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- [00:00]
Martha Stewart
I'm Martha Stewart and I believe the best gifts are not only beautiful, but useful every single day. And Lenox has brought timeless beauty and lasting quality to our tables for generations. And their Lenox Spice Village is the perfect holiday gift for someone you love or for yourself. Spice Village transforms everyday spices into inspired memories filled with warmth and joy all year long. Give a gift that lasts beyond the holidays. Discover the collection@lenox.com SpiceVillage a new phone for Billy.
- [00:37]
MyFico / Liberty Mutual / Mint Mobile Advertisers
A necklace for Sam. All the while on the lookout for scams. A swipe here and tap there. Better make it go far. Turns out mom didn't know she needs.
- [00:45]
Narrator / Commentator
A new car this year.
- [00:47]
MyFico Advertiser
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- [01:21]
Andrew Rines
Welcome to the Old Time Radio Westerns. I'm your host, Andrew Rines, and I'm excited to bring you another episode. This is one of over 80 episodes released monthly for your enjoyment. You can find more western shows at our website by going to otrwesterns.com now, let's get into this episode.
- [01:40]
Parley Bear
The very first broadcast occurred Saturday evening, April 26, 1952, 24 years ago tomorrow. The script revolved around a 12 year old boy who was to become a legend in the West.
- [02:02]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Can you direct me to the marshal's office?
- [02:05]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Yes, ma', am, right here. I'm Marshal Dylan.
- [02:08]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
I left Cottonwood as soon as I got your telegram. I'm Miss Bonnie. Where's my boy?
- [02:12]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Oh, we have him, man. Safe and sound. Here, let me help you down. Hits that horse, Chester. Right this way, ma'. Am.
- [02:20]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Oh, I'm so sorry he put you all that trouble, Marshall. The truth of the matter is he is a wild one and no mistake. Takes after his father, one scrape after another.
- [02:30]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
He was no trouble at all. I enjoy children. I like to have him around. Bob. Bob, Your ma's here, son. Chester, where's the boy? Did you let him slip past you? No, sir, Mr. Dillon. He never got past me. Look, the back door's open.
- [02:48]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
He seen me and he hightailed it. The devil.
- [02:52]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
We'll round him up for you, ma'.
- [02:53]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Am.
- [02:53]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Don't worry.
- [02:54]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Oh, I don't know why I bother hauling him back if he's run away once. He's run away a thousand times. This time he ran Cause I wouldn't.
- [03:02]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Buy him a gun.
- [03:03]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
He wanted a real one. That boy's just gun crazy, I swear. Got him a nice Barlow knife instead.
- [03:10]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Barlo knife, I reckon.
- [03:11]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
It didn't signify. And off he runs.
- [03:13]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Barlow knife. Kid. Chester. Find that kid, Marshall.
- [03:20]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Has he done something bad with it? Told him to use it.
- [03:23]
Narrator / Commentator
Careful.
- [03:24]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
He promised he'd use it. Careful.
- [03:26]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
No, never mind, Chester. He's got Clay Strawberry ruin. We'd never catch up to him.
- [03:31]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
I try to bring him up right. I tell him to be good, but he don't listen. He just don't listen.
- [03:37]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Now, calm yourself, ma'. Am. Just calm yourself. Here's his little bundle, Mr. Dillon.
- [03:41]
Narrator / Commentator
What?
- [03:41]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Yeah, give it to him. That's pretty heavy. Here. You're better at notching. I am? Open it, will you?
- [03:48]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
For the moment he was born, he'd.
- [03:50]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Been nothing but tribulation. Now, please, ma'.
- [03:53]
Martha Stewart
Am.
- [03:55]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
What's he got in it, Chester? Shirt, stockings, piece of sausage. And this.44, double action. Yes, Mr. Dillon. That's Clay's gun. Sonny didn't manage to keep it long, did he? Well, if he wants a gun that bad, he's bound to get hold of another one somewhere, somehow. Chester called Mr. Hightower over. Hey.
- [04:25]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Hey, Mr. Hightower.
- [04:27]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Come on over. Mr. Dillon wants you. Marshall, could I have at least a drink of water? What? Oh, Ziegler, I forgot all about you. Chester, where are the keys? Right there on the desk.
- [04:46]
Narrator / Commentator
There we are.
- [04:47]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
It'll be safe for you to go home now. I can go back by the farm? Yeah, that's right. I'll send for you for the trial. Watch where you're going, you dumb. Excuse me. Yes, Marshall? Mr. Hightower, it appears that we can do business after all. Get some paper and a pencil. I want some notices printed. Fire away. I want it for murder. Wanted for murder. What's the boy's name?
- [05:13]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Bonnie William Bonney.
- [05:16]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
William. Bonnie. William. Bonnie. Age 12. Height about 5ft. Hair light, eyes blue. I don't suppose he's known by any other name.
- [05:28]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
I know. Everybody just called him Billy or the Kid.
- [05:34]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Also known as Billy the Kid. We'll return to the biography of Gunsmoke in just one moment.
- [06:00]
Martha Stewart
The holidays are about giving something truly special. I'm Martha Stewart, and I believe the best gifts aren't just beautiful, they're useful every single day. Lennox has brought timeless beauty and lasting quality to our tables for generations. And their Lenox Spice Village is the perfect holiday gift for someone you love or for yourself. It's more than a spice rack. It's a charming collection of hand painted houses that turn ordinary spices into extraordinary experiences. Imagine cinnamon from a tiny Victorian cottage or oregano from a pastel townhouse. Suddenly a simple meal becomes a moment to savor. Because spices can be more than ingredients, they can inspire memories, warmth and joy all year long. Give a gift that lasts beyond the holidays. Discover the collection@lennox.com SpiceVillage and now back to Gun Smoke.
- [07:02]
Narrator / Commentator
Billy the Kid was the first show by Walter Brown. Newman received good reports, but nobody was quite sure upstairs whether we had a hit or a miss because our leading man didn't sound like a leading man. Bill Conrad was not playing that as a warm, understanding, paternal figure whatsoever.
- [07:27]
Parley Bear
During the first few months, other writers were called in to mold the characters.
- [07:31]
Narrator / Commentator
Les Crutchfield was a writer who was to become one of the solid contributors to gunsmoke, writing possibly 70 or 80 scripts. Les wrote a writer named Herb Purdham, Joe Murcott, Lou Houston, Tony Ellis, a cross section of the better writers in town. But each week it meant that Messton had to do a little editing and a little fixing and a little adjusting on the script. And after about a year, John said that he didn't quite know why he was working this hard and not having the fun of writing them himself. So he left cbs, left an extraordinarily good job with a great deal of promise, as a matter of fact, on what was really a gamble because who knew how long Gunsmoke would go. So for the next three or four years until the television series started, John wrote basically every Gun Smoke, writing anywhere between 40 and 52 scripts a year. So he was a, he was a busy man.
- [08:34]
Parley Bear
Colorado born, John Neston had his own views about the west and how the Gunsmoke characters should be developed and portrayed.
- [08:42]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Well, I don't like phony stuff and I knew something about the west, sure, the way people are, the way they talk, the way they behave. And I never liked heroes much. So we kind of reversed everything. So we did what I tried to do, what I did with narration, which was sort of an innovation I think at the time.
- [09:06]
Parley Bear
I tried to make him just an.
- [09:08]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Honest character, not a.
- [09:12]
Parley Bear
Not a cook like Wyatt Earp.
- [09:15]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
People like that who were just bums try to make him an honest guy and the guy with a sense of tragedy guy didn't particularly enjoy the job, did it? But then it took quite a while because, you know, we put Walter, put.
- [09:35]
Parley Bear
Chester in, we had to work torch.
- [09:37]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
On him a great deal for a long time. Kitty and Doc had to develop and Matt had to develop. And we did this over a long period of time. No, we worked very closely.
- [09:50]
Parley Bear
I used to go.
- [09:51]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
I didn't go around hang around TV much. But in the radio I was there all the time. I'm always hired the very best actors. No question of that. You know, they couldn't read a line. They'd let me know with great pleasure. And they're generally right. I learned how to write dialogues so it could be read and short. I always wrote short dial. There were speech. English, you know, Almost absolutely missed occasionally for an effect. But the characters developed very slowly. We'd go and after the shows Conrad and Norm and I and whoever else was around parley where was interest Would sit around discuss the show and we were all interested. Discuss character and this and that. Why they should do this or that or how they should behave.
- [10:43]
Parley Bear
Neston once expressed his views in detail. Here's Gunsmoke announcer George Walsh reading a classic Meston letter addressed to the editor of the New York Tribune.
- [10:52]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
It isn't often that a writer or any man is given an opportunity to destroy a figure. He's always hated a character that all his life has cluttered his landscape like a slum. And to be able to do so and get paid for up to boot is to be doubly blessed. My hated figure is the western hero who rides along thumping his guitar nasally, singing a synthetic ballad and looking for all the world like a fugitive from a cheap circus. I spitting his milk. And he'll have to go elsewhere to find somebody to pour the lead for his golden bullets. Now, the best way to destroy something bad is is to write it down with something better. And I've got a guy I think outclasses any of these phony big heads. His name's Matt Dillon and his hair is probably red if he's got any left. He'd be handsomer than he is if he had better manners. But life and his enemies have left him looking a little beat up. And I suppose having seen his mother back about 1840 struggling to take a bath in a wooden washtub without fully undress left his soul a little warped. Anyway, there'd have to be something wrong with him or he wouldn't have hired on as a United States marshal in the heyday of Dodge City, Kansas. Dodge at that time was the wildest town in America. And it was populated by men just as warped and more so than Matt Dillon. Consider this. The west, just after the Civil War.
- [12:32]
Narrator / Commentator
Was in a sense a kind of.
- [12:34]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Arena for frustrated gladiators, homicidal psychopaths gathered along the frontier and had themselves a real circus with little or nothing to stop them from happily mowing one another down. And that more men didn't die in this senseless slaughter may be laid to their comparatively primitive weapons, and certainly not to any civilized tendencies on their part. It ended finally, the murderers killed one another off and gradually disappeared from this section of the American scene. But the end was partly hastened by a few strangers who happened to get their satisfaction killing on the side of the law. Sheriffs, marshals and the like. Sure, a few of these men had a hazy sense of what the coming of law and order meant. But for the most part, they looked on their role in the play of.
- [13:27]
Narrator / Commentator
Progress simply as a job.
- [13:30]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
And they went ahead and did their job, often in the face of unbelievable odds, and then picked up their paychecks and went their way. Heroes. To us now, they were heroes. But to their contemporaries, the biggest hero was he who, by whatever means, murdered the greatest number of his fellow men. The rules were childishly simple. If the other man went for his gun before you did, you were free to kill him with immunity. And anyway, if there weren't too many unfriendly witnesses about, he could always claim he did and probably get by with it just as easily. Mac Dillon, because of obvious reasons, he's a cut above the usual lawmen I've described. But he's not, I trust, so far above the real thing as to be pure fiction. And the hardest thing for me, the writer, is to keep him on paper from goofing off into the never, never land of pure heroism. And the hardest thing for Norman MacDonald, the producer, director, and Bill Conrad, the star is to translate the script's attempt at authenticity into the living character of Matt Dillon. But we try, then try and keep trying. Our attempt to create as realistic and entertaining a program as possible is not, of course, the only one of its kind. But we did precede and were on the air trying before the release of such pictures as High Noon and Shane. And we're still on the air, and we're still trying.
- [15:16]
Parley Bear
Certainly, one of the reasons for Gunsmoke's hold upon its audience was Meston's style of writing.
- [15:21]
Narrator / Commentator
To try and analyze John Meston's contribution to the writing style of Gunsmoke would be difficult because John's writing is not flashy. It's not filled with purple prose.
- [15:34]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
It's not.
- [15:35]
Narrator / Commentator
If anything, it's understated and simple. John and I always felt that good Western writing didn't necessarily mean double Negatives and so on, that it really required research and understanding of the cowboy. And John was an avid researcher also. Of course, his boyhood in Pueblo, Colorado, helped color his scripts. But John used a great deal of the language that came from the cowboys that he had known and the friends he had known in Colorado. For instance, there was one phrase that John always loved particularly. A cowboy was talking about his mare to another cowboy who asked if the mare was a fast runner. And the first cowboy looked for a moment and then said, yes, she's swift. She could run a hole in the wind. She set her mind to it. Well, this was the kind of phrase that John loved because it was the. The man of the earth and the country. Using the things that he knew and using the things that he saw around him for descriptions which gave the dialogue or the speech patterns a richness and a fullness Was a strange combining of words and a strange combining of emotions that gave John's dialogue, as written in the Gunsmoke scripts, a special meaning that was hard for anyone else to duplicate. Always had a feeling about names, too. He felt that a name was a whole indication of the character that was to come. A friend of Matt's who arrives in town, if I remember correctly, was a ex lawman or a lawman and a friend of Matt's. Meston called him Nick Search, which is a marvelous way of painting the man's whole background just with a couple of words or other names like Toque Moreland. Or a funny little fellow who was running a town and was a crook, but a kind of a pathetic little crook. His name was Joe Phi. There was a doctor who came into town and got in trouble because he. Well, because of the laudanum that he was putting in his medicinal bottles. His name was Professor Lute Bone, which is a marvelous name for a doctor. Or the buffalo hunter called Gatliff. John never gave Gatliff any name because he felt that Gatliff was enough. But he did mention that he was a man with speckled eyes, which is a beautiful way of describing a man. There was a family who lived out on the prairie, who lived in a sod hut, a sad excuse for a home. And they were called the Beatles. As a matter of fact, John called the script Smoking out the Beatles. When it was done on television, it was changed to Smoking out the Nolans. For some reason that nobody yet has been able to figure out.
- [18:47]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
John Miston was a thorough technician and a writer of great integrity and accuracy.
- [18:57]
Parley Bear
This is Parley Bear, the talented and versatile actor who portrayed Chester Proudfoot.
- [19:02]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
And I think that since that era was probably the most colorful in Western history, that he strove to create and paint the most accurate image of the times that he could. And I, I think he succeeded. Now, so far as we know, you know what, what a genius John had for picking out names that describe the character. Matt Dillon was so faithfully written and so impeccably reproduced by Royce the way he builded it, that at one time we had a letter from the then secretary or president of the Chamber of Commerce in Dodge City, one to know since they had already determined that Matt Dillon had lived in Dodge City. Did we have accurate knowledge as to when he lived in Dodge City? Unless it was just a matter of coincidence and conjecture that there had at one time, according to the archives and the historical pages of Dodge City's history book, that there had been a Matt Dillon there. But so far as we knew, and so far as John Messen knew, Matt Dillon was completely a brainchild as well as the name. And it was very flattering for Dodge City Chamber of Commerce to assume that we would know when he had lived there, when, so far as we knew, he never had. People came west for a variety of reasons, and cheapest among them, it seemed like, was a tragedy that had occurred either back east or in Europe or people came west, it's true, to forget or to hide something that some malfeasance of their own in the more civilized sections of the country. And I think the west as it was developed, indeed our whole country was developed as a result of disappointment elsewhere. And his pen had the ability to pick that up. There's a kind of trite expression. I don't even know who originated it. The whole world belongs to the actor for his use only, not to keep. He must give it back. And when you analyze that, it's kind of true. You I know that I've seen lots of people. I think my he would be fun to play. And then you're not above plagiarizing a little bit of that man's character, a little bit of his life, a little bit of his way of speech, a little bit of his background. And John, Chester and Matt were talking and Matt asked Chester why he got up so early. And he said, well, I, I, I can't sleep. He said, it's a trade I have. As soon as the sun up, my feet start to sweat and I get uncomfortable get up. Well, John knew a person who said that some old codger he had met said that he got up because there was Something about the sun coming up caused his feet to sweat and he became uncomfortable in bed, so he got up. Well, that was a good line for Chester to have humanisms. John did those things. Chester acquired this dog that he loved dearly, and the dog liked everybody with Chester, and after he had bitten him soundly, Chester's only comment was, he'll come around. John Meston wrote realism. You could see the mud. You could see the slough that they were in. You could see the filth. But it was done because it was adroitly painted in. Have you found him, Mr. Dillon? Yeah, I thought I'd better come along and see. Toby's dead, is that it? Yes, sir.
- [22:56]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
All right.
- [22:58]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Well, Gatliff's down there in the middle of the hollow, but we can't get anywhere near him as long as he's got that Sharps rifle. He's killed a small herd of buffalo in there, and now he's lying out in the center of him. Well, that's the darndest thing I ever heard of, Mr. Dolan. He must have gone crazy, just like Toby said. Yeah. What's he shooting at now, Mr. Dylan? The way he's facing them shots. Yeah, that's a signal for help. Chester. Come on. Maybe this is a trap. Be ready to take cover behind one of these animals. It might be. Sounds like he's been hurt. Yeah. Keep your head up. Behind that big bull. Yeah, I see him. But, Mr. Dillon, he's all. There have been horses in here. Indians. My goodness.
- [24:21]
MyFico / Liberty Mutual / Mint Mobile Advertisers
Come.
- [24:38]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Well, that was his last effort. Chester. He's dead now, Mr. Dylan. That's awful. Yeah. Come on, let's get out of here. I don't know how the Indians caught Gatliff. He'd gone a little mad, and maybe that made it easy for him. But they finally got themselves a buffalo hunter. And into their unbelievably savage torture of him had gone all the hatred and desperation of a race being slowly starved and driven from their home. Then they'd put him there, surrounded by his own bloody slaughter.
- [25:30]
Narrator / Commentator
And they'd gone off with a gesture.
- [25:32]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Of contempt, Even his rifle and his ammunition by his side. And having seen what they did to him, I'll never know how he managed to fire even one of those shots. For all of his evil. Gadif had died harder than any man I'd ever seen. Chester and I rode back to Dodge, and it was never mentioned between us again.
- [26:17]
Martha Stewart
The holidays are about giving something truly special. I'm Martha Stewart, and I believe the best gifts aren't just beautiful. They're useful every single day. Lennox has brought timeless beauty and lasting quality to our tables for generations, and their Lenox Spice Village is the perfect holiday gift for someone you love or for yourself. It's more than a spice rack. It's a charming collection of of hand painted houses that turn ordinary spices into extraordinary experiences. Imagine cinnamon from a tiny Victorian cottage or oregano from a pastel townhouse. Suddenly, a simple meal becomes a moment to savor. Because spices can be more than ingredients, they can inspire memories, warmth and joy all year long. Give a gift that lasts beyond the holidays. Discover the collection@lenox.com SpiceVillage While holiday shopping.
- [27:17]
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- [27:27]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
7.
- [27:27]
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- [27:47]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
John is a most unique talent, a lovely man who is a great bleeder. He bleeds for everybody and perhaps that is the key to the success of that show is that it is so filled with the repulsion of man's inhumanity to man, seasoned and highlighted by red streaks of magnificent violence and yet the final total compassion with whatever the problem was. You add all those up and they spell mother under any conditions.
- [28:39]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
The people were human beings.
- [28:41]
Parley Bear
Georgia Ellis, who portrayed saloon madam Kitty Russell.
- [28:44]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Kitty was human and some of them had very homely touches in them like perhaps a dress fitting or Howard fussing about how to kill a pain in the tooth which might even have considered consumed a minute or two minutes. It was not continuous action or bloodletting or mystery or anything. You had a sense of continuity. You could almost taste the dust in the streets. Perhaps the beer wasn't very cold, but at least it was beer. And the cowboys were not clean and the horses were sweaty and not everybody was pretty and beautiful and wore white hats.
- [29:27]
Parley Bear
Supporting player John Daher.
- [29:29]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Each show had to do yes with Matt Dillon, but Matt Dillon in relation to some one individual, some one family that comes to town or that lives in town that has a problem, which means that you didn't have so much plot as you had character, interesting people to listen to. You see. And this is what happened with the television gunsmoke too. It was a novelty. We were all so used to High O Silver as a way that. That this was a total departure into the area of serious examination of people and their problems. And then when you get that kind of writing and that kind of concept, it's a glorious thing for actors because this is the very thing that an actor wants to play a person, a human being.
- [30:11]
Narrator / Commentator
Running through many of John's scripts is a. A thread of the dignity of man. And yet at the same time, so frequently man's inhumanity to man or the inescapability of life and problems in the western frontier. One of the things that John did in his scripts was to paint the difficult position of a woman. Nowadays we're inclined to say, well, if life's that difficult, why didn't they go somewhere else? And as John had his characters explain, where was there to go. They had no money. The household probably consisted of one mule. And you can't ride too far on one mule with no money. And if the woman did get into town, what was she going to do? She couldn't suddenly find work in a boutique. She either was a dance hall girl or something less so. The frontier life was a hard and unforgiving sort of life as John pictured it. And I think quite, quite accurately. One script that perhaps illustrates what I'm saying was a script called the Cabin. I remember parenthetically that John wrote this to go on the air after a particularly soft Christmas show. And he said, we can't have people think we're going to do soft shows. So he wrote the Cabin simply. The story was Matt, finding himself almost isolated in a blizzard, approaches a cabin where he finds a young girl has been savaged by two men who have killed her parents. They've been with her for a week during this extended blizzard. Matt, by the end of the show, is able to. Well, I shouldn't say able to kill them, but he does gets them out of the way. And the closed scene is. Is indicative of a messton honest approach.
- [32:27]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Marshall. Marshall.
- [32:30]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Dylan Martin. Oh, morning spell.
- [32:35]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Come on out in the kitchen, Marshall. It's warm there and I got some hot coffee waiting.
- [32:40]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
That sounds good. It looks like the storm's lifted.
- [32:47]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
It has. The wind's gone, but it's mighty cold out.
- [32:51]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Well, I don't mind the cold. It's that wind that breaks a man down.
- [33:01]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
There. Get some of that in you.
- [33:10]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
You make mighty good coffee, Bell.
- [33:15]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Tell me something, Marshall H. Tell me the truth now.
- [33:20]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Sure, Belle. What is it?
- [33:24]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Are you married?
- [33:30]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
I'd make a Poor husband, though. Or any woman.
- [33:34]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Why?
- [33:36]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Well, in my profession, it's too chancy.
- [33:45]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Thank you, Marshall. Thanks for putting it that way.
- [33:49]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Now, Bell, I didn't mean.
- [33:50]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Forget it. I'm leaving this place. Marshall.
- [33:55]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
What?
- [33:56]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Soon as you go. I've packed what I need and I'm clearing off.
- [33:59]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Where'll you go?
- [34:01]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
I got three horses. I'll ride up to Hays City and sell them. Then what? Buy some pretty clothes and I'll find a place. Won't be hard after this.
- [34:16]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
I. I wish I could help you, Belle.
- [34:21]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
You have, but. I mean, I can take care of myself, Marshall. I just want to get away from here, that's all.
- [34:29]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Sure. I'll stop at the nearest ranch and tell the men to come over here and take care of Hack and Alvy soon as it warms up.
- [34:39]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Whatever you like, Marshall.
- [34:42]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Well, goodbye, Belle.
- [34:46]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Goodbye, Marshall. Look me up in Hays City next time you're there.
- [34:51]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Sure. Sure, I will. But, Bell, don't let all this make you bitter. There are a lot of good men in the world.
- [35:06]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
So they say. So long, Marshall.
- [35:10]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
I. So long, bill. A few minutes later, I'd s up and was on the trail to Dodge. The sky was low and the slate gray all over, but there was no wind. The blizzard had gone, leaving the land still white, bitter cold. There wasn't a sign of life anywhere. It was like riding through a vast tomb. I found myself feeling like a trespasser, as though something had gone wrong and I wasn't supposed to be there at all.
- [36:27]
Narrator / Commentator
John Neston had a very firm, fixed feeling about Matt Dillon's character. And he often said that Matt didn't want to see America grow west. And with the sound of trumpets and flags flying, he. He always said that Matt was a very honest, real man who was doing a difficult job the best way he knew how.
- [36:48]
Parley Bear
Writer John Dunle.
- [36:50]
Narrator / Commentator
I think that he was a typical.
- [36:52]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Hero in the sense that he was a pretty intelligent, a very compassionate man. Probably the ideal lawman. There was certainly the way Bill played in a tremendously pathetic quality to Dylan. His opening line was, it's a chancy job. Harmy Bear. I think probably Dylan trusted Chester and Doc and Kitty as much as he dared trust anyone. He knew that if he needed someone to stand at his back, Chester would be there. But I'm sure in the back of his mind, he wasn't sure that Chester would function at all times. I think he had the same feeling about Doc. Doc was dependable, but every now and again he'd get sauced up, you know, and Maybe at the moment of removing the appendix, Doc could have been a little stalkered. Chester was dishonest with many people but had to be completely honest with Dylan. And there was Dylan's strength. Everybody had to be honest with them because insofar as the human being is concerned, I think probably of the whole, the whole cast, Dylan was the one who was most completely honest in his dealings with lawbreakers, in his dealing with the town, in his dealing with his everyday associates.
- [38:16]
Parley Bear
The woman in Dylan's life was Kitty Russell, owner and operator of the Long Branch Saloon, played by Georgia Ellis.
- [38:22]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
She was very generous, loving human being. She adored, of course, the four men in her life. There was Matt predominantly, and then Chester, Doc. Not to say that she didn't have a certain kind of ambivalent feeling towards Matt. I do think that she considered him sort of the boss man and she adored him dearly. And I'm quite sure they were very compatible. Yes, they were lovers, the best kind, because they really, truly understood one another. There wasn't need for too much talk. I don't think there was any forgiveness to be done because I don't think Kitty was available to anybody else but Matt. Undoubtedly. She had wild dreams from time to time which she realized were completely unrealistic of Matt and Kitty and some large spread. But doing what? Who knows? Because Matt would never be happy doing anything but what he was doing. And she knew she would never be happy with Matt if he were not happy. So no, she was resigned to serving booze and, and saying, be careful, Matt. And she didn't have anything left in the east or wherever she came from to go back to. So what the hell, she was stuck in Dodge City. She was a good girl. She made a lot of it.
- [39:56]
Martha Stewart
The holidays are about giving something truly special. I'm Martha Stewart and I believe the best gifts aren't just beautiful, they're useful every single day. Lennox has brought timeless beauty and lasting quality to our tables for generations. And their Lenox Spice Village is the perfect holiday gift for someone you love or for yourself. It's more than a spice rack. It's a charming collection of hand painted houses that turn ordinary spices into extraordinary experiences. Imagine cinnamon from a tiny Victorian cottage or oregano from a pastel townhouse. Suddenly, a simple meal becomes a moment to savor. Because spices can be more than ingredients. They can inspire memories, warmth and joy all year long. Give a gift that lasts beyond the holidays. Discover the collection@lenox.com SpiceVillage a new phone for Billy.
- [40:56]
MyFico / Liberty Mutual / Mint Mobile Advertisers
A necklace for Sam. All the While on the lookout for scams, a swipe here and tap there. Better make it go far. Turns out mom didn't know she needs.
- [41:04]
Narrator / Commentator
A new car this year.
- [41:06]
MyFico Advertiser
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- [41:25]
Parley Bear
There was a character in the first Gunsmoke script identified only as Townsman. Thanks to Bill Conrad, that townsman became Chester. Polly Bear recalls the story.
- [41:35]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Bill Conrad named Chester. He said no, and I can't say hey Townsman, come here. He said, he's got to have a name. While I was playing him as I played Chester. And so Bill said colin Chester or something like that. And so Chester he became. When I gave Chester his last name, I had a broken speech. And this was weeks after we were on the air. I became just Chester and I had a broken speech that read something like, oh, Shores and Will just let me flounder. He didn't stop me. We used to do that to each other quite a bit. And so I just added it to Shores. My name is Chester Wesley Proudfoot and that's how Chester Wesley Proudfoot was named. And I can remember Bill Chester Wesley Proud put. Where did that come from? I said, well, got a broken speech, cut in on me like you're supposed to and I won't come up with name. So this Chester pod put.
- [42:33]
Parley Bear
Gunsmoke TV producer John Manley once referred to Chester as a dimwitted town loafer. But Parley Bear, who created and portrayed the character on radio for nearly 10 years, disagrees.
- [42:44]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
I don't think he was a dim witted town loafer at all. He was lazy, but he still did his work and he, he spun his hooves a great deal and kicked a lot of gravel. I would describe Chester as being a dependable non thinker to this extent. If we had a hypothetical case with nine desperados holed up and Bill as Nat Dillon had said, Chester, you watch the back door and as they come out you plug number 1, 3, 5 and 7. Chester would have said, yes sir. And as they came out he would have said one bang. He'd have let two go and he'd have gotten three. He'd have let four go and he'd have gotten five. Even though maybe two and four were bearing down on him, he would have said Mr. Jones had to shoot them others, so them were the ones I'm going to shoot and that's what. But no, Chester was energetic. He was loyal at times put upon by everybody but Dylan as we played it. Chester was not really. He was never really deputized. Chester got Dylan out of scrapes every now and again. There was a pathetic tone written in Chester. Chester realized his shortcomings. I remember one script he did, I can't think of the name of it. But Chester saved Dylan and they heard about the time. And he said, you best not tell anybody about that, Mr. John because it could embarrass you if people were to know that. That I had saved you. Said, we just won't talk about that. And I think that that was basically Chester. He was loyal, sensitive man. Too much to Dylan's annoyance, put sugar in his dry whiskey and. And was overly fond of jelly. And as he confessed one time when Dylan said that chewing tobacco was a filthy habit, he confessed he didn't really chew tobacco, that it was licorice. That was Chester, I think. And I tried to play him that way as simple but not a simpleton. Loyal if not intelligent. The economy of the day got to him. Chester was never affluent. He had a great loyalty and pride. His. His family, I guess you would have been tenant as sharecroppers or tenant farmers. I don't think they were ever great landowners. But Chester was fiercely proud of his family and defended them and had an absolute adulation for Dunham. Dylan was the ultimate so far as he was concerned.
- [45:35]
Parley Bear
The part of Doc Adams was brilliantly played by veteran character actor Howard McNear.
- [45:41]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Howard McNear probably is the most fascinating human being I've ever known in my life. He was a consummate actor. He was a consummate human being. And all of this wrapped up in a pixie like body. A wonderful comic mind that would make a laugh out of anything in the world for I guess, 10 solid years. He was the life of our cast. He and Parley combined were unbelievable in their making. Lightness and happiness and joy out of a common everyday experience. Howard and Prawley are two people that everybody should know in their lives. Bill named Doc too. He was just Doc in there and Howard McNear who was so delightful in that role. But he played him with just a trickle of blood dripping from his fangs and he got the feeling that Mephistopheles was looking over his shoulder a little bit as Howard played Doc and Bill Conrad Christmas him Dr. Charles Adams just, you know, for the cartoon. Well, when you talk about Howard, all of the adjectives like wonderful, unique, magnificent come to four. He. Howard, I think, was one of the most truly delightful people I've ever known, ever met. And I had never heard anyone who didn't like him. Everybody loved him and he. He was an absolute asset to anything and everything he did. Later on, he became Floyd the Barber on the Andy Griffiths show. And he fell upon evil times. He had a series of strokes. He recovered from some, and then he would have some more. And Mr. Andy Griffiths, each other credit that for a couple of years, when Harry was no longer ambulatory, he stayed on the show and they would. They would revolve scenes around him. He would be seated in his own barber chair or in a place out in front of his shop. But they always fixed it, accommodated the scene to Howard. And I think it's a great tribute to his ability as a performer and an actor that many people didn't know that he was suffering from any handicap at all because he was sharp. He still had the same wonderful sense of humor, a real pixie sense of humor. And I can truthfully say that some of the happiest hours of my life were spending his company. He lived between my house and the studio, and I used to pick him up and bring him back. And those minutes that we had week after week discussing the day's happenings or what not, or marvelous. He was a man of strange attitudes at times and in strange inconsistencies, and that's what added to his charm. Howard is a thoroughly conscientious man, prepared at all times with his work. I've never known him to give a bad performance. And I worked on many shows with him, aside from Gunsmoke, we were on there together. But he did a lot of lineups and escapes and whatnot. But he lived in absolute terror. And this I can't understand because he was. He was a graduate of the old stock company circuit where you had to learn a new part a week while you were playing one, you know, but he was terrified that dialogue would be changed on it. And he had it specified once he was given a part, that was it. And they wouldn't change lines on him on the set. And he didn't even like to write in changes on. On radio scripts and that He. He abhorred change of any kind. And. And he sort of. He developed an aura about himself being very nervous and this, that and the other thing. And he was a little on the hypochondriac side. He carried a variety of pills which he was willing to share. I don't know how many people he started off on or gave them some malady that they didn't have through sharing his pills. I know he had a box of pills. One day I had a bad headache and I asked for aspirin. He said, you don't want to put that stuff in your stomach. He said, that's not good. He said, take one of mine. He said, don't take that one. They cost 50 cents a piece. And besides, it's not for a headache. But he had a bottle of all shapes, sizes and hues and colors of pills. And I tell you, not only our business, but the world suffered a great loss and he was taken. And I don't know of anyone who is remembered more fondly by our profession than Howard.
- [50:57]
Parley Bear
Stories told about Howard McNear exemplify his wonderful wit and charm. And Parley bear tells some of the best. Several years ago, Parley and Howard attended the funeral of Gail Gordon's mother, Gloria.
- [51:10]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
We went to this funeral, which is in Hollywood Cemetery in a very small chapel. In the pews were very small, only four people could sit in them and they were very tightly squeezed in them. And as it came time to show you, I have to first of all say that in the old days of radio you never had really achieved until you had what we called a conflict. That you had to get permission from one director to be late to his rehearsal or leave his rehearsal or time to go to another. You had finally arrived when you. You had conflicts or when you had to pay a page to open an exit only door for you to get from CBS to NBC in order to make the show. The conflict was the ultimate thing for an actor. Well, we were tightly packed into this pew and as you do at a funeral, you remain quiet and your tones are subdued and your attitude to. And my watch was being repaired. Howard was on the outside on the aisle. Funeral was set for 2 o' clock and we were sitting there. I leaned over to Howard and whispered, what time is it, Howard? What? I said, what time is it? Howard's reply was, what's the matter? You got a conflict? I said, now cut out the nonsense, Howard. Tell me what time it is. Well, I remembered too late that Howard carried a potch walk, a pocket watch. My tongue's perspiring and not a wristwatch. And so he had to lean way out and I had to lean away from him. He's tugging to get this watch out. And as he pulled hard the fob and the ring on the Stem came out there. Now are you satisfied? Well, it's not my fault. Why don't you wear a wristwatch like everybody else does? So he got the watch out, fixed it, put the ring back on, snapped the watch open, looked at it, snapped it closed and put it back in his pocket. I said, well. Well, what? At what time is it? He said, I just looked. But, Howard, you didn't tell me. He said, they're not late. He never did tell me what time it was Another funeral. I told you a good friend had passed away, Will Wright. And we kind of got everybody on there. I was on the member. A member of the board of directors for the American Federation Television Radio Artists. Will had served on the board for many years, and we attended the service in a body. Will was Presbyterian and also a Mason, and Howard went to the funeral with me, but he. He didn't sit with us on the board, but he sat with a very fine character actor by the name of Dick Ryan, who was a staunch Catholic. And as the service went on, they did half a world service, Presbyterian, and the second half was a Masonic service. And when the service was over, we waited and came out, and I saw Dick Lyon and Howard came in, come out of the chapel, and Dick Ryan's face was just suffused with purple. He was really visibly upset. And I thought, well, I'm sorry Dick's upset. I. I knew that he and Will have been good friends, but I. It didn't seem possible that they could be that emotionally upset about him. I walked with him over to his car and I said, dick, are you all right? And his reply was rather stinky. He said, I will never sit by. How dare McNair another funeral as long as I live. Got in his car and drove off. And I said, howard. And I got home, I said, what did you do to Dick Ryan? And he said, oh, he's emotionally unstable. I said, well, he's all upset. What did you do? He said, well, he just went all to pieces for no reason at all. He said, while funeral was on, he said, as you know, it was first of all Presbyterian and it was Masonic. And I just leaned over and asked Dick, I said, are you fellows going to demand equal time? And what had happened? Dick, in his monumental effort to refrain from laughing and guffing up, I saw him treated. Days later. He said, my rib cage is still sore from that guy. He said, I nearly strangled to keep from laughing out loud. He said, that's a terrible thing to ask you at a funeral if we're going to demand equal time.
- [55:38]
Parley Bear
The pixiest charm of Howard McNear was even evident in where he went to church. Again, parley bear.
- [55:45]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Howard was a tremendously religious man, but really embrace any of the fates as we know them today. He went to the church of his choice, which was one week one another, sometimes unity, sometimes if there was a speaker he wanted to hear, Emmanuel Baptist Church, he would go there. But when he passed away, his wife asked me if I would deliver the eulogy's funeral, which terrified me. And she said, the only command I lay upon you is that it not be lugubrious, it not be sad, that it would be something that Howard would like. The chapel was pretty cool. We were at the Forest Lawn, and I didn't go into the usual, he was born on this date and so on, but in eulogizing him, I said some of the things that I've said today. How wonderful he was, but a brilliant performer. And one thing led to another. I kind of got off my text and I started to reminisce from the pulpit about some of the things that he had said and done. And the chapel was filled with friends of his. And as I told one story that had taken place there, it got a laugh. And that scared me, terrified me a little bit. And at the end of the thing, people, in recalling the wonderful times that they had had with Howard, I got chuckles and real laughs in this thing. And I finished the eulogy. I. I didn't take it upon myself to rewrite any of the psalms, but I. I edited some. And I. I joined the Several Palms psalms to what I felt was a fitting tribute to heart. And I said to my wife, I. I don't dare face Helen. And I said, I. The last thing I wanted was to get laughs at a funeral. I didn't mean that. I said, I think I. I committed a terrible thing. And as I walked over, Helen came up and she put her arms around me and she said, that's just exactly what Howard would have wanted. And it was an ironic thing that of all the things I've done, I think I got more lettership approbation from his friends saying how they had, if it were possible, had enjoyed a funeral. And I got a little note from Bill Conrad. He said, I know Howard loved you, but now he must adore you. I was hard to use. Rent and forgiving, even death.
- [58:56]
Martha Stewart
The holidays are about giving something truly special. I'm Martha Stewart, and I believe the best gifts aren't just beautiful, they're useful every single day. Lennox has brought timeless beauty and lasting quality to our tables for generations, and their Lenox Spice Village is the perfect holiday gift for someone you love or for yourself. It's more than a spice rack. It's a charming collection of hand painted houses that turn ordinary spices into extraordinary experiences. Imagine cinnamon from a tiny Victorian cottage or oregano from a pastel townhouse. Suddenly, a simple meal becomes a moment to savor. Because spices can be more than ingredients, they can inspire memories, warmth and joy all year long. Give a gift that lasts beyond the holidays. Discover the collection@lenox.com SpiceVillage.
- [59:57]
MyFico / Liberty Mutual / Mint Mobile Advertisers
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- [60:08]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
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- [60:09]
MyFico / Liberty Mutual / Mint Mobile Advertisers
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- [60:12]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us. Cut the camera.
- [60:16]
MyFico / Liberty Mutual / Mint Mobile Advertisers
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- [60:19]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
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- [60:23]
MyFico / Liberty Mutual / Mint Mobile Advertisers
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- [60:33]
Miss Bonnie / Various Characters
Foreign.
- [60:39]
Andrew Rines
This has been a presentation of otrwesterns.com and we hope you enjoyed. Please take some time to like and rate this episode within your favorite podcast application. Follow us on Facebook by going to otrwesterns.com Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel by going to otrwesterns.Com Become one of our ranch hands and unlock some exclusive content. We want to thank our most recent ranch hands, Steve and Ron W. Who joined us recently. You too can join by going to otrwesterns.com donate send us an email podcasttrwesterns.com and you can call and leave us a voicemail 707-986-8739 this episode is copyrighted under the Attribution Non Commercial Share Like Copyright. For more information go to otrwesterns.com copyright have a great day and thanks for listening.
- [62:05]
MyFico / Liberty Mutual / Mint Mobile Advertisers
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- [62:37]
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- [62:47]
Martha Stewart
7.
- [62:47]
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- [63:06]
Marshal Dylan / John Meston / Various Characters
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