What’s to be done with Joey, a streetwise orphan from the city, who gets into fights and is generally going down a bad road? It would be great if a rough, yet loving, rancher took young Joey in hand with some affectionate discipline.

And that is exactly what happened in Fury, starring Bobby Diamond as Joey and Peter Graves as Jim Newton, the rancher. Jim—his own wife and children dead—adopts Joey and brings him to the Broken Wheel ranch where the young boy quickly falls in love with a stallion named Fury. Boy and horse develop a strong bond; Fury rarely accepts anyone other than Joey as a rider. The two can usually be found riding all over the countryside with fellow riders Pee-Wee and Packey.

Joey learns many important life lessons under the tutelage of Jim and ranch hand Pete and still has time for many adventures with Fury. In any given episode, someone (usually a guest star) would get in trouble because of good ol’ fashioned stubbornness or mischief and Fury would have to trot in and save the day.

The series was very popular and aired from 1955 to 1960 on NBC. The ratings dropped when Peter Graves left the show but Fury did just as well in syndication for the next two decades.