Search the Western Clippings Site

An Interview With…
        - Archives

Will "Sugarfoot" Hutchins
    - Archives

Do You Remember?
    - Northwest Passage
    - Father Murphy
    - Little House on the Prairie
    - Here Come the Brides
    - Circus Boy
    - Gabby Hayes Show
    - Davy Crockett
    - Young Maverick
    - Bret Maverick
    - Wagon Train
    - Death Valley Days
    - The Travels of Jaimie  McPheeters
    - Cade’s County
    - Guns of Will Sonnett
    - Cowboy in Africa
    - Sheriff of Cochise
    - Rin Tin Tin
    - Two Faces West
    - The Monroes
    - The Westerner
    - Daniel Boone
    - Whiplash
    - Riverboat
    - Zorro
    - Wild Wild West
    - Spin and Marty
    - Grizzly Adams
    - Buckskin
    - Stagecoach West
    - Dundee and the Culhane
    - Daniel Boone (Disney)
    - Andy Burnett
    - Swamp Fox
    - Texas John Slaughter
    - Black Saddle
    - Hondo
    - Man Called Shenandoah
    - Elfego Baca
    - Man Without a Gun
    - The Big Valley
    - Have Gun Will Travel
    - Laredo
    - Custer
    - Buffalo Bill Jr.
    - Iron Horse
    - The Outcasts
    - Sugarfoot
    - The Cisco Kid
    - Lawman
    - Lancer
    - Zane Grey Theatre
    - Laramie
    - Overland Trail
    - Range Rider
    - Pony Express
    - Union Pacific
    - The Rebel
    - The Dakotas
    - Tales of the Texas Rangers
    - Casey Jones
    - Colt .45
    - Wanted Dead or Alive
    - Alias Smith and Jones
    - Cimarron Strip
    - State Trooper
    - Bat Masterson
    - Bronco
    - Cheyenne
    - Destry
    - Sgt. Preston of the Yukon
    - The Tall Man
    - Hotel de Paree
    - Tate
    - Tales of Wells Fargo
    - The Deputy
    - Trackdown
    - Stories of the Century
    - Jefferson Drum
    - 26 Men
    - The Rifleman
    - Shane
    - Broken Arrow
    - Wichita Town
    - Rawhide
    - Adventures of Kit Carson
    - Shotgun Slade
    - Yancy Derringer
    - Law of the Plainsman
    - Adventures of Jim Bowie
    - Adventures of Champion
    - Tombstone Territory
    - Wild Bill Hickok
    - Gunslinger
    - Maverick
    - Brave Eagle
    - Hopalong Cassidy
    - The Outlaws
    - Judge Roy Bean
    - Fury
    - Man From Blackhawk
    - Mackenzie’s Raiders
    - Legend of Jesse James
    - Branded
    - The Lone Ranger
    - Frontier Doctor
    - The Loner
    - Whispering Smith
    - The Texan
    - Cowboy G-Men
    - Tim McCoy Show
    - Gene Autry Show
    - Boots and Saddles
    - Roy Rogers Show
    - Rough Riders
    - My Friend Flicka
    - Sky King
    - Steve Donovan
    - Californians
    - Restless Gun
    - Gray Ghost
    - Temple Houston
    - Annie Oakley
    - Johnny Ringo
    - Cimarron City

Comic Book Cowboys
    - Archives

Rangeland Elegance
    - Archives

Westerns of...
    - Archives

Heavies and Characters
      - Archives

The Stuntmen - Neil Summers
    - Archives

Western Treasures
    - Archives

Circus Cowboys
    - Archives

Radio Range Riders
    - Archives

Western Artifacts
    - Archives

Film Festival Fotos
    - Archives

Silent Western Reviews
    - Archives

Serial Report
    - Archives

Subscribe to Western Clippings

THINGS TO PURCHASE:

Western Clippings Back Issues

Daily Comic Strips
    - Page 1 (1910-1949)
    - Page 2 (1950-1979)

Sunday Comic Strips
    - 1907-1990

Books

Miscellaneous Collectibles

Autographs

Lobby Cards

Movie Posters

Home

Logo for "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters".“The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters”

“The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters” aired for 26 episodes on ABC, 7:30-8:30pm, Sunday nights from September 15, 1963 to March 15, 1964. This hour long b/w MGM produced Western adventure series followed ‘Doc’ Sardius McPheeters (Dan O’Herlihy) and his young son Jaimie (Kurt Russell) as they traveled westward on a
Dan O'Herlihy as Doc Sardius McPheeters with his young son Jaimie (Kurt Russell). wagon train bound for the goldfields of California in 1849.

12 year old Jaimie was surrounded by an ensemble cast of colorful characters, not the least of whom was his stovepipe hat wearing/cane carrying father, an eccentric, irresponsible scalawag of a doctor prone to alcohol and cards who left Paducah, KY, with Jaimie in tow just ahead of creditors.

Donna Anderson.Younger viewers could, hopefully, identify with Russell, or fetching 17 year old orphan Jenny, played in the initial episode, “The Day of Leaving”, by Jena Engstrom but replaced as of the second episode by Donna Anderson, the Kissel Brothers (Micah, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Lamentations, played by The Osmond Brothers who also sang the show’s catchy themesong composed by Leigh Harline and Jerry Winn). Mark Allen and Meg Wyllie portrayed the young Kissel brothers’ God-fearing parents. Also on the perilous trek westward we encountered blue-blooded Henry T. Coe (Hedley Mattingly) and his valet Othello (Vernett Allen) as well as the blustery Bible quoting, cunning thief John Murrel
James Westerfield. (James Westerfield) and his shady, seedy-looking con-man cohort Shep Baggot (Sandy Kenyon). Michael Witney appeared in the initial
Michael Whitney. 15 episodes as wagon master Buck Coulter. The rather bland Witney was trampled to death saving Jaimie’s life and was replaced by the mysterious and troubled, but more powerful Charles Bronson as wagon master Linc Murdock.

Gutherie Thomas, the now veteran singer-songwriter of “Bound For Glory” (‘76), doubled Russell when horses were involved. Thomas and Russell were only months apart in age and the producers did not want Russell harmed because of insurance liabilities.

Kurt Russell with Charles Bronson.More than the elements, Indians and outlaws during their trek west, Jaimie and his friends faced an even rougher road competing in a black and white series against “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” on NBC and “My Favorite Martian” and the first half of “The Ed Sullivan Show” on CBS. ABC finally gave up and replaced Jaimie’s travels with reruns of NBC’s ‘62-‘63 modern day Western “Empire”.

“The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters” was an enjoyable journey…a little something different that might have fared better in another time slot against lesser competition. After the series was canceled, Kurt Russell and Charles Bronson reprised their roles of Jaimie and Linc in the ‘64 theatrical movie “Guns of Diablo”, an expanded color version of the series’ final episode, “The Day of the Reckoning”. Russ Conway appeared in the film as ‘Doc’ McPheeters, replacing O’Herlihy in new sequences.

 

top of page