Death Valley Days

Looks like I can't post a photo. I have one of an old Swede who drove a 20 mule team in Death Valley in the 1890s. I met him in 1963.

I wish they would show these again. With over 20 years of episodes, I can't see why they don't. I was a huge fan of this program, and looked forward to watching it every week. This show was very low budget, but they were the most enjoyable half-hour episodes ever!! Many of them were factual as well. Although some of the episodes are available on video (and very,very few may I mention) they still don't encompass the true meaning of the series. You would be able to watch week to week and see what it took to tame the great west. With stories of the gold rush, wild outlaws, early politicians, and the ushering in of statehood, Death valley days will always be a favorite. I will also never forget the TV theme. It will forever be in my memories.

Somewhere in the offices of the 20 Mule Team Borax company sits some television gold. Death Valley Days, the longest running syndicated show on television contains some fine dramas, made better by the fact that these were true western stories, no frills added. Take a look at the directors and writers lists for the show. You'll find in the credits any number of B picture western directors who found work as the B western died out on the big screen, same with the writers.

Not to mention the players and for a real western feel the show had as its first host character actor Stanley Andrews known as the Old Ranger. Andrews brought a real feel of the old west to his job as host. Even when some rather more well known Hollywood names like Ronald Reagan, Robert Taylor and Dale Robertson took over the hosting duties, you always knew you were watching three well known movie stars. With Andrews it was like sitting by the fireside listening to tales from the past from a beloved relative.

Robertson was from Oklahoma and could never shake the western image no matter how hard he tried in his career and he eventually went with the flow. Taylor and Reagan were both leading men, Taylor of A films and Reagan of B films from their respective studios. But both had a real love of horses and the west and would just as soon have been cowboy heroes at their studios instead of the career paths that were chosen for them by Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner respectively. All of them fit the role of host well because of their backgrounds.

This is another show that TV Land channel ought to grab. Or at least the country music channel which has now taken to showing films occasionally. They can't do better than this.

The opening bugle call, the 20-mule team hauling the borax wagons out of the desert, The Old Ranger introducing the story and Rosemary DeCamp doing the commercials could only mean one thing, another episode of "Death Valley Days" was on the air. Where are all those episodes today?

This Series was quite popular for many years. They used a rather strange approach to production, taking a cast and crew to a location (ie: Flagstaff) and shooting 3 episodes to be split up during the season. It was the quintiessential American western of the time. Sometimes quite good, sometimes very very bad. Wish the episodes were still about somewhere.