Tales of the Texas Rangers

Every Saturday morning I loved the lineup of live action and animated shows on the air. "The Tales of Texas Rangers" started just before I entered kintergarten and continued until about the third grade. Many times my friends and I played cowboys and sometimes used story lines from these shows. When I was in the early grades I wanted to be a cowboy, which would be a big move for a city slicker from Pittsburgh. Cowboy, fireman, and pilot were the top three career goals of the boys in my classes. Westerns and Science Fiction were big both in the movies and TV.

"Tales of Texas Rangers" was one of the better Westerns I remember. One week they would be in the Old West and the other week they would be in modern times. We loved the deserts, the mountains, and the praries of the West, and of course the horses. It was encouraging to see even that in the age of Satellites, they still had big ranches in Texas and were still troubled by cattle rustlers and mine claim-jumpers. The good guys always won, and we admired their bravery and quick-thinking. One encouraging sign for our future employment was that at least the original Texas Rangers only hired men who were not from Texas, on the theory that Texans would sooner or later would be forced to arrest an old friend.

One of the details that strikes you at that age is that in the modern episodes they always got brand new Fords every September. Seeing the new crop of cars every years was very exciting and every year the auto stores on Homestead's "Auto Row" would hold big open houses to show off the latest models.

When my own children grew up in the 1980s I watched many wonderful new kids' shows, but they just didn't match up to the classics like "Texas Rangers." Ah, the memories!

Harry Lauter used to turn up in so many shows during the 1950s and 1960s that my dad and I used to keep track of them so we could catch repeats. Yes, Harry was that good; an actor who came across as someone who could carry off any character with aplomb.

This series had probably the best theme outside of 'The Adventures of Superman'. Though I've not seen 'Texas Rangers' for decades, I can replay that theme, words and picture, in my mind without any trouble at all.

A series I'd love to find one day on DVD.

The technical adviser for the show was not Capt. Clint Peoples, but Capt. Lone Wolf Gonzales. It was based on real cases of the Texas Rangers as its predecessor Radio show. It's theme song had two choruses, the first was: He's the stalwart man of Texas, Jayce Pearson is his name. His partner Clay is right beside him, each day has proved their fame. All Texas Rangers sworn to duty, Their work is never through. They'll fight and fight for right and justice to enforce the law for you.

The second played at the ending was: These are tales of Texas Rangers, a band of study men. Always on the side of justice, They'll fight and fight again. All Texas Rangers sworn to duty Courageous, brave and True. Ever marching ever ready to enforce the law for you.

The uniforms they wore in both the "early days" and the "Modern day" episodes were never worn by actual Texas Rangers. In fact there was never any such uniform for the Rangers. My grandfather was one of the modern day and my great-great grandfather was a Captain of the Texas Troupe which was early day rangers. The badges worn on the series bore no resemblance to any ranger badge ever used. When the show was on it was a Gold DPS gold shield that was worn by rangers, the now famous circle star or wheel star came well after the show was out of production and barely at the end of my Grandfather's career.

It was embellished with a whole lot more shooting and chases than ever actually took place in cases, but it did introduce the fact that the Rangers were one of the first modern policing agencies to utilize forensic evidence to solve cases.

I grew up in Texas, in the '50's, and any TV program mentioning or about Texas or Texans was viewed with awe in our household. MY personal favorite was "Tales of the Texas Rangers". The weekly adventures of Jace and Clay, whether in "Cowboy Days" or "Modern Times", were most welcomed in our living room, and my imagination. Especially Jace. As an only child, my days were mostly spent in fantasy and daydreams. Jace was the the love of my life and main character in my make believe world. He was everyone from my "Knight in a Stetson" that whisked me off to Happily Ever After, Texas, to just my best friend. Jace and Clay never drank, smoked, cursed, nor even kissed a girl. They were two honest and skilled lawmen that always held up the integrity of the Texas Rangers and the Laws of Texas, and protected here citizens from the bad guys. There have been a lot of people, real and fictional, in my life that I have loved and admired, that have awed and inspired me, but few more so than Texas Ranger Jace Pearson.

If anyone has the following episodes I would like to hear from you. Double Edge, Buckaroo from Powder River, Last Days of Boot Hill, Bandits of El Dorado, Panhandle, Key Witness, Quarter Horse, Whirlwind Raiders, Both Barrels Blazing, Traitor's Gold, Warpath, Midway Kewpie, Fifth Plague, Ambush. I have the remaining stories. Willard Parker was a good actor who played on Broadway and various B westerns in the fifties. I suspect his obvious resemblance to Randolph Scott hurt him. The show had three excellent supporting players. Moonlighting from his role as the Old Ranger on Death Valley Days, Stanley Andrews was in the Shooting of Sam Bass, The Hobo, Shorty Sees the Light, and The Black Eyes of Texas. Morris Ankram played Colonel Bryson in Trail Herd. Ken Christy was Windy Norton in Singing on the Trail.