thirds of the way through the first seasons production,  Pat Buttram (I) (qv) was severely injured in an explosion and was  hospitalized for several months. In order to complete the production  run, his sidekick role was filled in the remaining episodes by  Chill Wills (qv), Fuzzy Knight (qv) and Alan Hale Jr. (qv)  Wills and Knight wore the same costume as Buttram so that long shots  of stock footage could be easily used, but there was no disguising  Hales bulk 