Tales of the Texas Rangers
Originally broadcast on NBC, 14 October 1951. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1940–1950
- Surviving broadcasts
- 27
- Genre
- western
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. played the parts of "special agents of all branches of the federal government, who daily risk their lives to protect the lives of all of us... to guard our welfare and our liberties, they must remain nameless - The Silent Men!" At each episode, Fairbanks checked in with his chief, played by either William Conrad or Herb Butterfield. Regulars included Virginia Gregg, Raymond Burr, Lou Merrill, Lurene Tuttle, Paul Frees and John Dehner. Don Stanley was the announcer. The show was produced and directed by Warren Lewis, who wrote many of the scripts along with Joel Murcott. The series ran on NBC. Digitised by the Old Time Radio Researchers and streamed from the Internet Archive item “TheSilentMen”; these recordings are in the public domain.
1952 · 61951 · 6
Source collection
Internet Archive audio collections
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: TheSilentMen
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
7 dated broadcasts across 13 years on the air, with 11 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1951, in original transmission order.
- 1. The Big Sneak · 14 Oct 1951
- 2. Empire of Pip the Blind · 28 Oct 1951
- 3. The Trans-Atlantic Push · 11 Nov 1951
- 01
The Big Sneak
14 Oct 1951 · 28 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 02
Empire of Pip the Blind
28 Oct 1951 · 27 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 03
The Trans-Atlantic Push
11 Nov 1951 · 29 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 04
The Roping of Joe Landis
25 Nov 1951 · 29 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 05
Pirates, 20th Century Brand
9 Dec 1951 · 29 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 06
Souvenirs of War
23 Dec 1951 · 29 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 07
Little White Lies
13 Jan 1952 · 29 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 08
The Big Kill
3 Feb 1952 · 29 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Same night on the air
14 Oct 1951
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 14 Oct 1951.
Proudly We Hail
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Proudly_We_Hail_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
Also on NBC
NBC in 1940–1950
Other series the network carried while The Silent Men was on the air.
Same seasons
western on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The adult western
Gunsmoke was sold as the first adult western: moral ambiguity, weather, silence. Serialised folk horror and long-form fiction inherited its patience.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of The Silent Men
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
