Luke Slaughter of Tombstone
Sixteen Episodes and Out
Luke Slaughter of Tombstone ran for exactly sixteen episodes on CBS, from February 23 to June 15, 1958 — a complete run in the sense that every episode aired and every one survives, but also a short one, cut down by television's growing pressure on network radio. The show's premise announced itself in the opening catchphrase: "Slaughter's my name, Luke Slaughter; cattle's my business. It's a tough business; it's big business. And there's no man west of the Rio Grande big enough to take it from me!" That was the character in full — a former Civil War cavalryman now running a cattle operation near Tombstone, Arizona Territory, close to Fort Huachuca and the Mexican border. He was written as a hard-boiled cowboy, the same archetype as the hard-boiled detective transplanted onto the open range: facing down murderers, swindlers, cheats, and robbers week after week while trying to keep his operation intact.
The show aired Sunday afternoons at 2:05, which placed it in distinguished company. In early 1958, CBS had three adult Western dramas running on Sunday afternoons: Frontier Gentleman, which had premiered January 1 of that year; the long-running radio Gunsmoke; and Luke Slaughter. These were shows with more complex plots and mature themes than the juvenile Westerns of the previous decade. When Luke Slaughter ended in June, Have Gun — Will Travel took over the timeslot.
The People Who Made It
Director William N. Robson brought considerable experience to the series. His prior radio credits included Calling All Cars, The Columbia Workshop, Americans All–Immigrants All, Escape, Suspense, CBS Radio Workshop, and Fort Laramie — a long track record across drama, documentary, and adventure. He also served as producer alongside Robert Stanley. The scripts were overseen by Tom Hanley, who had worked as a sound effects artist on Gunsmoke and occasionally wrote for that series as well; Hanley also handled sound effects for Luke Slaughter. Fran Van Hartesveldt contributed to the writing, receiving credit on at least one episode. Wilbur Hatch led the orchestra, with Amerigo Moreno serving as conductor.
The supporting cast was deep for a short-run show: regulars included Lillian Buyeff, Herb Vigran, Sam Edwards, Peter Leeds, Vic Perrin, Lawrence Dobkin, and Jack Moyles. Guest performers across the run included Karl Swensen, Ben Wright, Don Diamond, Jack Kruschen, Ralph Moody, and Norman Alden. Luke Slaughter's sidekick Wichita was played by Junius Matthews.
Sam Buffington
The show's lead, Sam Buffington, had a backstory worth knowing. Born October 12, 1931, in Swansea, Massachusetts, he trained at the Leland Powers School of Radio and Theater in Boston. From 1952 through 1955 he worked at a Providence radio station under three different names and voices, reportedly drawing one man's salary for three men's work. He moved to the West Coast with his wife in 1956, arriving with roughly $90; she supported him for the first eight months. His break came in May 1957 with an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode where he played a hypochondriac — reviews said his portrayal "steals the show." The path to Luke Slaughter came through actress Lillian Buyeff, who met Buffington while both were filming The Gray Ghost and referred him to producer Bill Robson. He was cast about two months later.
Buffington appeared on a local interview program called Meet the People in February 1958 as a promotional lead-in to the premiere. His performance as Luke Slaughter drew frequent comparisons to William Conrad's portrayal of Matt Dillon on radio Gunsmoke — a measure of how well the casting worked. He wasn't idle during the run: despite his radio commitment, he appeared in sixteen television episodes in 1958 and completed film work for They Came to Cordura, released in 1959. At the time of his death on May 15, 1960, in West Hollywood, California, he was a regular cast member on the NBC television Western Whispering Smith, playing Chief of Police John Richards opposite Audie Murphy. He was twenty-eight years old. His wife Pat found a suicide note apologizing for not being able to support her; friends expressed surprise, as he had earned over $20,000 the year before and had seemed to have good prospects ahead. He is interred at Hollywood Forever cemetery.
What Survives
All sixteen episodes are confirmed complete, with certification issued on September 7, 2009 and a minor correction to the Outlaw Kid broadcast date issued that October. The run covers titles from Duel on the Trail (the February 23 premiere) through June Bride (the June 15 finale), with individual episodes running between roughly 25 and 27 minutes — about six hours and thirty-five minutes of audio in total. Radio Spirits released a commercial CD set of all sixteen episodes, accompanied by a program guide written by radio historian Elizabeth McLeod. For a Western that lasted less than four months on the air, the preservation record is unusually clean.