Synopsis

Have Gun Will Travel is a rare example of a radio series that began on television before it debuted on radio a year later. It's also a rare example of a series for which we have the complete broadcast run, especially considering that it was not recorded on transcription discs, but on tape.

Tape at the time was expensive, and was typically recorded over many times. Somehow this series avoided that fate, and the complete CBS Master Tapes were transferred by collectors in the 1970s. The television series debuted on September 14, 1957, and ran for six seasons lasting until April 20, 1963.

It was an instant hit for CBS, and finished third or fourth in the ratings in each of its first four seasons. It starred Richard Boone as Paladin, a West Point graduate, and a Civil War veteran, now a gun for hire, based out of the Hotel Carlton in San Francisco.

Paladin was known for his business card that simply said, Have Gun, Will Travel, Wire Paladin, San Francisco, and it featured an engraving of a white knight chess piece. His true name was never mentioned in the series, though in a novelization of the episode Genesis, it was revealed to be Clay Alexander.

Paladin is the successful businessman, well-educated, and enjoying a comfortable life when not traveling the Old West for his clients. According to the series creator Sam Rolf and Herb Meadows, the title came from an old vaudeville gag, have tucks will travel, and it was never intended to be the official title.

Rolf said it was just a gag with us. And even when we filmed the pilot reel, we figured have gun was just a working title. But the more they said it, the more they liked it.