Television
The Gene Autry Show
The Star Toter
Flying A Pictures
Season 1, Episode 5 (1-05)
Production #6
Network: CBS
Running Time: 30 minutes
Black and White
Original Air Date:
Sunday, August 20, 1950
Sponsor: Wrigley's Doublemint Chewing Gum
Brief Synopsis:
Gene dons a sheriff's badge to pursue a homicidal bank robber with a ten-year-old wayward son.
Detailed Synopsis:
Gene takes over the star totin' job when Ben Foster, a bank robber, kills the sheriff. With a posse, Gene pursues a wounded Foster to his hideout where they find Foster's ten-year-old son, Jimmy, a confirmed law-hater. Later at the jail, Gene assumes responsibility for Jimmy's welfare. The boy meets with Reynolds, one of the gang, and promises to cooperate by playing friendly with Gene, who is planning to give Jimmy a party and Little Champ for his birthday. However, not knowing this, Jimmy takes Little Champ out of the barn, and Pat Buttram discovers the horse is gone. Jimmy heads for the town jail and slips his father a gun from Reynolds and later runs into schoolteacher Martha Neill, who thinks Gene has already given Jimmy his present and tells him so. Jimmy is bewildered by the generosity, but doesn't return to the ranch until the party is over. He confesses to taking Little Champ. Gene talks with him man-to-man, and the boy has a change of heart. He wants to rectify his error and so goes back to the jail to retrieve the gun. Gene follows Jimmy, but Foster kills the deputy and is about to leave just as Gene arrives unarmed. Foster uses his son as a shield in making his getaway. Later, Foster kills Reynolds when he asks for his cut of the bank money. Gene, hearing the shot, overtakes Foster, but Foster gets the drop on him. Jimmy arrives and covers his father until Gene can get his gun and return the outlaw to jail. In the end, Jimmy is a changed boy who looks up to Gene as his idol.
Cast:
| Character: | Performer: |
| Gene Autry | Gene Autry |
| Pat Buttram | Pat Buttram |
| Martha Neill | Barbara Stanley |
| Ben Foster | George J. Lewis |
| Jimmy Foster | Billy Gray |
| Curry | Robert Livingston |
| Reynolds | House Peters, Jr. |
| The Deputy Sheriff | Wes Hudman |
| Little Champ | Little Champ |
| Champion | Champion, World's Wonder Horse |
Songs:
| Back in the Saddle Again | Gene Autry |
Crew:
| Executive Producer | Armand Schaefer |
| Associate Producer | Louis Gray |
| Directed by | Frank McDonald |
| Screenplay by | Jack Townley |
| Director of Photography | William Bradford |
| Film Editor | Jodie Copelan |
| Musical Director | Carl Cotner |
| Recorded by | Glen Glenn Sound Company |
