STAGECOACH WEST (1960-1961) – This Friday, August 1st will mark the Frontierado Holiday this year, so let me slip in a few more seasonal blog posts along with my usual items. Stagecoach West starred Wayne Rogers as Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty as Brenda Walsh!
Obviously, I’m kidding, but Rogers really did play a stagecoach driver named Luke Perry, a courageous, gunslinging hero who basically rode shotgun for himself, given his skill with firearms. Robert Bray co-starred as the older Simon “Sime” Kane, Luke’s partner in the Timberline Stage, headquartered in Outpost, Wyoming.
Sime’s young son Davey was played by child star Richard Eyer. Davey’s dogs Hannibal and Hannibal II (after the first Hannibal ran away) were also on hand. Thirty-eight 1-hour episodes were produced.
STANDOUT EPISODES:
HIGH LONESOME – Stagecoach driver Luke Perry meets his latest load of passengers, among them Simon Kane, a man searching for his runaway wife. His son Davey travels with him and Sime told the boy his mother died to keep the more painful truth from him.
Luke helps protect Sime from another passenger – a gunman hired to kill Simon over secrets from his past. In the end, Luke invites Sime and Davey to get a fresh start working with him on the stageline. James Best played the gunman and Jane Greer played Kane’s long-missing wife. Continue reading
DUSTY DELIA HASKETT – She was the first female stagecoach driver for the United States Mail Service. Delia was born in 1861 and built a reputation for herself during her adventurous career driving stagecoaches throughout California. 
Before MST3K there was … The Texas 27 Film Vault, which debuted on February 9th, 1985. 
AVENGERS Vol 1 #115 (September 1973)
Synopsis: The Avengers fly in a Quin-Jet to Garrett Castle in England to check up on their British member the Black Knight (Dane Whitman). He has been out of touch for an alarmingly long time. 
The Clouds was written by Aristophanes around 423 BC and next to Lysistrata is the Big A’s most- discussed satire, mostly because of its lampooning of the philosopher Socrates, a contemporary of Aristophanes. 
In the ancient Greek democracy Athenian citizens were expected to represent themselves in court in both criminal and civil proceedings. 
ROYAL GORGE RAILROAD WAR – To this day I’m astonished that comparatively few people are familiar with the 1878-1880 war between William Jackson Palmer’s Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and William B. Strong’s Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Fighting started near Trinidad, CO in February 1878. The initial goal was to lay the first railroad lines through Raton Pass on the border between Colorado and New Mexico. 
That’s more name appeal than many Range Wars of the Old West had, so you’d think there’d be at least as many movies about this situation as there’ve been about the Earps and Doc Holliday vs the Clantons and McLaurys. It’s not like Westerns have ever cared about historical accuracy so they could easily spice up the slow periods of the war involving the outcome of assorted court cases.
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