Gray Ghost (TV series)

"Gray Ghost" was the perfect name for a Syndicated black and white television program that ran from October 1957 till July 1958.

The black-and-white show closely depicted the true story of Major John Singleton Mosby, an officer in the Confederate Army, whose cunning and stealth earned him the nickname "Gray Ghost".

"Gray Ghost" starred Tod Andrews as Major John Singleton Mosby, Phil Chambers as Sergeant Myles Magruder, and Phil Cambridge as Lt. St. Clair. The show's producer was Russell Hayden, and William Paul Dunlap wrote the theme song. Virgil Carrington Jones, an expert on Mosby, was historical consultant for some episodes.

"Gray Ghost" was cancelled after one season (39 half-hour episodes). Perhaps the show's favorable portrayal of Confederate soldiers did not play well on East and West Coast syndicated stations. It is also equally possible that the high production value and large cast was simply too expensive, considering the meager returns from Syndicated television programs of that era.

There are some popular misconceptions about this 39 episode Syndicated series. The first was that it aired on the CBS Network (it never did) and that second that the network and the sponsor did not wish to be affiliated with a show about Confederate soldiers. Syndicated shows, by definition do not have "network" sponsors and the show never ran on a network. In New York, the show ran not on WCBS (Channel 2) but on WPIX (Channel 11) an independent station. It ran Thursday Evenings 8:30-9:00 PM. The first episode "Prisoner Exchange" aired October 10, 1957 and episode 39 "Strange Bedfellows" concluded the series run on WPIX on July 3, 1958. The show was created by Lindsley Parsons productions and distributed "in association with CBS Television film series." No doubt, these closing credits gave some the wrong impression that it had actually aired on the CBS Network. Also, contributing to the impression was the show itself. Gray Ghost had a fairly high production budget and quite a large cast. Gray Ghost did not look as gaunt and lean as the typical syndicated TV show because it was not. Each episode had guest stars with names and faces of moderate familiarity and fame as seen on the actual Network programs from that era.

References

* [http://www.fiftiesweb.com/tv/gray-ghost.htm Classic TV Shows - Gray Ghost]

[Television Drama Series Programming: A Comprehensive Chronicle by Gianakos, Larry James]

[The TV Schedule Book by Castleman, Harry and Podrazik, Walter J.]