*** COWBOY BALLS ***
THE UNOFFICIAL FAN SITE -- EST. 1997
*** COWBOY BALLS ***
 Cowboy Balls Fan Magazine, May 1959. Yes, this exists. Yes, I have three copies. |
*Definition = a Cowboy Balls fan. Yes, we checked. There are enough of us to justify a counter. Gunfights, heartbreak, dusty trails, frontier justice... and one uncle who probably should have been explained better. That's right -- this is Cowboy Balls, a mostly-forgotten Western from the golden age of television. The Ball family, their sprawling Arizona ranch, and a whole lot of dramatic staring into the middle distance. You remember it. Somewhere in your brain, it's still there. Otherwise, you wouldn't have wandered in here. Chances are you stumbled across it in reruns -- some lazy Saturday afternoon in the late '70s or '80s, half-paying attention, wondering why this show felt both important and supremely entertaining. Five seasons, then gone. No explanation. No closure. Just dust. Either way: welcome. You've found your people. Not normal people. But committed. Quick disclaimer: this is a completely UNOFFICIAL website. No copyrights are intended. There's been no involvement from H.W. von Feenery or anyone who was actually involved in making the show. I'm just a fella. Just a guy who loves a show with a level of dedication that probably should have been directed toward something more productive. I let my horse die in a barn fire while capturing vid clips. RIP Thunder |
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Sheriff T and the Lonesome Trail Guys have done it. The theme from Cowboy Balls has been given the full remix treatment by producer Mark C. Funkbastard, and the result is something that Jean-Jean LaFleur, were he alive, would almost certainly have complicated feelings about. The album features Bastian Pusch, Cajun Pepper, and others. There are remixes on here that sound like a hoedown at a Berlin nightclub at 3am. It is a lot. We did not ask for this. We are glad it exists. |
 Sheriff T and the Lonesome Trail Guys, spotted at a club recently by a Cowboy Baller who wishes to remain anonymous. They appear to be doing fine. The pirate hat is unexplained. No one is asking. |
 Cajun Pepper -- rapper and featured artist on Cowboy Balls: The Remixes. His track is reportedly called "Six Shooter (Balls Mix)" and it goes extremely hard. These are not words I expected to type on this website. |
As for the song itself -- the Cowboy Balls theme is one of the most memorable pieces of music in TV history, and it has a secret origin as a French anti-war protest song. In 1956, Marseille-born singer-songwriter Jean-Jean LaFleur wrote "Couilles de Cowboy" as a protest against the Algerian War -- banned from state radio, naturally, which made everyone want to hear it. American producer Willie Munbrayne found it while scouting Europe, brought it to Sheriff T, and the rest is history. LaFleur died in poverty without ever being thanked. His last recorded words were apparently a slur directed at Casey Kasem. No one has ever figured out why. FULL LYRICS AND HISTORY HERE.
WRITE YOUR LETTERS!!
Tommy Smith's Audio Clip!!
Thanks to the legendary Tommy Smith, we now have the only known audio recording of the Cowboy Balls: The Next Generation opening theme, captured off a television in 1988 on his brother's cassette recorder. The sound quality is exactly what you'd expect. LISTEN HERE (turn it up; it'll still be awful).
PICS PAGE UPDATE!!
New additions to the PICS PAGE, including a behind-the-scenes photo from the "Alien Visit" episode that you absolutely have to see to believe.
Fan Fiction Section!!
Our FAN FICTION PAGE now has 14 stories including 5 crossover stories now online. I'm not going to pretend I didn't write three of them.
COMING SOON......The H.W. von Feenery Story
So what's in this site? Well, all sorts of good stuff, like:
Remember this site is a work in progress. Contributions welcome -- e-mail me at cbfan@cowboyballs.net. I'll use almost anything you send and give you credit. That's just the kind of generous person that I am.
Series Title: Cowboy Balls
Network: National Broadcasting Network (NBN)
Premiere: September 1958
Finale: May 1963
Number of Seasons: 5 (4 good ones)
Setting: Ball Ranch, Arizona Territory, 1870s
Creator: H.W. von Feenery
Producer: Willie Munbrayne (Seasons 1-4), technically H.W. von Feenery (Season 5, God help us)
Music: "The Theme from Cowboy Balls," performed by Sheriff T and the Lonesome Trail Guys
Frank Ball and Mitch Mitcherson -- the dynamic duo of Ball Ranch. Season 2 promo shot.
Frank Ball - Portrayed by Henry "Hank" Thompson
The Ball family patriarch and owner of Ball Ranch. Stoic, decent, and a symbol of frontier integrity. Thompson was a veteran character actor who brought real gravitas to the role and was by all accounts the moral backbone of the production as well as the show. He retired from acting shortly after the series ended, gave almost no interviews, and has remained almost entirely out of the public eye ever since. He is also reportedly the most furious man in Hollywood, on account of Rod McHarris, though the specifics of this feud have never been officially confirmed. Exhaustive speculation is available on our Bulletin Board.
Abigail Ball - Portrayed by Barbara St. Suzanne
Frank's eldest daughter -- intelligent, strong-willed, and way ahead of her time. St. Suzanne went on to become a prominent advocate for women's rights in the entertainment industry, and has said repeatedly that her years playing Abigail were the most formative of her career. She also had a late-career dance hit with Dance, Fancy Man, Dance, which is available on streaming and is genuinely excellent. She is a queen and I will not hear otherwise.
Mitch Mitcherson - Portrayed by Rod McHarris
A British Shakespearean actor playing an American drifter and gunslinger. This works considerably better than it has any right to. McHarris brought a theatrical depth to the role that elevated the entire series and his evolving relationship with Abigail gave the show much of its emotional weight. He continued to have a successful stage and screen career after Cowboy Balls and speaks fondly of the show to this day. He will not discuss Hank Thompson. We respect this.
Jedediah "Stinky" Ball - Portrayed by unknown
Frank's jovial uncle, providing both comic relief and the occasional piece of frontier wisdom. The nickname "Stinky" is never explained at any point during the series' five-season run and not a single character ever remarks upon it.
Ricky Ball - Portrayed by unknown
The youngest Ball, embodying youth and innocence on the frontier. A fine young character who deserved better than Season 5.
The full episode guide has moved to its own page. It covers all five seasons, including Season 5, which I continue to document out of a sense of duty rather than affection.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL EPISODE GUIDE
In 1982, somebody thought it would be a good idea to make a reunion movie. In theory: wonderful. In execution: well. The elephant in the room is that Henry "Hank" Thompson refused to return due to his feud with Rod McHarris. The details remain murky. There have been allegations. I will not repeat them here as this is a family-friendly website, but if you go digging in the Bulletin Board archives you'll find some extremely committed speculation.
Rod McHarris and Barbara St. Suzanne both returned and were fine. The film was not fine. Watch it if you must.
Cowboy Balls: The Next Generation (1988)Oh boy. Oh no. Oh, sweetie.
In 1988, NBN attempted to reboot the franchise with Ball family descendants. H.W. von Feenery returned as creator at the age of 88. None of the original cast participated. Six episodes aired. The series was canceled, never re-aired, and has never been officially released in any format.
The only known recording of any part of this series is an audio snippet of the opening theme, captured off the television by young fan Tommy Smith on his brother's cassette recorder. Tommy is a hero. The recording sounds like someone holding a phone to a speaker during a rainstorm. It is absolutely precious. LISTEN HERE.
IMPORTANT FOOTNOTE ON H.W. VON FEENERY: Shortly before his death, von Feenery confessed to the 1922 murder of Hollywood director William Desmond Taylor. By this point he was, by general consensus, considered to be completely full of it, and no one investigated. I include this for completeness and because it is genuinely one of the strangest things I have ever had to put on a website.
Rod McHarris continued to have a successful career on stage and screen. Speaks fondly of Cowboy Balls and will not discuss Hank Thompson. Respect.
Barbara St. Suzanne became a prominent women's rights advocate in the entertainment industry, crediting her role as Abigail Ball as a formative influence. She also had a late-career dance hit with Dance, Fancy Man, Dance, which is available on streaming and is genuinely good. She is a queen and I will not hear otherwise.
Henry "Hank" Thompson retired from acting shortly after the series ended. Gave almost no interviews. Remains correct about everything. We respect his privacy and his grudge.
Willie Munbrayne left the show at the end of Season 4, feeling underappreciated. He was underappreciated. Season 5 is Exhibit A. His whereabouts thereafter are unknown to this author, but wherever he is, I hope someone is thanking him.
Sheriff T and the Lonesome Trail Guys have had a long and successful career in country music and are apparently still very much active -- as evidenced by the club photo in the theme song section above. The pirate hat remains a mystery. Jean-Jean LaFleur got none of the credit for any of this. Life is frequently unfair.
Here's a sampling of what we've got. Click any image to see the full size version (pretend that works).
Fan Magazine May 1959 |
Cast on set circa 1960 |
Season 2 promo shot |
 Barbara St. Suzanne publicity still |
 The Denton Brothers. Menacing. |
 "The Beast of Ball Ranch" |
 "Stinky's Big Run" Yes, really. |
 "The Alien Visit" behind the scenes |
The Remixes album. It's real. |
Sheriff T spotted in the wild, recently |
For the complete gallery including WAV files, promotional artwork, and two blurry screenshots from a VHS of dubious origin, CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PICS PAGE.
For years, this page has included a write-in campaign to cable networks and home video distributors to get Cowboy Balls released on DVD. We are sorry to report that this campaign has not worked. It has not come close to working. No one in power has shown any interest whatsoever, and frankly the people we've been writing to may not even work there anymore.
Cowboy Balls has never been released on DVD, VHS, laserdisc, streaming, or any other home media format. At this point it seems unlikely it ever will be. We are choosing to remain hopeful anyway, because that is what Cowboy Ballers do. Frank Ball didn't give up when Crazy Lenny let the cattle get loose, and neither will we.
The campaign to get The Next Generation officially released also continues, against all odds and reason. Six episodes exist in a vault somewhere. Tommy Smith's cassette tape proves it. RELEASE THE TAPES.
In the meantime, if you have any recordings of the original series -- VHS, Betamax, anything -- please contact me immediately.
This site is committed to keeping the memory alive for the late '50s Western TV series Cowboy Balls, starring Henry "Hank" Thompson, Barbara St. Suzanne, Rod McHarris, and the one and only Jedediah "Stinky" Ball.
Thanks, Dudes!!
Dale Okonkwo
P.S. I'm sure there will be a few of you super fanatics out there who object to my less than reverent tone. The only way I can answer you folks is to quote William Shatner from a November, 1986 skit on Saturday Night Live: "GET A LIFE, will ya, people! I mean, for crying out loud, it's just a TV show." Of course, he was referring to Star Trek, but the principle's the same. That said, I have built an entire website about this show. So maybe don't listen to me on this one.