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"Frontier Gentleman" is one of the finest western radio series to ever air - easily standing alongside "Gunsmoke" and the underrated "Fort Laramie." John Dehner's performance as an outsider looking in - all the while attempting to adapt to his new world - is wonderful, and the stories have a great historical sweep to them. Of course, the fact that it's also an early vehicle for Goldsmith music makes it marvelous from a curio-standpoint, as well.
The complete run of the series can be heard here: https://archive.org/details/FrontierGentleman-All41Episodes
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Funny that this topic should come up just now, as I was just finishing editing the Goldsmith-scored episodes and some other FRONTIER GENTLEMAN studio cues for a personal project for myself.
FRONTIER GENTLEMAN (1958) was a high-quality radio western. The opening and closing plaintive trumpet theme, as well as the background scores for the first four episodes were composed by Jerry Goldsmith. The rest of the episodes had underscoring by Wilbur Hatch, but still used Goldsmith's theme (and it's a good one).
The music was played "live" during each broadcast, with occasional "sour notes" and all. It always has amazed me how Jerry accomplished such interesting orchestral color with such a small studio ensemble. And, interestingly, at the end of each these 4 episodes, after the announcer gives the names of the cast members, he also gives the music credit to Jerry (or to Wilbur Hatch).
EPISODES SCORED BY JERRY GOLDSMITH:
(1) (01-30-58) Series Audition Program with John Dehner (aka "The Shelton Brothers") (some different orchestration)
(2) (02-02-58) The Shelton Brothers
(3) (02-09-58) Charlie Meeker
(4) (02-16-58) The Honkytonkers (aka "The Honky Tonkers")
A nicely cleaned-up almost CD-quality version of these episodes is available from the Radio Spirits website:
http://www.radiospirits.com/detailsv2.asp?mbprodid=55145
It's also sold on Amazon, where they also have some used copies:
http://www.amazon.com/Frontier-Gentlemen-Classic-Radio-Western/dp/1570198551/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y
If you Google "Frontier Gentleman," you can find a number of old time radio sites that stream these episodes with lesser fidelity, in case you want to listen first before deciding on a purchase.
It's a very nice introduction to a part of Jerry Goldsmith's formative years in live radio before getting into TV and films.
Recommended!
Ron Burbella
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This is fascinating and thanks for sharing!
Sadly most of the Frontier Gentleman cues I was hoping would be included are not here. Much of the time is taken up by renditions of the opening and closing music, which is nice to have sans narration of course, but most of the body-of-the-episode score cues that stood out to me are not included. Strangely, some Frontier Gentleman score cues in this YT video do NOT sound familiar to me from the three (sorta four) episodes Goldsmith scored. I wonder if they are some Wilbur Hatch cues mixed in with Goldsmith's stuff.
The best Goldsmith score cue I recognize here is the very first "establishing" journey cue from the pilot episode, playing right after the opening music. Noticeably different performance-wise from either the original pilot ("audition") version or the re-done pilot (with John Dehner) version, but great to have nonetheless!
Also, re: Luke Slaughter, I like this music but as far as I can tell Jerry Goldsmith never worked on the show, at least not credited. Nothing in this YT sessions clip sounds distinctively Goldsmith to me, so do we know whether this is actually his music or not? You can listen to the whole short-lived series here (in surprisingly good sound quality), and checking all of the end credits Goldsmith isn't credited for any (three are uncredited, Amerigo Marino credited on two episodes, and Wilbur Hatch for the rest):
https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Luke_Slaughter_Of_Tombstone_Singles
One more note: 13:21 of the YT video is a Frontier Gentleman cue, somehow mixed up among the Luke Slaughter cues.
Yavar
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