The Great Adventure (American TV series)

The Great Adventure
	Lee Marvin and Walter Koenig in "Six Wagons to Sea", 1963.
Genre	Historical Anthology
Directed by	Buzz Kulik; Philip Leacock; Joseph M. Newman; Denis Sanders; Robert Stevens
Narrated by	Van Heflin; Russell Johnson
Theme music composer	Richard Rodgers
Composers	Fred Steiner; Bernard Herrmann; Wilbur Hatch; Leon Klatzkin; Nathan Scott; David Buttolph; Robert Drasnin; Leigh Harline
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producer	Bert Granet
Producers	John Houseman; Ethel Winant
Running time	44 mins.
Production company	CBS
Release
Original network	CBS
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	September 27, 1963 –; May 1, 1964

The Great Adventure is an American historical anthology series that appeared on CBS for the 1963–1964 television season.[1] The series, narrated each week by Van Heflin, and featuring theme music by Richard Rodgers, presented a weekly one-hour dramatization of the lives of famous Americans and important historical events in American history.

Synopsis

The series lasted for only 26 episodes, and showed, among others, stories on the Confederate submarine, the Hunley; the life of Harriet Tubman; the Battles of Lexington and Concord; the trial and hanging of Nathan Hale; the life of "Boss" Tweed; the death of Sitting Bull; the siege of Boonesborough; the capture of Jefferson Davis; the life and death of Wild Bill Hickok; and the Battle of New Orleans.

Notable guest stars

Among those who appeared in the series were:

Episode list

Episode #	Episode title	Episode era and topic	Key historical character(s)	Actor portrayal	Original airdate
1-1	"The Hunley"	1864 H. L. Hunley (submarine)	Lieutenant George E. Dixon	Jackie Cooper	September 27, 1963
1-2	"The Death of Sitting Bull" (part one)	1890 Sitting Bull#Death and burial	Chief Sitting Bull General Nelson A. Miles	Anthony Caruso Kent Smith	October 4, 1963
1-3	"The Massacre at Wounded Knee" (part two)	1890 Wounded Knee Massacre	General Nelson A. Miles	Kent Smith	October 11, 1963
1-4	"Six Wagons to Sea"	1892 Seropian brothers, top of page 5	farmer Misok Bedrozian	Lee Marvin	October 18, 1963
1-5	"The Story of Nathan Hale"	1776 Nathan Hale	Captain Nathan Hale General Howe	Jeremy Slate Torin Thatcher	October 25, 1963
1-6	"Go Down, Moses"	1855 Underground Railroad	Harriet Tubman	Ruby Dee	November 1, 1963
1-7	"The Great Diamond Mountain"	1872 The Great Diamond Hoax	William Chapman Ralston Clarence King	Barry Sullivan J. D. Cannon	November 8, 1963
1-8	"The Treasure Train of Jefferson Davis"	1865 Jefferson Davis#Final days of the Confederacy	President Jefferson Davis Judah P. Benjamin	Michael Rennie Harry Townes	November 15, 1963
1-9	"The Outlaw and the Nun"	1881 Sister Blandina#Legends	Sister Blandina Billy the Kid	Joan Hackett Andrew Prine	December 6, 1963
1-10	"The Man Who Stole New York City"	1878 William M. Tweed#Scandal	Boss Tweed	Edward Andrews	December 13, 1963
1-11	"A Boy at War"	1781 Andrew Jackson#Revolutionary War service	Andrew Jackson	Flip Mark	December 20, 1963
1-12	"Wild Bill Hickok – The Legend and the Man"	1876 Wild Bill Hickok#Death	Wild Bill Hickok Jack McCall	Lloyd Bridges Neil Nephew	January 3, 1964
1-13	"The Colonel from Connecticut"	1859 Edwin L. Drake#Drilling for oil	Colonel Edwin L. Drake Benjamin Silliman Jr.	Richard Kiley Whit Bissell	January 10, 1964
1-14	"Teeth of the Lion"	1875 Great Plains#Pioneer settlement	settler Will Cross	Earl Holliman	January 17, 1964
1-15	"Rodger Young"	1943 Rodger Young#Military service	Private Rodger Young	James MacArthur	January 24, 1964
1-16	"The Testing of Sam Houston"	1817 Sam Houston#War of 1812 and aftermath	Sam Houston Andrew Jackson	Robert Culp Victor Jory	February 7, 1964
1-17	"The Special Courage of Captain Pratt"	1879 Richard Henry Pratt#Cultural assimilation of Native Americans	Richard Henry Pratt General Davidson	Paul Burke Curt Conway	February 14, 1964
1-18	"The Night Raiders"	1859 John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry	John Brown Colonel Lewis Washington	Jack Klugman Torin Thatcher	February 21, 1964
1-19	"The Plague"	1801 Benjamin Waterhouse#Smallpox vaccine	Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse President Jefferson	Bob Cummings John Dehner	February 28, 1964
1-20	"The Pathfinder"	1846 John C. Fremont#Mexican–American War (1846–1848)	Major John C. Fremont John Sutter	Rip Torn Carroll O'Connor	March 6, 1964
1-21	"The President Vanishes"	1893 Elisha Jay Edwards and President Cleveland	journalist E. J. Edwards Grover Cleveland	Barry Sullivan Leif Erickson	March 13, 1964
1-22	"The Henry Bergh Story"	1866 Henry Bergh#Animal welfare work	Henry Bergh	Brian Keith	March 20, 1964
1-23	"Kentucky's Bloody Ground" (part one)	1778 Siege of Boonesborough#Capture of Daniel Boone	Daniel Boone Colonel Callaway	Peter Graves Andrew Duggan	April 3, 1964
1-24	"The Siege of Boonesborough" (part two)	1778 Siege of Boonesborough#Siege	Daniel Boone Simon Kenton	Peter Graves Arthur Hunnicutt	April 10, 1964
1-25	"Escape"	1864 Libby Prison escape	Colonel Thomas E. Rose Colonel Abel Streight	Fritz Weaver Michael Constantine	April 17, 1964
1-26	"The Pirate and the Patriot"	1814 General Andrew Jackson, Jean Lafitte#Battle of New Orleans	Jean Lafitte Andrew Jackson	Ricardo Montalban John Anderson	May 1, 1964

References

Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 202–203. ISBN 0-8108-1651-2.

External links

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[Woolery-1] Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 202–203. ISBN 0-8108-1651-2.