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Old Time Radio Researchers GroupFort Laramie - Single Episodes

FORT LARAMIE

Fort Laramie opened with "Specially transcribed tales of the dark and tragic ground of the wild frontier. The saga of fighting men who rode the rim of empire and the dramatic story of Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry".

When Norman Macdonnell created Fort Laramie in late 1955, he made it clear to his writers that historical accuracy was essential to the integrity of the series. Correct geographic names, authentic Indian practices, military terminology, and utilizing actual names of the original buildings of the real fort, was insisted upon. So when the radio characters referred to the sutler's store (which is what the trading post was called prior to 1870), the surgeon's quarters, Old Bedlam (the officers' quarters) or the old bakery, they were naming actual structures in the original fort.

While Macdonnell planned to use the same writers, soundmen, and supporting actors in Fort Laramie that he relied upon in Gunsmoke, he naturally picked different leads. Heading up the cast was a 39 year old, Canadian-born actor with a long history in broadcasting and the movies, Raymond Burr. He had begun his career in 1939, alternating between the stage and radio. He turned to Hollywood, and from 1946 until he got the part of Captain Lee Quince in Fort Laramie in 1956, he had appeared in thirty-seven films. A few were excellent (Rear Window, The Blue Gardenia) some were average (Walk a Crooked Mile, A Place in the Sun) but many were plain awful (Bride of Vengeance, Red Light, and Abandoned).

With Burr in the lead, Macdonnell selected two supporting players: Vic Perrin as "Sgt. Goerss" and Jack Moyles as "Major Daggett", the commanding officer of the post. (The original Fort Laramie usually had a Lieutenant Colonel as the C.O. but Macdonnell probably preferred a shorter military title.) Perrin, a 40 year old veteran radio actor had been in countless productions, but had achieved name recognition only on The Zane Grey Show where he played the lead, "Tex Thorne." Jack Moyles was also a busy radio actor, having started in 1935 in Hawthorne House, with later major roles in Romance, Twelve Players, Night Editor as well as the lead in A Man Called Jordan. From 1947 to 1948 he was a regular in The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, which Norman Macdonnell directed, although this may not have been their first association.

By the mid-1950s when Fort Laramie began, most of the actors on the west coast were doing some television and movie work so the program was rehearsed and taped for transcription during the evening. Once a week the cast and crew gathered at CBS Studio One in Hollywood to tape the show. In 1956 this was the last radio production studio in use in California. The series debuted on January 22, 1956 with an episode entitled "Playing Indian."

Fort Laramie aired forty one episodes from January 22, 1956 to October 28, 1956. An audition episode was recorded on July 25, 1955.

Updated with Version 2 Files on 20-Nov-2008

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

Notes

OLD TIME RADIO RESEARCHER'S GROUP

This is a production of the Old Time Radio Researchers Group located at Old Time Radio Researchers Website and the Old Time Radio Researchers Group.

It contains the most complete and accurate version of this series in the best sound possible at the time of creation. An updated version will be issued if more episodes or better sounding ones become available.

If you are interested in preserving old time radio, you may wish to join the Old Time Radio Researchers Group at Yahoo.


This is the Single Episode Page. The Certified Set includes extras not found here. It is located at OTRR Certified Set. This page is provided in case you want to sample the shows.

Note that in many cases, file names have been modified from the original OTRR names to conform to archive.org naming requirements.


Relax, listen, and enjoy!

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Individual Files

Audio Files	64Kbps MP3
(Audition)	14 MB
Playing Indian	14 MB
The Boatwright's Story	14 MB
Squaw Man	14 MB
The Woman at Horse Creek	14 MB
Boredom	14 MB
Captain's Widow	14 MB
Shavetail	14 MB
Hattie Pelfrey	13 MB
The Beasley Girls	13 MB
The Coward	13 MB
Lost Child	14 MB
Stage Coach Stop	14 MB
The New Recruit	14 MB
Capture	14 MB
Never the Twain	14 MB
War Correspondents	14 MB
Gold	14 MB
Sergeant's Baby	14 MB
Don't Kick My Horse	14 MB
Young Trooper	14 MB
Winter Soldier	14 MB
The Loving Cup	14 MB
Trooper's Widow	14 MB
Talented Recruits	14 MB
Old Enemy	14 MB
Spotted Tail's Return	14 MB
Nature Boy	13 MB
The Massacre	14 MB
The Assembly Line	14 MB
Goodbye Willa	14 MB
The Chaplain	14 MB
The Return of Hattie Pelfrey	14 MB
The Buffalo Hunters	14 MB
The Payroll	14 MB
The Woman at Horse Creek	15 MB
A Small Beginning	14 MB
Galvanized Yankee	11 MB
Still Waters	11 MB
Indian Scout	11 MB
Army Wife	11 MB

Image Files	JPEG
Fort Laramie	26 KB

Information	Format	Size
OTRR_Fort_Laramie_Singles_files.xml	Metadata	16 KB
OTRR_Fort_Laramie_Singles_meta.xml	Metadata	6.12 KB
OTRR_Fort_Laramie_Singles_reviews.xml	Metadata	2.05 KB

Other Files	Unknown
OTRR_Fort_Laramie_Singles_rules.conf	7 B

Write a review
Downloaded 39,974 timesReviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: ChargerJoe - - September 14, 2009
Subject: Excellent program!
I love this show! I've perused a few different shows this past couple of months but Fort Laramie is by far my favorite.

Reviewer: skydog86 - - September 7, 2009
Subject: Good show
An entertaining show, could have definitely had a few more seasons if radio wasn't slowly losing to TV.

Does anyone think that Lee Quince sounds exactly like Zap Brannigan from Futurama?

Reviewer: jktemplin - - September 20, 2007
Subject: Fort Laramie
The programs were written very well and it is a shame that it never made it to TV in 1957 or even today!

Reviewer: Galland - - September 15, 2007
Subject: Fort Laramie
Fort Laramie was a vary well written and acted and Norman Mcdonnell was an good director.

Reviewer: hess - - September 1, 2007
Subject: Fort Laramie-Single Episodes
Fort Laramie was not a bad little show do to work of the shows director Norman Mcdonnell, who wanted everything historically correct.