Wichita Town
Original title card for the series
Starring	Joel McCrea Jody McCrea Carlos Romero George Neise Robert Foulk
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 30, 1959 (1959-9-30) – April 6, 1960 (1960-4-6)

Wichita Town is a half-hourWestern television series starringJoel McCrea,Jody McCrea,Carlos Romero, andGeorge Neise that aired onNBC from September 30, 1959, until September 23, 1960.^[1][2]

Joel McCrea playedMarshal Mike Dunbar, in charge of keeping the peace in the boomingcattle town ofWichita,Kansas. His deputies were Ben Matheson, played by McCrea's real life son, Jody, and Rico Rodriquez, portrayed by Carlos Romero. Making occasional appearances were the town doctor, Nat Wyndham (played by George Neise), the blacksmith, Aeneas MacLinahan (played byRobert Anderson), and the bartender in the local saloon, Joe Kingston, played in six episodes byRobert Foulk.

The model for shows such as these had already been laid out by other Westerns such asGunsmoke,Lawman, andThe Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, soWichita Town may not have been unique in its plotting and structure.^{[citation needed]} The two most unusual features about the series were the presence of Joel McCrea, a favorite of Western film audiences for his performance in such films asUnion Pacific,Buffalo Bill, andRamrod, and the fact that his real life son was inWichita Town, but did not play his son.^{[citation needed]}Wichita Town was produced byMirisch Company and Joel McCrea's Production company forFour Star Television and aired for a single season.

• Richard Coogan, formerly of NBC'sThe Californians, was cast as the Reverend Nichols in "The Devil's Choice" (1959).
• Ben Cooper, as Tom Warren in "Passage to the Enemy"
• Dennis Cross, as Fred Keever in "Second Chance" (1960)
• Gene Evans, earlier ofMy Friend Flicka, as Otis Stockert in "The Frontiersman" (1960)
• Yvonne Lime Fedderson, as Fran in "Biggest Man in Town" (1959)
• Frank Ferguson, as Mayor Eric Holbein in "The Night the Cowboys Roared" (1959) and "The Frontiersman (1960)
• Jock Gaynor's first acting appearance was as Joe Malone inWichita Town. Later that year he landed a supporting role on another NBC Western,Outlaws.
• Ron Hagerthy, formerly ofSky King, as Tod in "Biggest Man in Town" (1959)
• Ron Hayes, as Scotty in the episode "Sidekicks"
• I. Stanford Jolley, as Smokey, andJohn McIntire, as Frank Matheson prior to his Chris Hale starring role inWagon Train, were cast together in the episode "Paid in Full".
• Keith Larsen, star of NBC'sNorthwest Passage, appeared onWichita Town in the role of the Indian, Blue Raven, in "Seed of Hate" (1960).
• Nan Leslie, formerly of NBC'sThe Californians, cast onWichita Town as Margaret Cook in "Day of Battle" (1959)
• Suzanne Lloyd, as Laura in "Afternoon in Town" and "Sidekicks" (1960)
• Mort Mills, as Pete Bennett in "Man on the Hill" (1959)
• John M. Pickard, formerly ofBoots and Saddles, appeared twice in episodes "Wyndham's Way" and as a character named Bain in the episode "Second Chance".
• Robert F. Simon, as Walt McCloud in "Second Chance"

• Wichita Town atIMDb

• 1959 American television series debuts
• 1960 American television series endings
• Black-and-white American television shows
• NBC television dramas
• Television series by Four Star Television
• Television series by MGM Television
• Television series by 20th Century Fox Television
• Television shows set in Kansas
• 1950s Western (genre) television series
• 1960s Western (genre) television series

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