Spin and Marty

Spin and Marty
David Stollery (left) as Marty Markham and Tim Considine as Spin Evans introduce the series
Genre	children's serial
Created by	Lawrence Edward Watkin
Written by	Jackson Gillis
Directed by	William Beaudine, Sr.
Starring	David Stollery Tim Considine Harry Carey, Jr. Annette Funicello Roy Barcroft J. Pat O'Malley
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	The Adventures of Spin and Marty (1955): 25 The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty (1956): 23 The New Adventures of Spin and Marty (1957): 30
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bill Walsh
Running time	11 minutes per episode
Release
Original network	ABC
Picture format	black and white
Original release	November 4, 1955 – December 13, 1957

Spin and Marty is a popular series of television shorts that aired as part of The Mickey Mouse Club show of the mid-1950s, produced by Walt Disney and broadcast on the ABC network in the United States. There were three serials in all, set at the Triple R Ranch, a boys' western-style summer camp. The first series of 25 eleven-minute episodes, The Adventures of Spin and Marty, was filmed in 1955. Its popularity led to two sequels—The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty in 1956 and The New Adventures of Spin and Marty in 1957.

It aired as reruns on the Disney Channel until September 9, 2002.

The serials were based on the 1942 novel Marty Markham by Lawrence Edward Watkin. The producer for Disney was Bill Walsh and the screenplay was written by Jackson Gillis. The shows' success led to the Spin and Marty comic books of the late 1950s. The first season's 25 episodes with bonus material were released on DVD by Disney in 2005.

The series starred David Stollery as the rich, orphaned Martin "Marty" Markham and Tim Considine as the poorer Spin Evans, the most athletic and popular boy at the Triple R Ranch. When the pampered Marty first arrives at the ranch in a chauffeur-driven limousine, his contemptuous dismissal of the dude ranch as a "dirty old farm" and evident fear of horses result in his ostracism by the other boys, led by Spin. By the end of the first season, however, Marty overcomes his fears and wins acceptance, becoming close friends with his erstwhile foe, Spin. Supporting roles include Sammy Ogg as their jokester sidekick Joe Simpson, and B.G. Norman as Ambitious, Marty's first friend at the Triple R. The second season adds Annette Funicello and Kevin Corcoran to the cast as Annette--from the Circle H--and Moochie, respectively. The third season adds Darlene Gillespie, and quickly turns into a showcase for song and dance sketches as part of a "Let's put on a show!" storyline reminiscent of Mickey Rooney–Judy Garland movies. All three serials also co-star Roy Barcroft as Triple R owner Col. Logan, Harry Carey, Jr. as popular counselor Bill Burnett, and J. Pat O'Malley as Perkins, Marty's butler and the Triple R's assistant cook. In the first two serials, Leonard Geer played Ollie, the wisecracking (and wise) stablehand in charge of the horses.