Classic Horrors Club

An anomaly among the numerous television space adventures of the early 1950s was a short-lived series you may have expected to be the biggest. After all, by 1950, Buck Rogers was a familiar and popular character in a newspaper comic strip that had been running since 1929. (It continued its run until July, 1967.) He had appeared in comic books since 1930, first in 69 issues of “Famous Funnies,” then in his own title. He was the subject of a radio program and movie serial. 

Then again, Buck seemed to always play second fiddle to Flash Gordon. Therefore, a 1950s TV show may have been two little too late. Airing on ABC, Buck Rogers lasted for only 36 episodes and, not counting a two-month summer hiatus, ran for only seven months. I’ve read that it suffered from a low budget, but after watching the lone surviving episode, “Ghost in the House,” that’s not why I’d consider it a failure.

What do you think of when you think of Buck Rogers? Space opera, right… aliens and rocket ships and adventure? What you get with “Ghost in the House” is just how it sounds, a fully grounded old dark house story. Sure, it takes place in the 25^th century, but we see very little to indicate the time. Buck (Robert Pastene) sends Lt. Wilma Deering (Lucy Prentis) to intercept a secret formula hidden in the safe of its inventor who just passed away. 

The episode includes the reading of a will, duplicitous heirs, and a murder for which the characters blame a ghost. What about this says, “Buck Rogers?” Since Wilma, posing as a representative from the equivalent of today’s child protective services, is the outsider, she’s accused of being responsible for the bad things happening. The scenario is fertile ground for such dialogue as, “Ghost or no ghost, there’s a killer in the house.” And when one of the siblings tells Wilma she can’t shoot a ghost, she replies, “I can try!”

The writer, Gene Wyckoff, and director, Babette Henry, each had only one other television credit in their entire careers. It’s easy to see why they weren’t included in the class of creators to become television legends during its early days. On the other hand, Buck Rogers was broadcast live from the studio of an ABC affiliate in Chicago; it wasn’t a big-budget studio production. Sadly, it pales in comparisons to the knockoffs that came before it featuring more heroic characters like Captain Video, Tom Corbett, and Kit Corry.

No merch for this one kids. Will Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers fare any better?