Flying A Productions

Flying A Productions was a primarily western television production company founded in 1950 by singer and motion picture star Gene Autry. The company offered four syndicated and three network programs until all seven of its series had halted production by 1957 or moved to another studio. Autry also had a Flying A Pictures company for B movies. By 1960, Autry's business interests included the California Angels baseball team.[1]

Television series

Autry's first television series, The Gene Autry Show, aired on CBS from 1950 to January 1956. The second Flying A (the "A" stood for Autry) Production, The Range Rider, was broadcast from 1951 to 1953; it starred Jock Mahoney and former child actor Dick Jones.[2][3] In 1955, Jones obtained his second Flying A series which ran for forty-two episodes, Buffalo Bill, Jr., with Harry Cheshire and Nancy Gilbert, a fictional portrayal of a youthful Texas marshal and his younger sister, both named for but unrelated to William Frederick Cody and Calamity Jane.[4][5]

Another Flying A Productions, Annie Oakley, which aired from 1954 to 1957, starred Gail Davis as the western sharpshooter Annie Oakley, with Brad Johnson and Jimmy Hawkins also in the cast. In 1955, The Billboard declared Annie Oakley the "Best Non-Network Western Series" and Davis as "Best Performer Appearing Regularly in a Non-Network Western Series."[6]

In addition to The Gene Autry Show, the Flying A offered two other network series, Cavalcade of America, an anthology drama from 1952 to 1957 on NBC and then ABC, and The Adventures of Champion, based on Autry's famous horse; the series aired on CBS from 1955 to 1956.[2]

From 1952 to 1954 the Flying A produced Death Valley Days, a western anthology hosted by Stanley Andrews as "The Old Ranger", Ronald W. Reagan, Robert Taylor, and Dale Robertson. In 1954, the brothers Dorrell (1899–1997) and Stuart E. McGowan (1904–1999) severed their ties with Autry and launched their own production company,[7] which produced Death Valley Days from 1954 to 1956. Then McCann-Erickson took over the program.[8] Later, Filmmaster and then Madison produced Death Valley Days until its concluding episode in the spring of 1970. The series began on October 1, 1952,[9] with an episode focusing on how Death Valley obtained its name. It closed with its 452nd half-hour segment in the 26-episode 18th season on April 24, 1970, with the oddly-named "Early Candle Lighten".[10][11]

Production notes

Late in 1956, Autry proposed a television version of the comic strip and film Red Ryder with Jim Bannon in the starring role,[12] but the project never materialized, and by that time the Flying A was in its last months of limited production.

Autry owned only half of the Flying A, with the other portion divided between his executive producer Armand Schaeffer and Mitchell Hamilsburg, an executive of Autry Pictures Company.[13]

Flying A programs were filmed at movie ranches in the Los Angeles area, including the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth. Some of the same actors appeared repeatedly as guest stars on the Flying A programs because Autry wanted to reward loyalty to the company.[14]

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References
  1. Robert W. Phillips (January–February 1999). Remembering an American Cowboy: Gene Autry Gave His Nation Hope and Inspiration. American Cowboy magazine. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  2. "Flying A Productions". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
  3. The Billboard, February 13, 1954, p. 14
  4. "Mars Candy Co. Eyeing Gene Autry's Buffalo Bill, Jr.", The Billboard, December 25, 1954, p. 2
  5. Billy Hathorn, "Roy Bean, Temple Houston, Bill Longley, Ranald Mackenzie, Buffalo Bill, Jr., and the Texas Rangers: Depictions of West Texans in Series Television, 1955 to 1967", West Texas Historical Review, Vol. 89 (2013), p. 113
  6. "Film Producers and their Winning Programs and Talents", The Billboard, August 5, 1955, p. 6
  7. "McGowan Org takes "Death", "Dr. Christian", The Billboard, June 5, 1954, p. 8
  8. "Death Valley Days". Classic TV Archive. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  9. "New TV-Film Series in Production: Death Valley Days, The Billboard, September 6, 1952, p. 27
  10. "Death Valley Days". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
  11. The Internet Movie Data Base lists the Flying W as the production company of all Death Valley Days episodes. This is unlikely because the Flying W would have had only that one remaining series in production from 1957, when all its other series had ceased their operations, until the last Death Valley Days episode in 1970.
  12. "Flying A to Film Ryder", The Billboard, November 3, 1956, p. 9
  13. "Flying A Weighs Stock Issue in Broker Talks", The Billboard, January 29, 1955, p. 6
  14. Boyd Magers. "Gene Autry Show". Westernclippings.com. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
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