It seems when "Stories of the Century" featured better known characters and outlaws of the Old West, the stories got sillier and further from the truth. The story here expects you to believe that the Younger Brothers Cole (George Wallace), John (Gregory Walcott), and Jim (Sheb Wooley) were raised by a black nanny. Now I like the actress Louise Beavers who portrayed Aunt Nellie, but this was a stretch. If true, I had never read or seen anything about this and it just seemed comical to me.
Equally unbelievable was the idea that series regular Mary Castle would pose as the Younger's cousin visiting from back East. In her role, Castle generally worked undercover with Railroad Detective Matt Clark (Jim Davis), and her assignment here was to help with the investigation of a bank robbery. Quite abruptly, the story has the Youngers planning their infamous failed robbery attempt of the Northfield, Minnesota First National Bank in 1876. Only a brief mention is made of Frank and Jesse James who were the other half of the James-Younger Gang, but they weren't even part of this story!
I guess for 1954 this passed for plausible entertainment, but I don't see how you separate Frank and Jesse James from the Younger Brothers. But this wasn't the first time - in the third episode of the series a few weeks earlier back in 1954, the episode on the James Brothers didn't mention the Youngers!
Equally unbelievable was the idea that series regular Mary Castle would pose as the Younger's cousin visiting from back East. In her role, Castle generally worked undercover with Railroad Detective Matt Clark (Jim Davis), and her assignment here was to help with the investigation of a bank robbery. Quite abruptly, the story has the Youngers planning their infamous failed robbery attempt of the Northfield, Minnesota First National Bank in 1876. Only a brief mention is made of Frank and Jesse James who were the other half of the James-Younger Gang, but they weren't even part of this story!
I guess for 1954 this passed for plausible entertainment, but I don't see how you separate Frank and Jesse James from the Younger Brothers. But this wasn't the first time - in the third episode of the series a few weeks earlier back in 1954, the episode on the James Brothers didn't mention the Youngers!
