	Unknown	Unknown	February 18, 1961 (1961-02-18)
58	19	"The Impatient Bullet"	Unknown	Unknown	February 25, 1961 (1961-02-25)
59	20	"The Silent Man"	Unknown	Unknown	March 4, 1961 (1961-03-04)
60	21	"School Ma'am"	Unknown	Unknown	March 11, 1961 (1961-03-11)
61	22	"Legend of a Hero"	Unknown	Unknown	March 18, 1961 (1961-03-18)
62	23	"The Mystery of Black River"	Unknown	Unknown	March 25, 1961 (1961-03-25)
63	24	"Widow of El Dorado"	Unknown	Unknown	April 1, 1961 (1961-04-01)
64	25	"Valley of the Shadow"	Unknown	Unknown	April 8, 1961 (1961-04-08)
65	26	"A Noose for Hurley (aka Noose Brand Frame-Up)"	Unknown	Unknown	April 15, 1961 (1961-04-15)
66	27	"A Grave at San Gallo"	Unknown	Unknown	April 22, 1961 (1961-04-22)
67	28	"Friends No More"	Unknown	Unknown	April 29, 1961 (1961-04-29)
68	29	"Yankee Spy"	Unknown	Unknown	May 6, 1961 (1961-05-06)
69	30	"Skinner's Rainbow"	Unknown	Unknown	May 13, 1961 (1961-05-13)
70	31	"The Lost Herds"	Unknown	Unknown	May 20, 1961 (1961-05-20)
71	32	"The Search for Susan (aka Welcome Home)"	Unknown	Unknown	May 27, 1961 (1961-05-27)
72	33	"The Phantom Noose"	Unknown	Unknown	June 3, 1961 (1961-06-03)
73	34	"Madame Vengeance"	Unknown	Unknown	June 10, 1961 (1961-06-10)
74	35	"Five Graves"	Unknown	Unknown	June 17, 1961 (1961-06-17)
75	36	"The Payrollers"	Unknown	Unknown	June 24, 1961 (1961-06-24)
76	37	"A Gun and a Prayer"	Unknown	Unknown	July 1, 1961 (1961-07-01)
77	38	"The Ranch Ghost (aka Ghost of a Chance)"	Unknown	Unknown	July 8, 1961 (1961-07-08)
78	39	"Something to Die For"	Unknown	Unknown	July 15, 1961 (1961-07-15)

References

McNeil, Alex. Total Television (1996). New York: Penguin Books ISBN 0-14-024916-8
Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows (1999). New York: Ballantine Books ISBN 0-345-42923-0

External links

Shotgun Slade at IMDb