This was the last episode of the great Wagon Train series, which began in 1957. "The Silver Lady" is clearly a pilot for a proposed series about the Earp Brothers. Only three regular cast members appear. Michael Burns is inexplicably cast as Morgan Earp. Barnaby West doesn't exist in this one. Wyatt Earp is played by Don Collier and Virgil Earp by Don Galloway.
The episode begins with Bill Hawks (Terry Wilson) and Cooper Smith (Robert Fuller) rising along the trail and Co-opt tells Bill the story of The Silver Lady. It seems that she was a passenger in a stagecoach that was attacked by outlaws and went down a gulley and burned up. A large cargo of silver coins melted from the hear of the fire and encased the Silver Lady. What a way to go. There is some confusion about the identity of that female passenger but the plot involves the Earps and their friend Doc Holiday (Henry Silva) trying to solve the mystery of who attacked the stagecoach. Denver Pyle is on hand as Old Man Clanton.
This pilot wasn't picked up as a series. Only four years before, Hugh O'Brien ended a six year run playing Wyatt Earp in a very popular series and the viewing public probably wasn't ready to accept a new actor in that role.
It seems like the 90 minute episode 32 of season 7, "The Last Circle Up," was probably meant to be the series finale. It was the last episode in color and ended with the last night on the train after reaching California. The crew plans another trip next year, and the episode ands with brief shots of all the regular cast members laughing. That would have been a fitting ending for a great series. But then ABC brought Wagon Train back for an eighth and last season, shortening the episodes to 60 minutes and switching back to black and white. And so the numerous trips west finally end with an episode that must be considered a whimper, rather than the roar that "The Last Circle Up" was. Too bad.
The episode begins with Bill Hawks (Terry Wilson) and Cooper Smith (Robert Fuller) rising along the trail and Co-opt tells Bill the story of The Silver Lady. It seems that she was a passenger in a stagecoach that was attacked by outlaws and went down a gulley and burned up. A large cargo of silver coins melted from the hear of the fire and encased the Silver Lady. What a way to go. There is some confusion about the identity of that female passenger but the plot involves the Earps and their friend Doc Holiday (Henry Silva) trying to solve the mystery of who attacked the stagecoach. Denver Pyle is on hand as Old Man Clanton.
This pilot wasn't picked up as a series. Only four years before, Hugh O'Brien ended a six year run playing Wyatt Earp in a very popular series and the viewing public probably wasn't ready to accept a new actor in that role.
It seems like the 90 minute episode 32 of season 7, "The Last Circle Up," was probably meant to be the series finale. It was the last episode in color and ended with the last night on the train after reaching California. The crew plans another trip next year, and the episode ands with brief shots of all the regular cast members laughing. That would have been a fitting ending for a great series. But then ABC brought Wagon Train back for an eighth and last season, shortening the episodes to 60 minutes and switching back to black and white. And so the numerous trips west finally end with an episode that must be considered a whimper, rather than the roar that "The Last Circle Up" was. Too bad.
