Gunsmoke Episode Summaries: Unless otherwise noted the below episode summaries were provided by R. Steven Smith [email protected] . The summaries for missing episodes were primarily written by Stewart Wright. This material has been made available to Old Time Radio Researchers Group and is intended for the enjoyment of the casual OTR listener or Gunsmoke fan. We would ask that this material not be re- published or re-produced without the permission of the authors. Dedication: These summaries are made part of the OTRRG Gunsmoke (v. 4) distribution through the efforts of members of the Cobalt Club. Still believing in the philosophy of posting episodes of a particular OTR series one episode at time, the Club allows time for critical review and research of these episodes. These summaries are dedicated to the Cobalt Club and its members. Special acknowledgement is given to Stewart Wright, the moderator of the Gunsmoke Forum, who has spent untold hours researching OTR and in particular Gunsmoke. The entire OTR community is indebted to him for his invaluable contribution to our hobby. Introducution to the series: Gunsmoke was aired from April 26, 1952 to June 18, 1961 on CBS Radio. Although many people at CBS had influence in the making and creation of the Adult Western, it might be fair to say that it was Norman MacDonnell imdb.com/name/nm0531990/ and John Meston imdb.com/name/nm0582307/ that made Gunsmoke into the Western icon that it is. The name "Gunsmoke" itself has been attributed to CBS west coast programming Vice President, Harry Ackerman imdb.com/name/nm0009974/ (and maybe his assistant Guy della Cioppa imdb.com/name/nm0217424/ ). Regular Starring Cast members included: Matt Dillon - William Conrad imdb.com/name/nm0002016/ Chester Proudfoot - Parley Baer imdb.com/name/nm0046373/ Kitty Russell - Georgia Ellis imdb.com/name/nm0254853/ Dr. Charles Adams - Howard McNear imdb.com/name/nm0573830/ Rex Koury wrote the music. Among the many fine actors in the Gunsmoke “stock company” were: John Dehner us.imdb.com/name/nm0215000/ , Lawrence Dobkin us.imdb.com/name/nm0229697/ Harry Bartell us.imdb.com/name/nm0058438/ Vic Perrin us.imdb.com/name/nm0674775/, Sam Edwards us.imdb.com/name/nm0250344/ Virginia Gegg us.imdb.com/name/nm0339615/ , Ralph Moody us.imdb.com/name/nm0600525/ Jeanette Nolan us.imdb.com/name/nm0634282/, James Nusser us.imdb.com/name/nm0638281/ Helen Kleeb http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0458560/ Virginia Christine http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0160417/ Jack Kruschen us.imdb.com/name/nm0472816/ Barney Phillips us.imdb.com/name/nm0680237/ Lou Krugman us.imdb.com/name/nm0472632/, Vivi Janiss us.imdb.com/name/nm0417669/, Don Diamond http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0224614/ Joseph Kearns http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kearns Richard “Dick” Beals http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0063710/ Joe DuVal http://us.imdb.com/name/nm1069035/ Lillian Buyeff us.imdb.com/name/nm0004029/, Herb Ellis us.imdb.com/name/nm0254870/, Mary Lansing us.imdb.com/name/nm0487104/ Paul DuBov us.imdb.com/name/nm0239532/, ************************************* Brief geography leason on western Kansas Here is a map of Western Kansas in 1895. Kansas is bordered to the north by Nebraska, to the south by the then Oklahoma Territory, to the east by Missouri and to the west by Colorado. Notice the Arkansas River as a prominent geographic point of interest on Gunsmoke. A gander on the map tells you why. What is not on the map is the fact that the Arkansas River flowed from the Rockies through the silver ore rich (also lead and briefly gold) town of Leadville, Colorado www.westernmininghisto...Leadville/ flowing <almost north to south> through Pueblo, CO and then continuing west to east toward the Kansas state line. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...nsas_River Dodge City is the County seat of Ford County, KS. Hays Kansas www.ku.edu/heritage/ks...shist.html is mentioned often in Gunsmoke as a larger city where prisoners are moved to and sometimes where trials are held. Notice it is the County seat of Ellis County and is to the northeast of Dodge City & Ford County. Kinsley mentioned in the episode "Never pester Chester" lies to the northeast of Dodge. Here is a map of Kansas River Systems: Almost all mentioned at sometime on Gunsmoke – The red square marks the approximate location of Dodge City, Kansas. The Republican River (north of Hays) sometimes mentioned on Gunsmoke flows from Colorado clipping northwest Kansas and then into Nebraska and then dips down into eastern Kansas. Notice the map also shows the Cimarron River as it flows to the south of Dodge City near the Kansas and then Oklahoma Territory line. Wagon Transportation: #1. The Santa Fe Trail: The mountain branch of the Santa Fe Trail followed the north side of the Arkansas River (near Dodge) as it headed toward Colorado. #2 The Cimarron Cutoff: The Cimarron Cutoff crossed the Arkansas near Dodge and headed south-southwest to Wagon Mound, New Mexico. This was a very risky means of early transportation because water supply along the Cimarron was not dependable. www.stjohnks.net/santa...utoff.html As for railroads, the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) reached Dodge City on September 05, 1872 and ran north of the Arkansas River (at least near Dodge). On Dec 23, 1873 the ATSF reached the Colorado state line and on March 01, 1876 it was conected to the western rails at Pueblo, Colorado. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...Fe_Railway "Dodge City" actually came into existance the spring before the AT&SF arrived. The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RR) is to the south of the Arkansas River and a spur shown on the map went into "S. Dodge" <the attached map is from 1895 - The rails of the CRI&P did not reach the outskirts of Dodge until 1887 (past the time set for Gunsmoke)>. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...c_Railroad _________________ EPISODE SUMMARIES Gunsmoke 52/04/26 Billy the Kid Story written by Walter Brown Newman with Don Diamond as Pete “the Dutchman” Ziegler, Harry Bartell as Mr. Hightower & as angry bar patron, Richard Beals as William “Billy the Kid” Bonnie, Paul DuBov as Adam Richards (brother of Clay Richards) & Ernie, Mr. Hightower’s assistant & angry bar patron & Mary Lansing as Mrs. Bonnie Note: Georgia Ellis has the role of Francie Richards in this episode. Clay "Red" Richards is wanted for murder. He murdered an old man, Mr. Grinnell (the bank cashier) and a Chinese cook during a botched bank robbery. But before Mr. Hightower can even print the Wanted! Posters, Pete "the Dutchman" Ziegler comes up the road with Richard's body tossed like a "sack of wheat across the saddle". Ziegler claims he just found Richards body. Ziegler and Richards had been friends and partners. The good town’s people of Dodge seem to think that Ziegler killed Clay. Matt asks Doc for inquest. Doc is thrilled at the money he is earning for autopsy. He revels in the days back in California in 1853 when the killed Joaquin Murrieta.* A young run away from Cottonwood is being held by Chester until his mother can come and get him. Matt teaches the young boy about guns and how to clean them. Clay's brother Adam Richards wants to revenge his brother's death by going after the Dutchman. Adam accuses Matt of protecting the Dutchman so that Matt can get Clay's widow Francie Richards. Doc reports that the cashier probably wounded Clay during the robbery, but death was caused by a knife wound in the back. After Adam gets good and stinking drunk, he leads a lynch party to the Dodge Jail. Matt kills Adam Richards and thereby effectively disperses the crowd. Mrs. Bonnie arrives at the jail to get her boy William. The boy has run off and it becomes obvious that he finished off Clay Richards with his Barlow knife* to get his .44 cal pistol. Matt tells Mr. Hightower that he needs new posters printed for William "Billy the Kid" Bonnie - Wanted for Murder. <19 sec plug for the Jack Benny Show at 15:12> <28 sec plug for Amos ‘n Andy & the Bob Hawk Quiz Show at 28:41> • Note: Joaquin Murrieta was a Mexican bandit killed by the California Rangers in 1853. His head was cut off and preserved in a jug of brandy. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaquin_Murietta • Note: A “Barlow knife” was a pocket knife first manufactured in Sheffield England by Obadiah Barlow around 1670. Note on William “Billy the Kid” Bonnie: See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_the_Kid **************************************************** <This outline was written by and published with the permission of Stewart Wright> Gunsmoke 52/05/03 Ben Thompson <not available> Written by Herb Purdum CAST William Conrad as Matt Dillon Parley Baer as Chester Proudfoot Howard McNear as Doc Adams Harry Bartell as Harry (barkeep) Harry Bartell as Texas Bob Griffin as Ben Thompson Lawrence Dobkin as Lassiter Michael Ann Barrett as Vi Lassiter Sam Edwards as Man (braggart) Don Diamond as Nueces EPISODE NOTE: Several of the early GUNSMOKE episodes had no titles on the scripts. The script for this episode was simply labeled GUNSMOKE #2. This episode received the title "Ben Thompson" at an unknown, later date; perhaps by Norman Macdonnell. PLOT: Lassiter, a notorious gunman, forces Matt Dillon into a gunfight and is killed. His irate wife, Vi, tells Dillon that she plans to ruin the Marshal's reputation before she has him killed. Sometime later, Texas, a drunk who Dillon disarmed and arrested, tells him that three gunmen: Ben Thompson, Tom Tom Henderson, and Nueces Smith are coming to Dodge to kill the Marshal.