Lux Radio Theater Westerns

Before we can explore why Westerns were so popular at the box office, we should probably explain just what a Western is. As we will see, for every rule which applies to the Western Genre there will be an exception. 

Westerns take place on the American Frontier between the end of the Civil War and the first years of the Twentieth Century. There are numerous films which take place within those territorial bounds which are not Westerns as well as many Westerns which are set outside of that time frame. Westerns are stories about wandering Cowboys who ride horses and carry six guns while upholding a brand of justice based on fair play or "the Code of the West". Westerns can also take place in the limitless timber forests of the American West or in the California, Rocky Mountain, or Yukon Goldfields where the only cows in sight have been cut up and tossed in the stew pot.

Early Hollywood's most profitable product has always been escapism, and Westerns were cheap and easy to produce. The genre began to fall out of favor as audiences became more sophisticated and the Studio System allowed for more lavish productions. As the Great Depression deepened and War clouds began to gather, producers and directors turned again to the Western as a means to explore socially relevant themes.

What is truly wonderful about Western Movies adapted for Lux Radio Theatre is the way the scenic grandeur so easily captured by the motion picture camera is conveyed over the radio microphone.

The Virginian, November 2, 1936. Although "Cowboys and Indians" rose to prominence in dime novels and pulp magazines, Owen Wister's 1902 novel, The Virginian, is generally considered the first literary Cowboy novel. Several film versions of the story have been made over the years, this adaptation for Lux is of the 1929 version starring Gary Cooper.

The Plainsman, May 31, 1937. According to Mr. DeMille, Gary Cooper had insisted on reprising his role as Wild Bill Hickok in The Plainsman (1936, directed by Cecil B. DeMille), but was home with a terrible cold and fever contracted while shooting Souls at Sea (1937). Frederic March takes Cooper's role in this highly fictionalized version of the relationships between Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill Cody, and General George Custer. The film has been widely criticized for ignoring factual dates, timelines, and Western clichés, but DeMille was not the sort of filmmaker to let a little thing like history get in the way of a good story!

Come and Get It, November 15, 1937. Ruthlessness and romance in the rough and tumble timber camps of nineteenth-century Wisconsin.

Silver Dollar, April 3, 1939. The 1932 film tells the story of Yates Martin, the King of the Colorado Silver Boom (which came on the heels of the Colorado Gold Rush). Yates' wife points out that the real profit comes not from finding the shiny stuff, but from selling stuff to the miners. The role of Yates is played by Edward Arnold here, Edward G. Robinson played him in the original film.

Ruggles of Red Gap, July 10, 1939. Charles Laughton plays the role of Marmaduke Ruggles, a proper English butler, in the original 1935 film and the Lux adaptation. Charlie Ruggles plays Egbert Floud, the wealthy American who 'wins' Marmaduke in a poker game and brings him to the isolated boomtown of Red Gap, Washington.

The Westerner, September 23, 1940. Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, and Doris Davenport from the original 1940 film reprise their roles here. Judge Roy Bean holds court in his saloon but mostly favor the cattlemen over the homesteaders West of the Pecos. When Cole Harden (Cooper), shows up in Bean's court accused of horse stealing he resorts to some fast talking to con the judge into letting him live until he can prove his innocence.

The Cowboy and the Lady, January 20, 1941. Merle Oberon plays a spoiled rich girl whose father has exiled her to Palm Beach during the offseason. She sneaks off to the rodeo where she meets and falls for tall and lanky Stretch Willoughby (Gary Cooper). They soon fall in love and want to be married, but she forgets to tell stretch that his new father-in-law is running for President of the United States.

Virginia City, May 26, 1941. Errol Flynn reprises his role from the 1940 film, playing Kerry Bradford, a Union Officer who escapes from a Confederate prison and is sent to Virginia City in the Nevada Territory. A showgirl who is a Rebel Spy comes up with a plan for the Southern Miners to send $5 million in gold to the Confederacy, and Bradford is sent West to stop the plot.

The Lady from Cheyenne, June 16, 1941. Loretta Young plays a Wyoming suffragette (the Western State was the first to give women the vote) here and in the original 1941 film. Annie Morgan is a schoolteacher who has moved into the territory to open a school, but she comes up against a ruthless land baron who will stop at nothing to control the best land, and one of the choicest lots holds Annie's school.

Northwest Mounted Police, April 13, 1942. This is an adaptation of Mr. DeMille's first Technicolor picture. Rebellion is being stirred up amongst the Indians and Halfbreeds on the Canadian Prairie. Dusty Rivers is a Texas Ranger who has come North to arrest Jacque Corbeau on a charge of murder. Corbeau is planning to sell guns and whiskey to the rebels, even though he is wanted by the Rangers and the Mounties. Naturally, Rivers and Mountie Sergeant Jim Brett are both in love with a pretty Canadian Nurse.

The Bugle Sounds, January 4, 1943. Wallace Beery plays a tradition-bound horse cavalry sergeant who is told he has to turn in his saddle because his unit will be mechanized. Before he goes, he whips a band of new draftees into real soldiers and goes on the hunt for Nazi spies after a sabotaged tank kills his favorite horse.

The Great Man's Lady, June 28, 1943. Barbara Stanwyck stars as Hannah Sempler Hoyt, the mysterious 109-year-old figure who lives in a mansion among the skyscrapers of Hoyt City. This is a story striking it rich, losing everything, and striking it rich again among the silver and gold mines of California and Virginia City, of love, jealousy, mistaken death, possible bigamy, and railroad robber barons. (If only they could have worked in Pirates, it could have been the perfect movie!)

In Old Oklahoma, March 14, 1944. Oilman and con artist Jim Gardner makes a pass at school marm Catherin Allen on the train to Oklahoma. She turns to cowboy Dan Somers (John Wayne in the 1943 original picture but not on Lux) to defend her virtue. Once they reach the Territory, Gardner swindles farmers out of their land, offering low prices for the ground which covers a wealth in oil. Dan convinces his friend, Chief Big Tree, not to sell, and visits his friend Teddy Roosevelt (Dan was with the Rough Riders) to find out just how deep the oil scams go.

Destry Rides Again, November 5, 1945. The town drunk of Bottleneck is elected sheriff after the old one is "sent away" by corrupt officials. The old soak remembers that he used to be Tom Destry's deputy when they really kept the town in order, so he sends for Destry's son to be his deputy. When Destry Jr. shows up he is not carrying any guns, but he finds a way to earn the town's respect. This is James Stewart's first appearance on Lux after leaving active service.

Honky Tonk, April 8, 1946. Clark Gable plays conman Candy Johnson who turns up in Gold Rush era Nevada with his wits and a deck of cards. His fancy is caught by Judge Cotton's daughter, Elizabeth (Lana Turner). What Elizabeth fails to realize is that the Judge and Candy are old partners. Candy wants to go straight so he and Elizabeth can be together, but it is hard to walk the straight-ad-narrow when all the crooks in town are working for him.

Smoky, March 24, 1947. The love and trust between a cowboy and his horse are just the background for this Western tale. Fred MacMurray plays Clint, the drifting cowboy who brings the magnificent Smoky back to the ranch and asks for a job. Once he begins to prove himself, Clint is approached by Frank who makes Clint help him get hired at the ranch. Things begin to go wrong for Clint, and it is all Frank's doing. Finally, Frank steals Smoky and Clint is forced to admit that Frank is his good-for-nothing kid brother.

My Darling Clementine, April 28, 1947. Henry Fonda leads that cast of this highly mythologized telling Wyatt and the Earp Brothers along with Doc Holliday going up against the Clanton Gang in Tombstone, Arizona, and the seminal Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Critics generally agree that John Ford created the greatest Western of all time and the film was acknowledged as Harry Truman's favorite picture.

The Egg and I, May 5, 1947. Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray reprise their roles in this classic rural comedy. A pair of citified newlyweds dream of getting away from the big city and an idyllic life out West. When they by a chicken farm they quickly discover that there is a lot of work to be a farmer.

Bad Bascomb, March 1, 1948. Margaret O'Brien is the sweetening influence on a notorious outlaw (Wallace Beery) who is hiding from the law by acting as wagon master for a wagon train headed to Mormon Country in Utah.

Red River, March 7, 1949. John Wayne stars as a man who seeks his own destiny by starting a ranch in the middle of Texas, but after he leaves the wagon train the settlers are attacked by Indians. Over the years, he grows the biggest ranch in Texas.

Broken Arrow, January 22, 1951. James Stewart starred as Tom Jeffords in the 1950 film, but was unable to reprise the role for Lux, Burt Lancaster takes the part here. The film is praised as the first major picture since the War to portray Indians in a positive light. Jeff Chandler gets an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Cochise, the Apache Warrior.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, March 12, 1951. John Wayne stars in the second of John Ford's Cavalry Trilogy, which also included Fort Apache (1949) and Rio Grande (1951). Just six days before retiring, Captain Nathan Brittles is given a final mission to face hostile Indians in the aftermath the Little Big Horn Massacre.

Ticket to Tomahawk, June 4, 1951. A light-hearted Western with a bit of a twist. A narrow-gauge railroad company wants to open up the Rocky Mountains, but if they cannot get the train to the town of Tomahawk by the deadline with at least one paying passenger or the franchise is lost. The traveling salesman hero will be that passenger, especially after he falls for the tom-boyish girl Deputy Marshall who is trying to fend off the gang of no-goods trying to stop the train. A very young Marilyn Monroe appears in an early, uncredited role.

Fancy Pants, September 10, 1951. This 1950 film is an updated musical version of Ruggles of Red Gap (1939) starring Bob Hope as Ruggles and Lucille Ball as Agatha Floud.

Winchester '73, November 12, 1951. James Stewart stars as Lin McAdam who goes up against Wyatt Earp in this tale of a fateful rifle which passes from owner to owner, bringing the fickle hand of fate with it.

Branded, January 28, 1952. Alan Ladd is a gunfighter on the run who gets caught up in a scheme which involves him getting a tattoo, and a bullet in the back! It's a story of mistaken identities and double-crosses with plenty of gunplay for good measure.

Viva Zapata! November 3, 1952. A highly fictionalized biography of the infamous Mexican revolutionary, patriot, and bandit. The screenplay was written by John Steinbeck, and the film won Oscar nominations for Best Actor, Best Writing, Best Art Direction, and Best Music. Anthony Quinn took home a Statuette for Best Supporting Actor.

Westward the Women, December 29, 1952. There is a passel of hard-working men in California's Whitman Valley, but not women. An entrepreneur hires a wagon master to bring 140 marriageable women across the California trail. What sounds like a recipe for a romantic comedy turns serious when the wagon master states that the hazards of the Trail may cost as many as a third of the women their lives.

The Story of Will Rogers, January 12, 1952. Bing Crosby secretly did a screen test for the title role of this 1952, but the role went to Will Rogers, Jr, who reprises the role her. Will Sr. falls for his sweetheart but is too restless to settle down to ranch life. He joins a Wild West Show but becomes reacquainted with his Sweetheart at the 1904 St Louis World's Fair. They marry and Will becomes a "Cowboy Philosopher" and one of the most popular figures in Show Business. 

The Big Trees, November 2, 1952. A typical Western story of peaceful homesteaders at the mercy of a greedy landowner, but instead of cattle, the land baron in this film harvests the great Sequoia Redwoods of Northern California. Even without so many horses and cows, there is plenty of rough and ready action in the 1952 film.

Shane, February 22, 1955. Alan Ladd reprises his role as the quiet but deadly stranger who comes between the homesteaders and the ruthless and greedy land baron. One of Hollywood's most expensive Westerns, it set the standard for modern works in the genre.

Rawhide, March 22, 1955. A dude is sent out West by his father to learn the Stage Coach and Freight business "from the ground up" from the station master as Rawhide Pass. A strong-willed woman taking her orphaned niece East and a pack of desperate outlaws give the lessons extra meaning.