I can remember as a boy, getting up on Saturday mornings to watch my favorite television shows. Among them were
a very few cartoons, maybe "Mighty Mouse" and "Tom and Jerry," but mostly good 'old black and white (that's all
there were) half-hour series of yesterday's television heroes like "Roy Rogers" and "Sky King." Having an interest
in Aviation at a young age, I can still remember the show as the image of a Cessna 310 in flight flew across my
screen and rolled off in a turn to the left. A strong voice belted out, "Out of the clear blue of
the western sky comes Sky King."
Sky King and his niece, Penny (and in the earlier shows, nephew named Clipper)always
had an exciting time, saving the good and foiling the bad. Somehow the plane (or planes)
were always involved in watching what was going on from above or getting somewhere just in
the nick of time. The plane was called the "Song Bird." It was a Cessna 310 (and in the earlier
episodes, a Cessna T-50 twin-engine "Bamboo Bomber."
Sky King's real name was Kirby Grant Hoon. He was born in Butte, Montana, November
24, 1911. He was interested in music and acting from an early age. His skill as a violinist and a
soloist won him a scholarship to the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Upon com
pleting his formal education, Grant was involved in multimedia performances on radio, stage
and movies. He did recordings for established stars including Bing Crosby. Bing was not good
at reading music so Paramount Studios hired Grant to learn the songs, record them with the
studio orchestra and then teach the songs to "the Crooner." The picture was "Pennies from
Heaven" with Fred McMurray and Donald O'Connor.
Kirby's flying career began in a 1929 Waco. During the early 1940's war effort, Grant
made repeated attempts to serve his country as an aviator but his color blindness destroyed
those hopes. He ended up carrying a rifle in the infantry until 1945.
Upon his military release, he was placed under contract to Universal Studios. During his
career he made at least 50 pictures between Universal, Columbia, and Allied Artists. He
started his career under the name of Robert Stanton.
With the advent of television, there came changes. Some of the original radio soap operas
made the change over to the new operating format. Television offered actors new challenges.
One company, Derby Foods, a subsidiary of Swift, approached Universal with the idea of
changing over their Radio soap named "Sky King."
"Sky King" was based on a radio story by Roy Winsor, it's main characters were Schuyler
King (Sky) a former WWII naval aviator, Penny and Clipper (Sky's niece and nephew.) They
lived on a ranch in Arizona. Sky King owned an aircraft called the "Song Bird." The episodes
were always full of excitement and adventure. Earl Nightingale had been the "Sky King" of
radio but like many radio actors, was just not suited for the role in television.
Grant's agent approached Kirby with the part and set up a screen test. Several weeks
later he was notified that he had been selected for the part and went to the studio to meet his
TV niece, Penny (Gloria Winters) and nephew Clipper (Ron Hagerthy.) They were to live on the
Flying Crown Ranch near the town of Grover, Arizona (a fictitious name) and fly around in the
Song Bird. Grant had earlier purchased a 1946 Cessna T-50 Bobcat, which became the first
"Song Bird." The N-number was N67832, (which incidentally is still on a T-50 today.)
After only 18 episodes of the series, the "Sky King" project was canceled due to a parting
of the ways between Derby Foods and it's ad agency. Kirby Grant left Universal to join Wilding
Studios in Chicago as a writer-director.
In early 1955, Kirby was approached by Nabisco. The company wanted to pick up the
series if he would agree to return to the starring role. He agreed and in the next six months, a
years worth of episodes were produced.
In 1956, the original "Song Bird" was sold to a rancher friend for a dollar as it had dry
rot in it's main spar and his friend wanted a rebuild project. Grant replaced it with a new
"Song Bird" purchased for $72,000. It was a 1956 Cessna 310B (s/n 35548). It's N-number
was N5348A. (This N-number is on a Cessna 320 at present.) The last aircraft used was a 1960
Cessna 310D (s/n 39117). Song Bird III's N-number was N6817T. This plane was only used for
promos and not in the actually show.
Through 1959, 72 episodes were filmed. The episodes were filled with excitement and
danger and the fantastic flying sequences made the series a hit. It was definitely one of the
must see programs for many on the Saturday morning lineup.
Grant did as much of the flying as he could get away with, but it seemed the location sets
were always visited by insurance representatives. Kirby Grant was a licensed pilot and it was
tough for him to let anyone else do the work. Many of the shots were shot around Apple Valley,
California. The airport that was used is now a shopping mall. The interior scenes were shot in
Los Angeles. The only mishap that occurred during the filming of the series occurred when
Grant stopped the 310B a few feet past the camera and buried the nosegear in a soft spot.
Grant was married (Carolyn) and had three children. After the series ended, Kirby took
to the road on personal appearances. He traveled for awhile with a circus which had formed
the backdrop for two of the "Sky King" episodes.
Gloria Winters (Penny), married one of the show's crewmen and resides in Southern California.
She adopted a domestic life-style and left her acting for the most part.
Ron Hagerthy (Clipper), departed the show into the military, did some acting
and now lives in Southern California. He runs his own company selling Investment Real Estate.
Grant relocated to Florida where he spent much of his time in fundraising efforts for
such programs as cerebral palsy, heart fund and other programs as his way of saying "thanks"
to the public who made him successful. In 1978, Kirby Grant suffered a massive heart attack.
The operation required a triple bypass and a new valve, but soon he was back on schedule
again.Following his heart attack the FAA suspended his pilot's license. Grant worked with Sea
World and the Florida Festival in its public relations department and was the Dayton Air Fair's
Grand Marshall. Kirby did some announcing with the "Great American Air Shows." He tried
his hand at real estate development and there was talk in the 70's of reviving Sky King and
some plans on opening a "Sky King" theme park. The project never happened.
Grant was killed in a car accident on October 30, 1985 while on his way to watch a launch
of the Space Shuttle Challenger at Cape Canaveral. He was to be honored by the shuttle astronauts for
his achievements in encouraging aviation and space flight.
Although Kirby Grant is gone, the real Sky King lives on. As he touched the lives of
those who watched his show so will the pilots and "want-to-be pilots" touch the lives of those
around them. "Out of the clear blue of the western sky..." lives on in those who stretch to see
the horizon, who escape the bounds of earth in search of the sky.
|