Silver City Bonanza (1951)

Plot: While trying to solve the murder of a friend, Rex Allen gets involved in helping Katie McIntosh and her siblings save their ranch, and he also discovers the secret of a long-lost silver mine.

Stallion Canyon (1949)

Plot: Foreman Curt Benson tries to help ranch owner Milly Collins from losing her ranch to Tom Lawson, who holds the mortgage note. But things keep going wrong, like a wild stallion running off with some of Milly's horses, and a stampede. When Curt's friend, Little Bear, is blamed for the murder of one of Lawson's ranch hands, Curt starts wondering if there is more to Milly's trouble than meets the eye.  

Starring. . . .

Ken Curtis
Shug Fisher
Carolina Cotton
Forrest Taylor
Ted Adams
Billy Hammond
Roy Butler
Alice Richey
L.H. Larsen
Dick Hammer
Clark Veater
D.C. Swapp
Gail Bailey
Bud Gates
Bob Brandon



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Storyline Roundup: (note: SPOILERS)

Curt

The picture opens to a scene of cowboys rounding up a herd of wild horses. One of those cowboys is foreman Curt Benson (Curtis). After corralling the horses, Curt stops to talk to Tom Lawson, a neighbor who happens to hold the mortgage on Aunt Milly's ranch, where Curt works. Curt admits that they are having to round up wild horses to pay off the note. Milly already sold off most of her good stock.

While they are talking, Blackie (Fisher) notices a stallion running free down in the valley. The stallion manages to steal the horses that were just rounded up before anyone can do anything. Lawson pulls his rifle out of its scabbard and aims at the stallion. Curt stops Lawson before he pulls the trigger. "Since when did you become a wild horse killer?"

"That horse is an outlaw!"

Curt defends the horse, pointing out that the stallion's biggest fault, as far as they are concerned, is that no one has been able to catch him.

Lawson, rather annoyed, rides off. Curt and Blackie admire the wild stallion as he speeds across the desert, and discuss how they would like to own him. "But I'd just like to see the man that could put a hand on that stallion!" Curt says.

There is one man who can do it.

Little Bear (Billy Hammond) is an Indian who has developed a friendship with the animal. "You like me. You wild one," the man says to the horse. "You want see all your kind free, to run range. You no trust cowboy; they put saddle on you. Then you no free." He sends the horse away.

Back at the ranch, the cowboys are just arriving, and Aunt Milly (Richey) and her niece Ellen (Cotton) see the obvious lack of horses, and start chewing Curt out for letting the stallion steal the herd. Without some money, and soon, Aunt Milly could lose the ranch. Curt vows to put a rope on the stallion one day.

Little does Curt know that Lawson is the one responsible for the loss of the horses. He and his top hand Wolf (Adams) have a pretty slick game going, but two certain men are a threat to their operation—Little Bear, and a new employee of Lawson's, Johnny Adams, who refuses to help with their shady deals. Lawson tells Wolf he knows how to solve both problems.

Little Bear has already gone to Curt and told him that he saw some men—he couldn't tell who, for sure—letting the stallion go. Little Bear says he will be certain of who they were after he goes and looks at a suspect's horses. He says he will come back and tell Curt later.

After Little Bear leaves, Ellen comes looking for Curt. "Benson! Listen, I have an idea how we might get enough money to help Aunt Milly." Ellen wants to enter Aunt Milly's horse, Rowdy, in the annual stockman's race.

The next day, when Curt rides into town, he assumes the crowds are because everyone came to enter their horses in the race, but the sheriff (Butler) informs him that everyone is "tryin' to figure just why Little Bear shot and killed that cowboy Johnny Adams out at Lawson's Bar 6 ranch last night."

Curt is shocked and doesn't believe Little Bear would kill anyone. 

One clue is that Adams was killed with an expanding bullet (a "dumdum") and the rest of the bullets in the gun Little Bear had were normal. Although they have the gun Little Bear used, the Indian himself got away.

Curt finds Little Bear hiding in a barn right in town, and Little Bear tells him that he was knocked out while snooping around Lawson's ranch. But he did find the horses he was looking for—the horses that carried the men who are after Milly's ranch.

A bit later, Curt and Aunt Milly and Ellen run into Lawson and Wolf on the street. Curt provokes them, hoping to get bullets from their guns to compare with the bullet taken out of Adams. (Kind of a risky way to go about it, huh?) The sheriff interrupts before things get nasty.

Curt heads up into the hills to round up Milly's cattle. Wolf follows and tries to ambush him, but Curt turns the tables and knocks Wolf out cold in a fist fight. After knocking the dust off his hat—the most important thing to do, of course—Curt removes the cartridges from Wolf's gun. When Wolf comes to, Curt warns him to "keep away from me." He lets him go.

And then, the big cattle round up begins. 

Curt and the rest of the cowboys work the cattle, and Ellen and Milly cook for them. Ellen admits to her aunt that she is sweet on Curt. That night, Curt and Ellen sit close together by the campfire, and Curt sings "The Hills of Utah."

Ellen and Milly drive home for the night, and then Lawson's men stampede the cattle, ruining the chance of getting them on the train before the two-week deadline is up. Curt catches one of the bad guys, named Luke, and recognizes him as one of Lawson's men.

Curt announces that it is time for a showdown with Lawson. When Ellen hears about it, she rides into town for the sheriff. Curt and a few others ride to Lawson's ranch and call him out. He answers with gunfire. A full-fledged shootout begins and continues until the sheriff and Ellen ride up. Lawson finds excuses for every insinuation Curt throws at him. With no proof, Curt is forced to leave. "We'll settle this our own way," he says.

Now, with no wild horses and no cattle, Aunt Milly's only hope of paying off the note in time is Rowdy, her horse. But Lawson has a three-year-old racehorse that, Milly knows, Rowdy cannot beat.

While out trying to gather up a few head of cattle, Curt manages to get a rope on the wild stallion, but the horse runs off with the rope around his neck. Little Bear, who has been hiding at the ranch, calmly walks up and pets the stallion, handing the rope back to Curt.

He asks Curt what the stallion will be used for. Curt replies that he would like to use him to win the race for Aunt Milly. This satisfies Little Bear, who just doesn't want the stallion to be put under a saddle. Little Bear swings onto the stallion and rides him to the ranch, with Curt and Blackie trailing behind, thoroughly dumbfounded.

The sheriff finds out about Little Bear's hiding spot and comes to arrest him. Before he is taken away, Little Bear gives strict orders to Curt to never put a saddle on the stallion.

And attempts at riding the stallion don't go very well, but Curt says that he will get a rider for the stallion yet.

On the day of the race, Lawson bets Milly a thousand dollars and her debts against his three thousand that his horse will beat her horse. He doesn't realize she is entering the stallion. Ellen names the stallion Miracle Boy.

Meanwhile, Curt makes a sort of deal with the sheriff so that Little Beat can ride Miracle Boy in the race. Curt knocks the sheriff out (with his permission, of course), and unlocks Little Bear's cell.

But Little Bear refuses to ride. He says that the horse belongs to Curt, and Curt should ride him. Finally, Curt talks Little Bear into it, promising to give him the horse if he wins. "Me ride," Little Bear says.

While the race is happening, the sheriff arrests Lawson and Wolf, with a little help from Curt, after their guilt becomes apparent.

Little Bear and Miracle Boy win the race, which means that Milly gets to keep her ranch, and Little Bear gets to keep the stallion.

The movie closes as Curt, Ellen, and Little Bear ride to the top of a ridge. Little Bear releases the stallion back into the wild, free to roam again.

The End

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Songs:

Hills of Utah (written and sung by Ken Curtis)


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Stallion Canyon is a 1949 Kanab Pictures Corporation production
Distributed by Astor Pictures Corporation


Director: Harry L. Fraser

Producers: H.R. Brandon
                    Robert L. Fenton

Writer: Hy Heath

Cinematographer: Jack McClusky

Film Editor: Ray Snyder

Art Director: H.R. Brandon

Production Manager: J.E. Froman

Sound Department by: Lyle Willey

Music Department: Emil Velazco

Production Assistant: Jack Lewis


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Links:


Carolina Cotton's script for Stallion Canyon.

Shug Fisher's Birthday

Shug on Gunsmoke

On September 26, 1907, George "Shug" Fisher was welcomed into the world. He got his nickname from his mother, who said he was "sweet as sugar." He learned to play several instruments while he was young and developed a flair for comedy.

Shug played the upright bass and acted as comedian for the Sons of the Pioneers on and off from 1943 - 1959. (Pat Brady, Shug Fisher, and Deuce Spriggens all took turns at the role of bass player/comedian during these years.) He was married to a girl named Peggy Summers.

He appeared with the Pioneers in several Roy Rogers movies, Everybody's Dancin' (1950), and Rio Grande (1950). He was at his stuttering best on the Pioneers' radio show The Lucky U Ranch which ran for a few years during the early fifties.

Shug was good friends with both Ken Carson and Ken Curtis, who sang with the Pioneers at different times. Shug later appeared with Curtis as a regular in a series called Ripcord (1961 - 1963), and as an occasional guest on Gunsmoke (1955 - 1975).

A real down-to-earth sort of fella, Shug has been quoted as saying, "There are more folks than there are people."

He passed away on March 16, 1984.

(Clockwise from top) Bob Nolan, Karl Farr, Lloyd Perryman, Shug Fisher, Hugh Farr, Ken Curtis
Western Reservoir collection

See Shug's biography here on the Bob Nolan website.

Shug Fisher Bio/credits

George "Shug" Fisher
Born: September 26, 1907 (as George Clinton Fisher, Jr.) (in Tabler, OK)
Died: March 16, 1984 (in Los Angeles, CA)
Spouse(s): Peggy Summers (married 1935 - ?)
Child(ren): ?
Parents: George Clinton Fisher, Sr.,
Movies:*
    1943
         Hoosier Holiday
         I Swing Your Partner

    1944
         Lights of Old Santa Fe (uncredited)
         San Fernando Valley (uncredited)
         Song of Nevada (uncredited)
         The Yellow Rose of Texas  (uncredited)
         Jamboree

    1945
         Don't Fence Me In (uncredited)
         Sunset in El Dorado (uncredited)
         Along the Navajo Trail (uncredited)
         Man from Oklahoma (uncredited)
         Bells of Rosarita (uncredited)
         Utah (uncredited)
         Grissly's Millions (uncredited)
    1946
         Heldorado (uncredited)
         Roll on Texas Moon (uncredited)
         Under Nevada Skies (uncredited)
         My Pal Trigger (uncredited)
         Rainbow Over Texas (uncredited)
         Home on the Range (uncredited)
         Ding Dong Williams (uncredited)
         Song of Arizona (uncredited)
    1947
         The Last Round-up (uncredited)
         On the Old Spanish Trail(uncredited)
         Springtime in the Sierras (uncredited)

    1949
         Stallion Canyon
         Riders of the Pony Express
         Susanna Pass (uncredited)
    1950
         Rio Grande (uncredited)
         Everybody's Dancin'
    1951
         Fighting Coast Guard
         Silver City Bonanza (uncredited)

    1955
         Mister Roberts

    1959
         The Giant Gila Monster

    1960
         Sergeant Rutledge (uncredited)

    1962
         The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (uncredited)

    1964
         Cheyenne Autumn (uncredited)

    1965
         Git!

    1966
         Cyborg 2087
         The Cat

    1967
         You've Got to Be Smart
         The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (uncredited)

    1969
         The Reivers

    1970
         The Murdocks and the McClays
         Cutter's Trail
         Smoke
    1973
         Key West
         Guns of a Stranger
    1974
         The Castaway Cowboy
         Hog Wild
    1975
         Huckleberry Finn
    1977
         The 3,000 Mile Chase
         The Ghost of Cypress Swamp

         The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again
    1981
         The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies

TV Shows:
    ABC Weekend Specials
         - The Revenge of Red Chief (1979)
    Arthur Murray Party 
         - (December 10, 1950) ("playing for an exhibition square dance" according to a Pioneer newsletter from that time.)
    The Beverly Hillbillies
         - The Hills of Home (1969)
         - Silver Dollar City Fair (1969)
         - Jane Finds Elly a Man (1969)
         - Wedding Plans (1969)
         - Jed Buys Central Park (1969)
         - Shorty Kellems Moves West (1969)
         - Midnight Shorty (1969)
         - Shorty Go Home (1969)
         - What Happened to Shorty? (1970)
         - Marry Me, Shorty (1970)
         - Shorty Spits the Hook (1970)
         - Three-Day Reprieve (1970)
         - The Wedding (1970)
         - Annul That Marriage (1970)
         - Hotel for Women (1970)
         - Welcome to the Family (1970)
         - Shorty to the Rescue (1970)
    Bonanza
         - The Infernal Machine (1961)
         - Square Deal Sam (1964)  (uncredited)
         - Stage Door Johnnies (1968)
         - El Jefe (1970)
    Cimarron Strip
         - Journey to a Hanging (1967)
         - The Greeners (1968)
    City of Angels
         - The House on Orange Grove Avenue (1976)
    Daniel Boone
         - Cain's Birthday: Part 1 (1965)
         - The Tortoise and the Hare (1965)
         - The Thanksgiving Story (1965)
         - Perilous Journey (1965)
         - The Fifth Man (1966)
         - Goliath (1966)
     The Dukes of Hazzard
         - Days of Shine and Roses (1979)
         - Return of the Ridge Raiders (1980)
     Gunsmoke
         - The Do-Badder (1962)
         - The Summons (1962)
         - The Dreamers (1962)
         - Chester's Indian (1962)
         - Quint's Indian (1963)
         - The Quest for Asa Janin (1963) (uncredited)
         - Easy Come (1963)
         - No Hands (1964)
         - Kitty Cornered (1964)
         - The Promoter (1964)
         - Deputy Festus (1965)
         - Honey Pot (1965)  (uncredited)
         - The Storm (1965)
         - Sweet Billy, Singer of Songs (1966)
         - The Good People (1966)
         - Fandango (1967)
         - A Noose for Dobie Price (1968)
         - Railroad (1968)
         - Johnny Cross (1968)
         - The Still (1969)
         - Gentry's Law (1970)
         - The Tycoon (1971)
         - Waste: Part 1 (1971)
         - Waste: Part 2 (1971)
         - A Quiet Day in Dodge (1973)
         - The Guns of Cibola Blanca: Part 1 (1974)
         - The Guns of Cibola Blanca: Part 2 (1974)
    Harper Valley P.T.A.
         - Grizzly Gap (1982)
    Have Gun - Will Travel
         - The Revenger (1961)
         - Silent Death, Secret Death (1962)
         - The Fifth Bullet (1962)
         - Brotherhood (1963)
    How the West Was Won
         - The Judge (1978)
         - Brothers (1978)
    Iron Horse
         - Steel Chain to a Music Box (1967)
    Kolchak: The Night Stalker
         - The Knightly Murders (1975)

    Laredo
         - The Land Grabbers (1965)
         - A Double Shot of Nepenthe (1966)
         - The Small Chance Ghost (1967)  

    The Legend of Jesse James
         - The Celebrity (1965)
    Love, American Style
         - Love and Dear Old Mom and Dad/Love and the High School Sweetheart/Love and the Spaced Out Chick/Love and the Country Girl (1972)   (segment "Love and the Country Girl")
    Lucan
         - Thunder God Gold (1978)
    Lucky U Ranch, regular
    The Monroes
         - Lost in the Wilderness (1966)
    Ozark Jubilee, regular
    The Perry Como Show
         - Episode dated December 18 (1950)
    Petrocelli
         - Four the Hard Way (1975)
    Petticoat Junction
         - A Night at the Hooterville Hilton (1963)
    The Purina Grande Ole Opry
         - (1956)
    Ranch Party
         - (1958)
    Ripcord, regular
    The Sacketts
         - Episode #1.1 (1979)
         - Part II (1979)
    Starsky and Hutch
         - Moonshine (1978)
    The Steve Allen Show
         - (1950) (?)
    Tammy
         - Still Waters (1965)
    Temple Houston
         - The Siege at Thayer's Bluff (1963)
    This Is Your Life
         - Ken Curtis (1972)
    The Virginian
         - Legend for a Lawman (1965)
         - The Laramie Road (1965)
         - An Echo of Thunder (1966)
         - The Fortress (1967)
         - The Animal (1971)
    Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
         - Smoke: Part 1 (1970)
         - Smoke: Part 2 (1970)
         - The High Flying Spy: Part 1 (1972)
         - Hog Wild: Part 1 (1974)
         - Hog Wild: Part 2 (1974)
         - The Ghost of Cypress Swamp (1977)
    The Wild Wild West
         - The Night of the Poisonous Posey (1966)
         - The Night of the Cut-Throats (1967)

Other film work:
    1933
         Hollywood on Parade No. A-3 (Short) (uncredited)

     1955
         Pecos Pest (Tom and Jerry cartoon short) (uncredited)







Regular Shows:


Lucky U Ranch

     From November, 1951 to February, 1953, the Sons of the Pioneers had their own radio show, and for a shorter period of time they had their own television show as well; both ran five days a week.
     Little is known about the lost television episodes, but the radio shows are still available, and the TV show apparently ran along the same lines as the radio program. Betty Taylor, and Frankie Messina joined the Pioneers. The Pioneers at this time consisted of Lloyd Perryman, Tommy Doss, Ken Curtis, Hugh Farr, Karl Farr, and Shug Fisher.
     Shug, who is in charge of the chuck wagon, affects a stutter and is the ranch comedian. He even sometimes gets to solo on songs like "Too Old to Cut the Mustard," and "Crambone," but the boys aren't too fond of Shug's singing, so most the time, he sticks to stuttering and playing his bass fiddle. 
     The Lucky U Ranch maintained a unique balance of fact and fiction, and listener participation was encouraged. Every day on the radio show, an acre of land was given away to a "good deed doer" someone had written in about, and every show, near the end, Hugh reads an inspirational thought aloud.




Ozark Jubilee (Jan. 1955 - Sept. 1960, 297 episodes)

     Ozark Jubilee was a country music variety show hosted by Red Foley, and also known as Jubilee USA and Country Music Jubilee. Many artists appeared regularly on the show, including Webb Pierce, Wanda Jackson, Brenda Lee, Lennie Aleshire, Smiley Burnette, Shug Fisher (seven episodes), Carl Smith, and many, many more.
    Guest stars like Rex Allen, the Carter Sisters, Faron Young, and Jimmy Wakely appeared on the Ozark Jubilee. It was tough competition for the Grand Ole Opry.




Ripcord (Jun. 1961 - Sept. 1963, 76 episodes)

     Larry Pennell and Ken Curtis star in Ripcord as Ted McKeever and Jim Buckley, two men involved in the exciting sport of skydiving. Using their knowledge to help people, they frequently make rescue-jumps to save someone who cannot be reached by any other means. For season one, Paul Comi played the pilot of their private Cessna airplane; he was replaced in season two by Shug Fisher.    
     The show was fairly popular, and today many people remember watching real skydiving footage with a story woven around it as children.

Ripcord on DVD:

Season One

Season Two







* Shug played bass fiddle, and was the comedian for, the Sons of the Pioneers at various times in his career. The films in which he appeared with the Pioneers are in blue font.




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Movie/TV credit information is taken from Internet Movie Database, unless otherwise noted, and is updated and corrected if needed.