The Westerner – “The Courting of Libby”

The Westerner TV Series poster

Original Air Date: November 11, 1960
Starring: Brian Keith, John Dehner
Directed by: Sam Peckinpah

Cat Out of the Bag Alert!  This review contains spoilers for this episode!

Synopsis: Dave Blassingame (Brian Keith) falls for the beautiful Libby (Joan O’Brien) but finds a rival in the slick Burgundy Smith (John Dehner).

Cat Cattle Call: At the beginning of the episode Dave rides into town with his dog Brown. Brown spots three cats eating from a pan on top of a barrel, two tabbies and one black cat.

The Westerner - The Courting of Libby - cats eating on barrel

The Westerner - The Courting of Libby - cats still eating on barrel

Dave tells Brown not to mess with the cats but the dog barks and starts pandemonium as the cats scatter.

The Westerner - The Courting of Libby - cat scatters from barrel when dog barks

Brown chases the cats across the street and they dart away from a door. Dave makes a dive for the dog and ends up at the feet of Libby.

The Westerner - The Courting of Libby - cats running by door

Kitty Carnage Warning! The cats end up darting into the General Store. Eventually Brown gets into the store as well. The chaos that follows includes cats being thrown onto shelves, into bags of flour, on scales, on dress dummies, etc. This involves the poor cat actors literally being thrown all over the place.

The Westerner - The Courting of Libby - orange tabby hanging onto shelf

The Westerner - The Courting of Libby - black cat jumping on clerk

The Westerner - The Courting of Libby - cats being thrown around General Store

The Westerner - The Courting of Libby - orange tabby landing on scale

The Westerner - The Courting of Libby - orange tabby cat landing on scale

The Westerner - The Courting of Libby - orange tabby cat landing on dress dummy

The Westerner - The Courting of Libby - orange and black cat on shelves

The Westerner - The Courting of Libby - orange and black cat on shelves one collapses

Two of the cat actors appear to be part of the prolific Orangey team.

Final Mewsings: The cat actors found out the hard way that Peckinpah is into violence!

Many thanks to Ted Davis for spotting these TV cats for us!


Relevant Links:

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