OLD TIME RADIO: HAWK DURANGO/ HAWK LARABEE

One of the first "adult" western series on radio, Hawk Larabee was a short-lived program starring both Elliot Lewis and Barton Yarborough in the title role.  The show began as a 1946 summer replacement for Ann Southern's Maisie (July 5-August 16) with both the character and the show titled Hawk Durango.  The name change came seven episodes and a month and a half later when Hawk returned on October 3.  The show ran until February 7, 1948.

At first, the character's name was Jim Carter, a young man who came to the modern-day desert town of Sundown Wells to find the man who murdered Hawk Durango, young Carter's father.  Carter, played by Elliot Lewis, eventually finds his man, exacts revenge, and decides to stay in Sundown Wells assuming his father's name.  Barton Yarborough played ex-marshal Brazos John.

Fast forward to October.  Now named Hawk Larabee and played by Barton Yarborough, our hero owns Gold Bar House, the local hotel/bar/casino, and is a leading citizen of Sundown Wells.

Posses ride motorcycles, owlhoots adopt 1946 gangster methods, and the western desert still reverberates with old west excitement and adventure.  Yarborough played the lead until the end of December.

After a brief hiatus, Hawk Larabee returned on May 10, 1947, with Barton Yarborough still in the title role.  The show moved to Saturdays on August 2 of that year with Elliot Wells back in the title role.  Yarborough stayed on, this time once again cast as Larabee's friend Brazos John.

All told, there were 59 episodes throughout the various incarnations of the program. Many of the shows are now lost to time.

Enjoy this episode,  "Brazos John's Eastern Bride" (also known as "Susie Kimball Comes West") from August 2, 1946.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrI3u5O3l3o