“Rocket Rangers”…The First Show With A Purposely Wiped History
“Rocket Rangers”…The First Show With A Purposely Wiped History
In 1953 and ’54, CBS had a Saturday morning show called “Rocket Rangers” that starred Cliff Robertson as Commander Rod Brown, in 58 episodes of the show. It was done live in New York, and given that Pye cameras were used, I would say this was done in one of the four CBS studios at Leiderkranz Hall. I think that is the only place CBS had Pye cameras, perhaps they only had them in one studio there.
CBS had “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet” for only a couple of months before it moved to ABC, then later DuMont, then later NBC. With space adventure shows at their peak of popularity in 1953, CBS hired Tom Corbett’s original director, John Haggott, and commissioned him to create a clone.
He did, and the result was Rod Brown (Cliff Robertson) of the Rocket Rangers. With the same director, same special effects gizmos, and many of the same writers, this was a somewhat livelier version of Space Cadet. Aliens were very rarely seen on Space Cadet, so Rod Brown gave us virtually a new alien every week. It was an interesting program and it is a shame that no kinescopes survive. Why not?
Well, it seems there was a “Perry Mason” moment in the show’s history. There are no surviving kinescopes of this show, because they were ordered by the court to be destroyed. Seems that the producers of “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet” on Dumont sued, because the characters and premise was too close to their story line. This is thought to be the first event of its kind in television.
Cliff Robertson was on Broadway at the time, and would rise on Saturdays at 4 a.m., drive to the CBS studios, go through dress rehearsal, and do the live broadcast at 11:30 a.m. EST. After the program he went over to the theater where he was performing in “Late Love” with Elizabeth Montgomery for a matinee, and then an evening show. By the end of the day, he would be “stumbling around”, as he later said. Robertson was also attending the Actors Workshop at the time. His salary for the part of “Rod Brown” was approximately $175 week. -Bobby Ellerbee
My dad did special effects for the show. He also had a bit part as a delivery man. These pictures are from May of 1954
Wasn’t Frank Sutton from Gomer Pyle in this show?
Seems like we had a 45 in the house called “Rocket Ranger Roll”. Maybe the theme song.
I find it rather rare that a PYE camera was used in television production in the states. Wasn’t that more common in the U.K.?
Picture from the 5/1/53 Akron Beacon Journal
I didn’t know PYE made it to the US. These were 3″ IO. How many came over?
I used to work with a Stage Manager whose father had been an actor in Captain Video. I happened to have a VCR of one episode which I gave him. He was able to see his father in the episode. Oddly enough I also worked with another Stage Manager who had been a Studio Supervisor at Channel 5 when Captain Video was being done there.
One Christmas my mother took my sister and I to Macy’s on 34th Street (could have been a different store) where there was a Tom Corbett Space Cadet Airship to sit in and see miniature stars, etc. go by out the window. I loved it!
If I’m right, These cameras had a motor driven lens turret control. I think ABC also used PYE cameras.
Another strange, lost part of TV history.
Did these cameras have the larger I.O. tubes (4 inch)? If so, I didn’t realize they around this early.
We used to watch it at a friend’s apt every Saturday. It was much better than any of the other space shows.
I was a Tom Corbett fan
Wow. Amazing … thanks for posting this lost piece of TV history, and the photos are great!
Thanks – I never heard of rhis show until now.