MY FRIEND FLICKA was of course based on the 1941 Mary O'Hara book and 1943 movie of the same name, set in Montana at the turn of the 20th century, at the Goose Bar Ranch of former US cavalry officer Rob McLaughlin (Gene Evans), his wife Nell (Anita Louise), and young son Ken (Johnny Washbrook), owner of the devoted Flicka (Swedish for 'little girl'), formerly a wild mare. Among the very first TV series to be shot in color, it ran for only a single 39 episode season, from Sept 30 1955-June 22 1956, with episode 22, "The Cameraman" from Feb 24 1956, guest starring legendary scene stealer John Carradine as eccentric photographer Matt Barnes, caught trespassing on the Goose Bar Ranch, habitually abusing the hospitality of the McLaughlins until he hires young Ken as a guide to shoot Flicka's wild herd in action. While the two are away, farm hand Gus (Frank Ferguson) confides that three of his $20 gold pieces are missing, and that he found a gold watch among Barnes' possessions belonging to a Mathew Jay Breckinridge. The mystery deepens when Sheriff Downey (Sydney Mason) recalls the name Breckinridge, and decides to investigate further. Carradine's role is tailor-made, wearing the same long beard he donned that month in "The Black Sleep," looking rather like a white haired Aaron from "The Ten Commandments," or perhaps Brother Jerome in THE TWILIGHT ZONE's "The Howling Man." He would again play a cameraman out West in a 1959 episode of THE RIFLEMAN, "The Photographer."
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