The history of radio’s Cisco Kid program began on the evening of October 2, 1942, when Mutual premiered a weekly primetime rendition of the motion picture caballero. Under the direction of Alvin Flanagan, the hero romanced women as suave a reputation as Cesar Romero established on the big screen. Sponsorship entitlement of time slots would result in The Cisco Kid program bouncing back and forth at various time slots in two-month increments, Friday and Tuesday evenings, settling for an eight-month position on Saturday evening through 1944. Executives at Mutual believed the program had potential to gain a sponsor, as a result of the on-going motion pictures that were being produced in Hollywood.
Frederic W. Ziv and John Sinn, having purchased the radio rights, licensed the series for broadcast over the Mutual Broadcasting System. The program originated out of New York City with Jackson Beck in the title role. In July of 1943, days after the radio program went off the air for a few months (it would return in October 1943), Ziv and Sinn sat down with Phil Krasne and James Burkett, producer of the Cisco Kid movies at Monogram Studios, to work out and coordinate a plan whereby both the weekly radio program and the motion pictures cross-promote each other. By November screen tests were being made to find an actor who could play the role both on radio and in the movies concurrently. (It would take a few years for that to happen, but we cannot blame them for trying in 1943.)
The weekly prime-time program concluded on the evening of February 24, 1945. While it looked as if the series would not return to radio, Ziv never gave up hope. One year later, a major shake-up at Mutual created a vacancy. George W. Trendle sold his Michigan Radio Network to ABC and the network gained an exclusive: The Lone Ranger. Up until then The Lone Ranger program aired over the Don Lee Network three days a week. The shift to ABC meant The Lone Ranger would no longer air over KHJ in Los Angeles. Frederic W. Ziv agreed to license The Cisco Kid as a substitute for The Lone Ranger, which would air three-times-a-week. Children in Los Angeles who wanted to hear The Lone Ranger simply had to change to KECA and listen to their program at 6 p.m., while The Cisco Kid aired over KHJ at 6:30 p.m.
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| Jack Mather (left) and Harry Lang (right) |
For the new three-times-a-week rendition, which premiered on Monday, February 25, 1946, Jack Mather and Harry Lang were hired to play the leads. The program was tamed to fit a format best suited for children. Romance between The Cisco Kid and the damsel in distress was tamed down; Pancho became more of a comedic sidekick. Intercontinental Bakeries, makers of Weber Bread, sponsored the new rendition. While the program aired three times more frequent than the prior Mutual rendition, The Cisco Kid aired regionally (not nationally) over KHJ in Los Angeles, while The Lone Ranger continued to air nationwide from coast-to-coast over ABC.
Beginning with the broadcast of Monday, January 10, 1949, Paul Pierce was hired to direct the program and ZIV funded the recording of each and every broadcast that followed. ZIV had intentions of syndicating the series via transcription disc. Initially the broadcasts were recorded as they aired live, with the Weber Bread commercials deleted out afterwards. For syndication purposes, the programs needed to run a span of 25 minutes for syndication, allowing for local announcers to deliver the sponsor’s message. Within a few weeks, by March, it was decided that the assignment would be easier if the radio adventures were recorded in advance without the commercials. For the KHJ broadcasts, Weber commercials would be delivered live just as the syndicated renditions across the country.
For a brief summary of the above: The Cisco Kid was broadcast as a weekly program from October 2, 1942, to February 14, 1945. Beginning February 25, 1946, The Cisco Kid aired three days a week over KHJ in Los Angeles. Two years later the radio broadcasts were recorded for syndication.
Two radio broadcasts pre-syndication era, “The Cisco Kid Meets His Sister” (December 11, 1942) and “A Ghost for the Cisco Kid” (May 13, 1944) exist in recorded form. The remainder of the recordings that circulate today in collector hands (over 300 at present count) are from the Frederic W. Ziv syndication. For the record, all 792 of the ZIV syndications exist in recorded form even though more than half are not circulating yet. For collectors of old-time radio programs, any recording of The Cisco Kid radio program pre-dating January 1949 should be considered rare and a true find.
Recently, most of The Cisco Kid radio scripts have been digitized and careful review of those digitized led to a number of discoveries.
The first discovery (and not much of a surprise) is the fact that collectors have been assigning a broadcast date for the syndicated episodes. Syndication meant the series aired at various days and time slots across the country, in regional areas each with different sponsors, which makes assigning a broadcast date futile. However, The Cisco Kid can be one of the exceptions since the radio scripts do feature a “Recording Date” and since those episodes were first heard over KHJ in Los Angeles before they aired across the country through syndication, if any airdates should be assigned, the KHJ broadcasts make more sense. (Many of the radio scripts also include the KHJ broadcast date on top of the recording date.) Thus syndication disc #1 would be dated January 10, 1949, #2 would be dated January 12, #3 would be dated January 14, #4 would be dated January 17, 1949, and so on.
Every broadcast included an official episode number and a script title. Back in the 1980s and 1990s it was common for collectors to create “collector titles,” adding confusion to collectors who discovered they had duplicate recordings with alternate titles.
But perhaps the biggest find was the cast, documented on the cover of each and every radio script. Actors who were well-established on radio played multiple roles on the program including Parley Baer, Tom Holland, Jane Webb, Virginia Gregg, Lillian Buyeff, Parley Baer, Herb Butterfield, John Dehner, Ge Ge Pearson, Peggy Webber, Tim Graham, Ralph Moody, Alan Reed, Rye Billsbury, Vic Perrin, Ralph Moody, Charlie Lung, Jay Novello, Joan Banks, Byron Kane, Lou Krugman, Howard McNear, Jack Petruzzi, Jeanne Bates, Peggy Webber, Herb Ellis, Marvin Miller, and Barney Phillips.
Because the announcer never delivered acknowledgement of the supporting cast at the close of the programs, the extant radio scripts provides us with a number of surprises. Silent screen star Francis X. Bushman, who went off to Chicago in the early thirties to try his hand at a radio career, returned to Hollywood during the 1940s and his name appeared on no less than 49 episodes of The Cisco Kid. Silent screen actress Ynez Seabury, whose career was under the direction of D.W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille, played the role of Annie in “Arms for the Cisco Kid” (episode #48) and as Betty and Ma Grimstead in “An Execution for the Cisco Kid” (episode #52). Silent screen actress Betty Blythe, best remembered today for her exotic roles in such films as The Queen of Sheba (1921) and her starring portrayal of H. Rider Haggard’s She (1925), appeared in four episodes of The Cisco Kid, listed below:
(as Maude) “Murder at Massacre Junction” #401
(as Sadie) “The Lady of Six-Gun Café” #425
(as the Duchess) “The Duchess of San Antonio” #451
(as Cora) “War Drums” #562
Radio actress June Foray, best known for supplying voices for cartoon characters including Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Cindy Lou Who, played supporting roles in four episodes:
(as Amelia) “A Cape for the Cisco Kid” #11
(as Frances) “Four Aces for the Cisco Kid” #45
(as Betsy) “Senorita Pancho and the Cisco Kid” #63
(as Hazel) “Slaves for the Cisco Kid” #103
An obscure comedian/character actor named Billy "Buddy" Grey (sometimes spelled Gray) who worked on radio in the 1940s and began in San Francisco as a sidekick to comic Jack Kirkwood, played supporting roles on seven episodes:
(as Reardon) “A War for the Cisco Kid” #14
(as Yancey) “Handcuffs for the Cisco Kid” #29
(as Boots and Ed) “A Tax for the Cisco Kid” #30
(as Porky) “An Ambush for the Cisco Kid” #38
(as Sheriff Grimstead) “An Execution for the Cisco Kid” #52
(as Frank) “A Lion for the Cisco Kid” #50
(as Coker) “A Dead End for the Cisco Kid” #55
Actor Jeff Chandler appeared in two episodes, under the name of Ira Grossel (his birth name). Chandler did a lot of radio in the 1940s, including playing the title role of Michael Shayne. After signing a lucrative contract with 20th Century Fox, Chandler was granted permission to continue doing radio as long as he was billed “Ira Grossel” instead of “Jeff Chandler,” except when the movie studios wanted to highlight one of his up-coming movie appearances. In a 1951 interview with Hedda Hopper, Chandler remarked how he enjoyed performing for radio more than movies, citing radio actors “have to make their roles come alive, and they only have their voices with which to do it, but in pictures, the technique is quite different. The actor is only a small part of the performance. He lends his intelligence and personality to the role, but the greatest part of the performance belongs to the producer, who puts him in a certain type of part; the director, who tells him how to play it; and the cutter, who edits what’s done. That’s why I find being a movie actor not particularly gratifying.” While his name was not credited on the air, his name is listed as “Ira Grossel” on the cover of two scripts: as Bill in “A Rescue for the Cisco Kid” (#43) and as Jim in “An Arrest for the Cisco Kid” (#66).
Don Harvey, who would later play the recurring character of Collins on television’s Rawhide, can be heard in episode #320, “Killer’s Bullets at Chicken Creek.” Mark Lawrence, best known for playing tough guys in B-mysteries and film noir on the big screen, played a role in episode #70, “Gun for Hire.” Elizabeth Harrower, known for playing the recurring role of Miss Perkins, the schoolteacher, on television’s Dennis the Menace, played the female lead in the same episode (“Gun for Hire”) and in episode #115 titled “Stampede.” Frank Lovejoy, before building up star status on radio for such programs as Night Beat on NBC radio (1950-1952), and guest star billing on such programs as Suspense, appears in two episodes of The Cisco Kid: “The Prophet of Boot Hill” (#101) and “Trail of the Iron Horse” (#140). Roscoe Ates, best known as Soapy Jones, the sidekick to cowboy star Eddie Dean in a series of silver screen Westerns from 1946 to 1948, plays supporting roles in two episodes of The Cisco Kid: “His Honor, the Killer” (#126) and “The Lady Sheriff of Sandy Gulch” (#165).
Actress Julie Bennett, who played supporting roles on thousands of radio broadcasts and later made a living providing voices for animated cartoons (including Cindy Bear on The New Yogi Bear Show), appeared in half a dozen episodes. She played the recurring character of “Julie” in the following three episodes: “Stage to Silver City” (#602), “Laramie Land Grab” (#624) and “Outlaw Justice” (#636). Radio announcer Art Gilmore, later to be narrator on television’s Highway Patrol and Mackenzie’s Raiders, played supporting roles on almost a dozen episodes including: “The Fighting Mountain Man” (#540), “The Trouble Makers” (#549), and “The Hurricane” (#559).
Actor Richard Boone, who would later become a household name as Paladin on television’s Have Gun-Will Travel, also acted on radio. He can be heard on such broadcasts as Dragnet, Suspense, Escape and Dangerous Assignment. In The Cisco Kid episode titled “The Vanished Ones” #588, he played the role of Heinrich. Bill Johnstone, radio actor best known as Lamont Cranston, alias “The Shadow” on radio during the early 1940s, appeared in two episodes: as Otto in “The Corpse Maker” (#661), and as Turk in “House of Gold” (#696).
Curley Bradley, best known for playing the role of Tom Mix on the long-running radio program, played supporting roles in nine episodes of The Cisco Kid.
(as the sheriff) “Mule Team Murder” #457
(as Harley) “Judge Colt’s Law” #490
(as Coke) “Gamblers! Gunmen! And Gold!” #506
(as Mike) “Murder at Fort Mojave” #514
(as Sid) “The Mystery of Desolation Canyon” #542
(as Bob) “Law of the Panhandle” #556
(as Boone) “The Lady From Lubbock” #574
(as Charley) “Cashiel Raynor’s Revenge” #598
(as Randy Wolfe) “Killer in the Jail House” #637
Willard Waterman, best known for the role of Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve on The Great Gildersleeveon both radio and television, played supporting roles in ten episodes. Six of those ten exist in collector hands in case anyone wants to listen to them: “The Buffalo Skinner” (#131), “The Gila Stallion” (#146), “Cisco Takes the Trail” (#162), “Avalanche in Arrow Pass” (#177), “The Hermit of Ghost Town Three” (#186), and “Stampede on the Chisolm Trail” (#241).
Perhaps the biggest question that remained unanswered (until now) was which episodes specifically did Mel Blanc play the role of Poncho on The Cisco Kid. Until now encyclopedias and magazine articles only listed his name but never the specifics. According to the radio scripts, Mel Blanc played the role from episodes #582 to 591, and again from #630 to 781. Lou Merrill played the role from #600 to 602. Dick Beals played the role of Panchito from #626 to #630, the last of which he shared an adventure with Poncho, who made a return to the program.
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| Actress Mala Powers |
Perhaps the biggest surprise was to discover Mala Powers listed among the cast. The actress who appeared in dozens of Westerns and science-fiction movies in the 1950s and became a cultural icon over the years, played hundreds of supporting roles on radio including This is Your FBI, The Lux Radio Theatre, Jeff Regan, Investigator, Stars Over Hollywood and The Adventures of Red Ryder. The majority of her radio credits remain unknown due to a lack of proper documentation. Thanks to the preservation of The Cisco Kid radio scripts, her credits as they appear on The Cisco Kid are now fully documented and listed below.
(as Sarah) “Beyond the Frontier” #336
(as Martha) “A Lesson for Billy Jewell” #346
(as Dolly) “To Please a Friend” #358
(as Cleo) “Death by Telegraph” #380
(as Ruth) “Checkerboard of Death” #386
(as Vi) “The Wagon Box War” #404
(as Nora) “The Handsome Bandit” #419
(as Nancy) “The Land Rush” #426
(as Martha) “The Race for Life” #436
(as Lorrie) “The Birthday Party” #444
(as Molly) “Pancho and the Forty Thieves” #459
(as Betty) “Barbed Wire War” #474
(as Ann) “The Courtship of Joe Martin” #515
(as Cassandra) “South of Del Norte” #523
(as Clara) “Pancho and the Princess” #548
(as Betty) “Rodeo” #541
(as Marion) “Convict’s Escape” #557
(as Lola) “Murder at North San Juan” #583
(as Phyllis) “Fight at Devil’s Canyon” #597
(as Agatha Mason) “War in the Pecos Valley” #621
(as Gayle) “Mark of the Eagle” #628
(as Nora Knowles) “Killer in the Jail House” #637
(as Mary) “Blackmail at Roundup” #650
(as Carol) “Treasure of the Aztecs” #664
(as Mary) “Lynch Law” #708
(as Lorna) “The Gunmaker of Texas” #701
(as Lorry, the young girl) “The Gunhawk” #720
(as Nancy) “The Trap” #726
(as Lulu) “Sheriff Longhair” #743
(as Vinnie) “Vengeance of Vinnie Bolton” #758
(as Judy) “Gamble for Life” #768
(as Donna) “The Daughters of Cimarron” #776
When it comes to cast documentation for radio’s The Cisco Kid, and the digitizing of the radio scripts, we should value such discoveries and efforts as it provides a record more accurate than what has been documented elsewhere on the Internet. There are a number of old-time radio fans who listen to recordings and make general assumptions who is in the cast, then contribute their assumptions to websites. (Yes, you read that correctly.) Regrettably, this accounts for hundreds of other radio programs, not just The Cisco Kid, listed on the Internet with incorrect cast details. All of which is a long-winded way of stating that the information contained in this article was taken directly from the radio scripts – no guesswork applied. Personally, I always prefer to go to the source… at least, document from the source.
On a positive note, The Cisco Kid is just one of many radio programs in the past year that received some form of preservation and documentation thanks to historians consulting archival materials. Ten years ago, there were a dozen people who would go to the expense traveling to archives, in an effort to properly document old-time radio. Sadly, as of today, that number has dwindled down to two. With so many old-time radio programs that have yet to receive proper documentation, fans of The Cisco Kid can rejoice for extensive treatment about this program (beyond these cast discoveries) will be published in a book in the next year or two, along with other programs produced by Frederic W. Ziv.
P.S. His name is spelled Frederic without a "K." Verification comes in multiple forms (two reprinted below) so, yes, IMDB and Wikipedia has it incorrect.
