(Courtesy of Les Adams) Above - the title lobby card from IN OLD NEW MEXICO (Monogram, 1945). Martin Garralaga is shown in the lower left. In the lower right are Gwen Kenyon and Renaldo. (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above, Duncan Renaldo and Martin Garralaga (1894-1981) as Pancho in a crop from a lobby card from IN OLD NEW MEXICO (Monogram, 1945). (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is Donna Martell (billed as Donna De Mario) and Gilbert Roland in a crop from a lobby card from ROBIN HOOD OF MONTEREY (Monogram, 1947). (Courtesy of the Yaconelli Family) Above are Frank Yaconelli (1898-1965) and Gilbert Roland. They did three Cisco Kid films together at Monogram: SOUTH OF MONTEREY (1946), BEAUTY AND THE BANDIT (1946) and RIDING THE CALIFORNIA TRAIL (1947). You'll find an extensive biography and photos of Frank Yaconelli in the Saddle Pals & Sidekicks section on the Old Corral. |
(Courtesy of Les Adams) Above are Cecilia Callejo and Duncan Renaldo in THE CISCO KID RETURNS (Monogram, 1945), Renaldo's first appearance as Cisco. | (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above are Ramsay Ames and Gilbert Roland in BEAUTY AND THE BANDIT (Monogram, 1946). |
(From Old Corral collection) Mention the Cisco Kid and most of us immediately think of Duncan Renaldo (right) as Cisco and Leo Carrillo as Pancho. The above image is probably a still from THE DARING CABALLERO (United Artists, 1949). Renaldo's hoss was named 'Diablo' and Carrillo's palomino was named 'Loco'. Renaldo rode several hosses during his reign as the movie and TV Cisco Kid, including a white during the series at Monogram Pictures. (Courtesy of Les Adams) Rotund Chris-Pin Martin (real name: Ysabel Ponciana Paiz) (1893-1953) was another Pancho, and you'll find more about him in the Old Corral section, Saddle Pals & Sidekicks. |
The Cisco Kid Filmography Sound era films only Special thanks to Les Adams for providing this filmography |
Release Date |
Title | Company | Director | Cisco Kid | Sidekick | Leading Lady |
1/20/29 | IN OLD ARIZONA | Fox | Raoul Walsh & Irving Cummings | Warner Baxter | N/A | Dorothy Burgess |
11/14/31 | CISCO KID, THE | Fox | Irving Cummings | Warner Baxter | Chris-Pin Martin (as Gordito) | Conchita Montenegro & Nora Lane |
4/28/39 | RETURN OF THE CISCO KID, THE | 20th-Fox | Herbert I. Leeds | Warner Baxter | Cesar Romero (as Lopez) | Lynn Bari |
12/29/39 | CISCO KID AND THE LADY, THE | 20th-Fox | Herbert I. Leeds | Cesar Romero | Chris-Pin Martin (as Gordito) | Marjorie Weaver |
4/12/40 | VIVA CISCO KID | 20th-Fox | Norman Foster | Cesar Romero | Chris-Pin Martin (as Gordito) | Jean Rogers |
6/28/40 | LUCKY CISCO KID | 20th-Fox | H. Bruce Humberstone | Cesar Romero | Chris-Pin Martin (as Gordito) | Mary Beth Hughes |
10/4/40 | GAY CABALLERO, THE | 20th-Fox | Otto Brower | Cesar Romero | Chris-Pin Martin (as Gordito) | Sheila Ryan |
1/17/41 | ROMANCE OF THE RIO GRANDE | 20th-Fox | Herbert I. Leeds | Cesar Romero | Chris-Pin Martin (as Gordito) | Patricia Morison & Lynne Roberts |
4/18/41 | RIDE ON VAQUERO | 20th-Fox | Herbert I. Leeds | Cesar Romero | Chris-Pin Martin (as Gordito) | Lynne Roberts & Mary Beth Hughes |
2/16/45 | CISCO KID RETURNS, THE | Monogram | John P. McCarthy | Duncan Renaldo | Martin Garralaga (as Pancho Gonzales) | Cecilia Callejo |
5/15/45 | IN OLD NEW MEXICO | Monogram | Phil Rosen | Duncan Renaldo | Martin Garralaga (as Pancho) | Gwen Kenyon |
9/15/45 | SOUTH OF THE RIO GRANDE | Monogram | Lambert Hillyer | Duncan Renaldo | Martin Garralaga (as Pancho) | Armida |
3/30/46 | GAY CAVALIER, THE | Monogram | William Nigh | Gilbert Roland | Nacho Galindo (as "Baby") | Ramsay Ames |
6/15/46 | SOUTH OF MONTEREY | Monogram | William Nigh | Gilbert Roland | Frank Yaconelli (as "Baby") | Marjorie Riordan & Iris Flores |
11/9/46 | BEAUTY AND THE BANDIT | Monogram | William Nigh | Gilbert Roland | Frank Yaconelli (as "Baby") | Ramsay Ames |
1/11/47 | RIDING THE CALIFORNIA TRAIL | Monogram | William Nigh | Gilbert Roland | Frank Yaconelli (as "Baby") | Teala Loring & Inez Cooper |
9/6/47 | ROBIN HOOD OF MONTEREY | Monogram | Christy Cabanne | Gilbert Roland | Chris-Pin Martin (as Pancho) | Donna DeMario (Martell) & Evelyn Brent |
11/8/47 | KING OF THE BANDITS | Monogram | Christy Cabanne | Gilbert Roland | Chris-Pin Martin (as Pancho) | Angela Greene |
12/15/48 | VALIANT HOMBRE, THE | United Artists | Wallace Fox | Duncan Renaldo | Leo Carrillo (as Pancho) | Barbara Billingsley |
5/13/49 | GAY AMIGO, THE | United Artists | Wallace Fox | Duncan Renaldo | Leo Carrillo (as Pancho) | Armida |
6/14/49 | DARING CABALLERO, THE | United Artists | Wallace Fox | Duncan Renaldo | Leo Carrillo (as Pancho) | Kippe Valez |
10/7/49 | SATAN'S CRADLE | United Artists | Ford Beebe | Duncan Renaldo | Leo Carrillo (as Pancho) | Ann Savage |
2/24/50 | GIRL FROM SAN LORENZO, THE | United Artists | Derwin Abrahams | Duncan Renaldo | Leo Carrillo (as Pancho) | Jane Adams |
Footnotes and addendum: • Does the name Barbara Billingsley, the heroine in THE VALIANT HOMBRE, strike a bell? Think 'June Cleaver' ... and TV's LEAVE IT TO BEAVER. • Warner Baxter did another Cisco Kid like role in THE ARIZONA KID (Fox, 1930). But O'Henry and Cisco weren't part of this western - perhaps Fox couldn't get the rights or couldn't ink the deal in time. And they did the film with Baxter portraying a character that resembles/mimics Cisco ... but wasn't officially the Cisco Kid. • Baxter also starred in THE ROBIN HOOD OF EL DORADO (MGM, 1936) which sometimes gets confused as a Cisco Kid western. In this, Baxter plays the role of Joaquin Murrieta, not Cisco. • There was a brief revival of the Cisco Kid - Turner Pictures did a 1994 made-for-TV movie, THE CISCO KID, with Jimmy Smits and Cheech Marin as Cisco and Pancho, respectively. • There is a reference to one silent era Cisco film, THE CABALLERO'S WAY (1914), starring William R. Dunn. |
The Cisco Kid radio show ran from 1942 - 1956, and was heard over the Mutual Broadcasting System, Don Lee Network (California), and via syndication. In the early version, Jackson Beck was Cisco and Louis Sorin played Pancho. In later episodes, Jack Mather was Cisco and his sidekick (nicknamed Pancho/Porfirio) was played by Harry Lang and Mel Blanc. Jerry Haendiges has an Old Time Radio (OTR) site which has a bunch of logs/listings of radio shows. The log notes there were over 600 shows in the Jack Mather series: http://www.otrsite.com/logs/logc1024.htm
The Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo Cisco Kid TV show consisted of 156 half-hour episodes filmed during 1949-1956. It was syndicated, filmed in color, and produced by Frederick W. Ziv's Ziv Television Programs company. The opening had Renaldo (on his paint horse "Diablo") and Carrillo (on his palomino "Loco") riding hard against a dusty and cactus strewn backdrop with an exciting musical score in the background - "The Cisco Kid Theme" was written by Albert Glasser. The introduction/opening narration on the TV show was also memorable: "Here's adventure! Here's romance! Here's O. Henry's famous Robin Hood of the old west - The Cisco Kid!"
In addition to THE CISCO KID, Frederick Ziv did a bunch of radio and many 1950s syndicated and network TV shows including HIGHWAY PATROL, BAT MASTERSON, SEA HUNT and SCIENCE FICTION THEATER.
The Cisco Kid Comic Books As with most western film and TV heroes, there was a comic book series. |
There is a section on the Old Corral devoted to Duncan Renaldo, and it includes info on the TV series, comic books, the long-running Cisco Kid radio program, et al.
Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Warner Baxter, Gilbert Roland, Cesar Romero and Duncan Renaldo:
Duncan Renaldo (1904 - 1980): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0719121/
Cesar Romero (1907 - 1994): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003110/
Warner Baxter (1889 - 1951): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0062828/
Gilbert Roland (1905 - 1994): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0738042/
Find A Grave website has photos of the grave markers for:
The Project Gutenberg website has the complete text of O'Henry's The Caballero's Way (as that story is one of several in the book Heart of the West by O'Henry): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Caballero's+Way