May 9, 1958: A Fraud Named Trump and His Wall -- In a Black & White TV Western

Robert Culp

May 9, 1958: Some TV shows have found ways to predict the future. On this night, one did in a way that turned out to be chilling.

From October 4, 1957 (the day Sputnik 1 was launched) to September 23, 1959, CBS aired a Western series titled Trackdown. It starred Robert Culp as Hoby Gilman, a Texas Ranger in the 1870s. The show was considered so accurate in its portrayal of the Rangers as they were at the time that it carried the official endorsement of the current version of the agency, something no other TV show has ever received, not even Chuck Norris' Walker, Texas Ranger.

For those of you who only know about the baseball team with that name: The Texas Ranger Division has existed since 1835, before Texas' separation from Mexico, as a law enforcement agency, and is, effectively, their State Police. The fictional Lone Ranger and his martyred brother were Texas Rangers.

In early episodes, stories focused on Gilman going to different Texas towns in pursuit of wanted fugitives. At midseason, the series became set in the town of Porter, which is the name of a real town outside Houston. Episodes touched on multiple Western themes and topics, so it was known as "the thinking man's Western."

On May 9, 1958, the show aired an episode titled "The End of the World." It tells of a rabble-rousing doomsayer named Walter Trump (played by Lawrence Dobkin), who comes to Porter, and scares the townsfolk with talk of an impending disaster. He claims to be the only person who can save them -- by building a wall. Gilman accuses him of dishonesty, and he threatens to sue Gilman. By the end of the episode, he is arrested as a con man and a fraud.

A fraud, using scare tactics to con people into giving him money, and promising to save them by building a wall? And, when challenged by a good man, threatens to sue? And his name is Trump? Sound familiar? It's worth pointing out that the real Porter is less than 400 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Later in 1958, ABC would premiere the police drama Naked City, and Lawrence Dobkin was hired as the narrator. At the end of each episode, he said, referring to the population of New York, "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them."

He went on to play gangster Dutch Schultz on The Untouchables, and a killer in the pilot episode of The Streets of San Francisco. He directed an early episode of Star Trek, "Charlie X," and, much later, on Star Trek: The Next Generation, played a Klingon Ambassador. He died in 2002.

Robert Culp would go on to star in I Spy and The Greatest American Hero, and lived until 2011. While his son Joseph Culp is also an actor, actor Stephen Culp is not related to him.

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May 9, 1958 was a Friday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 9-5 at Yankee Stadium. Bob Turley, on his way to becoming the 1st Yankee to win the Cy Young Award, outpitched Pedro Ramos, who often had bad luck against the Yankees before being acquired by them for the 1964 Pennant run. Turley aided his own cause with a home run, and was further backed by homers from Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 13-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Ted Williams went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-5.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Ted Kluszewski hit a home run off Robin Roberts in the bottom of the 12th inning, breaking up a dual shutout between Roberts and Ron Kline. Roberto Clemente went 0-for-4.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Athletics, 7-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline went 3-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Early Wynn pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Cincinnati Redlegs, 5-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4. Frank Robinson went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at the 1st Busch Stadium (formerly the last Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Stan Musial went 0-for-4. Ernie Banks went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* And in an old rivalry in a new place, the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 11-3 at Seals Stadium in San Francisco. It was just another day at the office for Willie Mays: He went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs, a walk, and 5 RBIs. Duke Snider went 0-for-3. Jim Gilliam and Charlie Neal each got 3 his, but the rest of the team only got 4.

 The Giants' transition from New York to California was in full gear. The Dodgers' similar transition looked like it wasn't happening. But the Dodgers would win the Pennant the next year, and 3 more in the 1960s, while the Giants would win only 1.