This Classic Western Series Was One of the Most Watched of Its Time

If you were a child who grew up in the 1950s, you were most likely familiar with a Western hero named Kit Carson. Between the years 1951 and 1956, The Adventures of Kit Carson was syndicated on television. The 30-minute adventure Western followed the escapades of the titular gunslinger Kit Carson, played by Bill Williams, and his faithful companion El Toro (Don Diamond) as they ventured across the late 1800s Old West. Clad in buckskins and cowboy hats, these two merry travelers always found themselves in all sorts of trouble, but they always found their way back out of it again. While most Western television shows at the time were generally made with more adult audiences in mind (or at the very least all audiences), The Adventures of Kit Carson was generally considered a children’s Western, one that rose to unfathomable popularity in its day.

The Adventures of Kit Carson (1951)

This classic Western TV series follows the legendary frontiersman Kit Carson as he rides across the American West, battling outlaws, protecting settlers, and maintaining law and order. Alongside his trusty sidekick El Toro, Kit Carson embarks on action-packed adventures in the untamed frontier.

 

Release Date

August 11, 1951

Cast

Bill Williams , Don Diamond , John Cason , Peter Mamakos , Boyd Stockman , Carol Henry , Tristram Coffin , Richard Avonde

Main Genre

Western

Seasons

4

‘The Adventures of Kit Carson’ Was a Hit With 1950s Audiences

This Western series ran for 104 episodes total, with each new adventure tackling concepts of family feuds, rescuing missing daughters, battling outlaws, and settling land disputes. All the classical Western tropes can be found here, and Kit Carson was never ashamed of them. More than some of its contemporaries, Kit Carson felt pretty basic, idealizing the Old West with simple plots and not a lot of nuance. In many ways, the show felt like an extension of the popular B-Western picture, not unlike The Lone Ranger or Hopalong Cassidy, which each aired as a series around the same time. Kit Carson star Bill Williams had previously made a name for himself in a variety of Westerns, such as California Passage, Last Outpost, and The Cariboo Trail, and was the perfect leading man to helm a syndicated program of his own.

In his book, Riding the Video Range: The Rise and Fall of the Western on Television, author Gary A. Yoggy notes that the Western series, which was produced by Revue Productions and MCA-TV (an off-shoot of Universal), “reached more children’s homes than any other series,” particularly near the end of its run in 1954. There were an estimated number of 3.5 million households who tuned into The Adventures of Kit Carson, and that was no small feat in a day and age when television was still fairly new. The show’s commitment to bringing the Western genre to children everywhere meant that it couldn’t pull too much from the brutal nature of the true Old West, and so certain things about Kit Carson were changed.

‘Kit Carson’ Was a Far Cry From the Historical Icon of the Same Name

For starters, there are very few similarities between the real-life Kit Carson and the television character of the same name. The Adventures of Kit Carson, for instance, take place at some point around the 1880s, while the real-life Western icon died in 1868, only a few years after the American Civil War. Additionally, Carson was well into his 50s at the time of his death, while the TV Western figure was clearly younger, with Bill Williams in his mid-30s at the time the syndicated series first found its way on the air. There’s also the matter of profession. Contrary to the cowboy imagery that the buckskin-wearing TV Kit Carson conveys, the historical Carson (full name Christopher Huston Carson) was not a cowboy at all, but a fur trapper, Indian agent, and even a U.S. Army officer.

Of course, the television series wasn’t the first to mythologize the character of Kit Carson. Along with others like Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickock, Carson was one of the first Old West icons popularized through fanciful tales written down in dime store novels that were popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Carson’s life as a mountain man — the same breed that produced the historical Hugh Glass, another figure popularized by these pulp stories — was a major influence on the popular notions of the American West, and predated the legends surrounding other Western heroes like Wyatt Earp or Billy the Kid. It’s no wonder that, in adapting the character for a children’s television series, this mountain man was toned down.

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‘The Adventures of Kit Carson’ Might Not Have Been the Most Compelling Western, but It Was Fun

Of all the popular Westerns to air in the ’50s, such as Gunsmoke, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Have Gun – Will Travel, and Wagon Train, one might never pick The Adventures of Kit Carson as the must-watch of the bunch, but that doesn’t mean the show didn’t have merit on its own. For four seasons, Kit and Toro made audiences laugh (okay, maybe just Toro) and entertained children throughout the United States. The show might not be the most popular or notable these days, but back then, Kit Carson was a major hit with the kids, and no wonder, as it was an adventurous series that felt exciting after a normal day of school and chores. The duo’s exploits were thrilling to younger viewers, who couldn’t get enough of their action-packed hijinks.

Conversely, Bill Williams, the actor responsible for bringing Kit Williams to life, did finally have enough. After over 100 episodes as the dusty cowboy riding along even dustier trails, the actor was through with playing the Western hero. A few years later, he starred in the short-lived sitcom Date with the Angels opposite Betty White, where he had some words to say about Mr. Kit Carson. According to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, Williams noted that he “never [wanted] to see or hear from Kit Carson again.” Not every cowboy is up to the task, and not every Western star walks away from a beloved series loving it themselves. Still, we’ll always remember Kit Carson as a B-Western hero worthy of the name.

The Adventures of Kit Carson is available to stream on Tubi.

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