Buffalo Bill, Jr.

Gene Autry was in television in a major way during its early days. Not just as an actor on his own show, but his Flying A productions brought many other shows to television like Range Rider, Annie Oakley and this one Buffalo Bill, Jr.

The premise for this show involved a kinder, gentler Judge Roy Bean character, Judge Ben 'Fair and Square' Wiley played by Harry Cheshire. That moniker was always how he was addressed and referred to. Cheshire found the young adolescent Dick Jones roaming the Black Hills after an Indian massacre of a wagon train. The adolescent was carrying an infant girl who was to grow up to be Nancy Gilbert.

Wiley took them in and raised them and renamed them after those western icons Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane. Jones was most assuredly not the son of Bill Cody. But he certainly could ride and shoot.

From his earliest days Jones was a trick rider and all around western performer since his discovery by movie cowboy hero Hoot Gibson. He got into acting and kept real busy as a child actor, probably most famous as the Senate page in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. Jones was in that tradition of Hollywood child stars who grew up and played callow youths until way beyond his actual years. Jones was 28 when he played Buffalo Bill, Jr. and his family name in the show was Bridger who was certainly another western icon.

As this was a kid's show young Jones had absolutely no contact with the opposite sex other than helping to raise his kid sister. The more sophisticated audience of today would not appreciate this film. Still it wasn't a bad series for the year it lasted.

Starring ace horse-rider and first-rate stuntman, Dickie Jones, as the gung-ho title character, this happy-go-lucky TV Western from 1955 was always guaranteed to deliver a solid half-hour of good-natured, cowboy-type fun.

Featuring plenty of hard-riding action - This fast-paced show was set in the small, Old West town of Wileyville which was situated smack-dab in the middle of the State of Arizona.

Here in Wileyville, Buffalo Bill Jr. and his much younger sister, Calamity, were kept under the watchful eye of Judge Ben "Fair & Square" Wiley who had adopted these 2 siblings when they were just wee orphans of the West.

Together this dynamic trio of distinctly different, yet completely compatible, characters do whatever they can in order to keep peace in and around the neighboring territory.

Whether it's ornery outlaws, renegade Indians, or just ordinary settlers in dire trouble, you can be well-assured that Buffalo Bill Jr, Calamity, and Judge Wiley will be seeing to it the everything turns out fine and dandy.

This pleasant TV Western was filmed in b&w.

Even though I thought that this program showed a lot of zest and promise in its episodes it only aired for a season and a half.

All I remembered of this kiddie Western was the theme song, a cheerful but hardly classic bit of TV doggerel. When I found a DVD with a few episodes I bought it expecting the very worst. What a surprise! Charming, well written and Dick Jones is an astounding athlete and horseman. He is obviously doing most of his stunts and doing so with a verve seldom seen anywhere. I was never a great fan of this show half century ago but now can appreciate this very fine effort, one of the last of the kiddie Westerns. Produced by Gene Autry's Flying "A" production company in the first years of the "adult" Westerns which came to dominate American television for year afterward: "Wyatt Earp", "Maverick", "Cheyenne" and "Gunsmoke" which spawned so many noble and ignoble offspring. But no matter how devoted one might be to those classic Westerns, Dick Jones and "Buffalo Bill Jr." is a creditable effort in entertainment that goes well beyond my expectations of a kiddie Western.

Like most TV Westerns from the 1950s - "Buffalo Bill Jr." (1955-1956) is yet another one that had both its fair share of good moments, as well as its not-so-good moments, too.

I certainly found that the 3 principal actors in this Western (Dickie Jones, Nancy Gilbert, and Harry Cheshire) were a very likable trio who never failed to be true to their characters.

Anyway - If you are a fan of vintage TV Westerns, then, "Buffalo Bill Jr." is definitely worth a view.