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Clip description
This clip is from the start of Smoky Dawson and the Singing Bullet. In this episode, Young Billy (Ray Hartley) is kidnapped by Crogan and Gilmore, Smoky’s old enemies. They take him to an isolated hut to lure Smoky (Smoky Dawson) into a trap, but Smoky is too wily. He foils their plot with a song and a singing bullet, fired from a gun built into his guitar.
Curator’s notes
The episode begins with Smoky singing ‘Riding with a Smile and a Song’, the theme that he wrote on his way back to Australia to begin work on the show. This recording was one of a few that were pressed as a 78 rpm recording for sale. They were released around 1955 through Columbia Children’s Records.
This episode, featuring the ‘gun in the guitar’, was one of the most famous in the ten years of the show. Among Australian country singers, few could match the velvety smooth tone of Dawson, who sounds a bit like Bing Crosby in this recording. Young Billy was played by Ray Hartley, Jingles by Alan Herbert.
