Frontier Circus (1961–1962)

Information from IMDb

Plot Summary
A one-ring circus travels through the American West in the 1880's.

Series Cast
Chill Wills ... Colonel Casey Thompson / ... (26 episodes, 1961-1962)
John Derek ... Ben Travis (26 episodes, 1961-1962)
Richard Jaeckel ... Tony Gentry (26 episodes, 1961-1962)
Pat O'Malley ... Duffy (5 episodes, 1961-1962)
and many more...

Creator
Samuel A. Peeple

Series Directed
William Witney ... (4 episodes, 1961-1962)
John English ... (3 episodes, 1961-1962)
Sydney Pollack ... (3 episodes, 1961-1962)
Don Weis ... (3episodes, 1961-1962)
and many others...
Series Music
David Buttolph ... (11 episodes, 1961-1962)
Sidney Fine ... (3 episodes, 1961)
Nathan Scott ... (1 episode, 1961)
and many others...

Filming Locations
Revue Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (studio)
Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA
Red Rock Canyon State Park - Highway 14, Cantil, California, USA

Frontier Circus was an American Western television series
about a travelling circus roaming the American West in the 1880s.
Filmed by Revue Productions, the program aired on the CBS
from October 5, 1961 until September 6, 1962.

Overview
The show featured such veteran Western television and film performers
as Chill Wills as "Colonel Kasey Thompson," John Derek as "Ben Travis,"
Richard Jaeckel as "Scout Tony Gentry," and J. Pat O'Malley as "Duffy".
Characters Thompson and Travis were the owners of the Thompson/Travis traveling circus.

A few of Dukes 'Pals' employed in this series
Harry Carey Jr., William Fawcett, Vera Miles,
Dan Durea, Red Buttons

User Review

Holy Blended Genres, Batman!
14 June 2010 | by aimless-46 (Kentucky)

Quote from aimless

This is an obscure one. "Frontier Circus" ran on CBS for 26 (hour-long) episodes during the 1961-62 broadcast season; I don't recall ever seeing it turn up in syndication. Technically it is a western; shot in black and white two years after Bonanza had begun bringing color westerns into America's living rooms, which gave it little chance for success.

The networks were desperately seeking a gimmick to distinguish their offerings from the mass of television westerns getting air time in 1961. CBS remembered that "Circus Boy" had been a modest success in a 30 minute format for two seasons (1956-1958). And Disney had just done well with their January 1960 theatrical release of "Toby Tyler (or Ten Weeks with a Circus)". So they made a series about a circus traveling around the Old West in the 1880's.

Character actor Chill Wills (who had been the voice of "Francis, The Talking Mule") plays Colonel Casey Thompson who runs the T&T circus with Ben Travis (John Derek before he married Ursula Andress, Linda Evans, and Bo Derek). Richard Jaeckel plays T&T advance man Tony Gentry (sort of a Rowdy Yates of the circus set).

The show was an interesting blend of circus acts, Indian fights, and shootouts with assorted bad hombres.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

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