LEGENDARY HEROES #33

SGT. PRESTON OF THE YUKON

Following the success of "The Lone Ranger" and "The Green Hornet", WXYZ radio in Detroit decided to create one more radio drama for their listeners.  Station owner George W. Trendle insisted that he wanted a show with a dog as the hero, and not a dog like Lassie but a working dog.  Writer Tom Dougall decided upon a Husky and then made the dog's owner a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  This gave owner Trendle some pause for concern.  After they had created "The Lone Ranger" it came to their attention that western writer Zane Grey had published a novel years before titled "Lone Star Ranger".  Now they were doing a show about a RCMP officer and his dog, and Zane Grey had recently launched a comic strip called "King of the Royal Mounted", and to make matters worse writer Dougall named the dog in their new series Yukon King.  But everything worked out well for the station.  The series was called "Challenge of the Yukon" and it debuted as a 15-minute show on January 3, 1939.  In addition to Tom Dougall writing scripts for the show Fran Striker, who was responsible for "The Lone Ranger" also contributed stories.  Unlike the radio station's earlier hits which were purchased by a sponsor and went national, "Challenge of the Yukon" remained a local regional hit for most of a decade.  It ran on the radio as such until May 28, 1947.  Then Quaker Oats became a sponsor and took the show national, making it a half hour drama that aired on ABC from June 12, 1947 until December 30, 1949.  The show then moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System on January 2, 1950.  In September of 1950 the title of the show was changed to "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" and was broadcast three times a week until its' final show on June 9, 1955.

Frank Preston joins the RCMP to capture the killer of his father, and after succeeding in this venture is promoted to the rank of Sergeant.  The action is set in the gold rush days of the 1890s and as a member of the Northwest Mounted Police, Sgt. Preston puts down rebellions, tracks killers and smugglers, helps injured trappers, hunts down claim-jumping miners, and saves homesteaders from wolverines.  Preston's faithful steed was Rex, primarily during the summer months, but his primary mode of transportation was a dog team that pulled his sled that was led by the real star of the show Yukon King.  King was a Husky pup raised by a mother wolf and rescued by King when a lynx attacks the wolf and pup.  Preston saves the pup, names him King, and a radio drama was born.  Most shows included the shout of Sgt. Preston to his sled team, "On King! On you Huskies!" as they mushed through the snow of the Canadian wilderness.

From 1951 to 1958 Dell Comics published 29 issues of "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" as part of their Four Color Comics line.  The stories were written by Gaylord DuBois and drawn by Alberto Giolitti.  The covers were paintings that portrayed scenes of action with Preston and King, until a TV series began in 1955 and then the comic books featured photo covers of the series star Richard Simmons.  The TV show was telecast on CBS beginning September 29, 1955 and ran until September 25, 1958.  The show was mainly filmed in the town of Ashcroft, Colorado.  Milton Bradley introduced a board game based on the series in 1956, and Quaker Oats sponsored the series during it's entire three year run.  Sponsors were known for interesting premiums and giveaways during the heyday of radio, where listeners sent away boxtops and a dime to receive decoders, rings, and other promotional items.  But Quaker Oats had the most interesting promotion that I've ever heard of.  They gave away land in the Klondike!  Beginning in 1955, in boxes of Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice, were actual deeds to one-inch-square pieces of land in the Yukon Territory.  Youthful fans could follow the adventures of Preston and King on TV while eating Quaker Oats cereals and become land owners in the process!  Only in America.