Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

The Roy Rogers Show

1951 - United States

Known as "The King of the Cowboys" Roy Rogers was a clean-cut singing Western movie actor from Cincinnati, Ohio. Transferring to the small screen, Roy lived on the Double R Bar Ranch in Paradise Valley, near Mineral City. From here he maintained law and order in the contemporary west with help from his bumbling sidekick, Pat Brady. Roy's wife, "Queen of the West", Dale Evans, helped him run a diner called the Eureka Cafe. Pat drove an unreliable jeep known as Nellybelle whilst Roy rode his trusty Palomino stallion, Trigger. 

As special trappings for the famous horse Roy had a hand-tooled set of saddle, martingale and bridle made (plus chaps and spurs for himself), which were valued at an estimated $50,000. Dale rode the more modest Buttermilk and they also owned a dog called Bullet. 

Musical accompaniment came from the 'Sons of the Pioneers.' Evans sang the series' theme song, 'Happy Trails to You,' and the show was broadcast from 1951 to 1957 in the early evening children's slot on Sunday's by NBC, repeated in syndication on Saturday mornings from 1961 to 1964.

Published on January 25th, 2019. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

An Evening at Home

Canadian husband and wife team Bernard Braden and Barbara Kelly in domestic bliss.

Also released in 1951

The Big Valley

Set in California's San Joaquin Valley, The Big Valley was what the series 'Dallas' may have looked like if it had been set in the 1870s.

Also tagged Western

Fury

US & British co-production about a black stallion that no-one has yet been able to tame.

Also tagged Western

Alias Smith and Jones

Set in the late 19th Century when the Wild West was no longer so wild and the 'frontier' had been pushed back almost as far as it would go, Alias Smith and Jones was one of US television's last great flirtations with the Cowboy genre...

Also tagged Western

The Abbott and Costello Show

Although slammed by the critics The Abbott and Costello Show became a firm favourite with the viewing audience as the comic twosome brought to the small screen the same brand of slapstick humour that had pulled in theatre patrons for years.

Also released in 1951

Robert Fabian

Landmark TV series in which real-life cases were dramatized

Also released in 1951

About the Home

Long-running 1950s afternoon programme designed to help women improve their domestic skills with tips on everything they could wish to know about from cookery to soft furnishings and needlework to bringing up baby and doing their own DIY.

Also released in 1951

Amos n Andy

Amos N' Andy had the distinction of being one of the longest running (since 1929) and most popular US radio shows of all time before it came to TV screens in June of 1951. It also aired in the UK on the BBC between 1954 and 1957, making it the first US sitcom shown on British television.

Also released in 1951

I Love Lucy

Classic US domestic sitcom about and starring the incomparable Lucille Ball

Also released in 1951