When you see the settlers on Wagon Train taking their families west, did it occur to you that they had to learn about driving a team, circling the wagons, how much and what provisions to take, etc? The Greenhorn Story which stars Mickey Rooney tells of Ward Bond and the rest of the Wagon Train crew had to go through in training the greenhorns with Rooney as the archetype.
The accent is on comedy in this episode as Rooney traveling west with his aunt Ellen Corby tries the patience of Ward Bond, Robert Horton, Terry Wilson, and Frank McGrath. Rooney among other things is bringing a printing press west because it's his intention to settle somewhere they need a newspaper. He's also got romance on his mind with Daria Massey, daughter of fellow greenhorn Byron Foulger. You've got to see how they manage to screw up circling the wagons during a practice drill.
Of course it all does work, it has to or the whole history of the country would have been different if clueless pilgrims didn't learn where to find the clues. But here it makes for one of the best of the Wagon Train episodes.
The accent is on comedy in this episode as Rooney traveling west with his aunt Ellen Corby tries the patience of Ward Bond, Robert Horton, Terry Wilson, and Frank McGrath. Rooney among other things is bringing a printing press west because it's his intention to settle somewhere they need a newspaper. He's also got romance on his mind with Daria Massey, daughter of fellow greenhorn Byron Foulger. You've got to see how they manage to screw up circling the wagons during a practice drill.
Of course it all does work, it has to or the whole history of the country would have been different if clueless pilgrims didn't learn where to find the clues. But here it makes for one of the best of the Wagon Train episodes.