Emerging Revolutionary War welcomes guest historian Tom Elmore. Brief bio is at the bottom of the post.

When Walt Disney’s Disneyland anthology series, featuring shows inspired by the themes of the park’s sections, debuted in 1954 it ended the television season at #6 in the Nielsen television ratings and improved to #4 the next season. Much of that success was due to the Davey Crocket episodes, one of the first major television phenomena.[1]

But the series dropped to #14 in the third season and was out of the top twenty in the fourth and fifth seasons. The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) which carried the program, renamed Walt Disney Presents, pressured Disney to come up with another Crockett and more westerns which made up most of the top 20.[2]

Disney later complained that “I found myself in a straightjacket. I no longer had the freedom of action…They kept insisting that I do more and more westerns and my show became loaded…with every western myth.” Consequently, relations between Disney and ABC became strained.[3]

Disney turned to one of his passions, American history, to create a series based on the partisan leader, General Francis Marion, “the Swamp Fox,” who harassed British troops in South Carolina during the American Revolution.[4]

Originally, Disney was going to credit the series as being based on the award-winning young adult book The Swamp Fox Brigade by Eric Lucas, a pen name for Paul Greenberg. However, Greenberg had come to the attention of the House Un-American Activities Committee and Disney was forced to disassociate himself from the author. (Disney credited him as Eric Scott, “Historical Consultant,” for the upcoming series.)[5]

To complicate things further, in January 1959, with the series production underway, Furman University professor Dr. Robert D. Bass published Swamp Fox-The Life and Campaigns of General Francis Marion. Possibly to avoid a lawsuit, Disney bought the rights to the book and credited it as the source material for the series. In a letter from Disney to Bass dated December 16, 1959 Disney acknowledged doing “a great deal of research on Francis Marion,” suggesting that his writers looked at the other materials, some of which embellished Marion’s deeds, and the series would reflect those influences.[6]

Disney cast Leslie Nielsen, who had starred in Forbidden Planet, as Marion. At 6-1, 172 lbs, he was almost a foot taller than the 5-2, 110 lbs. Marion. Nielsen enjoyed making the series:

That was a great experience, because the Disney people didn’t do their shows like everyone else, knocking out an episode a week. We only had to do an episode a month, and the budgets were extremely high for TV at that time. So we had location shooting, rather than cheap studio backdrops, and very authentic costumes.”[7]

Other cast members included Myron Healey as Col. Peter Horry, Marion’s friend and second in command. John Sutton was Marion’s arch-enemy Lt. Col Banastre Tarleton. Disney veteran Tim Considine played Marion’s ill-fate nephew Gabe. Many in the cast, most notably Slim Pickens, were veterans of western television shows and movies, giving The Swamp Fox a western feel.[8]

In the first two episodes Joy Page played Marion’s fictitious love interest, Mary Videau, the daughter of a Tory leader. In the third episode the role was taken over by Barbra Eiler. Uncredited as Oscar, Marion’s real-life slave, friend and servant was Smoki Whitfiled, who often sang in the series.[9]

Since Crocket had a catchy theme song, Disney hadBuddy Baker, and Lewis Foster to compose a tune whose refrain went:

Swamp Fox, Swamp Fox, tail on his hat.
Nobody knows where the Swamp Fox is at.
Swamp Fox, Swamp Fox, hiding in the glen.
He runs away to fight again.[10]

Nielsen’s claim about the authenticity of the costumes is questionable. In the first episode Marion and Horry are shown wearing blue uniforms with buff trim and tricorn hats. In real-life, their regiment, the 2^nd South Carolina, wore blue uniforms with red trim and helmets with a crescent moon on it.

Later in the episode we see Marion in civilian clothes wearing a leather tricorn hat with a fox’s tail on it and adorned with a crescent moon. Nielsen liked the hat, saying “Anyone wearing such a hat would feel rather brave.” However, the real Marion always wore his continental officer’s uniform and helmet. Had he been captured wearing “civvies” he would have been executed as a spy.[11]

There were numerous other historical inaccuracies. For example, Sgt. William Jasper is with Marion on the eve of the British capture of Charleston. The real Jasper died seven months before the city fell. Bass expressed concerned about these disparities to which Disney replied:

In producing programs for the vast television audience we are more or less compelled to take certain liberties in an attempt to please them. However, we have tried to be as factual as we could with respect to historical events and to that end did a great deal of research on Francis Marion. Needless to say, your book has been of much help to us.[12]

A press release announced, “A successor to Davy Crockett’s coonskin cap is in the offering…This time it’s a three cornered leather hat with foxtail, suitably inscribed “Liberty or Death…Move over, Davy. Looks like there’ll be room for the Swamper, too.” It called Marion the “the Scarlet Pimpernel of the south,” while on-air previews for the show called him “The Robin Hood of the American Revolution.”[13]

There were merchandise tie-ins to the show, including a board game, a coloring book, and a Dell comic book. For 50¢ and two Canadian Dry bottle caps you could own a “Swamp Fox Flint Lock Pistol.” The Swamp Fox theme song was released as a single.[14]

The first episodedebuted on ABC on Sunday, October 16, 1959 at 6:30 pm eastern time. Though all episodes, and Disney’s introductions, were filmed in color, they aired in black and white. Six episodes aired in the 1959-1960 T.V. season and two in the 1960-1961 season, but Walt Disney Presents failed to make the top twenty in either season. Though Disney said that The Swamp Fox might run for ten episodes, it only ran for eight, without a real finale. [15]

But ratings were not the only problem. In his letter to Bass, Disney wrote:

 It might interest you to know that after two of our SWAMP FOX programs were shown in Canada that that portion of our television show was reluctantly cancelled out by the Canadian Broadcast Company. It would seem that pressure was brought to bear by a group of leftover Tories who didn’t feel that the Canadians should find out how the American Revolution came out.[16]

The “Tories “Disney referred to was the Canadian government itself, who objected to the villainous portrayals of British and Tory characters. The decision to ban the series on Canadian T.V. meant lost income for Disney. Ironically, Leslie Nielsen was a Canadian, and his brother, Erik, was a powerful member of the Canadian Parliament.[17]

All episodes of The Swamp Fox aired twice during their initial run, but were seemingly forgotten until the 1980s and 1990s when they were shown on The Disney Channel to take advantage of Nielsen’s new found fame as a comedic actor. For the rebroadcasts, the episodes had new opening title cards and closing credits, while some scenes were edited out.[18]

In 2005 Elfego Baca and the Swamp Fox: Legendary Heroes was released as part of the Walt Disney Treasures DVD series. 125,000 DVDs were made containing the first three Swamp Fox episodes and three episodes of the Elfego Baca series. To date, there has been no official release of the entire series, nor has it been shown on Disney+. Hopefully, with the upcoming commemoration of the 250^th anniversary of the American Revolution, the entire saga of “The Robin Hood of the American Revolution” will be released.[19]

Episodes and original air dates:[20]

1. The Birth of the Swamp Fox                           October 23,  1959
2. Brother Against Brother                                 October 30,  1959
3. Tory Vengeance                                              January 1,    1960
4. Day of Reckoning                                           January 8,    1960
5. Redcoat Strategy                                            January 15,  1960
6. A Case of Treason                                           January 22,  1960
7. A Woman’s Courage                                       January 8,    1961
8. Horses for Greene                                          January 15,  1961

Tom Elmore has a B.A. in History and Political Science from the University of South Carolina. He is the author of five books about South Carolina in the 19^th century, as well as numerous articles in regional and national publications. He has lectured all across the Mid-Atlantic States and has been a book reviewer for two national magazines. He has written and lectured on classic Hollywood cinema. He is also a member of the 250^th Anniversary of the American Revolution Committee for Richland County, S.C.

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[1] Nielsen Ratings/Historic/Network Television by Season/1950s. TV IV,    tviv.org/Nielsen_ratings/historic/network_televison_by_season/1950s.

[2] Ibid, Bill, The Wonderful World of Disney Television. New York. Hyperion, 1997, Pg. 65

[3] Cotter, Pgs. 65-66

[4] Leonard Maltin’s introduction to the Elfego Baca and the Swamp Fox: Legendary Heroes DVD Set.

[5] Internet Movie Database (IMDB) The Swamp Fox: The Birth of the Swamp Fox. http://www.imdb.com

[6] Ibid, Walt Disney to Robert Bass, December 15, 1959. Robert Bass Papers, The South Caroliniana Library, The University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C. (Henceforth RBP)

[7] Leslie Neilsen, IMBD, Kurtti, Jeff, Leslie Nielsen: One of Walt’s “Road Company Davy Crockett’s.” The Walt Disney Family Museum Blog, December 1, 2010, http://www.waltdisney.org

[8] IMDB The Swamp Fox: The Birth of the Swamp Fox

[9] Ibid

[10] Ibid

[11] Swamp Fox Promotional materials RBP

[12] Disney to Bass RBP

[13] Swamp Fox Promotional Materials RBP

[14] The author has located many of these items on Ebay.

[15] Cutter, Pg. 86, Kurtti, [15] Swamp Fox promotional materials, RBP

[16] Disney to Bass, RBP

[17] Leslie Nielsen, IMDB, Censorship Wiki, censorship.fandom.com/wiki/Canada

[18] Kurtti

[19] Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Five. Disney Wiki, disenyfandom.com. Elfego Baca, a New Mexican lawyer and lawman, was the subject of a ten episode series from 1958-1960.

[20] Cotter, Pgs. 86, 91, 167, 100, 151, 92, 176,  120-121