The Teacher: Have Gun, Will Travel (January 25, 1959)

“The Teacher” is an episode of Have Gun, Will Travel, the old-time radio show, first broadcast January 25, 1959. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Paladin arrives in a small Nevada town where schoolteacher Miss Stanton is under threat from rancher Breck, a former Quantrill raider who wants her to stop teaching the truth about Quantrill's brutal wartime conduct. With the town cowed and students withdrawn from school, Paladin decides to help the determined teacher stand her ground against intimidation and violence.

A small Nevada town, 1875, centered around a one-room schoolhouse and nearby ranch

Characters: Paladin, Miss Stanton, Mr. Breck, Morse Kaufman, Mr. Caldwell

Listen for: Paladin's argument that teachers are worth fighting for because education and truth are essential to society; his attempts to convince parents to support Miss Stanton despite Breck's threats

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.