Julesburg is the second script produced for Cheyenne, and was aired as the second episode of the first season. It's also notable as the second of 3 appearances of L. Q. Jones in the short-lived role of Cheyenne's sidekick Smitty. I'll admit freely I like the character of Smitty. Unfortunately Jones had no choice but to move on to other roles after only 3 episodes.
Cheyenne and Smitty happen upon a wagon train whose guide died of a fever, and are lost. Cheyenne and Smitty agree to help guide the train, however soon afterwards the train is attacked by rustlers who steal the train's herd of cattle. Cheyenne and Smitty go incognito into the nearby, lawless town of Julesburg in search of the herd with young stowaway Tommy, whose older brother was killed when the cattle were stampeded by the rustlers. Cheyenne and Smitty face serious odds in their quest as Julesburg is run by the dastardly McCanles (Ray Teal) and his henchmen.
According to the Cheyenne Wiki, L. Q. Jones was slated to appear in 8 more episodes as Smitty - The Outlander, The Travelers, Decision, The Storm Riders, Rendezvous at Red Rock, West of the River, Quicksand, and Star in the Dust. The Wiki also discusses how sponsors and critics derided the Smitty episodes as being "too oriented to children", and as a result the character was dropped when Warner Brothers brought in Roy Huggins to retool the show. Cheyenne was turned into a loner and a drifter, with more serious story lines and no sidekick. My guess is that this episode really drove the nail in the coffin so to speak, since of Smitty's 3 episodes this one is definitely aimed at a younger audience with the inclusion of Billy Chapin (Tommy Scott) in the cast. Even the background score promoted the juveline angle with melodies that seemed more appropriate for Leave it to Beaver.
I'm not bashing any of the Smitty episodes, as I really enjoy them. In truth I wish Smitty could've dropped back in for an episode or two in later seasons, but that's all history now.
Cheyenne's character was under development during the 1st season, and he was being molded into a stalwart, morally grounded heroic figure. His skill with a sidearm was introduced in this episode as he made a couple of extremely difficult shots. He also displays his considerable fighting skills for the first time as well.
With a couple diversions notwithstanding, the plot is somewhat pedestrian with a rustling story that I would imagine has been done on both the large and small screen many times over. Nevertheless the cast performed admirably, and IMO they elevate the quality of the episode considerably. And I won't apologize, for me a big part of this is L. Q. Jones.
I can't actually discuss the cast that much, as the only one I recognized was Ray Teal as McCanles. Teal has a long list of credits at 343, and is mostly known for his portrayal of Sheriff Roy Coffee in 99 episodes of Bonanza. However, he appeared as a multitude of different characters in close to 4 decades in the business. He appeared in 5 episodes of Cheyenne, including the last episode of the series, Showdown at Oxbend, where he was a friend of Cheyenne. Teal could play villainous characters deftly as well as lawmen, and he portrays McCanles about as bad as they come.
David Alpert and Adelle August play cattle brokers Wilfred and Jeremy Barnes. Neither has a long list of credits, and both gave up the business not long after this episode was made. As a result they're completely unknown today. We're also shown for the first time how women are drawn to Cheyenne, as August was quick to lay some smooching on Cheyenne at the end of the episode, the first of many females to make that move. This establishes the fact that women seemed to be noticeably aggressive in their desire for Cheyenne. He did make a couple of moves on his female costars himself over the years, but there were numerous women who made it clear they'd jump him in flash, and some of them put the moves on him lustfully.
Billy Chapin played young Tommy Scott, and his last credit was in 1959. He'd likely be more well known as the brother of Lauren Chapin (Father Knows Best), and unfortunately he shared some of the same demons his sister encountered years after FKB ended.
The remaining supporting cast was interesting in that many of them had several hundred credits each, and the majority of these appearances were uncredited. For example, Lester Dorr appeared as the Hotel Clerk and had 503 credits, but the vast majority of these were uncredited bit roles - townsmen, bartenders, bank tellers, and a whole lot of hotel clerks!
I did find it cool to see Kermit Maynard in a bit role. He was the brother of the first singing cowboy, Ken Maynard, who is probably more known today (if anyone remembers him at all) for being a nasty, mean drunk who burnt every single bridge he crossed, and no other actor in the Westerns genre was offered more bridges than Ken Maynard.
All in all, not one of the truly great episodes of the series but most enjoyable nonetheless with the second of Smitty's 3 appearances.
