Listen to “The Great Detectives Present Tales of the Texas Rangers” on Spreaker.
With the success of Dragnet in 1949-50, radio networks rushed to fill the airwaves with more realistic police procedural dramas. Tales of the Texas Rangers was one of these. Stacy Keach, Sr. was able to gain to the cooperation of the legendary Texas law enforcement agency to adapt stories from their case files. While the agency was formed in 1835, the cases adapted for radio were from between the 1920s and the late the 1940s.

While programs like Dragnet and The Line Up told realistic stories in urban settings, Tales of the Texas Rangers featured stories set across the breadth and depth of the Lone Star State, which often sent Ranger Jace Person (Joel McCrea) into rural areas in Texas, including some that could only be reached on horseback. Still, like Dragnet, the series was dedicated to showing the real procedures and processes used by investigators in the field.

Tales of the Texas Rangers made its way to television in 1955, starring Willard Parker as Ranger Jace Pearson and Harry Lauter as his partner Clay Morgan. Unlike the radio series, the television series was targeted towards a juvenile audience, and alternated between contemporary stories and those from the Old West. The TV series ran for fifty-two episodes, and left the air after three seasons on CBS and ABC in 1958.

About Our Star:

Joel McCrea (1905-90): McCrea came to Hollywood in the 1920s as a stunt man and extra. He broke into pictures in the early 1930s, starring in many romantic comedies and dramas and also starred in the Alfred Hitchcock classic Foreign Correspondent. Yet, it was in Westerns that he found his niche. He starred in films like Buffalo Bill and the Virgininian. After 1946, the rest of his career was spent almost exclusively acting in Western films. McCrea was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers in 1969 and was recognized with the Golden Boot Award in 1987, in addition to being recognized with two separate stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in film and radio.

In addition to his work in film Westerns, McCrea was a real-life rancher, at one time owning 3,000 acres in Ventura County, California and producing 200,000 pounds of beef per year.

 

Episodes:

• Just A Number (starring Frank Martin) (Audition Date: April 19, 1950)
• The White Elephant (Original Air Date: July 15, 1950)
• Apache Peak (Original Air Date: July 22, 1950)
• Trigger Man (Original Air Date: July 29, 1950)
• Quicksilver (Original Air Date: August 5, 1950)
• The Broken Spur (Original Air Date: August 12, 1950)
• Fools Gold (Original Air Date: August 19, 1950)
• The Open Range (Original Air Date: August 26, 1950)
• Plays for Keeps (Original Air Date: September 2 1950)
• Dead or Alive (Original Air Date: September 9, 1950)
• Candy Man (Original Air Date: September 16, 1950)
• Clean Up (Original Air Date: September 30, 1950)
• Living Death (Original Air Date: October 8, 1950)
• Dead Giveaway (Original Air Date: October 15, 1950)
• Soft Touch (Original Air Date: October 29, 1950)
• The White Suit (Original Air Date: November 5, 1950)
• Blood Relative (Original Air Date: November 12, 1950)
• Hanging by a Thread (Original Air Date: November 26, 1950)
• Room 114 (Original Air Date: December 3, 1950)
• Lucky Dollar (Original Air Date: December 10, 1950)
• Cactus Pear (Original Air Date: December 17, 1950)
• The Devil’s Share (Original Air Date: December 31, 1950)
• Deadhand Freight (Original Air Date: January 7, 1951)
• Death in the Cards (Original Air Date: January 14, 1951)
• Blood Harvest (Original Air Date: January 21, 1951)
• Loggers Larceny (Original Air Date: February 4, 1951)
• The Hatchet (Original Air Date: February 11, 1951)
• Sweet Harvest (Original Air Date: February 18, 1951)
• The Trap (Original Air Date: February 25, 1951)
• Blind Justice (Original Air Date: March 11, 1951)
• Death by Adoption (Original Air Date: March 18, 1951)
• The Breakdown (Original Air Date: March 25, 1951)
• Pressure (Original Air Date: April 1, 1951)
• Bad Blood (Original Air Date: April 8, 1951)
• Conspiracy (Original Air Date: April 15, 1951)
• Canned Death (Original Air Date: April 22, 1951)
• No Living Witnesses (Original Air Date: May 6, 1951)
• Paid in Full (Original Air Date: May 13, 1951)
• Square Dance (Original Air Date: May 20, 1951)
• Joy Ride (Original Air Date: May 27, 1951)
• Shaft of Death (Original Air Date: September 30, 1951)
• The Wheelchair Killer (Original Air Date: October 7, 1951)
• Plays for Keeps (Original Air Date: October 14, 1951)
• Wild Crop (Original Air Date: November 18, 1951)
• The Blow Off (Original Air Date: November 25, 1951)
• The Dead Giveaway (Original Air Date: December 2, 1951)
• Death Plant (Original Air Date: December 9, 1951)
• Pick-Up (Original Air Date: December 16, 1951)
• Killers Crop (Original Air Date: December 30, 1951)
• Birds of a Feather (Original Air Date: January 6, 1952)
• Clip Job (Original Air Date: January 13, 1952)
• Blood Trail (Original Air Date: January 20, 1952)
• Night Chase (Original Air Date: January 27, 1952)
• The Rub Out (Original Air Date: February 3, 1952)
• Hitchhiker (Original Air Date: February 10, 1952)
• Cold Blood (Original Air Date: February 17, 1952)
• Bright Boy (Original Air Date: February 24, 1952)
• The Ice Man (Original Air Date: March 2, 1952)
• Dream Farm (Original Air Date: March 9, 1952)
• Prelude to a Felony (Original Air Date: March 16, 1952)
• Nighthawk (Original Air Date: March 30, 1952)
• Troop Train (Original Air Date: April 6, 1952)
• Uncertain Death (Original Air Date: April 13, 1952)
• Illusion (Original Air Date: April 20, 1952)
• Little Sister (Original Air Date: May 4, 1952)
• Unleashed Fury (Original Air Date: May 11, 1952)
• Smart Kill (Original Air Date: May 18, 1952)
• Jailbird (Original Air Date: May 25, 1952)
• Sell Out (Original Air Date: June 1, 1952)
• Illegal Entry (Original Air Date: June 8, 1952)
• Travesty (Original Air Date: June 15, 1952)
• Knock Out (Original Air Date: June 22, 1952)
• Ex-Con (Original Air Date: June 29, 1952)
• Boomerang (Original Air Date: July 6, 1952)
• Finger Man (Original Air Date: July 13, 1952)
• Round Trip (Original Air Date: July 20, 1952)
• Stick-Up (Original Air Date: July 27, 1952)
• Double Edge (Original Air Date: August 3, 1952)
• Last Stop (Original Air Date: August 10, 1952)
• Cover Up (Original Air Date: August 17, 1952)
• Three Victims (Original Air Date: August 24, 1952)
• Displaced Person (Original Air Date: August 31, 1952)
• Alibi (Original Air Date: September 7, 1952)
• Drive In (Original Air Date: September 14, 1952)

Christmas Episodes Played out of order:

• Christmas Present (Original Air Date: December 24, 1950)
• The Christmas Payoff (Original Air Date: December 23, 1951)

 

Texas Rangers Bicentennial Special:

• Inheritance: Texas Rangers (Original Air Date: June 13, 1954)

End of Log