''China Smith'' is a 30-minute American syndicated television adventure series starring

Dan Duryea Dan Duryea ( , January 23, 1907 – June 7, 1968) was an American actor in film, stage, and television. Known for portraying a vast range of character roles as a villain, he nonetheless had a long career in a wide variety of leading and second ...

. It is set in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. It was released in the fall of 1952. The program's alternate title was ''The Affairs of China Smith'', and the last 26 episodes were syndicated with the title ''The New Adventures of China Smith''.

Premise

The title character was a soldier of fortune, "an opportunistic con artist and sometimes private eye" who sought adventure . Episodes had Smith confronting characters who ranged from Communists to "bigger crooks than he was." He often helped people who were innocent but somehow were entangled with villains. The other regular characters were a madam who helped Smith and a chief of police who sometimes helped and sometimes interfered. The series's pilot was shown as an episode of ''

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars ''Schlitz Playhouse of Stars'' is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to ''Schlitz Playhouse ...

''.

Cast

as China Smith *

Douglass Dumbrille Douglass Rupert Dumbrille (October 13, 1889 – April 2, 1974) was a Canadian actor who appeared regularly in films from the early 1930s. Life and career Douglass Dumbrille ( ) was born in Hamilton, Ontario. As a young man, he was employed ...

as Inspector Hobson *

Myrna Dell Myrna Dell (born Marilyn Adele Dunlap; March 5, 1924 – February 11, 2011) was an American actress, model, and writer who appeared in numerous motion pictures and television programs over four decades. A Hollywood glamour girl in the early p ...

as Shira *

Clarence Lung Clarence Lung (1914–1993) was a film and television actor. He appeared in films such as '' Dragon Seed'', ''Song of the Sarong'', ''Experiment in Terror'', ''Prisoner Of War'', ''Operation Petticoat'', '' China'' and ''The Hundred Days of the D ...

as Johnny Fung Much of the cast and crew also worked on the film '' World for Ransom'', which is considered an extension of the television program.

Production

Bernard Tabakin was the producer. Arthur Person was the director, with Robert Aldrich directing two episodes. Robert C. Dennis was the writer. The series was made with a two-year gap; the first 26 episodes being filmed in Mexico in 1952, the second 26 episodes were shot in 1954-1955 in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The change occurred after the

American Federation of Television and Radio Artists The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) was a performers' union that represented a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording a ...

(AFTRA) complained that the productions in Mexico deprived AFTRA members of work. Divisions of the

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada, known as simply the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE or ...

(IATSE) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) also protested the Mexican filming. Roy Brewer, who was chair of the AFL's Hollywood Film Council and representative of the West Coast IATSE, complained to

Thrifty Drug Stores Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. was a pharmacy holding company that owned the Thrifty Drugs and PayLess Drug Stores chains in the western United States. The combined company was formed in April 1994 when Los Angeles-based TCH Corporation, the p ...

, which sponsored the show on

KECA-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains ...

, resulting in the company's withdrawal of the six Mexican-filmed episodes from the station. Tabakin was removed from the council's "'unfair' list" after he agreed to limit production of TV shows to the United States. Production of the show was stopped in April 1954 by the Screen Actors Guild's (SAG) cancellation of the contract that it had with producer Tableau Television, Limited (TT). SAG charged that TT had not met the contract's requirements for royalty payments to actors. ''China Smith'' was financed and distributed by Proktor Syndication International (PSI-TV).

Episode list

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0044250, China Smith
Smith'' at CVTA
1952 American television series debuts 1955 American television series endings American adventure television series Black-and-white American television shows English-language television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in Singapore Television shows filmed in Mexico Television shows filmed in Los Angeles