Series Description

The Deputy TV show was a 30 minute western action series that aired on NBC for 76 episodes from 1959-1961. It was about a young, peace-loving shopkeeper who hated guns but was occasionally forced to strap a pair on in order to help an aging Marshall defend his town in the Arizona Territory during the early 1880s.

The Deputy Cast

Allen Case .... Clay McCord (The Deputy)
Henry Fonda .... Marshal Simon Fry / Narrator
Wallace Ford .... Marshal Herb Lamson (First Season)
Betty Lou Keim .... Fran McCord (First Season)
Reed Morgan .... Sergeant Hapgood Tasker (Second Season)

The Deputy Trivia:

The town that the Deputy took place in was called "Silver City.

Henry Fonda narrated every episode of The Deputy but his character, "Marshall Fry", was often out-of-town.

The Deputy's time slot was 9:00 to 9:30 on Saturday nights during its entire run. Its competition in the first season was the first half of "The Lawrence Welk Show" on ABC and "Mr. Lucky" on CBS. During the second season, Mr. Welk was still on ABC and CBS was running the last half of "Checkmate".

One of the most interesting features of the Deputy's plots was the desire of Silver City's younger residents to "civilize" the town. Most of them had come from one of the original 13 states that, by the early 1880s, were reasonably safe from crime. Unfortunately for them, the Arizona Territory was "policed" by Marshalls like Simon Fry who were responsible for huge areas and had only horses for transportation ... well ... you get the picture. The bad guys were still ruling the West and civilized ways just didn't always work when dealing with them!