The Deputy (TV series)

*The Deputy*
The Deputy
	Allen Case as McCord on the set with guest star Vivian Vance, 1959
Genre	Western
Created by	Roland Kibbee; Norman Lear;
Starring	Henry Fonda; Allen Case; Read Morgan; Wallace Ford; Betty Lou Keim;
Narrated by	Henry Fonda
Theme music composer	Jack Marshall
Composer	Jack Marshall
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	76 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Henry Fonda; William Frye;
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Top Gun Productions; Revue Studios;
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 12, 1959 –; July 1, 1961

The Deputy is an American Western television series starring Henry Fonda and Allen Case that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1961. Fonda portrayed Chief Marshal Simon Fry of the Arizona Territory and Case played Deputy Clay McCord, a storekeeper who tried to avoid using a gun.^[1]

Synopsis

Fonda narrated most episodes and appeared briefly at the beginning and ending of most segments. He played the lead in only six episodes in the first season and 13 in the second. Usually, he gave his deputy the assignment, and on rare occasions, thanked him at the conclusion of the episode. As Fred MacMurray did while shooting the sitcom series My Three Sons, Fonda performed all of his work on The Deputy in several lengthy sessions, so as to leave himself free for other projects. Although based in Silver City, the marshal's district also covered several nearby towns. Deputy McCord was a storekeeper who bore arms with great reluctance. Wallace Ford appeared as the elderly marshal, Herk Lamson, with Betty Lou Keim as McCord's sister, Fran, in the first season. Read Morgan joined the show in the second season as Sergeant Hapgood Tasker, known as "Sarge", a one-eyed United States Army cavalry enlisted man stationed in town. Gary Hunley played as Deputy Clay McCord's young brother Brandon McCord in an episode of the television series.^[2]

Cast

Henry Fonda as Chief Marshal Simon Fry
Allen Case as Deputy Clay McCord
Read Morgan as Sergeant Hapgood Tasker
Wallace Ford as Marshal Herk Lamson
Betty Lou Keim as Fran McCord

Recurring cast

Vito Scotti as Jose
Addison Richards as Doc Landy
Lex Lotito as Suki

Episodes

Season 1

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"Badge For A Day (The Deputy)"	Don Medford	Roland Kibbee & Norman Lear	September 12, 1959 (1959-09-12)
2	2	"The Wild Wind"	David Butler	N.B. Stone Jr.	September 19, 1959 (1959-09-19)
3	3	"Back To Glory"	Felix E. Feist	Charles Smith	September 26, 1959 (1959-09-26)
4	4	"Shadow Of The Noose"	Robert B. Sinclair	Roland Kibbee & Norman Lear	October 3, 1959 (1959-10-03)
5	5	"Powder Keg"	David Butler	Wells Root & Ron Bishop	October 10, 1959 (1959-10-10)
6	6	"Like Father"	David Butler	Jerry Sackheim	October 17, 1959 (1959-10-17)
7	7	"Proof Of Guilt"	Arthur Lubin	Melvin Levy	October 24, 1959 (1959-10-24)
8	8	"The Johnny Shanks Story"	David Butler	N.B. Stone Jr.	October 31, 1959 (1959-10-31)
9	9	"Focus Of Doom"	Arthur Lubin	Sidney Michaels & Michael Kraike	November 7, 1959 (1959-11-07)
10	10	"The Big Four"	David Butler	Kay Lenard & Jess Carneol	November 14, 1959 (1959-11-14)
11	11	"The Next Bullet"	David Butler	Kay Lenard & Jess Carneol	November 28, 1959 (1959-11-28)
12	12	"The Deal"	Herschel Dougherty	Herbert Purdom & Michael Kraike	December 5, 1959 (1959-12-05)
13	13	"Land Greed"	Robert B. Sinclair	Dale Eunson & Katherine Albert	December 12, 1959 (1959-12-12)
14	14	"Man Of Peace"	Frank Arrigo	Herbert Purdom	December 19, 1959 (1959-12-19)
15	15	"The Orphans"	Frederick Stephani	Katherine Albert & Dale Eunson	December 26, 1959 (1959-12-26)
16	16	"Backfire"	Jim Hogan	Wilton Schiller	January 2, 1960 (1960-01-02)
17	17	"Hang The Law"	Robert B. Sinclair	Herbert Purdom	January 9, 1960 (1960-01-09)
18	18	"Silent Gun"	Sidney Lanfield	Hendrik Vollaerts	January 23, 1960 (1960-01-23)
19	19	"The Hidden Motive"	Sidney Lanfield & Robert B. Sinclair	Kay Lenard & Jess Carneol & Michael Kraike	January 30, 1960 (1960-01-30)
20	20	"Lawman's Blood"	John Brahm	Charles Smith	February 6, 1960 (1960-02-06)
21	21	"The Return Of Simon Fry"	Arthur Lubin	Terence Maples	February 13, 1960 (1960-02-13)
22	22	"Queen Bea"	Herschel Daugherty & Robert B. Sinclair	Herbert Purdom	February 20, 1960 (1960-02-20)
23	23	"The Two Faces Of Bob Claxton"	David Butler	Charles O'Neal	February 27, 1960 (1960-02-27)
24	24	"Lady With A Mission"	Sidney Lanfield	Charles Smith	March 5, 1960 (1960-03-05)
25	25	"The Border Between"	Frank Arrigo	Hal Biller & Austin Kalish	March 12, 1960 (1960-03-12)
26	26	"Final Payment"	Frank Arrigo	Charles R. Marion	March 19, 1960 (1960-03-19)
27	27	"Dark Reward"	Louis King & Robert B. Sinclair	Marianne Mosner	March 26, 1960 (1960-03-26)
28	28	"Marked For Bounty"	Sidney Lanfield	William Yagemann	April 2, 1960 (1960-04-02)
29	29	"The Truly Yours"	David Butler	Montgomery Pittman & Herbert Purdom	April 9, 1960 (1960-04-09)
30	30	"A Time To Sow"	Louis King	Kay Lenard & Jess Carneol	April 23, 1960 (1960-04-23)
31	31	"The Last Gunfight"	Sidney Lanfield	Charles Smith & Richard Carr	April 30, 1960 (1960-04-30)
32	32	"Chain Of Action"	Sidney Lanfield	Lester Fuller	May 7, 1960 (1960-05-07)
33	33	"The Lucifer Urge"	Sidney Lanfield	Ellis Kadison	May 14, 1960 (1960-05-14)
34	34	"Palace Of Chance"	Sidney Lanfield	Charles Smith & Frank Edmunds	May 21, 1960 (1960-05-21)
35	35	"The X Game"	David Butler	Herbert Purdom	May 28, 1960 (1960-05-28)
36	36	"The Stand-Off"	David Butler	Ellis Kadison & Louis Paul	June 11, 1960 (1960-06-11)
37	37	"Trail Of Darkness"	Sidney Lanfield	Hendrik Vollaerts	June 18, 1960 (1960-06-18)
38	38	"The Choice"	David Butler	Saul Schwartz & Lester Fuller	June 25, 1960 (1960-06-25)
39	39	"Ma Mack"	Robert B. Sinclair	Rod Peterson	July 9, 1960 (1960-07-09)

Season 2 (1960–61)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
40	1	"The Deadly Breed"	Virgil W. Vogel	Clarke Reynolds	September 24, 1960 (1960-09-24)
41	2	"Meet Sergeant Tasker"	Reginald Le Borg	Richard Morgan	October 1, 1960 (1960-10-01)
42	3	"The Jason Harris Story"	Tay Garnett	Charles Smith	October 8, 1960 (1960-10-08)
43	4	"The Fatal Urge"	Tay Garnett	Joseph Carter	October 15, 1960 (1960-10-15)
44	5	"Mother and Son"	Louis King	Charles R. Marion	October 29, 1960 (1960-10-29)
45	6	"Bitter Root"	Louis King	Kay Lenard & Jess Carneol	November 5, 1960 (1960-11-05)
46	7	"The Higher Law"	Tay Garnett	Charles Smith & William Nash	November 12, 1960 (1960-11-12)
47	8	"Passage to New Orleans"	Louis King	Hendrik Vollaerts	November 19, 1960 (1960-11-19)
48	9	"The World Against Me"	David Butler	Hal Biller & Austin Kalish	November 26, 1960 (1960-11-26)
49	10	"Sally Tornado (aka Lady For A Hanging)"	Louis King	Charles Smith	December 3, 1960 (1960-12-03)
50	11	"The Three Brothers"	Sidney Lanfield	Peggy O'Shea & Lou Shaw	December 10, 1960 (1960-12-10)
51	12	"Day of Fear"	Tay Garnett	Clarke Reynolds	December 17, 1960 (1960-12-17)
52	13	"Second Cousin to the Czar"	Louis King	Kay Lenard & Jess Carneol	December 24, 1960 (1960-12-24)
53	14	"The Judas Town"	Frank Arrigo	Hal Biller & Austin Kalish	December 31, 1960 (1960-12-31)
54	15	"Duty Bound"	Herschel Daugherty	Rod Peterson	January 7, 1961 (1961-01-07)
55	16	"The Lesson"	Frank Arrigo	Kay Lenard & Jess Carneol	January 14, 1961 (1961-01-14)
56	17	"Past and Present"	Tay Garnett	Rudy Makoul	January 21, 1961 (1961-01-21)
57	18	"The Hard Decision"	David Butler	Peggy and Lou Shaw	January 28, 1961 (1961-01-28)
58	19	"The Dream"	Tay Garnett	Ellis Kadison	February 4, 1961 (1961-02-04)
59	20	"Shackled Town"	Tay Garnett	Clarke Reynolds	February 11, 1961 (1961-02-11)
60	21	"The Lonely Road"	Louis King	William F. Leicester	February 18, 1961 (1961-02-18)
61	22	"The Challenger"	Frank Arrigo	Richard Morgan	February 25, 1961 (1961-02-25)
62	23	"Edge of Doubt"	Frank Arrigo	Peggy O'Shea & Lou Shaw	March 4, 1961 (1961-03-04)
63	24	"Two-Way Deal"	Tay Garnett	William Yagemann	March 11, 1961 (1961-03-11)
64	25	"The Means and the End"	Tay Garnett	Finlay McDermid	March 18, 1961 (1961-03-18)
65	26	"The Example"	Otto Lang	Ralph Goodman	March 25, 1961 (1961-03-25)
66	27	"Cherchez La Femme"	David Butler	Stuart Jerome	April 1, 1961 (1961-04-01)
67	28	"Tension Point"	Tay Garnett	Clarke Reynolds	April 8, 1961 (1961-04-08)
68	29	"Brother in Arms"	David Butler	Edward J. Lakso	April 15, 1961 (1961-04-15)
69	30	"The Return of Widow Brown"	Otto Lang	Norman Jacob	April 22, 1961 (1961-04-22)
70	31	"Spoken In Silence"	Tay Garnett	Kay Lenard & Jess Carneol	April 29, 1961 (1961-04-29)
71	32	"An Enemy of the Town"	Frank Arrigo	Jerry Sackheim & Curtis Kenyon	May 6, 1961 (1961-05-06)
72	33	"The Legend of Dixie"	Frank Arrigo	Michael Kraike & Robert Sabaroff	May 20, 1961 (1961-05-20)
73	34	"The Deathly Quiet"	Otto Lang	Paul Franklin	May 27, 1961 (1961-05-27)
74	35	"Brand of Honesty"	Tay Garnett	Herbert Purdom	June 10, 1961 (1961-06-10)
75	36	"Lorinda Belle"	Sherry Shourds	Hendrik Vollaerts & Michael Kraike	June 24, 1961 (1961-06-24)
76	37	"Lawman's Conscience"	Fredrick Stephani	Michael Kraike & Saul Schwartz	July 1, 1961 (1961-07-01)

Production notes

The series was created by Roland Kibbee and Norman Lear, produced by Revue Studios, and featured a jazz guitar score by Jack Marshall.^[3]^[4] It was the first television series that involved Lear as a creator or executive producer.^[5] William Frye was the executive producer, and Michel Kraike was the producer. Kibbee and Lear were the head writers. Kellogg's sponsored alternate weeks. The Deputy aired at 9 pm Eastern on Saturdays.^[3]

Original tie-in novel

An original, licensed novel, based on the TV series concept and characters, was issued in paperback by Dell Publishing. The book was titled simply The Deputy, after the series; the author was veteran Western novelist Roe Richmond; the publication date was September, 1960; and the cover illustration, featuring Henry Fonda and Allan Case, was a painting by John Leone. The cover price was 35¢.

Bantam Books reissued the novel in 1986, as a non-tie-in, paperback edition, displaying no stated connection to the TV series whatsoever, under the title The Saga of Simon Fry. The cover price was $2.75. The circumstances behind the reprint are unknown.