Sugarfoot

in this day and age when you hear of stars being snooty, I am pleased to report that both Will Hutchins and Clint Walker are two very nice, unpretentious people. Years ago I wrote Will Hutchins C/o NBC where he was working and what I got back was a very nice, personal hand written letter that answered all my questions I asked him, no form letter. Through a friend I got Clint Walkers e-mail and have corresponded with him off and on for two years...he is a gentleman and very nice person. Too bad all the stars are not like these two. How many of you have written stars and gotten back a form letter that said simply "Thank you for writing" or worse no answer at all? These two men know who they owe their fame too-the public, fans like us.

Thanks to the folks at my cable provider, I am able, once again, to see a few of the shows that emanated from the Warner Brothers Television 'boilerplate', namely, 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, Maverick, and, Sugarfoot. Watching them was a fond memory for me, and THIS is the type of television that I will always remember. An attractive ensemble cast for each program, and the songs by Mack David and Jerry Livingston (the former-named is the brother of Hal David of that 'other' songwriting ampersand), and the opening and closing artwork (the opening was in lowercase letters, the closing had initial capital letters, at which time the respective theme songs were sung by a fine group of studio singers).

What a pleasure to see these shows again. Let's get THESE on DVD.

"Sugarfoot" was one of 4 westerns that shared a time slot on the same night. The other shows were "Maverick", "Cheyenne",and "Bronco Lane". So you only got to see each of them once a month. Each had it's own song, and unfortunately, I remember them. They were all different but strangely alike. Sugarfoot was a blond,blue-eyed young man who really went against the "cowboy/hero" type. He was an "aw shucks," type and didn't use his gun as much as other western heroes. Maverick was a smooth talking gambler and was usually funny. Bronco Lane was from Texas and as far as I remember, was his best attribute. Cheyenne was an absolute hunk with broad shoulders, really big chest, and a small waist. Each one of them seemed to just roam around, getting into trouble, rescuing people, and solving crimes. Boy, could we use them nowadays.

When the television series Sugarfoot was winding down its four year run I remember that The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance had a way too old James Stewart playing a young attorney who came out west to seek fame and fortune as per Horace Greeley. Will Hutchins as Tom Brewster was more the age of the character that Stewart did.

And Brewster came to us once a month sharing viewing time with Cheyenne, Bronco, and Maverick. You have to remember that the stars of all these TV westerns were aspirant film stars as well and Warner Brothers was going to get maximum use out of them. And of course James Garner from Maverick had the biggest success on the big screen.

Hutchins was a nice peaceable sort of young man in the Wild Bill Elliott tradition. He may have started a greenhorn in the west, a Sugarfoot so to speak, but he learned to handle a Colt .45 with reasonable skill as I recall.

Sugarfoot came at the height of TV westerns, we'll never see these kinds of shows again, I fear.

I'm sure WB's writers were attempting to create a unique, if unlikely hero. The clean-cut boyish good looks were exactly what they were looking for. There were plenty of tough guys-Paladin, Bronco Lane,Rowdy Yates, etc. There were a couple of clever and slightly cowardly con men: Bart and Bret Maverick. What there was not was a nice, clean-cut kid to stand against evil-until Sugarfoot sauntered onto the scene, that is. The challenge, of course, was for this young kid to defend us from evil once a week for four years. It was the classic "Clark Kent/ Superman" formula except that there were no phone booths in the Old West !