Captain's Library TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER "Man Alone"

Though his radio show had been off the air for several years...

...the name-value of the Mysterious Traveler had enough cachet to keep this comic book series going for years after!

Although the Mysterious Traveler would literally stand right next to people throughout the story, the other characters never interacted with him.

He never had an origin, and we never learned who (or what) he was!
This story from #12 (1959) began Matt Baker's too-brief run on the title...because it was cancelled with the next issue!
But within that short span, Matt did five stories.

Captain's Library and Theatre FRONTIER DOCTOR "Storm Over King City" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

(No, you haven't missed a post.

The first part appeared at Western Comics Adventures!
Just click on the link above!)

Dr Bill Baxter is told that his elderly uncle David Sheldon has been murdered!
But he left a will with a lawyer mentioning an inheritance of a gold mine, of which Bill will receive half.
The other half is to go to an orphanage run by Miss Mary Fuller.
However, to locate the gold mine and fulfill the terms of the will, Baxter must journey to Canada, where his uncle lived and died, and meet with Miss Fuller since both he and the lady each have only 1/2 of the map that leads to the mine.
What he doesn't know is that the criminals who murdered his uncle lie in wait to ambush him, steal the map along with his identification and little black bag, and pretend to be him.
They waylay the sawbones, who barely survives, but manages to get to a nearby RCMP station.
The doctor and policeman confront the imposter, who manages to bluff the Mountie into thinking Baxter is the imposter!
But when a medical emergency happens to a child at the orphanage, the fake doctor is forced by his confederates to attend to the deathly-ill patient...

This adaptation of the episode "Storm Over King City" in Dell's Four Color Comics #877 (1958) was illustrated by Alex Toth, whom Old West comics fans remember as the artist on the comics based on Disney's Zorro TV series!
The writer, however, is unknown, 
As for the 1958-59 syndicated TV series' protagonist...

Though he did not carry a gun, Dr Bill Baxter was not a wimp by any measure.
The medical man used his wits, medical knowledge, his fists, and, occasionally, other people's shooting irons, to aid those who needed help.

Rex Allen, who played Baxter, performed as a rodeo rider while in high school.

After graduation, he took up singing, first in vaudeville, then on radio, becoming a popular country/Western singers.

Like most of his contemporaries, he soon was doing Western b-movies as a singing cowboy nicknamed "The Arizona Cowboy", teamed up with comedy-relief sidekicks including Buddy Ebsen and Slim Pickens.

After a couple of dozen films, Rex tried to make the transition to TV with Frontier Doctor, but the show was cancelled after a single season.

But Allen made yet another transition, and became a successful voice-over artist and narrator, primarily for Disney film and tv productions.

TRIVIA:

Besides Frontier Cowboy, Rex had his own self-titled comic book series from Dell Comics that ran for thirty-one issues!

Allen was a cousin of Gunsmoke cast member Glenn Strange, who played bartender Sam Noonan.

Rex's son, Rex Allen, Jr., is a successful singer.

There's a Rex Allen Museum in Willcox, Arizona!

BONUS!

Here's the TV episode which was adapted into the comic story!

Note that the comic is based on an early draft of the script, so there are differences!

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The Little Mermaid's FIRST Live-Action Movie Appearance...

We presented a Little Mermaid comic book tale HERE...

...which was an adaptation of this live-action performance in a 1952 movie...

...about the (fictionalized) life of the fairy tale's writer, Hans Christian Andersen!

In the big-budget flick, Danny Kaye plays Hans, who becomes obsessed with a married ballerina who constantly squabbles with her spouse (also a dancer in the company) and pens "The Little Mermaid" in reaction to what he's witnessed!

Though most of the fairy tales are performed as songs Danny sings to kids, the Little Mermaid is performed as a ballet!
To add "swimming" special effects "magic" to the dancing, it was decided that, rather than presenting it as an actual ballet, they had Hans imagine how it would look!
This allowed them to do things on-screen with wires and optical effects which would've be impossible to show on a live-theatre stage.

The comic book, as shown HERE, did a straightforward adaptation of the fairy tale without the ballet.

See the new live-action Little Mermaid feature film from Disney

which opens this Friday in theatres!

Asians Out West / Captain's Theatre LONE RANGER "Chinese Gold"

Yesterday, we presented a never-reprinted Lone Ranger comic story...

...which was adapted from an episode of the long-running radio series!

The Lone Ranger character is famous for promoting tolerance of others, belief in equal rights for all, and constantly-reiterating the concept that no matter what our race, religion, ethnicity, or even pizza-eating preference, we are all Americans!

The radio episode, titled "Chinese Gold" aired March 31, 1952.

Here it is in all it's glory.
Note: commercials have been edited out, replaced by longer versions of "William Tell Overture" (of course) and "Les Preludes" (best remembered as the main theme for the movie serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe!)...

The comic story appeared in Dell's Lone Ranger #70 (1954)

Note: while many radio episodes were adapted into the Lone Ranger TV series, this episode wasn't.
I'd like to think it was because, with the large groups of characters, the syndicated television series' budget couldn't afford to hire all the cast and extras needed for the tale.
BTW, I was serious about the pizza-eating preferences...

Yes, that's Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels!

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Captain's Holiday Library: Christmas Comics SMILIN' ED & HIS GANG "Visit Santa Claus Land"

One of the most popular kids' shows on radio in the 1940s-50s...

...was Smilin' Ed's Buster Brown Gang (later the Buster Brown Show), which had a long-running comic book spin-off!

Note: while this never-reprinted tale from Buster Brown Comic Book #33 (1953) was written by the show's scripter, Hobart Donovan, it's not an adaptation of a radio or tv episode!

Ed McConnell aka "Smilin' Ed" was a long-time radio personality who had his own (adult-oriented) radio show for over a decade before signing with the Buster Brown Shoe Company in 1944 to host their new juvenile radio series.

Smilin' Ed's Buster Brown Gang began on September 2, continuing on NBC radio every Saturday morning at 11:30 through April 11, 1953.

There was an adventure story to open the show, ads for Buster Brown shoes, and Froggy the Gremlin might sing a song or annoy another cast member, such as Shortfellow the Poet or Alkali Pete the Cowboy.

The character Midnight the Cat actually spoke a few lines on the show and Smilin' Ed was always prone to sing a novelty song or two by plunking his magic twanger.
The term "plunking" may have come from McConnell's habit of plunking the strings on his piano to emphasize some of the action in his stories.
McConnell was also the voice of Froggy, putting on a low, gruff, Popeye-like croak.

However, whenever McConnell had to sing a duet with Froggy, announcer Archie Presby was the voice of Froggy.
When there was a live audience, Archie would sometimes dress up in a frog costume and carry on to the delight of the screaming kids.

Additional cast members included June Foray and John Dehner.
Foray was called upon to voice Midnight and Old Grandie the Piano.
Bud Tollefson, the sound effects engineer, growled the voice of Buster's dog Tige.
Child actor Patrick Curtis (Baby Beau Wilkes in Gone With The Wind) played Buster Brown in 1949-50. "That's my dog Tige, he lives in a shoe, I'm Buster Brown, look for me in there too!"

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Christmas Radio Classics 
20 Shows on 10 CDs

Confederate Comics GRAY GHOST "Point of Honor" Conclusion

When Last We Left the First Civil War Confederate with His Own TV Show...

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"The romance in this was is on your side!"???
I realize this was 1957, but the desegregation of Little Rock High School had occurred and the upcoming centennial of the Civil War was on many peoples' minds!
Gray Ghost avoided referencing slavery...or even showing any Black people, never referencing the reasons for the War Between the States.
In fact, CBS had co-produced the show for the Fall 1957 season.
But, to avoid potential sponsor backlash and negative publicity, they moved it to syndication rather than air it on the network.
It ran one season, but reruns continued until 1970 or so...mostly on local Southern TV stations.
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Gray Ghost
Life of Colonel John Singleton Mosby

Confederate Comics / Captain's Library REBEL "Bad Medicine" Conclusion

When Last We Left the ex-Confederate Protagonist of This Series...

...well, that covers it pretty well, so let's join the action...

The TV show occasionally showed flashbacks of Johnny's Civil War days, with the second season opener "Johnny Yuma at Appomattox" placing him at General Robert E Lee's surrender to General Ulysses S Grant!

Johnny considers it an "honorable surrender" and respects the terms of the document, even stopping other ex-Confederates who haven't given up "the Lost Cause" and try to kill then-Presidential candidate Grant!

Johnny Yuma will return in August, but next week...

Disney's forgotten Confederate hero...who (no lie) had his own 1950s TV series!

Gray Ghost

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The Rebel

Season One

(which includes the pilot, adapted here!)