"The Adventures of Spin and Marty" (1955) TV series

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Francis D. Lyon

Writer:

Lawrence Edward Watkin (novel)

Seasons:

1

Genre:

Adventure | Western | Family

Plot Keywords:

Snob | Camp | Rodeo | Horse | Friendship Between Boys

Cast

Tim Considine	...	Spin Evans (6 episodes, 1955)
David Stollery	...	(Martin) Marty Markham (6 episodes, 1955)
Roy Barcroft	...	Col. Logan (6 episodes, 1955)
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Bill Burnett (6 episodes, 1955)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Golden Oak Ranch - 19802 Placerita Canyon Road, Newhall, California, USA

Trivia:

The budget for this series was $513,480. The series came in about $60,000 over budget, mostly due to a strike by the Screen Actors' Guild.

Quotes:

Marty Markham: They're still at the corral.
Bill Burnett: Well, it may have seemed like a long time, but it's only been a half-hour or so.
Marty Markham: I better get off.
Bill Burnett: Hey, wait a minute. The corral gate's wide open. Marty, your trouble is just being afraid of getting on a horse. It's something a lot tougher that you've got to learn right now.
Marty Markham: I don't understand.
Bill Burnett: Yes, you do. How 'bout it? You willing to show me some real bravery?
Marty Markham: What?
Bill Burnett: Go ahead, ride him in.
Marty Markham: Well, all right. Come on, Skyrocket, not too fast.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Spin and Marty: The Movie (1955)

Summer On The Triple R

This was one of the best products from the Disney studio back when I was a kid. I'm sure I was one of millions of kids who would love to have spent the summer at the Triple R ranch learning to be a cowboy. That was the life.

Spin and Marty were two kids from the opposite side of the tracks so to speak. Spin Evans (I don't recall his real first name) was a kid who saved his money from working just to go to the Triple R and get out of the big city. He'd been going there a few years when Marty arrived.

Marty Markham was a rich kid being raised by a grandmother and a butler, I kid you not. Grandma who was Verna Felton thought he was in serious danger of becoming spoiled and she was probably right. Still and all she sent him to the Triple R with her butler Perkins played by J. Pat O'Malley in a very funny role, borrowed liberally from Charles Laughton in Ruggles of Red Gap.

When Marty arrives at the Triple R, he proclaims to one and all that it's only a 'dirty old farm'. That of course doesn't near and endear him to the rest of the kids, especially Spin to whom it means so much to go. Still Tim Considine as Spin and David Stollery as Marty eventually arrived at something resembling a truce though the rivalry continued for the few seasons that Disney broadcast the episodes on his Mickey Mouse Club.

Lending a real western feel to the show were sagebrush regulars Harry Carey, Jr. as Bill Burnett the counselor at the camp and the owner of the Triple R, Mr. Logan played by Roy Barcroft.

Barcroft appeared in a dozens of B westerns mostly as a villain which I got to see later. But to me he was always the gruff, but kindly Mr. Logan who ran this wonderful place for boys.

Also in the cast was stuntman Lenny Geer who played ranch hand Ollie and really the first one on the Triple R to befriend Marty and see through his act.

Shows like this are a treasure from my childhood. How I wish I could have spent a summer on the Triple R.