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Sky King was an American radio and television series. Its lead character was Arizona rancher and aircraft pilot Schuyler "Sky" King. The series may have been based on a true-life personality of the 1930s, Jack Cones, known as the "Flying Constable" of Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County, California, although this notion is unverified.[1]

Sky King
Grant as Sky King with Gloria Winters as his niece, Penny, and Ron Hagerthy as his nephew, Clipper
Genre	Western-themed adventure
Starring	Kirby Grant Gloria Winters Ron Hagerthy Ewing Mitchell Gary Hunley Chubby Johnson
Theme music composer	Milton Raskin Herbert Taylor
Composers	Herschel Burke Gilbert Alec Compinsky Eve Newman
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	72
Production
Executive producer	Stuart E. McGowan
Producers	Jack Chertok Harry Poppe
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	25 minutes
Production companies	Jack Chertok Television Productions McGowan Productions
Release
Original network	NBC; ABC, Syndication
Picture format	Black and white
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	September 16, 1951 (1951-09-16) – March 8, 1959 (1959-03-08)

The series had strong Western elements.[2] King usually captured criminals and spies and found lost hikers, though he did so with the use of his airplane, the Songbird. Two twin-engine Cessna airplanes were used by King during the course of the TV series. The first was a Cessna T-50 and in later episodes a Cessna 310B was used till the series' end.[3] The 310's make and model type number was prominently displayed during the closing titles.[4]

King and his niece Penny lived on the Flying Crown Ranch, near the fictitious town of Grover, Arizona. Penny's brother Clipper also appeared during the first season. Penny and Clipper were also pilots, although they were inexperienced and looked to their uncle for guidance. Penny was an accomplished air racer, rated as a multiengine pilot, whom Sky trusted to fly the Songbird.

Radio synopsis

The radio show began in 1946 and was based on a story by Roy Winsor, the brainchild of Robert Morris Burtt and Wilfred Gibbs Moore, who also created Captain Midnight. Several actors played the part of Sky, including Earl Nightingale, John Reed King, and Roy Engel.[5] Jack Bivans played Clipper, and Beryl Vaughan portrayed Penny.[6]

"Radio premiums" were offered to listeners, as was the case with many radio shows of the day. For example, the Sky King Secret Signalscope was used on November 2, 1947, in the "Mountain Detour" episode. Listeners were advised to get their own for only 15 cents and the inner seal from a jar of Peter Pan Peanut Butter, which was produced by the sponsor, Derby Foods. The Signalscope included a glow-in-the-dark signaling device, whistle, magnifying glass, and Sky King's private code. With the Signalscope, one could also see around corners and trees.[7] The premiums were innovative, such as the Sky King Spy-Detecto Writer, which had a "decoder" (cipher disk), magnifying glass, measuring scale, and printing mechanism in a single package slightly over two inches long. Other notable premiums were the Magni-Glo Writing Ring, which had a luminous element, a secret compartment, a magnifier, and a ballpoint pen, all in the crown piece of a "fits any finger" ring.

The radio show continued until 1954, broadcasting simultaneously with the first portion of the television version.

Television synopsis

The television version starred Kirby Grant as Sky King and Gloria Winters as Penny.[8] Other regular characters included Sky's nephew Clipper, played by Ron Hagerthy, and Mitch the sheriff, portrayed by Ewing Mitchell. Mitch, a competent and intelligent law enforcement officer, depended on his friend Sky's flying skills to solve the harder cases. Other recurring characters included Jim Bell, the ranch foreman, played in four episodes by Chubby Johnson, as well as Sheriff Hollister portrayed by Monte Blue in five episodes, and Bob Carey, portrayed in ten episodes by Norman Ollestad.

Many of the storylines would feature the supporting cast repeatedly finding themselves in near-death situations and the hero rescuing them with seconds to spare. Penny would particularly often fall into the hands of spies, bank robbers, and other ne'er-do-wells.

Sky never killed the villains, as with most television cowboy heroes of the time, though one episode had him shooting a machine gun into his own stolen plane. Sky King was primarily a show for children, although it sometimes broadcast in prime time. The show also became an icon in the aviation community. Many pilots, including American astronauts, grew up watching Sky King and named him as an influence.

Plot lines were often simplistic, but Grant was able to bring a casual, natural treatment of technical details, leading to a level of believability not found in other TV series involving aviation or life in the American West. Likewise, villains and other characters were usually depicted as intelligent and believable, rather than as two-dimensional. The writing was generally above the standard for contemporary half-hour programs, although sometimes critics suggested that the acting was not.

Later episodes of the television show were notable for the dramatic opening with an air-to-air shot of the sleek, second Songbird banking sharply away from the camera and its engines roaring, while the announcer proclaimed, "From out of the clear blue of the Western sky comes Sky King!" The short credit roll which followed was equally dramatic, with the Songbird swooping at the camera across El Mirage Lake, California, then pulling up into a steep climb as it departed. The end title featured a musical theme, with the credits superimposed over an air-to-air shot of the Songbird, cruising at altitude for several moments, then banking away to the left.

The show also featured low-level flying, especially with the later Songbird, highlighting the desert flashing by in the background.

Cast

• Kirby Grant as Schuyler "Sky" King
• Gloria Winters as Penny King
• Ewing Mitchell as Sheriff Mitch Hargrove
• Ron Hagerthy as Clipper King
• Gary Hunley as Mickey (final season)[9]

Recurring cast

• Norman Ollestad as Bob Carey
• Chubby Johnson as Jim Bell
• Monte Blue as Sheriff Hollister
• Terry Kelman as Davey Wilson

Guest stars

Episodes

Season 1

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"Operation Urgent"	Unknown	Unknown	April 5, 1952 (1952-04-05)
2	2	"Carrier Pigeon"	Unknown	Unknown	April 19, 1952 (1952-04-19)
3	3	"Stagecoach Robbers"	Unknown	Unknown	May 3, 1952 (1952-05-03)
4	4	"Deadly Cargo"	Unknown	Unknown	May 17, 1952 (1952-05-17)
5	5	"Jim Bell's Triumph"	Unknown	Unknown	May 31, 1952 (1952-05-31)
6	6	"Designing Women"	Unknown	Unknown	June 14, 1952 (1952-06-14)
7	7	"One for the Money"	Unknown	Unknown	June 28, 1952 (1952-06-28)
8	8	"Danger Point"	Unknown	Unknown	July 12, 1952 (1952-07-12)
9	9	"Desperate Character"	Unknown	Unknown	July 26, 1952 (1952-07-26)
10	10	"The Man Who Forgot"	Unknown	Unknown	August 9, 1952 (1952-08-09)
11	11	"The Threatening Bomb"	Unknown	Unknown	August 23, 1952 (1952-08-23)
12	12	"Speak No Evil"	Unknown	Unknown	September 6, 1952 (1952-09-06)
13	13	"Two-Gun Penny"	Unknown	Unknown	September 20, 1952 (1952-09-20)
14	14	"Formula for Fear"	Unknown	Unknown	October 4, 1952 (1952-10-04)
15	15	"The Giant Eagle"	Unknown	Unknown	October 18, 1952 (1952-10-18)
16	16	"Blackmail"	Unknown	Unknown	November 8, 1952 (1952-11-08)
17	17	"Wings of Justice"	Unknown	Unknown	November 22, 1952 (1952-11-22)
18	18	"Destruction from the Sky"	Unknown	Unknown	December 6, 1952 (1952-12-06)
19	19	"The Porcelain Lion"	Unknown	Unknown	December 20, 1952 (1952-12-20)

Season 2

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
20	1	"The Neckerchief"	Unknown	Unknown	January 2, 1956 (1956-01-02)
21	2	"Man Hunt"	Unknown	Unknown	January 2, 1956 (1956-01-02)
22	3	"The Plastic Ghost"	Unknown	Unknown	January 9, 1956 (1956-01-09)
23	4	"The Rainbird"	Unknown	Unknown	January 9, 1956 (1956-01-09)
24	5	"The Crystal Trap"	Unknown	Unknown	January 30, 1956 (1956-01-30)
25	6	"The Red Tentacle"	Unknown	Unknown	January 30, 1956 (1956-01-30)
26	7	"Boomerang"	Unknown	Unknown	February 6, 1956 (1956-02-06)
27	8	"The Geiger Detective"	Unknown	Unknown	February 6, 1956 (1956-02-06)
28	9	"The Golden Burro"	Unknown	Unknown	February 27, 1956 (1956-02-27)
29	10	"Rustlers on Wheels"	Unknown	Unknown	March 5, 1956 (1956-03-05)
30	11	"The Silver Grave"	Unknown	Unknown	March 5, 1956 (1956-03-05)
31	12	"Uninvited Death"	Unknown	Unknown	March 12, 1956 (1956-03-12)
32	13	"Fish Out of Water"	Unknown	Unknown	March 19, 1956 (1956-03-19)
33	14	"Diamonds on a Sky-Hook"	Unknown	Unknown	March 26, 1956 (1956-03-26)
34	15	"Flood of Fury"	Unknown	Unknown	April 2, 1956 (1956-04-02)
35	16	"Rocket Story"	Unknown	Unknown	April 2, 1956 (1956-04-02)
36	17	"Rodeo Roundup"	Unknown	Unknown	April 23, 1956 (1956-04-23)
37	18	"Showdown"	Unknown	Unknown	April 23, 1956 (1956-04-23)
38	19	"Land o'Cotton"	Unknown	Unknown	April 30, 1956 (1956-04-30)
39	20	"Dust of Destruction"	Unknown	Unknown	April 30, 1956 (1956-04-30)

Season 3

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
40	1	"Mystery Horse"	Unknown	Unknown	December 29, 1957 (1957-12-29)
41	2	"Double Trouble"	Unknown	Unknown	December 29, 1957 (1957-12-29)
42	3	"Note for a Dam"	Unknown	Unknown	January 5, 1958 (1958-01-05)
43	4	"Bad Actor"	Unknown	Unknown	January 5, 1958 (1958-01-05)
44	5	"Fight for Oil"	Unknown	Unknown	January 12, 1958 (1958-01-12)
45	6	"Lost Boy"	Unknown	Unknown	January 12, 1958 (1958-01-12)
46	7	"The Brain and the Brawn"	Unknown	Unknown	January 26, 1958 (1958-01-26)
47	8	"The Feathered Serpent"	Unknown	Unknown	January 26, 1958 (1958-01-26)
48	9	"The Circus Clown Mystery"	Unknown	Unknown	February 22, 1958 (1958-02-22)
49	10	"Dead Man's Will"	Unknown	Unknown	February 22, 1958 (1958-02-22)
50	11	"Cindy, Come Home"	Unknown	Unknown	March 9, 1958 (1958-03-09)
51	12	"Rodeo Decathlon"	Unknown	Unknown	March 9, 1958 (1958-03-09)
52	13	"Abracadabra"	Unknown	Unknown	March 9, 1958 (1958-03-09)
53	14	"Triple Exposure"	Unknown	Unknown	March 9, 1958 (1958-03-09)
54	15	"The Haunted Castle"	Unknown	Unknown	March 16, 1958 (1958-03-16)
55	16	"Manhunt"	Unknown	Unknown	March 16, 1958 (1958-03-16)
56	17	"Danger at the Sawmill"	Unknown	Unknown	March 16, 1958 (1958-03-16)
57	18	"Sleight of Hand"	Unknown	Unknown	March 23, 1958 (1958-03-23)
58	19	"The Runaway"	Unknown	Unknown	March 23, 1958 (1958-03-23)
59	20	"Stop That Train"	Unknown	Unknown	March 30, 1958 (1958-03-30)

Season 4

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
60	1	"The Wild Man"	Unknown	Unknown	December 28, 1958 (1958-12-28)
61	2	"Sky Robbers"	Unknown	Unknown	December 28, 1958 (1958-12-28)
62	3	"A Dog Named Barney"	Unknown	Unknown	December 28, 1958 (1958-12-28)
63	4	"Bullet Bait"	Unknown	Unknown	December 28, 1958 (1958-12-28)
64	5	"Money Has Wings"	Unknown	Unknown	January 4, 1959 (1959-01-04)
65	6	"Frog Man"	Unknown	Unknown	January 4, 1959 (1959-01-04)
66	7	"Terror Cruise"	Unknown	Unknown	February 1, 1959 (1959-02-01)
67	8	"Runaway Truck"	Unknown	Unknown	February 1, 1959 (1959-02-01)
68	9	"Bounty Hunters"	Unknown	Unknown	February 1, 1959 (1959-02-01)
69	10	"A Mickey for Sky"	Unknown	Unknown	February 22, 1959 (1959-02-22)
70	11	"Dead Giveaway"	Unknown	Unknown	March 1, 1959 (1959-03-01)
71	12	"Ring of Fire"	Unknown	Unknown	March 1, 1959 (1959-03-01)
72	13	"Mickey's Birthday"	Unknown	Unknown	March 8, 1959 (1959-03-08)

Production

A unique introduction featured the triangular Nabisco logo flying across the screen, accompanied by the sound of the Songbird flying past. Nabisco included plastic figures of characters from the show and the Songbird in packages of Wheat Honeys and Rice Honeys breakfast cereals.[10]

The series was set in Arizona, but actually filmed in the high desert of California. The ranch house used for exterior shots of the Flying Crown Ranch is an actual residence in Apple Valley, California, although it has been extensively remodeled since its use as headquarters of the ranch. Other locations were shot in and around Apple Valley[11] and the nearby San Bernardino Mountains, George Air Force Base, and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. Interior filming was done at the General Service studios in Hollywood.

It was expensive for a children's show, but most of the budget (about $9,000 per episode) went into aircraft, vehicles, fuel, and sets. This meant that some standard production methods had to be abandoned, giving the series a more realistic look. For instance, in some shots, pilot Bill Fergusson actually did taxi the 310B rather than the more common (but time-consuming and costly) method of simulating movement by towing or dolly shots. Plymouth provided several 1951 woodie station wagons for the series.

The budget issue also forced the frequent reuse of aircraft stock footage, sometimes "flopped" (i.e., reversing the flight position) in post-production, to show airplanes banking in the opposite direction. In these cases letters and numbers (especially wing and tail numbers) read backwards.

The monotone black-and-white film disguised the actual color scheme of the Cessna 310B, which was painted in a rich multi-color pattern of Coronado Yellow, Sierra Gold, and White, with a gold interior.[12]

The show was filmed and shown during three periods as sponsors changed: 1951–1952 (Derby Foods), 1955–1956 and 1957–1962 (Nabisco, though the copyright notices continued to name Derby Foods). It continued in syndication for years afterward, and was a staple on Saturday morning television into the mid-1960s.

The musical score was largely the work of composer Herschel Burke Gilbert.^{[citation needed]}

Nabisco sold the series complete with all rights to Kirby Grant in 1959. In later years, Grant considered bringing back the series and even a "Sky King" theme park, but nothing ever happened on either of these projects. At least one writer has boilerplated a Sky King film, but none has been produced.

Aircraft

King originally flew a Cessna T-50 Bobcat, a twin-engine wooden-framed airplane some called the "Bamboo Bomber".[11] The craft was a World War II surplus UC-78B, owned by legendary Hollywood pilot Paul Mantz[13] and flown by employees of his Paul Mantz Aerial Services for filming the flying sequences.[14] At least two other T-50s are known to have been used for on-ground and in-the-cockpit scenes. The T-50 was grounded after episode 39 due to rot in the wooden frame. Songbird I was de-registered by the FAA in March 2018.

The best-known Songbird was a 1957[3] twin-engine Cessna 310B used in episodes 40 through 72. It was the second production 310B (tail number N5348A), provided by Cessna at no cost to the producers and piloted by Cessna's national sales manager for the 310, Bill Fergusson. Fergusson got the job after the motion picture pilot already selected was deemed unqualified to land the airplane at some of the off-airport sites required. Some months after a library of stock footage had been compiled, additional sequences were filmed using a different airplane.[15] Cockpit sequences were filmed using the static test fuselage, also provided by Cessna.[16] The original 310B was eventually destroyed in a crash at Delano, California, in 1962, which killed its owner-pilot.[17] A 1962 310D took its place.[3] A third 310, “Song Bird III,” was used for publicity photos. It is still flying today, making appearances at airshows in a modified Sky King livery.[3]

Release

Broadcast

The television show was first broadcast on Sunday afternoons on NBC-TV between September 16, 1951, and October 26, 1952.[18][19] These episodes were rebroadcast on ABC's Saturday morning lineup the following year from November 8, 1952 through September 21, 1953 when it made its prime-time debut on ABC's Monday night lineup. It was telecast twice-a-week in August and September 1954, before ABC cancelled it. New episodes were produced when the show went into syndication in 1955. The last new episode, "Mickey's Birthday", was telecast March 8, 1959.[9] Thereafter, Sky King surfaced on the CBS Saturday schedule in reruns until September, 1966.

Syndication

CBS began airing reruns of the show on early Saturday afternoons (at 12 pm Eastern/Pacific times; late Saturday mornings at 11 am Central/Mountain times) on October 3, 1959, and continued to do so until September 3, 1966. The CBS reruns were sponsored by Nabisco.

Home media

All 72 episodes of the TV series have been released on DVD in North America, available from Sky King Productions.[20]

References

External links

• Missoula City Website states Kirby Grant was a pilot
• Official website
• Sky King at IMDb
• Celebrity Pilots, Famous Pilots, Darren Smith, Flight Instructor, CFI Homepage This Web site list famous actors that were pilots with no FAA records on file; Kirby Grant is listed as a pilot with no FAA records on file.
• Bill Bryson's The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
• Sky King's Final Landing

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