J. B. Kendall, 19th century American wild west correspondent for the London Times, had his fictional career cut short when the CBS Radio series Frontier Gentleman wrapped up at the end of its 1958 season.

But star John Dehner’s last episode was a marvelous example of the traditional newspaperman’s ability to “get out of the way of a story”… with Kendall concisely narrating a column of short scenes, what we would call “news briefs” or ” people in the news” items.

58-11-16_Episode41_Random Notes –5.3 MB:

Kendall’s introduction: “It occurs to me that in this, my last report to the London Times, there are many incidents which I have omitted — things seen and heard during these several months on my journeys through the American West. Here then, some random notes.”

Some might have been worth a full story, if there had been time, and others may have been best suited to the brief splash of color format given here. For example, the Texas Othello item in the middle of the broadcast might have turned unbearable if given the full half-hour. But I may be wrong.

The “briefs” format was not uncommon for 20th century newspaper columns, including those of Walter Winchell, or even my first contribution to a college newspaper, and a daily “People in the News” feature I compiled for The Hartford Courant while segueing off to grad school about a century after the scene of “Frontier Gentleman.”