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 Produced by Sherwood Schwartz, the creator of Gilligan's Island, this series took the
character of Gilligan, changed his name to Dusty, placed him on a wagon train and dared him
to try to find the west! They surrounded Dusty with very recognizable characters -
The wagon master played by Forrest Tucker (Skipper);
a rich couple, Ivor Francis and Lynn Wood (Mr. & Mrs.
Howell); saloon girl Jeannine Riley (Ginger);
school marm Lori Saunders (Mary Ann); and an
engineer played by Bud Cort (Professor). With Dusty
as guide, the wagon train wandered all over the place,
and it was a sure bet that this group would never
make its way west, in much the same way the
castaways were never able to get off the island thanks
to the lovable, well-meaning Gilligan.
The series lasted for only 26 episodes - the
cast did two episodes a week, ending one episode at
noon on Wednesday and beginning the next one an hour later right after lunch - a pretty
exhausting schedule, considering that much of the work included lots of horses, a stagecoach,
a covered wagon and a double-soundstage at Twentieth Century Fox, filled with dirt, trees & bushes.
Bob had always wanted to do a western, but he had to laugh when he found out that his
horse, a beautiful Apaloosa, had more movie credits than he did. A real pro,
the horse hit his mark every single time and moved out the minute the
director called 'Action'!
Oh, one last thing - any of you who have seen the movie
"The Wackiest Wagon Train in the West" have actually seen three of the
episodes of "Dusty's Trail", which were made into this film. |
