Log Jam trivia answers

A "Well Done!" to all of you who answered our Log Jam trivia. Almost all of you answered our two questions correctly.


The correct answers to our two Log Jam questions are:

1. The lumber jacks used pike poles and hob nail boots to ride the logs down the Shady River.
2. The size of the log rafts was 100-tons each.

RB-051 Catching a Big Fish with a Small Hook

Dr. Orlando, the USA's chief nuclear chemist/physicist, is dying and has only a few weeks to live. Dr. Jonathan Black is the only man with the knowledge and experience to be able to replace Dr. Orlando. But Dr. Black disappeared after a lab accident killed his close friend. Secret Service agent Andrew Anderson has been sent to find Dr. Black. Andy is sure that the missing scientist is in the Knotty Pine region. Bill's skills at drawing and fishing may be the keys to finding and catching this most important missing man.

RB-050 The Log Jam

It's springtime along the Shady River. The river is high and swift. And it is also the time of year that the lumber camps send their logs to market down the Shady. Each camp gets its turn to float its logs down the river. Frenchy DeSalle's men are first to float their logs and log rafts downriver or so they think. Ben Larson has accidentally sent some of his logs down at the same time as Frenchy. This creates a massive log jam near Knotty Pine. Tempers begin to flare between the loggers. But then everyone sees the river is flooding from the log jam. Now everything must be done to free the jam and protect the town. Frenchy needs help. Only Ranger Bill and his men will do!

"New" RB Show Information

I have been incorrectly reporting on information concerning the beginning of the 30-minute Ranger Bill episodes. I apologize because the correct information was right under my nose and I missed it. I would like to thank fellow Ranger Bill fan Wayne for asking some questions that helped me find my mistake.
I had been reporting that RB179 "VIPs Visit Knotty Pine" was probably the very first 30-minute Ranger Bill episode because it had the earliest broadcast date of all the RB shows Moody uses in its two-year cycle for Bill. I am nearly positive that another script Moody Audio has shared with us is the first 30-minute show.
Moody Audio shared some scripts with the Ranger Bill Fan Club that we have posted on our Zoomshare pages. There are the three scripts for the very first Ranger Bill story, "The Pendleton Valley Fire," first aired in October of 1950. We also have the scripts for the two-part half-hour story "The Spirit and the Spirits." We also have one more script, for a story I titled "Escape of the African Animals." This story is about a train wreck in Wildcat Valley in which several wild African animals bound for the Knotty Pine Zoo escape into the wilderness around Knotty Pine. That script is labeled "Script #104" and aired Saturday, Oct. 3, 1952. It appears that this show was the 1952 season opener for Ranger Bill.
If my guess is right, then Moody aired 15-minute Ranger Bills every Monday afternoon for just short of two full years, 103 shows in total. Then beginning in the fall of 1952 Moody went with 30-minute Ranger Bill shows that aired on Saturdays at lunch-time. It also looks as though they produced 32 to 35 Ranger Bill episodes per year from 1952 until the close of production. RB006 "The Fire Bug" pretty much verifies my guess because it is script #168 and aired in mid-August of 1954.
If you will allow me one more assumption, I believe that Moody decided to continue to air Bill in a 4-year cycle and took the most recent 200 shows for that cycle. They then dropped the 65 earliest 30-minute shows along with all of the 15-minute shows. I would say that they had enough material for a 5- or 6-year cycle, if they had so chosen. This is no criticism of Moody. They had to make some decision on what to use and what not to use.
So please, stop by our Zoomshare pages and take a look at "Escape of the African Animals." It is certainly a key story in the Ranger Bill saga!

Frank Keith Poem "For A Little Boy"

Last week's Ranger Bill, "The Man Who Understood" (RB048) quoted a poem by Frank Keith as printed on the headstone of young Wes Morgan, Jr. I have had many requests for this poem in the past. I thought it would be good to share it with you all. may this Keith poem bless you as it has so many others.

"For A Little Boy" by Frank Keith

Be tender to him, Lord, because he is so very small,
And all of us are now beyond his his young and frightened call.

Please, press him gently to Your heart, as we who loved him so
Once held him gently knowing not how swiftly he would go.

Be kind to him. We tried to be within our given time.
Oh, let him play and shout and sing. Let him run and climb.

We know that You are near him, God, as he takes ways unknown.
And You are Love. So where You are he will not walk alone.

And as we age, our cheeks will fade and gray infest our hair.
He will always be the same, forever young and fair.