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The Roy Rogers TV Show (1951 - 1957)
"The Roy Rogers Show" debuted on television on December 30, 1951.
It was a Western, action/adventure series that was set in the
fictional town of Mineral City in Paradise Valley. Each 30-minute episode was
filmed in black-and-white, and it aired on Sunday evenings on the NBC network for six successful
seasons. After the show ended on NBC, the CBS network picked it up and showed it
in reruns for the next four years. "The Roy Rogers Show" is still
popular today, with a faithful fans of all ages watching the show on video or
DVDs.
You can buy "The Roy Rogers Show" here.
The Cast and The Plot Of "The Roy Rogers Show"
| "The Roy Rogers Show" had a small, tight-knit cast that featured animals
nearly as much as the human stars. The opening credits listed the series' stars
in this order:
First was Roy Rogers, known as The King Of The Cowboys, riding along at breakneck speed on his
faithful golden palomino stallion Trigger. Roy
had made more than 80 movies with Trigger since the late 1930s and had purchased
the horse for his own shortly after they first met. Trigger, as everyone
knew, was The Smartest Horse In The Movies.
After Roy and Trigger
were introduced the credits moved along to Dale Evans, well-known as The Queen Of The West and
Roy's real-life wife. Dale was also riding at breakneck speed on her own horse,
a beautiful buckskin
named Buttermilk.
Next came Pat Brady, who was introduced as the comical
sidekick. Pat Brady was a long-time family friend of Roy and Dale's, had
appeared in numerous movies with them, and was also a member of the singing
group the Sons Of The Pioneers. |
 Above: Roy Rogers and Dale Evans in
"Desert Fugitives," a season 1 episode
of
"The Roy Rogers Show." |
| Last, but definitely not least, Bullet The
Wonder Dog was introduced, streaking along at top speed. Bullet, a German
Shepherd, was also a Rogers family pet. |
The plot lines of "The Roy Rogers Show" were simple and comfortably
familiar:
Roy or Dale would find out about someone who was in trouble and needed help, and
they would help them. The show was set in the town of Mineral City in Paradise
Valley, with Roy's character owning and running the Double R Bar Ranch and
Dale's character owning and running the Eureka Cafe in town. Every week they
were assisted by Trigger, Buttermilk, Pat Brady (who had a Jeep called Nellybelle
and a horse named Phineas), and Bullet. The setting for the
show was slightly modern by most Western standards, with a phone in the Eureka
Cafe and cars traveling the same dirt roads that Roy and Dale galloped Trigger
and Buttermilk over. Even so, plenty of cowboy and Western action was packed
into every show. There were always bad guys to catch, chase scenes with horses
were a given, a good fist-fight or two could be counted on, and Roy and Dale
both packed six-shooters on their hips in order to be ready to shoot a gun out
of a bad guy's hand at a moment's notice. Roy and Dale were sweethearts on the
show, but there was no mushy stuff here: What really stood out about their
relationship was their friendship, respect, and trust in one another. Each
episode of the show closed with Roy and Dale singing the chorus to the couple's signature
theme song, "Happy Trails," which was written by Dale.
The Story Behind The Birth Of "The Roy Rogers Show"
In 1951, after starring in more than 80 highly successful movies, singing
cowboy superstar Roy Rogers wanted to make the move to television. When his
movie contract with Republic Pictures was up for renewal and a new contract was
being negotiated, Roy asked for the right to do television shows. Republic
refused, and Roy learned that the studio had plans to trim down the movies he
had already made and turn them into television shows for themselves.
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Many years earlier, however, Roy had obtained a clause in his
movie contract that gave him the rights to his own name
and likeness. It was this clause that allowed him to successfully obtain a court
order to stop the studio from taking his already-made movies to television. In
retaliation, the studio fired him.
Roy moved forward with his plans for a television show, producing the shows
himself. "The Roy Rogers Show" debuted on December 30, 1951 and ran until 1957.
There were 100 (some sources say 104) episodes of the show, all starring Roy
Rogers and his horse Trigger, Dale Evans and her horse Buttermilk, Pat Brady and
his Jeep Nellybelle, and Bullet The Wonder Dog. At
right: Part of the closing credits from "The Roy
Rogers Show." |
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The Roy Rogers Show At A Glance
- "The Roy Rogers Show" debuted on December 30, 1951 on the NBC
network. It was shown early on Sunday evenings, and ran for six
successful seasons. The show aired its last new episode in June of
1957.
- After "The Roy Rogers Show" stopped airing new shows on NBC, the
CBS network showed reruns of it for the next four years.
- The show was in black and white, and made a total of 100 (some
sources say 104) half-hour episodes.
- The stars of "The Roy Rogers Show" all played characters that had the same
name as their own real-life names. The stars were:
- Roy Rogers, The King Of The Cowboys. You can read our
Roy Rogers biography here.
- Trigger, Roy's palomino horse.
Roy and Trigger had met in 1938 when Roy starred in his first
Western movie, "Under Western Stars." He purchased the horse for
his own shortly thereafter. We have more information on
Roy Rogers' horse Trigger.
- Dale Evans.
Dale was Roy's real-life wife. They had been married on December
31, 1947. You can read our biography on Dale Evans on this page.
- Pat Brady.
Pat Brady was a long-time friend of Roy and Dale's. He was a
member of the popular Western singing group founded by Roy, the
Sons Of The Pioneers, and had appeared in many of Roy's movies. We have more
information on Roy Rogers and the Sons Of The
Pioneers.
- Nellybelle, the Jeep.
In the show Nellybelle was owned by Pat Brady. Even though Pat
also had a horse named Phineas, he most often chose to drive
Nellybelle.
- Bullet The Wonder Dog.
Bullet was a German Shepherd that was also a Rogers family pet. You can
see pictures of Bullet on this page.
- Buttermilk, Dale's buckskin horse.
In many of the movies Dale Evans had made with Roy Rogers she
had ridden a palomino horse named Pal. For the television show, however, she and
Roy were
concerned that on a smaller television screen Pal would look too much like Roy's palomino
horse, Trigger.
Dale got a new horse for the TV show, a buckskin gelding named Buttermilk.
- Post Cereals sponsored the show.
- The show took place in Mineral City in Paradise Valley.
- Roy Rogers and Dale Evans played sweethearts on the show, and
were married to each other in real life.
- On the show Roy owned
the Double R Bar Ranch, which was the same name as his and Dale's home in
Encino, California.
- On the show Dale ran the Eureka
Cafe that was also a hotel.
- The show's theme song was "Happy Trails," written by Dale Evans. Roy and Dale
sang the chorus of the song at the close of each show.
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