Wagon train
| Wagon Train | |
|---|---|
Title card
|
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| Also known as | ''"Major Adams, Trailmaster"; "Trailmaster"'' |
| Genre | Western |
| Starring |
Ward Bond Robert Horton John McIntire Robert Fuller Michael Burns Frank McGrath Terry Wilson Scott Miller |
| Theme music composer |
Jack Brooks Sammy Fain Jerome Moross Henri René Stanley Wilson |
| Ending theme |
Sammy Fain (Season two) Jack Brooks (Season two) Jerome Moross (seasons four, five, six) |
| Composer(s) | Lloyd R. Apperson John Williams (2.14, 2.38) Frederick Herbert (2.14, 2.38) Stanley Wilson (2.24, 2.38) Jack Hayes (2.34) David Raksin (2.7) David Buttolph (2.33) Roy Webb (2.3) Laurindo Almeida (2.2) Hans J. Salter Conrad Salinger Albert Woodbury Ernest Gold Alexander Courage Nathan Scott Morton Stevens Heinz Roemheld (2.4) Lyn Murray Cyril J. Mockridge Richard Shores Jerome Moross Sidney Fine Dale Butts (5.2) Axel Stordahl (5.17) William Lava (5.21) Jerry Goldsmith (4.37) Frank DeVol (3.4) Frank Skinner (2.1) Tak Shindo (2.9) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 284 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Howard Christie Richard Lewis |
| Producer(s) | Howard Christie Richard Lewis Frederick Shorr |
| Running time | 60 minutes (1957–63; 1964–65) 90 minutes (1963–64) |
| Production company(s) |
Revue Studios (1957–1963) Universal Television (1963–1965) |
| Distributor | NBCUniversal Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network |
NBC (1957–62) ABC (1962–65) |
| Picture format |
Black-and-white (1957–62; 1964–65) Color (1963–64) 4:3 |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 18, 1957 – May 2, 1965 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by |
Wagon Master The Big Trail |
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC 1957–62 and then on ABC 1962–65, although the network also aired daytime repeats, as Major Adams, Trailmaster and Trailmaster (post-1961 episodes without original series lead Ward Bond), from January 1963 to September 1965. The show debuted at #15 in the Nielsen ratings, rose to #2 in the next three seasons, and peaked at #1 in the 1961–62 television season. After moving to ABC in the autumn of 1962, the ratings began to decline, and Wagon Train did not again make the Top 20 listing.
The series initially starred veteran movie supporting actor Ward Bond as the wagon master, later replaced upon his death by John McIntire, and Robert Horton as the scout, subsequently replaced by Scott Miller and Robert Fuller.
The series was inspired by the 1950 film Wagon Master directed by John Ford and starring Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr. and Ward Bond, and harkens back to the early widescreen wagon train epic The Big Trail (1930) starring John Wayne and featuring Bond in his first major screen appearance playing a supporting role. Horton's buckskin outfit as the scout in the first season of the television series resembles Wayne's, who also played the wagon train's scout in the earlier film.
As a serial anthology, the series told the not well chronicled story of the million-plus, very ordinary people, from all over the world (not just the Eastern United States), who trekked in Conestoga wagons (pulled by horses or oxen), from the "frontier" to start new lives. At the time, the "frontier" included cities and towns such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, Saint Louis, and Independence (Missouri). Wagon trekkers included individuals, individual families, and groups of families, often representing a particular racial, religious, or ethnic character. Their treks brought them to settle the area from Nebraska to what would become the states of Oregon, Washington, and California.
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