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GLEN CAMPBELL: THE MUSICAL WEST {JOHN WAYNE, BURL IVES, MICHELE LEE} (TV)

Summary

This musical television special features singer Glen Campbell as he explores the culture of the American West with help from special guests John Wayne, Burl Ives and Michele Lee. Campbell opens the program with "This Land is Your Land" and then chats with Wayne, his co-star from "True Grit" (1969), about the allure and mythology of the early days of the West. Campbell sings a California Gold Rush-themed version of "Oh! Susanna," and then inspects a "hanging tree," chatting with Wayne about the famous lawmen and criminals of the West, many of whom have since been immortalized in films and shows, including Judge Roy Bean, "Wild Bill" Hickock, Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp. Ives joins Campbell for "The Ballad of Jesse James," "Cool Water," "Billy the Kid" and "John Henry," and Wayne comments on the loneliness of a cowboy's life and the challenge of finding romance. Campbell performs "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," after which Lee sings "Show Me Where the Good Times Are" in a bustling saloon.

Campbell and Wayne chat about Wayne's many Western pictures and his characters' many diverse "causes," and Ives performs "Where Have All the Flowers Gone." Wayne comments on the Native Americans, who "inhabited, but never occupied" the American land, and several performers reenact a tribal dance number. Wayne and Campbell discuss the experience of crossing the country in a stagecoach, as seen in Wayne's famous 1939 film, and Ives and Lee join Campbell for a medley of travel-themed songs, including "I'm on My Way," "Wait for the Wagon," "Wagon Wheels," "From Here On Up, The Hills Don't Get Any Higher," "Hear the Wind Blow," "Oh Shenandoah," "Don't Fence Me In," "Moon River," "Gotta Travel On," "Cimarron (Roll On)", "Mule Train," "The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away!)", "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," "The Yellow Rose of Texas," "Big 'D'," "Galveston," "Leavin' on a Jet Plane," and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix." Campbell sings "Peace in the Valley" alone, and he and "The Duke" conclude that the Old West had its ups and downs, but will always be a memorable aspect of American history. Commercials deleted.

Details

  • NETWORK: NBC
  • DATE: March 8, 1974 10:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:51:30
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: B:55007
  • GENRE: Music
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Music; Western; Specials
  • SERIES RUN: NBC - TV, 1974
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Nick Sevano … Executive Producer
  • Gary Smith … Producer
  • Dwight Hemion … Producer, Director
  • Bill Glaze … Associate Producer
  • Marty Farrell … Writer
  • Rob Iscove … Choreographer
  • Glen Campbell … Host, Performer
  • Burl Ives … Guest, Performer
  • Michele Lee … Guest, Performer
  • John Wayne … Guest
  • Phantly Roy Bean Jr. (see also: Judge Roy Bean)
  • Wyatt Earp
  • Jame Butler Hickok (see also: "Wild Bill" Hickok)
  • Bartholemew Masterson (see also: Bat Masterson)