Sam Logan (The Man from Blackhawk)

Created by Herb Meadow

Perhaps the only genre more popular than private eyes in television’s early years was the western, so it didn’t long before someone came up with the idea of combining the two.

By far the most successful attempt (and one of the first) was Have Gun, Will Travel, which made it debut in 1957. But it was joined by several others, all hoping to cash in, including the Frank Gruber-created Shotgun Slade, James Brooks, Frank Gruber and Gene Reynolds’ Tales of Wells Fargo, and Herb Meadows’ The Man From Blackhawk. Neither was nearly as successful, although Slade lasted two years and Tales five. Latecomer The Man from Blackhawk lasted only one, possibly because it offered too little, too late.

According to Larka in Television’s Private Eyes,  the show’s hero, SAM LOGAN,  was “a combination insurance investigator-private eye distinguished from his modern day counterparts only by his mode of dress and transportation.”

Sam was the star investigator for the Blackhawk Insurance Company of Chicago– the guy they sent out on the biggest cases.

Perhaps taking a cure from Paladin of Have Gun, Will Travel, Clad was presented as a dude, in a “cityslicker” outfit, complete with string tie and briefcase. He didn’t actually hand out business cards, but the promos weren’t shy about boasting that “His calling card spells ACTION!”

Sam rarely used his gun, although he had no such compunctions about using his fists. His investigations into possibly fraudulent claims frequently took him deep into the heart of the frontier of the American West of the 1880’s, although he also travelled to New York City, New Orleans and… Canada in the 1960 episode “The Montreal Story.”

TELEVISION

• THE MAN FROM BLACKHAWK
  (1959-60, ABC)
  37 30-minute episodes
  Created by Herb Meadow
  Writers: Sterling Silliphant, Herb Meadow
  Directed by John Peyser
  Produced by Herb Meadow
  A Screen Gems/Stuart-Oliver Production
  Starring Robert Rockwell as SAM LOGAN
  • SEASON ONE
  • “Logan’s Policy” (October 9, 1959)
  • “The Trouble with Tolliver” (October 16, 1959)
  • “The New Semaria Story” (October 23, 1959)
  • “The Man Who Stole Happiness” (October 30, 1959)
  • “The Gypsy Story” (November 6, 1959)
  • “Station Six” (November 13, 1959)
  • “Vendetta for the Lovelorn” (November 20, 1959)
  • “The Winthrop Woman” (November 27, 1959)
  • “Contraband Cargo” (December 4, 1959)
  • “A Matter of Conscience” (December 11, 1959)
  • “Death Is the Best Policy” (December 18, 1959)
  • “The Legacy” (December 25, 1959)
  • “The Biggest Legend” (January 1, 1960)
  • “Death at Noon” (January 8, 1960)
  • “The Savage” (January 15, 1960)
  • “The Hundred Thousand Dollar Policy” (January 22, 1960)
  • “Portrait of Cynthia” (January 29, 1960)
  • “El Patron” (February 5, 1960)
  • “The Drawing Account” (February 12, 1960)
  • “The Ghost of Lafitte” (February 26, 1960)
  • “Execution Day” (March 4, 1960)
  • “Destination Death” (March 11, 1960)
  • “Diamond Cut Diamond” (March 18, 1960)
  • “Death by Northwest” (March 25, 1960)
  • “The Last Days of Jessie Turnbull” (April 1, 1960)
  • “Remember Me Not” (April 8, 1960)
  • “The Search for Cope Borden” (April 15, 1960)
  • “The Sons of Don Antonio” (April 22, 1960)
  • “Incident at Tupelo” (April 29, 1960)
  • “The Harpoon Story” (May 6, 1960)
  • “The Montreal Story” (May 13, 1960)
  • “In His Steps” (May 20, 1960)
  • “Trial by Combat” (May 27, 1960)
  • “The Man Who Wanted Everything” (June 3, 1960)
  • “The Money Machine” (June 10, 1960)
  • “The Lady in Yellow” (June 17, 1960)
  • “Gold Is Where You Find It” (June 24, 1960)

RELATED LINKS

• My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
  Cowboy Eyes

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.