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 2.21 [051]
"A Matter Of Destiny"
(not to be confused with episode #59 'Dark Destiny')
NBC Broadcast - 19 February 1964

Revue Studios Production
Executive Producer Frank Price
Produced by Winston Miller
Written by Al C. Ward
Directed by Maury Geraghty

Starring:
(shown on the ride-in)
Lee J. Cobb as Judge Henry Garth
Doug McClure as Trampas
Gary Clarke as Steve Hill (not in this episode)
and
James Drury as The Virginian

Guest Stars:
Peter Graves [ Robert Gaynor]
Richard Jaeckel [Pat Wade]

End Credits (complete):

Co-Starring
Roberta Shore as Betsy
#
Randy Boone as Randy
#
Jean Hale as Janet Lawrence
#
With
Ross Elliott as Sheriff Abbott
(letters are a little larger in his credit than for others on the page)
Roy Engel as Wingate
Robert B. Williams as Barnes
Jess Kirkpatrick as Lawrence
Craig Duncan as Norris
Stephen Coit as Fred
Bill Erwin as Bevers
Frank Sully as The Bartender
#
Virginian Theme Percy Faith
#
Director of Photography - Benjamin H. Kline, A.S.C.
#
Story Editor - Cy Chermak
#
Art Director - George Patrick
Film Editor - John C. Fuller, A.C.E.
Assistant Director - Frank Losee
Set Decorators - John McCarthy and Perry Murdock
Sound - David H. Moriarty
Color Consultant - Alex Quiroga
Color by Pathé
#
Editorial Dept. Head - David J. O'Connell
Musical Supervision - Stanley Wilson
Costume Supervisor - Vincent Dee
Makeup - Leo Lotito, Jr.
Hair Stylist - Florence Bush
The title "The Virginian" by permission of EMKA, LTD.

Series Regular Characters in this Episode:
Trampas, the Virginian,
Randy, Betsy (Randy and Betsy sang a duet at the party), and Judge Garth.
Other recurring cast members:
Sheriff Mark Abbott, Barney Wingate, and Danny the Bartender.

Brief Synopsis:
Robert Gaynor, an entrepreneur from Chicago, buys a ranch near
Medicine Bow and asks the Virginian to teach him all there is to know about
the cattle business. Most of the neighboring ranchers admire Gaynor's
business knowledge until he contracts all the cattle shipment rail cars for
himself after the roundup. Gaynor also offends Trampas by charming away
the girl the cowhand had planned to marry. Now Trampas must choose between
the safety of the man he dislikes and the life of Pat Wade, an old friend
who has been hired by another Chicago businessman to kill Gaynor. (bj)

Comments and Observations:
In the second season there was a lot of mention of things in Trampas' past.
But sometimes I find they didn't agree with episode 2.01 "Ride a Dark
Trail," which is a flashback of how Trampas came to Shiloh. Just for
the record it was an important fact in "Ride a Dark Trail" that Trampas
and his Pa knew NOTHING about cattle. But here in this episode Trampas
talks about how he and Pat had worked on a ranch in Montana. Discrepancies
in some other episodes, one of them being "Echo of Another Day" (1.26) in
which a flashback occurs where Trampas and his friend Sam Harder are
on the range with cattle and Trampas ropes Sam's horse when
it is dragging him (of course, though, this one was filmed before RDT). (bj)

Another note:
There is a melody that must have been in Universal's stock
music. In the CHECKMATE series episode "Runaway" Anna Maria Alberghetti
hums a song that is frequently used in THE VIRGINIAN
and was played in entirety in this episode at Judge Garth's pre-roundup
party (also Jennifer played it on the piano in "Jennifer" (4.07). It's
quite beautiful. I think it might have words (unless I just imagined it),
as I thought once I heard something sung to the melody such as "tonight is the night for love."

December 2000-- This melody was recorded on the LP "Stanley Wilson's Themes
to Remember, Top TV Themes and Background Music" (Decca label).   It is
entitled "Tomorrow" and was written by Johnny Williams and Frederick Herbert. (bj)

Another observation:
There is a voice over in one scene of the show. I
suppose it was done to explain who Johnny was as Janet is telling Trampas
she doesn't like the violence of the West and reminds Trampas about how
Johnny was killed. Trampas says "What happened to your brother..." It is
obvious that when it was filmed he said "What happened to Johnny..."  (bj)

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