''Brave Eagle'' is a 26-episode half-hour Western television series which aired on CBS from September 28, 1955, to March 14, 1956, with rebroadcasts continuing until June 6.

Overview

Keith Larsen Keith Larsen (born Keith Larsen Burt, June 17, 1924 – December 13, 2006) was an American actor who starred in three short-lived television series between 1955 and 1961. Background Larsen was born in Salt Lake City in 1924. He was of Norwegia ...

, who was of Norwegian descent, starred as Brave Eagle, a peaceful young

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

chief. Larsen was one-fourth Cheyenne on his mother's side. The program was unconventional in that it reflects the Native American viewpoint in the settlement of the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is census regions United States Census Bureau As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the mea ...

and was the first series to feature an American Indian character as a lead character. Larsen's co-stars were Kim Winona (1930–1978), a Santee

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

Indian, as Morning Star, Brave Eagle's romantic interest; Anthony Numkena (born 1942) of

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, a

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

Indian then using the stage name Keena Nomkeena, appeared as Keena, the adopted son of Brave Eagle; Pat Hogan (1920–1966) as Black Cloud, and Bert Wheeler (1895–1968) of the comedy team Wheeler & Woolsey, as the halfbreed Smokey Joe, full of tribal tall tales but accompanying wisdom. The episodes center upon routine activities among the Cheyenne, clashes with other tribes, attempts to prevent war, encroachment from white settlers, racial prejudice, and a threat of smallpox.

Episodes

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Guest stars

* Ann Doran * William Fawcett * Anthony George * Jonathan Hale * Brett Halsey * Dennis Moore * Steve Pendleton * Steve Raines * Henry Rowland * Rick Vallin *

Lee Van Cleef Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of spaghetti Westerns, particularly t ...

* Pierre Watkin * Gloria Winters

Production notes

Though ''Brave Eagle'' was produced by NBC, it aired on CBS at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday preceding '' Arthur Godfrey and His Friends''. Since the 1980s, several episodes have been released on

videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually Sound recording and reproduction, sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog signal, analog or Digital signal (signal processing), digital signal. V ...

. ''Brave Eagle'' was filmed by

Roy Rogers Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998), nicknamed the King of the Cowboys, was an American singer, actor, television host, and Rodeo, rodeo performer. Following early work under his given name, first as a c ...

Productions on Rogers'

ranch A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...

in Chatsworth in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, as well as the Corriganville Ranch in Simi Valley. Jack Lacey was the producer; George Blair and Paul Landres were the directors. Sam Bear, a full Chippewa, was the technical adviser. ''Brave Eagles principal competition was ABC's ''

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

'', the

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

anthology series An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ...

. It was replaced by ''Cartoon Theatre''.

Critical response

James Devane, writing in ''

The Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, altho ...

'', found ''Brave Eagle'' to be "downright dull", so much so that he nearly went to sleep "before many minutes had passed" trying to review two episodes. Devane expressed appreciation for the program's efforts to portray Indians in a better light than other programs had done, but he wrote that the result was portraying them as "bores who talked too much and did too little".

Merchandising

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

released a ''Brave Eagle'' comic book series based on the TV show. It was published between 1956 and 1958 and drawn by Dan Spiegle.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0047716, Brave Eagle 1950s Western (genre) television series 1955 American television series debuts 1956 American television series endings CBS television dramas Black-and-white American television shows Television shows adapted into comics