"The Rebel"

Originally Published October 14th, 2003

---

Discuss This Article At The Television Obscurities Forums

Nick Adams, who died under unusual circumstances in 1968, starred in this Western that aired for an amazing 76 episodes between 1959 and 1961. He played the one and only character in the series, the wandering Johnny Yuma, who moved from town to town, episode after episode, meeting interesting people and helping out folks in need. Johnny Cash sang the theme song, "The Ballad of Johnny Yuma."

This intelligent half-hour Western ran for only two seasons on ABC but produced a whopping 76 episodes between 1959 and 1961. Produced by Goodson-Todman Productions, the series was announced in May of 1959 and was sponsored by Procter & Gamble and L & M Cigarettes [1].

One unique aspect of the series was its sole recurring character: Johnny Yuma, played by Nick Adams. While promoting the series prior to its premiere in 1959, ABC referred to the main character as "a Reconstruction beatnik," setting the tone for the series [2].

View the Opening Credits to The Rebel

Yuma was a former Confederate soldier, hence the title of the series, who had fought in the Civil War and spent a year roaming the former Confederacy following the South's surrender. Eventually, he returned to his hometown and found it overrun by ruffians, his father killed, and most of the town's residents ready to pack up and leave -- if they hadn't already. After clearing out the town and visiting his father's grave, Yuma left. With nothing to tie him down anymore he became a roaming loner, traveling from town to town helping out folks in need.

The Rebel premiered on Sunday, October 4th, 1959 at 9PM, sandwiched between a returning series, half-hour The Lawman, at 8:30PM and another new series, hour-long The Alaskans, from 9:30PM to 10:30PM. Two other returning shows, Colt .45 and Maverick, kicked off ABC's Sunday schedule at 7PM, which was made up of a three-and-a-half hour block of Western action-adventure capped off by Dick Clark's World of Talent at 10:30PM. Opposite The Rebel was G.E. Theater on CBS and The Dinah Shore Chevy Show on NBC.

As the only actor to appear in every episode, Adams was relied upon heavily to give excellent performances week after week. Guest stars were a secondary concern. Adams managed quite well. Each episode involved Johnny Yuma wandering the West and stumbling upon a town or a group of people in dire need of saving -- usually from an overwhelming force of bandits or other criminals -- and would do what he could to make things right.

Just as he traveled alone, Yuma usually worked alone, for the most part because he could find no one willing to help him take on the bad guys. He had a habit of recording everything that took place in his journal, an aspect of the show that many viewers remembered. Yuma carried the journals with him wherever he went, along with his guns and occasionally a saddle.

Both Maverick and The Lawman ranked in the top twenty for the season while The Alaskans was cancelled. A total of thirty-six episodes were broadcast during the first season, with the season finale airing June 12th, 1960.

For the second season, the series retained its 9PM Sunday night timeslot. The Alaskans was replaced by a new hour-long series called The Islanders (additionally, Colt .45 was replaced by Walt Disney Presents and Dick Clark's World of Talent by The Walter Winchell Show. Forty episodes were aired during the second season, from September 18th, 1960 until June 18th, 1961.

During its second season, production on The Rebel either shifted to the Fed-Mer-Ada Company or production was shared by both the Fen-Mer-Ada Company and Goodson-Todman Productions [3]. At the end of its second season, The Rebel was canceled, but not due to low ratings. Quite the opposite: it was drawing a 35 share during its second season and was popular with sponsors. Instead, The Rebel was canned due to a general shift on the part of ABC away from action-adventure shows [4].

A handful of famous or soon-to-be famous actors, including Soupy Sales, Tex Ritter, Leonard Nimoy, Victor Buono, Robert Vaughn, Dan Blocker and Johnny Cash all guest-starred at one point or another over the show's two-year run. Cash sang the show's famous theme song, "The Ballad of Johnny Yuma," which was written by Andrew J. Fenady, who also created the series alongside Nick Adams [5]. From June to September of 1962 NBC aired episodes of the series as a summer filler show.

Listen to the Closing Theme Song to The Rebel

Despite the unusually high number of episodes produced over the course of only two seasons, The Rebel is still mostly forgotten today compared to the more famous Westerns such as Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Wyatt Earp or Wagon Train, popping up occasionally only in references to Nick Adams or Johnny Cash.

Following the cancellation of The Rebel, Nick Adams starred in Saints and Sinners on NBC from 1962 to 1963 (it was cancelled after less than twenty episodes). In 1963 he was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in Twilight of Honor (but lost). Soon thereafter, unfortunately, his career took a nosedive. Nick Adams was found dead in his home in Los Angeles on February 7th, 1968. He was thirty-six years old.

Although his death was originally attributed to natural causes, it was eventually believed that Adams died of an overdose of prescription medication he had been taking to treat a nervous disorder [6; 7]. Due to his role in Rebel Without A Cause, Adams is sometimes listed alongside James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo as victims of a "curse" relating to the film. All four died relatively young and under "mysterious" circumstances -- Dean was killed in a car crash, Wood in a drowning accident, and Mineo was stabbed to death.

Works Cited:

Discuss This Article At The Television Obscurities Forums

Back to Articles

Last Updated June 26th, 2008