Rawhide
Incident of the Tumbleweed
TV Flash files “Incident of the Tumbleweed” as a desk essential hour — Rawhide (1959–1965) on CBS, season 1, episode 1, aired 1959-01-09, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 218 in the Rawhide guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1959-01-09 (60 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Incident at Alabaster Plain” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Incident of the Tumbleweed”. Incident of the Tumbleweed: cattle-drive procedural opens, trail dust as workplace drama, Eastwood already in the pipeline.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The drovers deal with a tumbleweed (prison) wagon and a beautiful female prisoner, Dallas.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Incident of the Tumbleweed sit in the Rawhide guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 218 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Rawhide S01E01 air?
Incident of the Tumbleweed aired 1959-01-09 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Fleming as Favor and Eastwood as Rowdy on the drive — the cattle-drive workplace is the premise from week one.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Rawhide is the cattle-drive procedural: Head 'em up, move 'em out, and Clint Eastwood learning the sneer that later conquered spaghetti westerns. Watch it now as the TV cowboy-to-global-star pipeline in weekly form — trail dust as workplace drama, years before Eastwood became a one-name industry.
The cattle are already moving when the cameras find them — January 9, 1959, CBS, trail boss Gil Favor and ramrod Rowdy Yates punching a weekly clock that looks like dust and sounds like a job. Rawhide is not a campfire postcard. It is a cattle-drive procedural: Head 'em up, move 'em out, and a young Clint Eastwood learning the sneer the later spaghetti years would sell as destiny. Eric Fleming holds the drive. Sheb Wooley and Paul Brinegar's Wishbone keep the workplace from becoming a statue. Charles Marquis…
Filed against
- Eric Fleming as Gil Favor
Eric Fleming drove the herd as Gil Favor on Rawhide — Head 'em up, move 'em out, cattle-drive procedural, and the TV cowboy pipeline that taught a young Clint Eastwood the sneer. Trail dust as workplace drama. TV Flash files him as 1950s…
- Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates
Clint Eastwood played Rowdy Yates on Rawhide — the cattle-drive procedural, head 'em up, move 'em out, a weekly trail that taught a sneer in public. TV cowboy as workplace drama: dust, a crew, years of driving beef as plot. TV Flash files…
- Sheb Wooley as Pete Nolan
Sheb Wooley's Pete Nolan scouted Rawhide as cattle-drive procedural weather — Head 'em up, move 'em out, Clint Eastwood learning the sneer that later conquered spaghetti westerns. Trail dust as workplace drama. TV Flash files him as 1950s…
- Paul Brinegar as Wishbone
Paul Brinegar played Wishbone on Rawhide, the 1950s cattle-drive procedural — head ’em up, move ’em out, trail dust as workplace drama. Clint Eastwood learning the sneer that later conquered other ranges. TV Flash files him as cook-wagon…