When Jack Whitaker Was A Cowboy On City Line

As Frank Fitzpatrick noted in last week’s Inquirer obituary, “Jack Whitaker was a pioneer, so maybe it was fitting that his TV career dawned in a makeshift cowboy town on the outskirts of Philadelphia.” …

” A utility man at WCAU-TV, he did the weather, a minute or two of scores during John Facenda’s nightly 15-minute newscast, co-hosted the “Tee Time” talk show at Bala Golf Club, and occasionally acted in “Action in the Afternoon,” a daily western the station produced in the backyard of its Bala Cynwyd offices.”

The backlot that Fitzpatrick refers to was right behind WCAU-TV’s studio on City Line Avenue. According to “Broadast Pioneers of Philadelphia,” “This program was produced live on the back lot of WCAU-TV, Channel 10 in Philadelphia. It’s was television’s only live daily network western. This was at a time before CBS owned the station. Then, it was owned by the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin newspaper. The area had a natural creek running through the WCAU property . The interior shots were done in the studios and exterior shots outside on the back lot, which was also the parking lot for the station’s employees They had built mockups of different western buildings. Since it was low budget, there was only three to five buildings; the saloon, the newspaper (The Huberle Record) and the sheriff’s office/jail. A totem pole conceals one of the telephone type. The station leased horses from a riding academy that was in Fairmount Park. The chase scenes were all done live. “