Enjoy two free western episodes of The Cisco Kid

A) 4/17/58 Stage to Silver City w/ Jack Mather and Harry Lang

B) 1959 Robbery on the Railroad w/ Jack Mather and Mel Blanc

O. Henry’s outlaw followed a trail that led sometimes to adventure, often to danger, and always to beautiful senoritas. On the silver screen the Cisco kid was a sensation -- on radio his bandit characteristics were toned down for a younger audience. Riding through the Tex-Mex borderlands, the Cisco Kid dispensed justice in the manner of a Mexican Robin Hood. Like the English outlaw, the kind-hearted champion of the poor and downtrodden aimed to right wrongs and restore law and order. The Kid’s cheerful, rotund sidekick, Pan Pancho (Cisco called him “Chico”), was a master of the bullwhip and a hilarious misuser and mangler of the English language. The Cisco Kid came across as something of a bad-guy when the series was first broadcast from the studios of New York City in 1942, with Jackson Beck playing the title role. This cowboy Casanova seemed to spend more energy pursuing glamorous senoritas than punishing the mean-spirited hombres. The Cisco Kid’s second incarnation in 1946 proved not only more popular but also a landmark in radio broadcasting. Between 1946 and 1956 (airing longer through syndication), a total of 636 episodes of The Cisco Kid were produced and an unusual contract clause ensured the highest quality in the live broadcasts. This stipulated that should the episode fall below par, the cast was required to perform it off-air a second time (without additional pay) to meet syndicated recording requirements. The Cisco Kid’s audience share was as big as that of The Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy. And of all the programs produced and syndicated by Frederick W. Ziv, from Boston Blackie to Bold Venture, none was more financially successful than this children’s western.