 Have Gun Will Travel is a rare example of a radio series that began on television before it debuted on radio a year later. It's also a rare example of a series for which we have the complete broadcast run, especially considering that it was not recorded on transcription discs, but on tape. Tape at the time was expensive and was typically recorded over many times. Somehow, this series avoided that fate, and the complete CBS master tapes were transferred by collectors in the 1970s. The television series debuted on September 14, 1957, and ran for six seasons, lasting until April 20, 1963. It was an instant hit for CBS, and finished third or fourth in the ratings in each of its first four seasons. It starred Richard Boone as Paladin, a West Point graduate and a Civil War veteran, now a gun for hire, based out of the Hotel Carlton in San Francisco. Paladin was known for his business card that simply said, Have Gun Will Travel, Wire Paladin, San Francisco, and it featured an engraving of a white night chess piece. His true name was never mentioned in the series, though in a novelization of the episode Genesis, it was revealed to be Clay Alexander. Paladin is a successful businessman, well educated, and enjoying a comfortable life when not traveling the Old West for his clients. According to the series creators Sam Rolf and Herb Meadows, the title came from an old vaudeville gag, Have Tucks Will Travel, and it was never intended to be the official title. Rolf said it was just a gag with us, and even when we filmed the pilot reel, we figured Have Gun was just the working title, but the more they said it, the more they liked it, and so they went with it. In the radio version which debuted on November 23, 1958, veteran actor John Daener played the title role. Daener purposefully did not try to copy how Boone portrayed Paladin. He said, I didn't pay any attention to him at all, it was whatever came out of me. I know that it would have been deadly if I were to imitate him or do anything that was even vaguely similar to him. His Paladin was strictly Dick Boone, and I'm not about to imitate, so I just did it the way I felt it. There were other differences between the television and radio series. On radio, British actor Ben Wright played the role of Hayboy and Virginia Gregg played Miss Wong, a character that didn't exist in the television version, though they later added a reoccurring character called Hey Girl. At first the radio series reused scripts from the television series, but after a while, series director Norman MacDonald realized that they weren't working, and original scripts were produced starting with episode 23, The Gunsmith. The final television script used was for episode 39, The Lady. The series lasted for two years, producing 106 episodes. Only the audition version of Strange Vendetta is not available. The final episode from here to Boston aired on November 27, 1960, with Paladin leaving for Boston, possibly for good, to settle his aunt's estate. The actors were not told in advance that this was the final episode. There was no feedback really, Dana recalled, saying, and there would have been no way of our getting feedback really in terms of fan letters and audio response that dwindled away to nothing like a dead leaf in the wind, and that was it. This synopsis was written by Brian Kavanaugh and taken from information found in The Have Gun Will Travel Companion by Martin Graham's Jr. and Les Rayburn. From an October 15, 1958 article in Oregon's The World newspaper by syndicated Hollywood columnist Erskine Johnson, and from Wikipedia. For old-time radio researchers, I'm your announcer Patrick Andre. Enjoy the show.