Death Valley Days is an American Western anthology television series based on true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. From 1952 to 1970, it became a syndicated television series, with reruns (updated with new narrations) continuing through August 1, 1975. The radio and television versions combined to make the show "one of the longest-running Western programs in broadcast history." Hosting the series was Reagan's final work as an actor; he left the series in 1966 to run for governor of California.
Synopsis
Death Valley Days is one of the first anthology series to appear on television, featuring different characters and stories each episode. The stories were based in fact, mostly within the legends and lore of California's Death Valley. Style varied by episode, with some being drama and others comedy. Most were human-interest stories of miners and homesteaders in Death Valley, where borax was mined. That same year in the episode "Shanghai Kelly's Birthday Party," Taylor played James Kelly of San Francisco. After playing Porter Stockton in another 1967 episode "Halo for a Badman", he would portray Texas John Slaughter, in the 1968 episode "A Short Cut through Tombstone".
Taylor became gravely ill in 1969, and after 69 episodes was succeeded by Dale Robertson, former star of two other Western series, Tales of Wells Fargo and Iron Horse. Robertson served as host and occasional actor for 23 episodes until production of new episodes ceased in 1970. In 1975, the show briefly returned in reruns, with singer Merle Haggard providing narration for some previously produced episodes.
The commercial spokesperson for the show was Rosemary DeCamp. When the show began in 1952, Dorothy McCann gave DeCamp a long-term contract to have DeCamp and her daughters appear in the commercials. She also appeared in four episodes. Filmaster Productions, Inc., which produced the first several seasons of Gunsmoke, Have Gun – Will Travel, and Playhouse 90 for CBS Television, took over production of the series in 1959, specifically noting that production company president Robert Stabler had a reputation for producing shows on-time and under budget.
Writing
Ruth Woodman had previously researched and written all of the scripts for the show's radio run. When the show was re-worked for television, she continued to write all scripts for the first five years of production, at which time she became the show's story editor. The series required historical accuracy for its stories, breaking out of the standard Western genre plotlines, instead focusing on actual pioneer events. and Apacheland Studio in Arizona, Segments were done on location, and shot on short, three-day schedules. and now owns the TV series.
Although Rio Tinto still has a financial stake in this show because copyrights are still held by U.S. Borax, the major rights are now held by Element 5 Media, LLC for the broadcast rights and home video rights.
Restoration
Paul Korver's company Cinelicious in Hollywood was part of the restoration of the TV series Death Valley Days, restoring 458 half-hour film episodes. Cinelicious worked with U.S. Borax Film Archives and Rio Tinto Group in preserving the TV series. The 16mm, and 35 mm film of Death Valley Days was scanned at 4K resolution for film preservation on a Scanity starting in 2013.
Release
Broadcast
Beginning in 1952, the series began by using unconventional methods. First, the show was syndicated to local markets rather than released nationally. Second, they aired new programs every other week, rather than weekly. At the time, the conventional approach was exactly the opposite - national release on a weekly schedule in order to achieve a consistent audience. However, McCann-Erickson felt that the previous popularity of the radio program would overcome those obstacles, a theory that was proven in their first season of high Nielsen ratings.
McCann achieved success marketing the show directly to local stations, starting with 64 in the first season, expanding to 73 in the second, their only general difficulty being one and two-station markets. with host Will Rogers, Jr. Similar rebroadcasts were done under the names Call of the West hosted by John Payne, Frontier Adventure hosted by Dale Robertson, Trails West hosted by Ray Milland, and Western Star Theatre hosted by Rory Calhoun.
Home media
Shout! Factory (on behalf of Element 5 Media LLC and Rio Tinto), has released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1. Both seasons were released as Walmart exclusives. The third season was released on March 21, 2017 The thirteenth season was released on July 31, 2017, as a Walmart exclusive. Then, on Tuesday, October 3, 2017, the title "went wide" with a general retail release. The fourteenth season was released on January 2, 2018.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!DVD name
!Ep #
!Release date
|-
| The Complete First Season
| 18
| March 29, 2016
|-
| The Complete Second Season
| 18
| July 12, 2016
|-
| The Complete Third Season
| 18
| March 21, 2017
|-
| The Complete Thirteenth Season
| 26
| October 3, 2017
|-
| The Complete Fourteenth Season
| 26
| January 2, 2018
|}
Reception
Starting from the first season of the television series, McCann-Erickson noted that they saw a rise in sales of 20 Mule Team Borax. They also noted an increase in visitors to the Furnace Creek Inn, a Death Valley resort owned by show sponsor Pacific Coast Borax.
|-
| 1953 || Freedoms Foundation || || Ruth Woodman <small>(for episode "The Land of the Free")</small> ||
|-
| 1961 || Western Heritage Awards || Best Factual Television Program || Ruth Woodman and Nat Perrin <small>(For episode "The Great Lounsberry Scoop")</small> ||