Shotgun Slade
Created by Frank Gruber

Like Paladin (Have Gun, Will Travel) and Sam Logan (The Man From Black Hawk), TV's SHOTGUN SLADE tried to combine the two hot genres of late fifties/early sixties television: the cowboy and the private eye. Shotgun, so named because of the rather unique, custom two-in-one shotgun he always carried, was a freelance detective whose clietele ranged from Wells Fargo to saloon keepers. He had a way with the ladies, and was more than ready to mix it up with the bad guys. Explosions, shootouts and baroom brawls were par for the course, all set to a throbbing jazz score (!), as he wandered the west on horseback.

The show also boasted an impressive, if quirky, set of guest performers, including Ernie Kovacs, football star Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, WWII ace Pappy Boyington, country and western performers such as Johnny Cash and Tex Ritter, as well as athletes of the day.

Creator Frank Gruber was also responsible for several slightly-less (but only slightly less) peculiar private eyes, including Simon Lash, Otis Beagle and Joe Peel and Johnny Fletcher & Sam Cragg. He was also one of the most prolific of the great pulpsters, and recouted his experiences in The Pulp Jungle, a critical study.

TELEVISION

• SHOTGUN SLADE
  (1959-61, syndicated)
  78 30-minute episodes
  Created by Frank Gruber
  Produced by Frank Gruber
  A Shotgun/Revue Production for MCA
  Starring Scott Brady as SHOTGUN SLADE
  Guest stars: Ernie Kovacs, Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, Pappy Boyington, Johnny Cash, Tex Ritter

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.