The Six Shooter follows the adventures of Britt Ponset, an easygoing, drifting cowboy and gunfighter navigating the final years of the Wild West. Described in the show's iconic opening narration as \"angular and long-legged\" with \"sun-dyed brown\" skin, Ponset is a wanderer who inevitably blunders into other people's troubles.
While he is highly capable with his gray steel, mother-of-pearl-handled six-shooter, he is reluctant to use it. The series stands out among other Westerns of the era for its unique blend of tense drama and whimsical comedy. Ponset's adventures range from stopping outlaw gangs to getting involved in lighthearted, frontier-style adaptations of classic tales like Cinderella and A Christmas Carol.
The Six Shooter was part of a wave of \"adult Westerns\" in the early 1950s that sought to tell more mature, character-driven stories on the radio. The series debuted on NBC on September 20, 1953, and ran for just one season of 39 episodes, concluding on June 24, 1954. The show was created and predominantly written by Frank Burt, who later wrote the script for Stewart's 1955 Western film, The Man from Laramie. Jack Johnstone, a prominent radio director, helmed the series. The haunting and memorable theme music, titled \"Highland Lament,\" was composed by British film composer Charles Williams and arranged for the show by Basil Adlam.
While Jimmy Stewart was the undisputed main draw, the show utilized a \"stock company\" of elite radio actors for supporting roles. This included Virginia Gregg, Parley Baer, Harry Bartell, and William Conrad. Because Conrad was concurrently starring as Marshal Matt Dillon on CBS's rival Western Gunsmoke, he sometimes went uncredited or used a pseudonym on The Six Shooter. Stewart brought a brilliant acting choice to the radio medium by using a tense, whispered narration during dramatic and dangerous scenes. Because radio relies entirely on audio, Stewart dropping his voice to a low whisper created an incredibly intimate, heightened sense of suspense for the listener.
Unlike other radio lawmen of the era who regularly shot it out with bandits, Britt Ponset rarely shot to kill. Over the entire 39-episode run, he only killed two men directly, usually choosing instead to outsmart his adversaries or shoot the guns out of their hands.
The show's short lifespan was largely due to a lack of long-term sponsorship. Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. wanted to sponsor the program to sell Chesterfield cigarettes, but Stewart flatly refused the lucrative offer. He felt that endorsing cigarettes conflicted with his public image. After an early sponsorship by Coleman Heaters ended, NBC sustained the show out of pocket before finally canceling it.
Stewart eventually revived the Britt Ponset character for television, appearing in two episodes of the anthology series General Electric Theater in 1957. However, he declined to commit to a weekly TV version of The Six Shooter because it would interfere with his booming film career. The TV adaptation was retooled, renamed The Restless Gun, and given to actor John Payne.
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