Bat Masterson – Maria McClay

Category: Bat Masterson

Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which was a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry, and the half-hour black-and-white series ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961. The show was produced by Ziv Television Productions. “Bat” is a nickname for Masterson’s first name, Bartholemew, although in a 1961 episode “No Amnesty For Death” he says his name is William Barkley Masterson. [Wikipedia]

1958-1960

Another American Western television series Maria appeared in was “Bat Masterson”, a fictionalized account of the life of the very real marshal, gambler and dandy Bartholemew William Barclay “Bat” Masterson (1853-1921), a US Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, journalist, gunfighter and sheriff in the Old West.

The series ran in 107 episodes over three seasons from 1958 to 1960 and portrayed Bat Masterson as a ladies man, often dressed in Eastern clothing with a preference for solving problems with his walking cane rather than his gun.

Episodes

S02 E01 – To The Manner Born (1959)

October 1, 1959

An old friend asks Bat to San Francisco to look into the background of her daughter’s fiancée. Bat learns she is a frequent visitor at a casino where she seems to win but her fiancée seems to lose – even his life. Maria appears as a card dealer employed by the casino who refuses to hand more chips to the dubious fiancée, when he busts out and finds himself broke at the table.