Cimarron City
George Montgomery as Matthew Rockford, with guest star Fred MacMurray, in "I, the People" (1958)
Genre	Western
Written by	Norman Jolley Richard Morgan Tom Seller
Directed by	Richard Bartlett Abner Biberman John Meredyth Lucas
Starring	George Montgomery John Smith Audrey Totter Dan Blocker
Theme music composer	Frederick Herbert Stanley Wilson
Composer	Paul Dunlap
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26
Production
Producers	Richard Bartlett Norman Jolley
Cinematography	Jack MacKenzie William A. Sickner John F. Warren
Editor	Lee Huntington
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	Mont Productions Revue Studios
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 27, 1958 (1958-09-27) – April 4, 1959 (1959-04-04)

Cimarron City is an American one-hour Western television series, starring George Montgomery as Matt Rockford and John Smith as Lane Temple, airing on NBC from October 11, 1958, to September 26, 1959.^[1] Cimarron City is a boomtown in Logan County, Oklahoma, north of Oklahoma City. Rich in oil and gold, Cimarron City aspires to become the capital of the future state of Oklahoma, to be created in 1907.

Synopsis

Matthew Rockford is the son of an area cattle rancher, who is the founder and mayor of Cimarron City. Lane Temple, the blacksmith, serves also as the deputy sheriff. He maintains the law amid the crooked schemes concocted in Cimarron City.

Audrey Totter played Beth Purcell, the owner of the boarding house.^[1] The episodes were supposed to rotate equally among Montgomery, Smith, and Totter. The writers, however, did not give Totter enough stories as promised, and she left the series.^{[citation needed]}

Cimarron City also featured Dan Blocker (before Bonanza) in two roles. In the second episode, Blocker plays outlaw Carl Budinger, who is killed. In the fourth episode, he reappears as Carl's good-hearted brother, Tiny Budinger, who becomes one of Rockford's ranch hands.

Production notes

The producers were Richard Bartlett and Norman Jolley.^[1] Stanley Wilson wrote the theme music.^[2]

In its initial run, Cimarron City was placed opposite two half-hour Western programs on CBS, Have Gun, Will Travel and Gunsmoke,^[1] from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturdays. From June 1960 to September 1960, reruns were shown on Fridays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, again on NBC.^[3]

Newspaper columnist Erskine Johnson wrote that NBC created Cimarron City expressly "to shoot it out with CBS TV's two guns — the half-hour Have Gun and the top-rated Gunsmoke, in most sections of the country."^[4] When the show's ratings failed to meet NBC executives' expectations, Smith's and Totter's roles grew in size and Montgomery "became a wanderer instead of a stay-at-home"; writers and directors were also changed.^[4] NBC spent additional money to bring in guest stars while sponsors were leaving the show, with several episodes having no sponsor.Toward the end of the series' original run, NBC found four rotating sponsors, some of whom limited their involvement to purchasing spot announcements.^[4]

Cast

• George Montgomery as Matt Rockford, Mayor^[5] and as narrator^[3]
• John Smith as Deputy Lane Temple^[5]
• Audrey Totter as Beth Purcell^[5]
• Dan Blocker as Tiny and Carl Budinger^[5]
• Wally Brown as Jed Fame^[5]
• Claire Carleton as Alice Purdy^[5]
• Pete Dunn as Dody Hamer
• George Dunn as Jesse Williams^[3]
• Tom Fadden as Silas Perry^[3]
• Stuart Randall as Sheriff Art Sampson^[3]
• Addison Richards as Martin Kingsley^[5]
• Fred Sherman as Burt Purdy^[5]
• Nesdon Booth as Frank the bartender

Guest stars

Episode list

Home media

On March 6, 2012, Timeless Media Group released Cimarron City: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.^[7]