# Shotgun Slade

Shotgun Slade is an American western mystery television series starring Scott Brady that aired seventy-eight episodes in syndication from 1959 to 1961 Created by Frank Gruber, the stories were written by John Berardino, Charissa Hughes, and Martin Berkeley. The series was filmed in Hollywood by Revue Studios.
The pilot for Shotgun Slade aired earlier in 1959 on CBS's Schlitz Playhouse.

## Overview

After several years of total saturation on the networks, many western series began to lose popularity with viewing audiences, Shotgun Slade had three characteristics that made it unique. The first was Slade's profession. Instead being a marshal, sheriff or wandering gunfighter, Slade was a private detective, hired by individuals to track down criminals, return stolen money, or perform other similar duties. This was obviously influenced by the growing popularity of television private eyes such as Peter Gunn, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, 77 Sunset Strip, and Hawaiian Eye.
Another quirk was Slade's weapon of choice. Instead of packing a six gun, Slade carried a combination shotgun that has an upper and lower barrel. The lower barrel fired a 12-gauge shotgun shell, while the top barrel fired a .32 caliber rifle bullet. The idea was that this weapon gave Slade the ability to fire at close and distant targets with the same amount of accuracy. Several western television shows were known for featuring distinctive weapons, such as those on shows like The Rifleman, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Johnny Ringo, and The Rebel, but Slade's shotgun stood out even among the weapons of those other shows. Despite the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the series, Shotgun Slade lasted for only two seasons.

## Guest stars

* Chris Alcaide appeared in "Freight Line".
* Roscoe Ates as Lou Nugget in the episode "The Fabulous Fiddle"
* Lane Bradford in the episodes "Gunnar Yensen" (1959) and "A Noose for Hurley" (1961)
* Terry Burnham as Linda in "The Ghost of Yucca Flats" (1960)
* Francis X. Bushman as Eckhart in "Crossed Guns" (1960)
* Andy Clyde as Omar James in "Omar the Sign Maker" (1959) and in "A Noose for Hurley" (1961)
* Jeanne Cooper as Sally Claymore in "Sudden Death" and as Francie in "Turkey Shoot" (both 1960)
* Walter Coy as Lou Canner in "The Deadfall" (January 1, 1960)
* Ted de Corsia as Ben Douglas in "Lost Goal" (1960)
* Frank Ferguson as Mike Oliver in "The Salted Mine" (1959) and as a Sheriff in "Charcoal Bullet" (1960), and "Valley of the Shadow" (1961)
* Dean Fredericks as Vance in "Killer's Brand" (1960)
* Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr., in "A Grave at San Gallo" (1961)
* Brad Johnson as Kirby in "Barbed Wire Keep Out" and in another episode "The Missing Dog" (1960)
* Brett King in "Five Graves" (1961)
* Ernie Kovacs as "Hack" Hackberry in the episode "Salted Mine"
* Bethel Leslie in two episodes, including the character Kate Heinie (1960)
* Nan Leslie as Judy Travers in "Treasure Trap" (1959)
* Nora Marlowe in "The Safe Crackers"
* Tyler McVey as Homer Carlson in episode "Dead Man's Tale" (1960)
* Gregg Palmer as a marshal in "Freight Line" (1959) and "Donna Juanita" (1960)
* Brad Weston as Wiley in "Mesa of Missing Men" (1959) and as Billy in "Killer's Brand" (1960)

## Music themes

The third novelty of the series is that it featured a modern jazz score instead of the traditional Western-themed music that was the norm for western television shows and movies. Again, this seems an influence of the private eye genre's popularity because most private eye shows featured a jazz score.
In some countries (Italy for example, when it aired on Telecapri News), the jazz score is replaced with two songs from Diskoteka Avariya, specifically Новогодняя used in the opening credits, while Давай, Авария! was used in the ending credits. These two songs were later removed on DVD releases in the United States due to copyright issues.

## Episodes
### Season 1

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | 1 | "The Missing Train" | Unknown | Unknown | October 24, 1959 (1959-10-24) |
| 2 | 2 | "The Salted Mine" | Unknown | Unknown | October 26, 1959 (1959-10-26) |
| 3 | 3 | "Too Smart to Live" | Unknown | Unknown | October 31, 1959 (1959-10-31) |
| 4 | 4 | "Barbed Wire, Keep Out" | Unknown | Unknown | November 5, 1959 (1959-11-05) |
| 5 | 5 | "Mesa of Missing Men" | Unknown | Unknown | November 16, 1959 (1959-11-16) |
| 6 | 6 | "Freight Line" | Unknown | Unknown | November 14, 1959 (1959-11-14) |
| 7 | 7 | "Gunnar Yensen" | Unknown | Unknown | November 21, 1959 (1959-11-21) |
| 8 | 8 | "Marked Money" | Unknown | Unknown | November 28, 1959 (1959-11-28) |
| 9 | 9 | "The Stalker" | Unknown | Unknown | December 5, 1959 (1959-12-05) |
| 10 | 10 | "Bob Ford" | Unknown | Unknown | December 12, 1959 (1959-12-12) |
| 11 | 11 | "Treasure Trap" | Unknown | Unknown | December 12, 1959 (1959-12-12) |
| 12 | 12 | "Omar the Sign Maker" | Unknown | Unknown | December 19, 1959 (1959-12-19) |
| 13 | 13 | "The Safe Crackers (aka The Peterman)" | Unknown | Unknown | December 26, 1959 (1959-12-26) |
| 14 | 14 | "Major Trouble" | Unknown | Unknown | January 4, 1960 (1960-01-04) |
| 15 | 15 | "Murder in Gingham" | Unknown | Unknown | January 9, 1960 (1960-01-09) |
| 16 | 16 | "The Blue Dog" | Unknown | Unknown | January 16, 1960 (1960-01-16) |
| 17 | 17 | "The Deadfall" | Unknown | Unknown | January 23, 1960 (1960-01-23) |
| 18 | 18 | "Lady and the Piano" | Unknown | Unknown | January 30, 1960 (1960-01-30) |
| 19 | 19 | "Plate of Death" | Unknown | Unknown | February 6, 1960 (1960-02-06) |
| 20 | 20 | "Street of Terror" | Unknown | Unknown | February 13, 1960 (1960-02-13) |
| 21 | 21 | "The Pool Shark" | Unknown | Unknown | February 27, 1960 (1960-02-27) |
| 22 | 22 | "The Marriage Circle" | Unknown | Unknown | March 5, 1960 (1960-03-05) |
| 23 | 23 | "The Deadly Key" | Unknown | Unknown | March 8, 1960 (1960-03-08) |
| 24 | 24 | "The Swindle" | Unknown | Unknown | March 8, 1960 (1960-03-08) |
| 25 | 25 | "Donna Juanita" | Unknown | Unknown | March 21, 1960 (1960-03-21) |
| 26 | 26 | "Shotgun Trial" | Unknown | Unknown | March 28, 1960 (1960-03-28) |
| 27 | 27 | "The Golden Tunnel" | Unknown | Unknown | April 22, 1960 (1960-04-22) |
| 28 | 28 | "A Flower for Jenny" | Unknown | Unknown | April 29, 1960 (1960-04-29) |
| 29 | 29 | "The Fabulous Fiddle" | Unknown | Unknown | May 6, 1960 (1960-05-06) |
| 30 | 30 | "Crossed Guns" | Unknown | Unknown | May 13, 1960 (1960-05-13) |
| 31 | 31 | "Sudden Death" | Unknown | Unknown | May 20, 1960 (1960-05-20) |
| 32 | 32 | "The Spanish Box" | Unknown | Unknown | May 21, 1960 (1960-05-21) |
| 33 | 33 | "Backtrack" | Unknown | Unknown | May 28, 1960 (1960-05-28) |
| 34 | 34 | "Ring of Death (aka Scales of Death)" | Unknown | Unknown | June 3, 1960 (1960-06-03) |
| 35 | 35 | "Killer's Brand" | Unknown | Unknown | June 4, 1960 (1960-06-04) |
| 36 | 36 | "A Flower on Boot Hill" | Unknown | Unknown | June 11, 1960 (1960-06-11) |
| 37 | 37 | "Charcoal Bullet" | Unknown | Unknown | July 1, 1960 (1960-07-01) |
| 38 | 38 | "Lost Gold" | Unknown | Unknown | July 5, 1960 (1960-07-05) |
| 39 | 39 | "The Smell of Money" | Unknown | Unknown | July 12, 1960 (1960-07-12) |

### Season 2

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 40 | 1 | "Skyfire" | Unknown | Unknown | October 17, 1960 (1960-10-17) |
| 41 | 2 | "Ghost of Yucca Flats" | Unknown | Unknown | October 24, 1960 (1960-10-24) |
| 42 | 3 | "Secret Gold" | Unknown | Unknown | October 31, 1960 (1960-10-31) |
| 43 | 4 | "The Missing Dog" | Unknown | Unknown | November 7, 1960 (1960-11-07) |
| 44 | 5 | "Mountain Murderess" | Unknown | Unknown | November 14, 1960 (1960-11-14) |
| 45 | 6 | "Dead Man's Tale" | Unknown | Unknown | November 21, 1960 (1960-11-21) |
| 46 | 7 | "Vengeance" | Unknown | Unknown | November 28, 1960 (1960-11-28) |
| 47 | 8 | "Rail Head at Rampart" | Unknown | Unknown | December 5, 1960 (1960-12-05) |
| 48 | 9 | "Woman from Wyoming" | Unknown | Unknown | December 12, 1960 (1960-12-12) |
| 49 | 10 | "The Laughing Widow" | Unknown | Unknown | December 19, 1960 (1960-12-19) |
| 50 | 11 | "Turkey Shoot" | Unknown | Unknown | December 26, 1960 (1960-12-26) |
| 51 | 12 | "Hang Him Twice" | Unknown | Unknown | January 2, 1961 (1961-01-02) |
| 52 | 13 | "Traveling Trunk" | Unknown | Unknown | January 9, 1961 (1961-01-09) |
| 53 | 14 | "The Silver Queen" | Unknown | Unknown | January 21, 1961 (1961-01-21) |
| 54 | 15 | "Little Sister" | Unknown | Unknown | January 28, 1961 (1961-01-28) |
| 55 | 16 | "Copper Cylinder" | Unknown | Unknown | February 4, 1961 (1961-02-04) |
| 56 | 17 | "Misplaced Genius" | Unknown | Unknown | February 11, 1961 (1961-02-11) |
| 57 | 18 | "Mother Six Gun" | Unknown | Unknown | February 18, 1961 (1961-02-18) |
| 58 | 19 | "The Impatient Bullet" | Unknown | Unknown | February 25, 1961 (1961-02-25) |
| 59 | 20 | "The Silent Man" | Unknown | Unknown | March 4, 1961 (1961-03-04) |
| 60 | 21 | "School Ma'am" | Unknown | Unknown | March 11, 1961 (1961-03-11) |
| 61 | 22 | "Legend of a Hero" | Unknown | Unknown | March 18, 1961 (1961-03-18) |
| 62 | 23 | "The Mystery of Black River" | Unknown | Unknown | March 25, 1961 (1961-03-25) |
| 63 | 24 | "Widow of El Dorado" | Unknown | Unknown | April 1, 1961 (1961-04-01) |
| 64 | 25 | "Valley of the Shadow" | Unknown | Unknown | April 8, 1961 (1961-04-08) |
| 65 | 26 | "A Noose for Hurley (aka Noose Brand Frame-Up)" | Unknown | Unknown | April 15, 1961 (1961-04-15) |
| 66 | 27 | "A Grave at San Gallo" | Unknown | Unknown | April 22, 1961 (1961-04-22) |
| 67 | 28 | "Friends No More" | Unknown | Unknown | April 29, 1961 (1961-04-29) |
| 68 | 29 | "Yankee Spy" | Unknown | Unknown | May 6, 1961 (1961-05-06) |
| 69 | 30 | "Skinner's Rainbow" | Unknown | Unknown | May 13, 1961 (1961-05-13) |
| 70 | 31 | "The Lost Herds" | Unknown | Unknown | May 20, 1961 (1961-05-20) |
| 71 | 32 | "The Search for Susan (aka Welcome Home)" | Unknown | Unknown | May 27, 1961 (1961-05-27) |
| 72 | 33 | "The Phantom Noose" | Unknown | Unknown | June 3, 1961 (1961-06-03) |
| 73 | 34 | "Madame Vengeance" | Unknown | Unknown | June 10, 1961 (1961-06-10) |
| 74 | 35 | "Five Graves" | Unknown | Unknown | June 17, 1961 (1961-06-17) |
| 75 | 36 | "The Payrollers" | Unknown | Unknown | June 24, 1961 (1961-06-24) |
| 76 | 37 | "A Gun and a Prayer" | Unknown | Unknown | July 1, 1961 (1961-07-01) |
| 77 | 38 | "The Ranch Ghost (aka Ghost of a Chance)" | Unknown | Unknown | July 8, 1961 (1961-07-08) |
| 78 | 39 | "Something to Die For" | Unknown | Unknown | July 15, 1961 (1961-07-15) |