L to R: Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah (X Brands), Madame Francine (Frances Bergen), Yancy Derringer (Jock Mahoney)
Yancy Derringer is an American Western series that was broadcast on CBS from 1958 to 1959, with Jock Mahoney in the title role.
Yancy Derringer is a Gentleman Adventurer living in New Orleans, Louisiana, after The American Civil War. Widely respected, he is hired by the city administrator, John Colton, as a secret agent authorized to help maintain law and order and justice in the city by any means that may become necessary. His constant companion is a Pawnee Indian who communicates with him only by hand gestures, and appears ready at a moment's notice to use the shotgun that he always carries. Yancy owns a riverboat, the Sultana, and lives at the former family plantation, Waverly. Madame Francine, the strong-willed, beautiful owner of a members-only gambling house in New Orleans, is his Love Interest. Miss Mandarin is the proprietor of his hangout, the Sazarack Restaurant.
Tropes used in Yancy Derringer include:
- The Big Easy: Set in New Orleans.
- The Boxing Episode: In "The Wayward Warrior", pirate queen Coco LaSalle convinces Yancy to back her fighter against the mighty heavyweight called the Tennessee Slasher. Derringer organizes the illegal fight away from the city administrator's prying eyes.
- Ceiling Cling: In "Return to New Orleans", Yancy and Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah leave a hotel room ahead of some gamblers who are angry about losing to Yancy. One of them fires several shots through the door, but when they charge out the corridor is empty. The gambler head of in search of Yancy and the camera pulls back to reveal Yahoo and Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah perched in an alcove above the door.
- The City Narrows: In "Gallatin Street", Yancy is asked by Colton to break the power of Toby Cook: the crime lord who controls Gallatin Street, the most lawless and dangerous street in New Orleans' Red Light District.
- Coffin Contraband: In "Loot from Richmond", Yancy learns of the (supposed) sudden death of General Stafford. However, the General is actually still alive, and his coffin instead contains a horde of $500,000 worth of silver and gold bullion, sent from Richmond.
- Counterfeit Cash:
- In "The Saga of Lonesome Jackson", Colton asks Yancy to investigate counterfeit money that's being passed throughout the French Quarter. His investigation brings him into contact with Lonesome Jackson, a Virginia City miner who recently struck in rich and came to New Orleans seeking a wife. The Treasury Department suspects Jackson because of the large bankroll he's carrying, but Yancy believes that the miner is being set up as a patsy by the real counterfeiters.
- When John Colton is promoted and ordered back to Washington in "A State of Crisis", General Wheeler takes his place with orders to break up a nation-wide counterfeiting gang that is based in New Orleans.
- Cramming the Coffin: In "Duel at the Oaks", Yancy agrees to "shoot" CharlesLeBow in a fake duel in order to smoke out the man who's trying to kill LeBow for real. When, at the "funeral", the body of LeBow's partner is discovered in what should have been LeBow's empty coffin, the City Administrator doubts Yancy's tale and plans to lock him in prison as a material witness.
- Dead Hat Shot: In "Return to New Orleans", Yancy gets pistol whipped and tossed over the side of a riverboat. His attackers see his hat float to the surface and assume he is dead. However, a few seconds after they move off, Yancy silently surfaces and reclaims his hat.
- Dramatic Drop: When Yancy turns up alive after being missing for years in "Return to New Orleans", old family retainer Obediah drops a tray with a tea set on it.
- Fauxreigner: Yancy's Love Interest is Madame Francine, the strong-willed, beautiful owner of a members-only gambling house in New Orleans. She pretends to be French, but her real name is Nora and she is actually Irish.
- From Dress to Dressing: When Colton gets shot in the arm in "Return to New Orleans", Yancy rips his sleeve open to examine the wound, and then uses the ripped sleeve to bind the wound.
- Grievous Bottley Harm:
- In "Return to New Orleans", Yancy starts trashing the casino which has been established in Waverly during his absence, and Amanda stops him by smashing a bottle over his head: knocking him out.
- In "Ticket to Natchez", Billie Jo James, in an apparent act of Self-Offense, throws a champagne bottle that clobbers Yancy in the back of the head.
- Hidden Weapons: Yancy carries four-barrel Sharps pepperbox derringer handguns concealed: one held by a clamp inside the top of his hat, one in his vest's left pocket under his jacket and one up his jacket's left sleeve in a wrist holster.
- Hollywood Voodoo: In "V is for Voodoo", Yancy tries to combat superstition when the city is terrorized by a mysterious voodoo priestess.
- I'll Take Two Beers Too: In "Ticket to Natchez", Femme Fatale Billie Jo James is trying to attach herself and is cosying up to him at Madame Francine's gambling club when she mentions that she is thirsty. Yancy orders two champagne cocktails, and then she tells the waiter "I'll have two, as well".
- Impersonating an Officer: In "Ticket to Natchez", Yancy helps U.S. Marshal Duke Winslow escort an army payroll to Natchez on his riverboat, the Sultana. However, it turns out the real Duke Winslow is dead, and the man accompanying Yancy is a bandit planning on stealing the money.
- I Own This Town: In "Gallatin Street", Yancy vows to take down Toby Cook; the local crime lord who controls the eponymous Gallatin Street, the most dangerous place in New Orleans' Red Light District. The police refuse to go there, and it said said that nobody can enter or leave Gallatin Street without his permission.
- Mad Bomber: In "Nightmare on Bourbon Street", a mysterious mad bomber steals explosives and threatens to blow up the entire city of New Orleans.
- Nothing Up My Sleeve: Yancy keeps one of his pepperbox derringers hidden up his jacket's left sleeve in a wrist holster.
- Pirate Girl: In "The Fair Freebooter", Yancy must deal with a female pirate, Coco LaSalle, who has stolen his shirt he ordered from Paris. Coco LaSalle returns in "The Wayward Warrior".
- Pocket Protector: In "Return to New Orleans", Yancy gets slugged over the head and tossed off the side of a riverboat. He is saved from unconsciousness, and therefore drowning, by the derringer hidden inside his hat.
- Prematurely Marked Grave: In "Gone But Not Forgotten'', Yancy and Pahoo take a train to Virginia City to check on a silver mine Yancy is part owner of. On the way, a woman and a man try to prevent their arrival. When he gets there Yancy finds a gravestone with his name on it, and learns that the daughter of his partner in the mine has been kidnapped.
- Protection Racket: In "Mayhem at the Market, merchants are in such fear for their lives that Yancy gets no cooperation in his attempt to break a new protection racket.
- Sawed-Off Shotgun: Beneath a blanket wrapped about his body, Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah carries a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun loaded with split buckshot, which he wields in emergencies.
- Shot at Dawn: In "Memo to a Firing Squad", even though a man sentenced to die has received a pardon, the officer in charge of the firing squad plans to carry out the execution anyway.
- Sword Cane: Yancy often carries a cane or a riding crop with a sword concealed within.
- Ten Paces and Turn: In "Duel at the Oaks", Yancy agrees to "shoot" Charles LeBow in a fake duel in order to smoke out the man who's trying to kill LeBow for real. When, at the "funeral", the body of LeBow's partner is discovered in what should have been LeBow's empty coffin, the City Administrator doubts Yancy's tale and plans to lock him in prison as a material witness.
- Trespassing to Talk: In "Gallatin Street", Yancy breaks into the room of his New Old Flame on the eponymous street in New Orleans' Red Light District. However, her employer is anticipating Yancy's visit and is waiting with his men.
- U.S. Marshal: In "Ticket to Natchez", Yancy helps US Marshal Duke Winslow escort an army payroll that is to be taken to Natchez, Mississippi, on Yancy's riverboat, the Sultana. The real Duke Winslow is dead and the Marshal is an imposter planning to steal the payroll.
- Weaponized Headgear: Yancy carries a pepperbox derringer held by a clamp inside the top of his hat.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In "Ticket to Natchez", female thief Dorinda Ashton fakes an attempt on her life and shoots herself in the fleshy part of her upper arm with her derringer so that Yancy will invite her into his cabin where she can get access to his safe.
