Diamond Jim: Skulduggery in Samantha

We met at 2:30 in the morning. W got our outfits for the day. We got aboard a bus and then drove north of Durango about 22 miles to Rockwood, turned down a road, and in a few minutes were on a valley near a railroad train and track. It was probably 22 degrees when we arrived and it warmed up to 58 later in the day. We waited and waited but shooting would not begin til after sunrise, the best hours of the day. At that moment it was an odd experience to be out in the cold filming, for which we were paid $20 for the day, but I look back now and see it was an amazing experience. I met Dale Robertson and many other well-known actors, who were as bored as the rest of us. I wish I had brought cards to play a few hands with others, but instead I stood around watching while the big hands like Robertson would flip half dollars against the rocks to pass the time--you won if your Franklin hit closest to the center of the circle.

A railroad is being built that must reach the town limits of Samantha, Colorado by a certain date in order for the railroad owner to get a 250 thousand dollar bonus which he needs to keep his railroad out of bankruptcy. A competitor is using violence - snipers and dynamite - to prevent this crucial piece of railroad from reaching Samantha in time. Diamond Jim Brady claims that he can get the railroad into Samantha on time, for a sizeable financial inducement.

This was a pilot for a proposed TV show that was loosely - and I mean as loose as the real Diamond Jim's pants would have been had he reduced down to the correct weight - based on the life of Diamond Jim Brady. I'm sure the real Diamond Jim would have been thrilled to see himself being portrayed so slim, such a fast gun, good with his fists, and just an overall charming and athletic guy, but that is not even close to the truth.

For some reason this pilot chose to make a recently retired Irish New York cop of diminuative stature - played by wizened character actor Walter Burke - Diamond Jim's sidekick. He looks like a leprechaun, and yes there is contrast between the two, but maybe the contrast that existed between Jim West and Artemus Gordon would have been a better recipe. In the end the networks must have agreed, because Diamond Jim was a TV series that never was.

Probably worthwhile for those interested in the more obscure history of the small screen.