“GUNSMOKE”
The
first broadcast was September 10, 1955.The
Last broadcast was September 1, 1975.
Two
of its stars, James Arness and Milburn Stone, remained all twenty seasons,
with Amanda Blake departing after nineteen years.
Matt
Dillon played by, James Arness, was the Marshall of Dodge City, Kansas.He
has the reputation as a fair man with a quick draw.He
protects the little town in the harsh territory from cattle stealers, bandits,
fugitives, and gunslingers that populate the town, and surrounding territory.Matt
has never been married, but shares a mutual admiration with Kitty Russell,
who owns, the Long Branch Saloon.
Doc
Adams played by, Milburn Stone, is an expert on bullet wounds in Dodge
City.He is the intellectual in the
town and one of Matt Dillon’s closest friends.He
is an admired citizen among the towns people because of his skill as a
doctor.Doc Adams is a bachelor and
when he is not practicing medicine he is either hanging out with Matt Dillon
or with Kitty Russell.
Festus
Haggen played by, Ken Curtis, is Dodge City’s Deputy Marshall.Fetus
has the respect of the townspeople as a capable lawman.He
is also one of Matt Dillon’s best friends who he is loyal to.Fetus
is also a bachelor, and hangs out at Long Branch Saloon.
Kitty
Russell played by, Amanda Blake, is the owner and operator of the Long
Branch Saloon.She is obviously a
tough lady as well as businesswoman.Kitty
employs one bartender, and a number of pretty ladies for her customers
to look at.She does very well for
herself, and as mentioned before cares very deeply for Matt Dillon.
Gunsmoke
Originally started out as a radio show in1952 and lasted until 1961.It
was on the air for nine seasons, six of those on at the same time as the
television show.Many of the radio
show stories were reused on television.None
of the actors from the original radio show went on star on the television
series.
Gunsmoke
was one of the most popular Westerns that were on television in the late
50’s.It also holds the record for
the most episodes ever (633) among prime-time series.The
thing that separated Gunsmoke from the other dozen or so Westerns that
were running at the time was there choice of content.While
other shows were doing “fantasy” themes, Gunsmoke explored contemporary
issues such as, rights of minorities.These
sometimes-heavy issues within the show made the main character, Matt Dillon,
seem like a deeper person since he had to make hard decisions.Gunsmoke
started a Western trend in the early 1950’s, but at the time of its cancellation
in 1975, it was the only one left of it’s kind.
·There
were 633 total television episodes: 233 half-hour (1955-1960) and 400 hour
long episodes (1961-1975)
·The
first 11 seasons were in black and white, the last 9 seasons were filmed
with color
·The
actor originally slated to play Matt Dillon was Denver Pyle AKA Uncle Jesse
from the Dukes of Hazard
·Gunsmoke
was actually cancelled after it’s fifteenth season, but people were so
upset (it was mentioned it congress) that CBS brought it back
http://members.aol.com/Mandy148/index.html
http://www3.sympatico.ca/rgosselin/gunsmoke.htm. .
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/1331/tv/gun/30093index.html
http://members.xoom.com/sirjam/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/~tschuyler/gunsmoke1.html
. http://desiluweb.com/TVLand/Gunsmoke/
References
T.V. Land Web-Site. (On-Line).Available:
Tamara’s Home Page. (On-Line). Available:
http://comp.uark.edu/synder/gunsmoke