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The Mexican "Robin Hood," the Cisco Kid
and his rotund sidekick "Pancho" (played by Mel Blanc) rode through
the Southwest robbing from the rich, and giving to
the poor. A great deal of care and spirit in recreating
a true Mexican flavor in the show.
Text on OTRCAT.com ©2001-2008 OTRCAT INC All Rights Reserved-Reproduction is prohibited.
 The Cisco Kid and Pancho are a wonderful pair of
rough and ready vagabonds who often are mistaken for
outlaws themselves. They are smart enough to use this
to their advantage, and get in and out of trouble
at the drop of a sombrero. They had trusty steeds
that any young cowhand could name - for Cisco, it
was Diablo, and Pancho rode Loco. And often, the pair
seemed like a couple of crazy devils themselves. Pancho
is one of the best sidekicks in Western OTR, as he
is always rattling on with a sense of humor that is
as wide as his belly. He's a lover of the food, while
Cisco is obviously a handsome, dashing hero who has
an eye for a shady "varmint", or the fair
lady in distress that usually thanks him at the end
of the episode. From '42 to '45, Jackson Beck played
Cisco Kid, and Louis Sorin handled Pancho. Mutual-Don
Lee productions took over in '46, and Jack Mather
became Cisco, and Harry Lang played Pancho. They continued
in the roles until the show's end in '56.
Tailblazing success in radio made many cowboys ride in
shows aimed mainly for kids. With bad hombres that snarled
a little harder, and fistfights that were sound choreographed
to last longer and be a little more violent than the Masked
Man's. The western series that came after the Masked Man's
fame used the best of him, and found their own ways of
heightening the excitement. Not that The Cisco Kid
has anything like the realism of Gunsmoke,
Have Gun Will Travel
or Tales of the Texas
Rangers -The Cisco Kid is similar in sound
and feel to Wld Bill Hickok,
two more popular cowboy series of the same years. None
of them sang like Roy Rogers
or Gene Autry.
The sound effects, which are mainly hoofbeats, gunshots
and ughs and grunts of scuffles, are perfect.
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