| Cimarron City | |
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| Genre | Western |
| Written by |
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| Directed by |
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| Starring |
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| Theme music composer |
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| Composer | Paul Dunlap |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
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| Cinematography |
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| Editor | Lee Huntington |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
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| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | September 27, 1958 (1958-09-27) – April 4, 1959 (1959-04-04) |
Cimarron City is an American one-hour Western television series, starring George Montgomery as Matt Rockford and John Smith as Lane Temple, airing on NBC from October 11, 1958, to September 26, 1959.[1] Cimarron City is a boomtowninLogan County, Oklahoma, north of Oklahoma City. Rich in oil and gold, Cimarron City aspires to become the capital of the future state of Oklahoma, to be created in 1907.
Matthew Rockford is the son of an area cattle rancher, who is the founder and mayor of Cimarron City. Lane Temple, the blacksmith, serves also as the deputy sheriff. He maintains the law amid the crooked schemes concocted in Cimarron City.
Audrey Totter played Beth Purcell, the owner of the boarding house.[1] The episodes were supposed to rotate equally among Montgomery, Smith, and Totter. The writers, however, did not give Totter enough stories as promised, and she was phased out in favor of male leads.[2]
Cimarron City also featured Dan Blocker (before Bonanza) in two roles. In the second episode, Blocker plays outlaw Carl Budinger, who is killed. In the fourth episode, he reappears as Carl's good-hearted brother, Tiny Budinger, who becomes one of Rockford's ranch hands.
The producers were Richard Bartlett and Norman Jolley.[1] Stanley Wilson wrote the theme music.[3]
In its initial run, Cimarron City was placed opposite two half-hour Western programs on CBS, Have Gun, Will Travel and Gunsmoke,[1] from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturdays. From June 1960 to September 1960, reruns were shown on Fridays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, again on NBC.[4]
Newspaper columnist Erskine Johnson wrote that NBC created Cimarron City expressly "to shoot it out with CBS TV's two guns — the half-hour Have Gun and the top-rated Gunsmoke, in most sections of the country."[5] When the show's ratings failed to meet NBC executives' expectations, Smith's and Totter's roles grew in size and Montgomery "became a wanderer instead of a stay-at-home"; writers and directors were also changed.[5] NBC spent additional money to bring in guest stars while sponsors were leaving the show, with several episodes having no sponsor.Toward the end of the series' original run, NBC found four rotating sponsors, some of whom limited their involvement to purchasing spot announcements.[5]
| No.in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "I, the People" | Jules Bricken | Fenton Earnshaw | October 11, 1958 (1958-10-11) |
| 2 | "Terror Town" | Richard H. Bartlett | Trebor Lewis | October 18, 1958 (1958-10-18) |
| 3 | "To Become a Man" | Richard H. Bartlett | Norman Jolley | October 25, 1958 (1958-10-25) |
| 4 | "Twelve Guns" | Richard H. Bartlett | Lew Richards & Norman Jolley | November 1, 1958 (1958-11-01) |
| 5 | "The Medicine Man" | Richard H. Bartlett | Norman Jolley | November 8, 1958 (1958-11-08) |
| 6 | "Hired Hand" | John Brahm | Lew Richards | November 15, 1958 (1958-11-15) |
| 7 | "Kid on a Calico Horse" | Herschel Daugherty | E. Jack Neuman | November 22, 1958 (1958-11-22) |
| 8 | "The Beast of Cimarron" | Abner Biberman | Norman Jolley | November 29, 1958 (1958-11-29) |
| 9 | "A Respectable Girl" | Richard H. Bartlett | Leo Townsend | December 6, 1958 (1958-12-06) |
| 10 | "The Blood Line" | Douglas Heyes | Douglas Heyes | December 13, 1958 (1958-12-13) |
| 11 | "Cimarron Holiday" | Richard H. Bartlett | Norman Jolley | December 20, 1958 (1958-12-20)[7] |
| 12 | "McGowan's Debt" | Herschel Daugherty | James Charles Lynch | December 27, 1958 (1958-12-27) |
| 13 | "The Bitter Lesson" | John Meredyth Lucas | Ernest Haycox | January 3, 1959 (1959-01-03) |
| 14 | "A Legacy of Ossie Harper" | Jules Bricken | Ernest Kinoy Jameson Brewer | January 10, 1959 (1959-01-10) |
| 15 | "Child of Fear" | Richard H. Bartlett | Virginia Spies | January 17, 1959 (1959-01-17) |
| 16 | "Burn the Town Down" | Richard H. Bartlett | Ralph Winters | January 24, 1959 (1959-01-24) |
| 17 | "Runaway Train" | Richard H. Bartlett | Norman Jolley | January 31, 1959 (1959-01-31) |
| 18 | "The Beauty and the Sorrow" | Richard H. Bartlett | Halsted Welles | February 7, 1959 (1959-02-07) |
| 19 | "Return of the Dead" | Richard H. Bartlett | Tom Seller | February 14, 1959 (1959-02-14) |
| 20 | "Blind is the Killer" | John Meredyth Lucas | David Henry Lord | February 21, 1959 (1959-02-21) |
| 21 | "The Unaccepted" | Jerry Hopper | Cyril Hume | February 28, 1959 (1959-02-28) |
| 22 | "The Ratman" | Richard H. Bartlett | Richard Carlyle | March 7, 1959 (1959-03-07) |
| 23 | "Have Sword --Will Duel" | Sidney Lanfield | Tom Seller | March 14, 1959 (1959-03-14) |
| 24 | "Chinese Invasion" | Justus Addiss | William E. Raynor | March 21, 1959 (1959-03-21) |
| 25 | "The Town is a Prisoner" | Richard H. Bartlett | Richard Morgan | March 28, 1959 (1959-03-28) |
| 26 | "The Evil One" | Christian Nyby | David Boehm | April 4, 1959 (1959-04-04) |
On March 6, 2012, Timeless Media Group released Cimarron City: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[8]
