The Cisco Kid
Volume 1
"The Cisco Kid,
" as old time radio and B-Western fans know him best, bears little resemblance to the character introduced by writer O. Henry in his 1907 short story "The Cabellero's Way": a dark-skinned white man passing himself off as Mexican, a scabrous, cold-blooded criminal who expunged his victims as much for the sheer joy of killing as he did as a necessity of his work.
Such a personality would seem to have little potential as a long-running star of juvenile adventure fiction -- but the Kid made the transition, evolving from a series big-budget feature films at the dawn of the talking picture age, down into B-pictures, the comics, and radio. By the time Cisco arrived at the microphone, he had been greatly sanitized to make him acceptable kiddie fare and had picked up the obligatory humorous ethnic sidekick -- Pancho, lifted without acknowledgement from Miguel Cervantes' "Sancho Panza" character in "Don Quixote."
Thus modified, "The Cisco Kid" became a great favorite with western/adventure fans during the 1940s. Dubbed "the Robin Hood of the Old West," his radio adventures originated for many years at WOR, New York, and were widely syndicated by transcription by the Frederic W. Ziv Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. Jack Mather and Harry Lang filled the lead roles, supported by the usual WOR stock company, and the transcribed series was produced for nine highly successful and lucrative years.
Since the 1947-1956 syndicated ZIV series was pre-recorded, a great many of Cisco and Pancho's adventures have been in the hands of collectors for years -- with the majority of available programs dating from earlier entries in the series. Recently, however, a large collection of beautiful discs was discovered in Des Moines, Iowa -- uncirculated and largely unplayed 16" vinyl transcription recordings, carefully preserved by a local advertising agency. These programs have, for the most part, been unheard since the 1950s and most have never been available to collectors - a real "find" for radio enthusiasts everywhere.
In addition to their rarity, a unique feature of these restored broadcasts is the reintegration of regional commercials, voiced by well-known announcer Marvin Miller. The series was sponsored on a number of Midwestern radio stations by the bakers of Butter-nut Bread, and the program recordings were accompanied by separate discs containing the commercials. As presented in this set, the commercials have been edited back into the programs -- allowing you to hear them just as they originally aired in the early 1950s.
Of special interest to radio enthusiasts are the last two shows in this collection: "Murder at North San Juan" and "Porfirio and the Bearded Lady," starring Jack Mather as Cisco and Mel Blanc standing in for Harry "Pancho" Lang as Pancho's cousin-in-law, Porfirio. Lang fell ill in early 1953 and, rather than have another actor temporarily fill in, the producers instead chose to have Pancho fall ill as well and be replaced with a series of relatives. For the next few months, a varied array of cousins and uncles would ride with Cisco until Harry was well enough to return to the show. Lang did return for a brief time but, sadly, he suffered a fatal heart attack in August of 1953. The relatives - including Uncle Jose and Great Uncle Cipriano - returned in his stead until, finally, Mel Blanc assumed the role of Pancho himself. Fans of the series will be happy to hear that there will be many more shows featuring Mel Blanc in his best "Frito Bandito" voice in upcoming "Cisco Kid" collections from Radio Archives.
#531 Night Rider of Redrock
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#532 Dynamite in the River
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#535 Chinook
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#536 Convict's Revenge
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#543 Rustlers of the Shoshone
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#544 Cisco Meets the Sundance Kid
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#545 Morbid Jones and the Web of Death
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#546 Wheel of Chance
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#547 The Vengeance of Laughing Lou
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#548 Pancho and the Princess
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#571 Flood at Humbug City
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#572 Salmon River Rustlers
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#575 Stampede in Texas
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#576 Jingle Bob's Last Stand
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#577 The Fighting Deputies
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#578 The Old Shell Game
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#579 The Law's a Fool
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#580 The Son of Rawhide Cargan
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#583 Murder at North San Juan
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
#584 Porfirio and the Bearded Lady
1950s - 30:00 - ZIV Syndication, sponsored by Butter-nut Bread
