A. Swinburne Slocum is the main villain of the Cowboy Way segments of Riders Radio Theater, along with his henchman Charlie. Inspired by stereotypical fictional villains such as Snidely Whiplash, Slocum supposedly first appeared on Tumbleweed Theater, Riders In The Sky's first television series, although this can not be confirmed since no full length episodes have been released on any home media. He was portrayed by Fred LaBour (Too Slim).
In Riders Radio Theater (1988-1995)[]
The Cowboy Way Segments[]
Meltdown on the Mesa[]
Slocum first appeared in Meltdown on the Mesa 101, the first episode of Riders Radio Theater. In the Meltdown story-arc, he was responsible for creating a drought in Tumbleweed Valley when he bought and shut off Tinker's Dam, which caused Riders' In The Sky to drive their herd to the top of Three Mile Mesa to search for water. While at the Mesa, Slocum or Charlie watched from a distance and one of the two men fired their gun, which frightened the Riders' heard and caused them to stamped off the cliff. Pretty much everything bad that happens to the Riders in the following episodes of Meltdown is caused by Slocum.
Trivia[]
- According to Doug Green in the book It's The Cowboy Way: The Amazing True Adventures of Riders In The Sky, Slocum's name comes from "some cheesy 1950s western TV melodrama", where one scene depicts a landowner standing up to the local bully, telling him: "Slocum, get off my land". Green like the "A. Swinburne" part of his name because it was alliterative, and was a reference to the name of Edwardian poet Algernon Charles Swinburne.
Songs By Slocum[]
- Someone's Gotta Do It (from the 1990 album, Horse Opera)
Someone's Got To Do It by Slocum & Charlie