Submitted For Your Approval: A Man Named Trump, and His Wall on TV in 1958
Cue the Twilight Zone theme as we submit this clip from the 1958 CBS western series Trackdown. Taken from the episode entitled “The End of the World," it features a stranger-come-to-town called Walter Trump, proclaiming sure destruction from meteors to rain down on the townsfolk and special protection from a wall he alone knows how to build, that will save them.
So, maybe file this under a variant of the Infinite Monkey Theorem. Instead of the 100 chimpanzees at typewriters though, switch them out for post-war Hollywood screenwriters who, tasked with churning out the old-school standard of 32 (!) episodes per show, per season – with one coughing up a script that landed on a Trump, a wall, and the threat to sue those speaking out against him.
While politics has veered hotter in temperature this cycle, it’s maybe a nice diversion to note this Trackdown clip that’s been making it’s way around the web since it was posted earlier this month, before the inauguration. It’s been more or less vetted by snopes.com, the site dedicated to fact-checking such things. (And we’re as certain as we can be that that's a young Robert Culp, right, starring as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman.)
“The End of the World” has the Trump character (Lawrence Dobkin) claiming special knowledge of the impending doom and of the wall he claims can save lives. For a price, of course. “I am the only one. Trust me. I can build a wall around your homes that nothing will penetrate,” he promises.
This is either just an amusing tidbit that unofficially proves our 100 years of stockpiled electronic media is now its own ersatz oracle, capable of portending any future or, it’s a lefty novelty, with the Trump character also being called a con man, cloaked in a goofy wizard’s robe and stealing away under the dark of night in the final scene.
No matter what side you're on, it’s safe to agree that the President would never be caught in the robe or, without the combover.