"The Hope Chest" features William Demarest as Ulysses Bowman, an aging prospector trying to ward off two gunmen when Johnny Yuma arrives to offer another gun. After the strangers depart, the grateful Bowman guides Yuma back to his camp to meet his daughter Felicity (Cathy O'Donnell, previously seen in "You Steal My Eyes"), a very pretty young woman who resents being treated as an old maid by a father who resorts to a hope chest full of gold as a dowry for any prospective son-in-law. Not yet ready to marry and settle down, Johnny declines but remains long enough for the two gun toting strangers to make their presence known, played by William Harlow (sixth of seven) and Soupy Sales, in only his second acting role in a series (the first came weeks earlier in "The Legacy"). Serving as a plausible and attractive love interest for Johnny Yuma (giving him a rare screen kiss for this Christmas episode), Cathy O'Donnell was a fine actress who never quite achieved the level of stardom she deserved, and only had three more credits following this second REBEL, before her premature death from cancer at age 46 in 1970.
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