Gunsmoke

[Tim L]

Encore Westerns is currently running both the half hour and hour long episodes of Gunsmoke. They really don't hold up very well and he hour long episodes often seem like padded half hour scripts.


It was my observation both then (early 60s) and now in reruns, that most of the 30 minute shows that converted to 60 minutes seem like padded half-hour scripts.

IIRC, both Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchock went to 60 minutes the same year. the Hitchcock shows seemed a bit padded, but the one hour Twilight Zones were atrocious - they moved at a glacial pace, and had none of the suspense of the half-hour shows.

Serling supposedly hated the hour long Zones. As far as the early years of hour long "Gunsmoke", I read once (maybe on the late, great Jump The Shark) that Ernie Anderson's "Ghoulardi" once did a Gunsmoke bit soon after the show went to an hour. The parody featured long scenes of pretty much nothing happening, and viewers were calling the station to complain about how boring the parody was.

Chuck Schodowski, producer/engineer of the Ghoulardi Show, has said over the years that he had pleaded with Anderson NOT to do the "Gunsmoke" bit for exactly the reasons stated above, but Ernie usually didnt listen..Anderson actually had a bit part on a Gunsmoke episode, and had said how much time was wasted on the set..This led to the Gunsmoke Parody called, "The Stranger"

 

[BD Sullivan]

Sherry Jackson, who appeared in a pair of 1962 Gunsmoke episodes, has said that James Arness would play cards on the set when not in a scene. She always knew when he lost a hand because he would unleash a string of obscenities.

 

[LKellerIII]

It was interesting to me that James Arness took offense a few years ago when Kelsey Grammar claimed to have the longest running character in television history (Frasier Crane when you add Cheers and Frasier together. Arness insisted that the longest running character was his Marshall Dillon. Though he may be technically correct, my recollection is that he got sick of playing Dillon the last six or eight years of the show, and was often absent for most of each episode, only on screen for a couple of minutes. Gunsmoke had become the Festus, Doc, and Kitty show.

 

[FredLeonard]

It was interesting to me that James Arness took offense a few years ago when Kelsey Grammar claimed to have the longest running character in television history (Frasier Crane when you add Cheers and Frasier together. Arness insisted that the longest running character was his Marshall Dillon. Though he may be technically correct, my recollection is that he got sick of playing Dillon the last six or eight years of the show, and was often absent for most of each episode, only on screen for a couple of minutes. Gunsmoke had become the Festus, Doc, and Kitty show.

Gunsmoke ran 20 seasons. Frasier appeared for 20 seasons (11 seasons of Frasier and 9 seasons of Cheers, starting in season 3). Of course, if you add in radio (Matt played by William Conrad) then Matt appeared for 23 seasons.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Of course, Frasier was not one of the main characters of Cheers in the early years, as opposed to Matt Dillon.

 

[LKellerIII]

It was interesting to me that James Arness took offense a few years ago when Kelsey Grammar claimed to have the longest running character in television history (Frasier Crane when you add Cheers and Frasier together. Arness insisted that the longest running character was his Marshall Dillon. Though he may be technically correct, my recollection is that he got sick of playing Dillon the last six or eight years of the show, and was often absent for most of each episode, only on screen for a couple of minutes. Gunsmoke had become the Festus, Doc, and Kitty show.

Gunsmoke ran 20 seasons. Frasier appeared for 20 seasons (11 seasons of Frasier and 9 seasons of Cheers, starting in season 3). Of course, if you add in radio (Matt played by William Conrad) then Matt appeared for 23 seasons.

Except that I was talking about the longest running character in "TV history," so radio and Conrad don't count. ;D

And given that Arness was the Johnny Carson of TV westerns (rarely on camera the last number of years), I'd personally give the nod to Frasier/Kelsey Grammar

 

[landtuna]

It was interesting to me that James Arness took offense a few years ago when Kelsey Grammar claimed to have the longest running character in television history (Frasier Crane when you add Cheers and Frasier together. Arness insisted that the longest running character was his Marshall Dillon. Though he may be technically correct, my recollection is that he got sick of playing Dillon the last six or eight years of the show, and was often absent for most of each episode, only on screen for a couple of minutes. Gunsmoke had become the Festus, Doc, and Kitty show.

Yup....they repeated the "he's gone to <Buffalo Chip> to pick up a prisoner" storyline a bunch.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Of course, William Conrad (who had a booming voice that was great for radio) wasn't used as the TV Matt Dillon since his ample girth wouldn't have given Dodge City much confidence in chasing down villains. Fast forward to the 70's and Conrad's turn as the portly detective Cannon, where numerous villains made cracks about Conrad's still rotund appearance. Then, when Jake and the Fatman arrived in 1987, you didn't really need to ask which role Conrad was playing.

 

[cspotrun]

speaking of william conrad, didn't he voice the opening for "The Fugitive"? Great Voice!

 

[BD Sullivan]

speaking of william conrad, didn't he voice the opening for "The Fugitive"? Great Voice!

"Fate moves its huge hand..."

 

[Corky Marlowe]

speaking of william conrad, didn't he voice the opening for "The Fugitive"? Great Voice!

And some old cartoon about a moose and a squirrel..."Join us next time for 'Bullwinkle Goes Splat', Or, 'That's Me All Over'!"

 

[anotherguyTN]

Here are downloads of the Gunsmoke radio shows with some pictures of the cast that were made for the radio version.

The cast was:
William Conrad as Matt Dillon
Georgia Ellis as Kitty
Howard McNear (Floyd the Barber on The Andy Griffith Show) as Doc Adams
Parley Baer (The mayor on some early Andy Griffith Shows) as Chester

http://www.otrwesterns.com/westerns/gunsmoke/?pid=2

 

[landtuna]

Here are downloads of the Gunsmoke radio shows with some pictures of the cast that were made for the radio version.

The cast was:
William Conrad as Matt Dillon
Georgia Ellis as Kitty
Howard McNear (Floyd the Barber on The Andy Griffith Show) as Doc Adams
Parley Baer (The mayor on some early Andy Griffith Shows) as Chester

http://www.otrwesterns.com/westerns/gunsmoke/?pid=2

Tint that photograph a little bit and those people would look plenty authentic.

Conrad doesn't look near as huge as he did later on TV.

 

[Ultimajock]

As far as the early years of hour long "Gunsmoke", I read once (maybe on the late, great Jump The Shark) that Ernie Anderson's "Ghoulardi" once did a Gunsmoke bit soon after the show went to an hour. The parody featured long scenes of pretty much nothing happening, and viewers were calling the station to complain about how boring the parody was.

...that kinda sounds like "Bang Gunleigh, U.S. Marshal Field," the spoof that had been done by Stan Freberg on his CBS radio show back in '56...

 

[LKellerIII]

speaking of william conrad, didn't he voice the opening for "The Fugitive"? Great Voice!

Yes - Conrad did a lot of voiceovers. My father - an animator - worked with him in the 1960s on The Bullwinkle Show - he was the narrator. My dad thought he was a great guy.

While he was doing Gunsmoke on radio, he also acted in a lot of 1940s movies, usually playing heavies (pun intended) - mob bosses, small time villains, etc. He was always large, and not pretty - so it's no surprise that the producers of the TV show wanted somebody handsome and more telegenic to play Matt Dillon.

Really, Conrad's first successful TV venture was Cannon. In the 70s, detective shows were plentiful, and they were jokingly referred to as "the blind detective" (Longstreet), "the old detective" (Barnaby Jones), etc. Cannon was, of course - "the fat detective." And the show often played off his size. I recall one scene in which Cannon is chasing a bad guy in a firehouse, and goes after the guy down that pole-chute thing, and gets stuck.

I remember reading somewhere that Conrad despised that Lincoln Mark IV they made Cannon drive, because it was low-slung and he used to hit his head getting in and out.

 

[rnigma1]

As far as the early years of hour long "Gunsmoke", I read once (maybe on the late, great Jump The Shark) that Ernie Anderson's "Ghoulardi" once did a Gunsmoke bit soon after the show went to an hour. The parody featured long scenes of pretty much nothing happening, and viewers were calling the station to complain about how boring the parody was.

...that kinda sounds like "Bang Gunleigh, U.S. Marshal Field," the spoof that had been done by Stan Freberg on his CBS radio show back in '56...

Sponsored by the "Eating Corporation of America... makers of Puffed Grass... look for the kid with the green mouth!"

"Somebody sure been cuttin' that fence down."

 

[cspotrun]

half the fun of watching these old re-runs from the late 50's is identifying the actors who played bit parts then later went on to their own tv shows years later. recently i saw joe flynn "cap'n binghamton" from mchales navy,and ted knight from the MTM show, the list is endless.

 

[MCarney]

Or tonight on one of the half hour shows on Encore Western, where Lee Van Cleef played the intended victim and not the killer.

 

[BD Sullivan]

half the fun of watching these old re-runs from the late 50's is identifying the actors who played bit parts then later went on to their own tv shows years later. recently i saw joe flynn "cap'n binghamton" from mchales navy,and ted knight from the MTM show, the list is endless.

I saw Flynn in an episode of Highway Patrol and it took me halfway through the show before I realized it was him. He wasn't wearing glasses and he was playing a villain--with the requisite leather jacket. It was his distinctly nasal voice that gave it away.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

When "Gunsmoke" came to TV in 1955, John Wayne was offered the role of Marshall Dillon, but couldn't take it because of too many film commitments.

He did, however suggest to producer Norm Macdonnell that a friend of his, James Arness, be considered for the role.

Arness won the part, and in many respects, was probably a better Matt Dillon than Wayne would have been.

And the famous opening of the early years, in which Arness, as Dillon, faced down a gunslinger on the streets of Dodge City. The other gunslinger fired first but missed; Dillon fired but hit.

(The opening scene was first filmed in 1955 and was re-shot around 1965 or 1966 when the show went color; it was dropped around 1968 or 1969 after considerable criticism of violence on TV in the wake of the King and Bobby Kennedy assassinations)

I thought "Gunsmoke" was filmed at the old Republic Studios, however, while on a tour of the Warner Brothers lot at Burbank in the Summer of 2000, the tour guide claimed that the original opening showdown scene of "Gunsmoke" was actually shot on the Warners' Western street.