Cimarron City (TV series)

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. Cimarron City is a boomtown in Logan 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.

Synopsis
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. 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.

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.

Production notes
The producers were Richard Bartlett and Norman Jolley. Stanley Wilson wrote the theme music.

In its initial run, Cimarron City was placed opposite two half-hour Western programs on CBS, Have Gun, Will Travel and Gunsmoke, 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.

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." 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. 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.

Cast

 * George Montgomery as Matt Rockford, Mayor and as narrator
 * John Smith as Deputy Lane Temple
 * Audrey Totter as Beth Purcell
 * Dan Blocker as Tiny and Carl Budinger
 * Wally Brown as Jed Fame
 * Claire Carleton as Alice Purdy
 * Pete Dunn as Dody Hamer
 * George Dunn as Jesse Williams
 * Tom Fadden as Silas Perry
 * Stuart Randall as Sheriff Art Sampson
 * Addison Richards as Martin Kingsley
 * Fred Sherman as Burt Purdy
 * Nesdon Booth as Frank the bartender

Guest stars

 * Nick Adams
 * Morris Ankrum
 * Frank Bank (uncredited)
 * Edgar Buchanan
 * John Carradine
 * Walter Coy
 * Linda Darnell
 * Dan Duryea
 * Olive Carey
 * Spencer Chan
 * Mike Connors
 * Eduard Franz
 * Robert Fuller
 * Peter Graves
 * Raymond Guth
 * Myron Healey


 * Ed Hinton
 * Bern Hoffman
 * Clyde Howdy
 * Gary Hunley
 * Richard Jaeckel
 * Vivi Janiss
 * Douglas Kennedy
 * Barbara Lawrence
 * Norman Leavitt
 * John Litel
 * June Lockhart
 * Fred MacMurray
 * Dorothy Malone
 * Ken Mayer
 * John McIntire
 * Gary Merrill


 * Elizabeth Montgomery
 * Rita Moreno
 * J. Carrol Naish
 * Debra Paget
 * Gregg Palmer
 * Luana Patten
 * Larry Pennell
 * Joe Ploski
 * Jason Robards, Sr.
 * Pernell Roberts
 * Boyd Stockman
 * Dean Stockwell
 * Randy Stuart
 * Gloria Talbott
 * William Talman
 * Lee Van Cleef

Home media
On March 6, 2012, Timeless Media Group released Cimarron City: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.