Mike Halliday is a rugged outdoorsman who has come to Skagway in the District of Alaska in search of gold and adventure during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–1899.[1][2] Halliday often comes into conflict with Jeff Durain, a fast-talking adventurer prone to making money by illegal means.[1][2] Durain owns and operates a hotel in Skagway which offers the miners and prospectors who have come to town for the gold rush the opportunity to gamble, but the games usually are rigged for Durain's benefit.[2]
Kathy O'Hara is the honest owner of another hotel in Skagway, and Halliday often works with her to block Durain from succeeding in his illegal schemes.[2] Mike and Kathy have an affectionate relationship, but in his romantic life, Halliday plays the field, and is involved with a number of women, including Durain's girlfriend, the beautiful but greedy Goldie, who often is an accomplice in Durain's crimes.[2]
After Klondike was cancelled in mid-season, Ziv Television needed to fulfill its contract for the 1960–61 season with NBC, so Ralph Taeger and James Coburn immediately moved together to a new Ziv-produced series, Acapulco, in which they were cast as a pair of twentieth-century beachcombers in Acapulco, Mexico.[1]Acapulco aired in Klondike′s time slot, premiering two weeks after the broadcast of Klondike′s last new episode.
Broadcast history
Eighteen episodes of Klondike were produced.[citation needed] They aired on NBC on Mondays at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time from October 10, 1960, to February 13, 1961.[1][2]
Sam Peckinpah and Carey Wilbur (teleplay); Sam Peckinpah (story)
October 10, 1960 (1960-10-10)
Mike Halliday is headed for the Klondike to search for gold, and while aboard a ship bound for Skagway, Alaska, he wins a lot of money from Jefferson "Jeff" Durain in a poker game. Mike outmaneuvers Durain's thugs when they try to get the money back, but all of Mike's money is stolen after Durain's girlfriend drugs his drink. After arriving in Skagway broke and hungover, Mike befriends Durain's business rival Kathy O'Hara. When Durain's men damage Kathy′s hotel, Mike decides to get his money back form Durain and discourage him from attacking Kathy or her hotel again. Guest stars: Karl Swenson, Ray Teal, Sam Edwards, and Bob Bryant.
2
"River of Gold"
Alvin Ganzer
Paul Savage Pierre Berton
October 17, 1960 (1960-10-17)
Kathy′s old friend Charley Morrison talks Mike into helping him search for a legendary lost "river of gold" marked on a Russian map. While Mike is out of town with Charley, Durain plots to add Kathy's profitable hotel to his real estate holdings. Guest stars: Forrest Lewis, L.Q. Jones, Larry Blake, Charles Reade, and Dick Bernie.
3
"Saints and Stickups"
William Conrad
Richard Donavan Fritz Goodwin
October 24, 1960 (1960-10-24)
After missionaries inspire Skagway to build a church, Durain takes over the building fund and uses his thugs to collect donations — and it does not seem that any of the money they collect will actually go toward building the church. Guest stars: Whit Bissell, Virginia Gregg, and L.Q. Jones.
4
"The Unexpected Candidate"
Lawrence Dobkin
Monroe Manning
October 31, 1960 (1960-10-31)
Durain runs for mayor of Skagway, planning to use the position to enrich himself. To prevent him from running unopposed, Mike brings in a surprising last-minute candidate who is seeking a "different" kind of gold. Guest stars: Judson Pratt, Robert E. Griffin, L.Q. Jones, Georgia Ellis, and Hal K. Dawson.
5
"Keys to Trouble"
William D. Faralla
Stephen Alexander
November 7, 1960 (1960-11-07)
Mike's plans to impress Kathy with the gift of a valuable piano go awry after a local man who is watching over Skagway′s jail sets all the prisoners free. They begin a lawless rampage in the Klondike, and a posse sets out from Skagway to capture the escaped outlaws. Guest stars: Wallace Ford, Charles Fredericks, William Hickman, and Donald Kerr.
A group of men from Skagway believes it will be easy to find a good mining site until they meet up with an old "sourdough" — slang for an longtime Alaska resident. Guest stars: Larry Pennell, Tyler McVey, Jack Albertson, Jan Stine, and William Woodson.
Mike sets up the Halliday Gold Protection Company, with a vault in which miners can store their gold dust safely, but customer Ed Nash stages a robbery of the company and the miners and prospectors lose everything they entrusted to Mike. The townspeople think Mike is the prime suspect in the robbery, and it takes an unexpected detective to set things straight — a burro that seems to have a knack for finding gold. Guest stars: Edgar Buchanan, Robert F. Simon, Howard McNear, and Robert Karnes.
14
"Queen of the Klondike"
William D. Faralla
Lou Houston
January 16, 1961 (1961-01-16)
After a heavy snowfall in Skagway, an ornery miner named Spunky comes into town demanding to be served eggs — just as Eli Roper eats the last egg in town. Meanwhile, a beautiful woman arrives in the Klondike. Guest stars: Jack Elam, Hank Patterson, Lane Bradford, John Qualen, and Tudor Owen.
15
"The Man Who Owned Skagway"
Edward Montagne
Richard Donovan Robert Hamner
January 23, 1961 (1961-01-23)
A man named "Soapy" Smith runs lawless Skagway, and when Mike and his companions return to Skagway they witness a gunfight between Smith and another man in which both men die. Guest stars: Lawrence Dobkin, Emory Parnell, Ralph Moody, and Raymond Hatton.
A group of renegade soldiers arrive in Skagway with a stolen Gatling gun to rob the First National Bank of Skagway. When they learn that Mike is the only person left alive who knows the combination to the bank vault, they take the townspeople — including Kathy and Goldie — hostage and threaten to shoot them if Mike does not come out of hiding. Mike reluctantly opens the vault for them, but hatches a plan to foil them before they can escape with the gold and some female hostages, Kathy and Goldie among them. Guest stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Chris Alcaide, Michael Raffetto, and Jack Petruzzi.
References
^ abcdefMcNeil, Alex, Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, Fourth Edition, New York: Penguin Books, 1996, ISBN0 14 02 4916 8, p. 453.
^ abcdefBrooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present (Sixth Edition), New York: Ballantine Books, 1995, ISBN0-345-39736-3, p. 556.
