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Limu Emu and Doug. Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us. Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Very Underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates Excludes Massachusetts. If you're the purchaser manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering. With on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift. And you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. 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. From your enjoyment, you can find more western shows at our website by going to otrwesterns.com now let's get into this episode. Howard was a dream to work with. Not only did he have a great sense of humor, but he was a. He was a much deeper actor than just the superficial comedy. Howard's background was legitimate theater, which he loved, and he was able to play a great number of things. But I think one of the shows that showcases Howard's work more than any other would be a script that John Mastin wrote called Cow Doctor And Doug. Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us. Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry Unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Affiliates excludes Massachusetts. Hey, Mr. Dylan. Look who I got with me. Oh, hello, Kitty. Come on in. I ran into Chester on the street, Matt. He insisted I come along with him. I'm glad he did. I mailed them letters and things at the depot, Mr. Dillon. Oh, good, good, Chester. I took that circular over to Mr. Hightower. He'll print some up in a couple days. Oh, good. That's all you want me to do, ain't it? Yeah, yeah, that's all. Ain't nothing Else you need? I mean, not right now. No, no, nothing else. Everything's pretty well took care of, ain't it? Yeah, everything's fine. Fine, Chester. Yeah, M. Except for that buzzing and your head. My head? Come on, what is it, Chester? Just speak it right out. Well, thing is, I run into this friend of mine a few minutes ago. I ain't seen him in years. I. I knowed him a long time ago, way back in the Army. You know how it is. Well, go on. Well, see, he's stationed out at Fort Dodge, right here. Only five miles away. My, just imagine that. Chester, I got an idea. Yes, sir? Look, why don't you ride out and see your friend, huh? Now, you can stay a couple of days if you want. There's nothing for you to do around here. Well, you think that'd be a good idea? Well, it's my idea, isn't it? Yes, sir, it sure is. Well, I better get going and no use wasting time, is he? Bye, Chester. Bye, Miss Kitty. I'll be back in a day or two, Mr. Jones. Yeah. Well, you'll have a good time, Chester, to leave the door open. It's awful hot in here. That's right. We'll. Goodbye. So that's why he wanted you here. I guess he thought it might help, but he forgot to mention something. No, what's that? This dear old friend of his has got a pretty interesting job in the army. Yeah? Is that so? Yeah, he's a mess sergeant. A mess sergeant? Well, after a couple of days of that, I'll have to go after Chester with a wagon. You may never see him again. Marshall Dillon. Come on in, son. I'm looking for Doc. Well, his office is right next door. I've been there. I've been everywhere. Oh, you need him bad. I was sent to fetch him. Somebody sick? My PA told me to bring him out to our place. Well, is it your PA who's sick? He wants the doc bad. Marshall. Who is your paw, son? Ben Pitcher. Are you Ben Pitcher's boy? My name's Jerry. Jerry. Your PA must be pretty sick if he sent for Doc. I know he hates doctors, don't believe in him. But he wants Doc to come, Marshall. He told me I had to find him. Now I've looked everywhere. Well, there's a back room at the Dodge house, Jerry. Doc sometimes plays a little poker in there. Thank you, lady. I'll go look. If you don't find him there, come back and I'll help you, Jerry. Thanks, Marshall. Oh, and Jerry. Yes, sir? If you do find Him. Be sure and tell him that I want to see him before he leaves, huh? Now, I'll tell him. Marshall. That's a surprise. Yeah, I've heard about Ben Pritchard. How he hates doctors. His wife's just as bad. I remember he got caught up in a knife fight here in town sometime back and then threatened to kill Doc if he got anywhere near him. He almost bled to death as a result. You know, there's something wrong about this. Kidding. I think I'll ride out there with Doc. Good. I'd sure hate to see anything happen to Dr. Yeah, so would everybody except Pitcher. It. How do you like riding in a buggy, Matt? Make you feel imposing? Yeah, it sure does, Doc. But the way you drive, I feel a lot safer on a horse. You'll get used to it. Well, I hope not. And I don't see anybody around. You expect a sick man to be waiting on the porch for you? I'd expect most anything of Ben Pitcher. Well, a man can change, Doc. Oh, change? Not him, not Pitcher. I will soon find out. What are you doing here, Marshall? I came along to keep Doc company, Miss Fisher. Oh, man. Where's the boy? Jerry said to tell you you'd be along directly. Why didn't he come with you? Well, he said that you gave him a list of stuff to buy while he was in town. Oh, forgot. We're wasting time. Where's Ben, Mrs. Fitcher? He's out back. He's out out back? In the barn. What's he doing in the barn? You ask him. Doc, I don't interfere in my husband's way of doing things. Is he sick or isn't he? He's in the barn. You go see him. I got work to do. That woman could fair drive me crazy. Now. Maybe that's what happened to Pitcher. Between the two of them, it's a wonder the boys made out at all. Yeah, Jerry seems okay. They have their way. They'll make a spook out of them yet. You know, you're not very charitable, Doc. Oh, charitable? You don't fool me. Mad Dylan. You don't like them any better than I do. I always try to look for the good side in people, Doc. Oh, sure. Hogwash. Pretty good bond he's got here. Yeah. Look, I'll go in first. What's that? You. You follow me. Pitcher. Hey, Pitcher. I'm back here. Come on down over here. In this stuff? I thought it was Doc. He's here. Fisher, what are you doing in there with that cow? I thought you were sick. It ain't me that's sick. Well, who is sick? Macau. What? Macau's got the colic or something. I've done everything I can for her. You mean you had me come all this way, way out here to doctor a cow? I wouldn't let you doctor no human. I thought there was something wrong about all these cows. Cows different. I don't mind so much you working on a cow. Oh, you don't? Cows are different. Humans can get well by themselves, but cows is helpless. They're kind of pitiful. Listen to her. She's hurting bad. Dog, I ought to kick you right in the head, Ben. Patricia, don't take it out on me that you doctors don't know nothing. If you're so smart, do something for my before she dies, Doc. All right, I'll look at her. But you sure don't deserve it. Ben, you ain't doing it for me. You bet I'm not. Now get out of the way and let me in there. Take your time, Doc. I'm in no hurry. What's he doing in there all this time, Marshall? Leave him, Ben. He'll let us know if he wants any help. How's my cow, Doc? Oh, I guess he's through. Here's your knife, Ben. Did you stick her with it? I did, and she's going to feel a lot better. You can give her all the water she wants, but don't let her eat anything for a day or two. She gonna live? I don't know, ma'. Am. If she dies, I ain't gonna pay you. I wouldn't take any money from you anyway. What's wrong with my money? It's not your money. It's you. What do you mean? Hey, Pa, I'm back. I got all the stuff. Tomorrow morning. You'd better, Rose. Oh, Doc. Marshall. Jerry. Say, Doc, you missed all the excitement. That's it. Yeah, it happened just after you left. Everybody was running around looking for you. What happened, Jerry? Old Mrs. Hill, she was walking down the street and I guess the sun was too much for her or something. Anyway, she fainted and she fell against the window right there at the general store. And it cut her arm real bad. Nobody could get it stopped bleeding. They couldn't. That's why they were looking for you, Doc. I told them you'd come out here, but they wouldn't believe what happened to Mrs. Hill, Jerry? She died, Doc. Huh? Just before I left. She died? Did you hear that picture? A woman died. If I'd been there, I could have saved her. But she died. Don't talk at me. She died because of you and your rotten, twisted wings. Ah. None of you doctors is any good. You couldn't have done nothing. Oh, no good. Well, I'll show you. No, wait a minute, doctor. I'll show you. Nobody hits me. But Pa's got a knife. No. Pinch up. No, he cut him. Here, Doc. I got you. He gripped me with a knife. Matt. Yeah? You hurt bad? Well, it's bleeding. I can see that. You can help me in the house. We can look at it there. Yeah, sure, Doc. What about Pa? You let me know when he comes to. I'll come back and knock him out again. Well, it's pretty clean now, Doc. Oh, well. Oh, dear. That looks better. Yeah, but it's still bleeding. Now, I don't care for that mess you're making on that bed. Marshall, go get me another pan of hot water. You ordering me around my own house? You do it, Matt. All right. Yeah, Doc. I'm not sure, but I. I don't think that knife ruptured anything. Oh, that's good. But a couple of those veins have to be tied off and then it's gotta be sewed up, you see? Oh, there are needles and thread in my bag. Now, I do it myself. I can't reach it easy enough. You mean you want me to do it? Yeah. Yeah, I'll tell you how I match it. Well, you think I can? Oh, it's easy, especially for a gunfighter. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I can bleed to death. This way I won't have any trouble, Doc. Here, you hold the cloth on it, huh? I got it. I'll go get your bag, Marshall. Get out of here, pitcher. You hit me awful hard. Did I? He jumped me first. You saw him. I was protecting myself. Bet. Sure. If Doc doesn't come out of this all right, I'm gonna quit being a marshal and I'm gonna come after you as a plain man looking for revenge. You're threatening. It's wrong of me, but I'm gonna kill you. Pitcher. No. No. Get out of here and stay out of this house. Go on. I'm going to. I pulled. It wasn't easy, and I felt like I had fence posts for fingers. But I finally got Doc sewed up. He'd lost an awful lot of blood and he passed out before I finished. So all I could do was sit there and watch him. And maybe that was the hardest part. In the morning, however, he seemed better and he insisted that I take him in a dodge. So I made him a bed in Pitcher's wagon and had Jerry drive the buggy alongside. He was in bad shape by the time we reached town, but I got him into his own bed and then sent for Kitty to help me out. I don't know what I'd have done without her for that next week. Matt. Yeah, Kitty. I'm coming. You know what he wants now? Oh, what? He's tired of drinking plain water. He says if we don't start cutting it with some good corn, he won't drink anymore. Then let him go thirsty. He won't hold out long. No public servant's gonna tell me what's good for him. You send that lawman down for some whiskey. Doc. Now, we've gone to a lot of trouble to keep you alive. We sure have. Oh, don't you worry about me. I'd get out of bed right now. I like being waited on. Now, who's that? Oh, that's a dumb question. Who's that? Hot. I know. Go. Look, Doc. I never thought anything could make you any orner here than you've always been. But getting stabbed. Oh, never mind the gab. Just answer the door. Well, come on in. Oh, what manners. How about it? I said. Oh, good heavens. Well, go ahead, Doc. Fire me. Doc. Doc. And here. Oh, it's Jerry. Yeah, Come on inside. Oh, Doc. Marshall. What are you doing in town, Jerry? I come for Doc. What? Paul's sick. He's about to die. So sick. Oh, now, look, it's the truth, Marshall. Paul made me lie last time. But he don't even know I'm here now. He doesn't know you're here. He's too sick, Doc. It's like he's out of his head. He don't know nothing. What about your ma? Does she know you're here? I didn't tell her. She'd have stopped me. Doc. Jerry, your PA tried to kill Doc the last time, and he's still in bed now. He can't go anyplace. Please, Doc. Why should he risk his life for your Paul? Wait a minute, Matt. Now, just wait a minute here. We. I'll come, Jerry. Now, don't be settled. I'm a doctor, Matt. A man's dying. It doesn't matter what man. I knew you'd come. I knew you would. You're crazy, Doc. You'll open that cup riding out there. Besides, you're not strong enough. You'll be taking an awful chance. Jerry. What? How'd you come to town? I figured you'd need it. So I brought the wagon. I thought so. Well, you gonna help me out, Matt? All right, I'll help you out, Doc. Sam. I wish you'd let me carry you, Doc. No, no, I'll make it. He's awful weak, ain't he? Yeah, he is. Here, I'll get the door. Come on in. Ma's probably in the bedroom. It's over this way. We know where it is. Jerry. Oh, I forgot. That you, Jerry? It's me, Ma. Where you been, Doc? What are you doing here? Jerry came after me. Mrs. Pitcher, we don't want no doctors. Your husband's sick. He's terrible sick. But you can't do him no good. I can try. Jerry, I'm gonna whoop you. No, Ms. Pitcher. No, you're not. Don't you tell me what I'm gonna do. Look at dark, Ms. Pitcher. You can tell he shouldn't be here at all. But he came. He came to help a man who tried to kill him. And nobody's gonna stop him. Now, come on, Doc. Get out of the way, Miss Pitch. Wait a minute. I'll get you a chair, Doc. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Here you are. Yeah, he. He looks pretty sick, Marshall. Go on me, Jerry. Now what? She's got a gun, Marshall. I told me. I said I got her, Jerry. I'll kill you. You and Doc both. Give me that. No. There. Now, you sit down. Go on, Jerry, you go see if Doc needs any help, huh? Okay, Marshall. You know, Ms. Pitcher, you don't deserve Doc being here. You don't deserve it at all. Marshall? Yeah? What I've been thinking all night. I've been sitting here thinking, oh, I don't want my husband to die. I can't have him die. Doc's doing everything he can for him, Ms. Pitcher. Can he save him? You think he can save him? I don't know. Well, Mrs. Pitcher. How is he, Doc? Well, he's past the worst. I think he'll be. Can I see him? Can he talk? Yes, but not for long. Needs a lot of rest now. Well, speaking of rest, Doc, you look like you could use some, too. Yeah, we're going back to Dodge, man. I'll sleep the whole way. Good. Doc, he wants to talk to you. What is it, Pitcher? Ma. Ma says you was here all night. I was, yes. She says you saved my life. Maybe I helped. Maybe. But what I want to say is that I ain't gonna pay you. I didn't ask you to. Pitcher, Pitcher. Doc saved your life. Maybe he did, but I ain't gonna pay him? It doesn't matter. But why not? Course my cow died over picture. I'm gonna. Don't bother. Come on, let's go. Let's go. Okay. Doc. Doc. Yes. He means what he says, Doc. I can't change him. It's all right, ma'. Am. I can't change him. But there's something I gotta say. Yes? I'm proud to have you in my house, Doc. I'm real proud. I can't say no more. Well, Doc, I've been paid, man. I think I've been paid pretty good. We'll return to the biography of gun smoke in just one moment. And Doug, here we have the Limu emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us? Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty Savings. Very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts. If you're an H vac technician and a call comes in, Granger knows that you need a partner that helps you find the right product fast and hassle free. And you know that when the first problem of the day is a clanking blower motor, there's no need to break a sweat. With Grainger's easy to use website and product details, you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. Here again is John Hickman. Two trademarks of a Meston script are violence and tragedy and for a very good reason. John Meston. What most stories do end rather tragically and sad, despite the propaganda in the great United States of America. No, most people, they've had sad endings. Or a great number of them just did. Jeez, had a hard life. They didn't live very long. They. While they lived. It was pretty rough then. The brutality and the violence. You talk about violence these days. Of course, the stuff they put on television is terrible, I think. But the violence in those days was. It was rampant. My God, the violence. A poor way of life, you know, no medicine, no sanitation, no. Not much of anything. No heat and sand and little water, not much food. It wasn't a great way. Romanticized fairly well. Maybe that's. That answers a question. I don't know. It didn't romanticize it so much. Beston scripts are filled with odd and tragic figures. One of the best examples is the guitar. First heard in December 1953, it's the story of a not so bright guitar playing ex soldier named Weed Pindle who transports himself about the west on an old mule. Pindle, played by Vic Perrin, is bullied by two cowboys in one of the first scenes of the show. Now, what in the world was that fella who just came in the door there with Tyler and Short? Oh, him. That's Weed Pindle. He rode in on a mule a couple days ago. Which has the bigger ears, him or the mule? He is funny looking all right. And he acts peculiar too. That's the mighty scrawny mule, Pendle. I seen you on him this morning. Pendle here is kind of scrawny yourself. Short, maybe. Some beard. Fat him up a little. I'd like some beer. All right, but I got no money. Why'd you sell that guitar of yours? Sell my guitar? No, I'd never do that. You must have a nickel at least. Last money I had got stolen. Now, who dares steal money off a tiger like you, Pendle? I was asleep. I started to wake up, but they kicked me in the head. You call that a head? Looks to me more like your neck just growed out and haired over. I ain't very handsome. You sure ain't. Hey, what'd your old lady think of you when she saw you, Pendle? I don't know. She died. Yeah, Laughing, I'll bet. That's enough, Tally. That's too mean. Pindle's a harmless little fellow. Ain't nobody talking to you, Chester. Bartender, three beers. You buying, Tyler? I'm proud too. As the story develops, Tyler and Short ignore Dylan's warnings and continue to torture Pindle. They even mutilate his mule. What do you suppose they've done to him? Now look at his mule, Chester. That's what they've done. Oh, my goodness, Mr. Dylan. He's lost a ear. I thought Yankee. Is life staring you was that way short. Least I wouldn't heard they did. I guess there's just no pleasing to some men. Tyler, you shouldn't have done that to my mule. Well, it's the marshal again. Did you men do this? Now, Marshall, we ain't done nothing to Pendle. Did they do it, Pendle? I tried to stop him, but Tyler held me and they gave me my mule's ear. Marshall. Right here, see? Yeah. Turn around, both of you. Turn around, I said. Now. Take the guns, Justin. Yes. Can't do nothing to us, Marshall. We didn't hurt Sandal. I don't like what you did to his mule. I got him, Mr. Dillon. Now that you can turn around again. I ought to cut an ear off of each of you, but I can't do that. So I'm gonna do the next best thing. Now look here. Marching now. Leave him there, Chester Wendell. I'm sorry about your mule. He ain't much of a mule anymore. Well, you better go take care of him. And maybe these two will leave you alone now. Poor mule. Tyler and Short reach their sadistic pinnacle when they destroy Pindle's guitar. The next morning, the two cowboys are found murdered behind the long branch. In the closing moments of the show, Dylan talks to bartender Sam Noonan about Pindle's whereabouts the previous evening. Sam. What'll it be, Marshall? Where's Weed? Pendle sent. Oh, I just sent him out back for a bucket of sawdust. What do you want him for? Short and Tyler got their throats cut early this morning. Good. I guess they're smashing. His guitar was too much for Pendle. That's so. Oh, there he is now. Pendle, come over here. Morning, Marshall. Good morning, Bindle. Where was you last night? I don't know. Here, I guess you don't know. Now, wait a minute, Marshall. Bindle, where was you after they wrecked your guitar? Yeah. Sat in the alley a while. Then I come back here. Yeah, that's right. He was so broke up about his guitar, I didn't want to leave him alone. So I took him up and let him sleep on the floor of my room. That right, Pendle? Well, go on, tell him now. Sure, Sam. That's right. Are you trying to alibi for him, Sam? I know Marshall Dylan, but I care about him. Some people care about me. Who, Pendle? He's just talking, Marshall. Who cares about you, Pendle? Tell me. Those men. What men? He means some of the boys that was here when he come back with his busted gun guitar. Marshal. They just told him how sorry he was, that's all. I see. They liked his music, didn't they? Yes, they did. They liked to hear me play. Who was in here then, Sam? Well, now, Marshall Dillon, you know how it is. I'm busy pouring drinks, and I don't pay no mind to who's here and who ain't. I? I couldn't rightly say it all. Okay, Sam. I guess I can't beat the truth out of you. Oh, now, Marshall Dillon, who cares about Tyler and Short Dodger is better off without. There's a law against Murder, Sam. And it's the same for everybody. I'll be back later. What are you going to do now, Mr. Dillon? Well, I've done all I can, Chester. The whole town's just plain quit talking. Nobody knows anything. Well, I guess you're all trying to protect Pendle. Yeah, they are. But he didn't do it. Well, who did then? Well, if I could prove who did it, Chester, I'd have him in jail. Say, come over here. What? Well, I declare, Mr. Dillon, it looks to me like he's leaving town. I told him he could go. He looks funnier than ever on that one eared mule. Yeah. Now, Dodge treated Pendle pretty rough. It sure did. Poor little fella looks kind of empty like that. His guitar, don't he? Well, maybe you'll find another one somewhere. Anyway, they sure like to hear him play in this town. A couple of the boys in particular, I guess. Yep, they liked it just fine. Another Meston trademark was his factual treatment of the plight of the American Indian. He had good reasons for this. Well, as I recall, or I've been told we were, I've forgotten, we were about the first show that treated Indians as human beings. Not just redskins, the only good Indians and bad women. So a number of shows about that and Intermarriage across the Buffalo. Yes, but I think the Indians before that. As I remember, I wasn't around much before. I never heard radio or anything. They were treated in the old way, you know, Indians, they're our enemy and that kind of thing. I think gun smoke was. I've heard. Understand when we first showed it really changed us somewhat. No, a white man, the way he treated the Indians is national disgrace. Still is. Concentration camps trying to destroy that culture. What we're doing now, assimilate the Indian. Sure, Indian can be assimilated, but he can't get a drink. Oh, no, it's a horrible thing. Indians are no worse than anybody else. Most of the white men out there were not nice guys. They're all a bunch of nuts who went west. Most of them. We get down into a Jesus Christ that goes through the Washington policy against the Indians. Wipe them out, sure. So the poor Indian retaliated a little bit. Got a bad name. Perhaps one of the better Meston scripts with an Indian theme was Sunday supplement, broadcast in June 1956. This story concerns two New York writers named Sprig and Bunker who come to Dodge looking for sensation. Sensational stories that will thrill their eastern readers. The writers disturb a Pawnee burial ground and steal an Indian totem causing an uprising that is brutally extinguished by the calvary. Following the massacre, Sprig and Bunker return to Dodge for the final confrontation with Dylan and Doug. Here we have the Limu emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds of with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us? Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry Unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates Excludes Massachusetts. If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why, hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering. With on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift. And you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. Hello, Marshall. Get on, Bunker. You too, Spring. Now. Well, we saw it, Marshall. We saw practically all of it. It was exciting and with no help from you. Oh, it was magnificent. The cavalry really got their own back this time. What are you talking about? The Indians. The cavalry practically wipes them out. What? Yesterday, Marshall, just before dark, we were driving along the Arkansas and heard all that gunfire and commotion up ahead. And we got there just in time to see what few Indians were left. Running for their lives. They killed all but half a dozen of them. And they got that chief Little Hog too. You saw this, Marshall? We wouldn't be making it up, would we? And I might add that it's about time we saw something around here in our sprig. I was talking to Doc Adams over there when you drove in. You know what he'd like to see? No. He'd like to see you and Bunker hung. What? And so would I. What's the matter with you, Marshall? Why did you tell me a soldier gave you that totem? Oh, you. You found out. Why did you lie about it? Because you were choking me. And because I didn't know what you do next. Or why. Why? You men robbed a Pawnee grave. You stole a totem. A totem of Little Hawk's clan. That's all we took. Who cares about a savage idol anyway? Little Hawk did. He went on a war path. Nonsense, Marshall. Over a fool thing like that? Marshall, you're not standing up for a bloodthirsty redskin Are you? I knew Little Hawk Sprig. He was a good chief. He was a brave man, and a peaceful one till you shamed him. Well, he's not shamed now, Marshall. He's a good Indian. Now, you get out, both of you. You get out today. Enough men have died because of you. And you go back to New York, and when you get there, you write a story about a marshal who'd. I like nothing better than handing you over the little hook if he were still alive. One of the things that gave Gunsmoke a lot of special color were the sound effects. Again, Norman McDonald. It had always been a rule of thumb in radio that there should not be any dead air, that people must keep talking. Well, we. We changed that. Not because we deliberately set out to change it, but just because the people we were working with didn't talk all the time. So we had to fill it with sound patterns. We had three sound men for the most part. Bill James, Tom Hanley, Ray Kemper, who contributed more to the show than anybody could ever imagine. For example, the boys, on their own time, realized that we were having trouble with live gunshots. So they, on a Saturday, went out with some equipment of their own and recorded shots on tape with a.45 and with a.38 and half a. And with a.32. And I think with a.22. These effects then could be played directly through the line so that it didn't flatten out and become just a dull pop on the air. So we had on a Mackenzie machine, I think the boys called it, in those days. We had Matt's gun, and we always used a.45 for Matt. And for the other heavies, there would be a.38 or a.30,32. So they lynched it. They done it. Why, you dirty dogs. This is the kind of thing that the boys did in order to make the sound better and in order to make it work more fully for the show. They also really worked on the smallest possible details, like Matt getting up and walking to the stove to get a cup of coffee. The boys knew exactly how many steps it was from Matt's desk to the stove, or they knew how many steps it was from the front of Matt's office to the jail cell. The one place that we cheated a little bit was on the walk from Matt's office down to the long branch. If we were running short on time, it was two steps across the boardwalk from five steps across the street, one step up on the other side. And then the doors, if we wanted to stretch a little Bit. That walk sometimes became considerably longer. But the boys made the walk work because they used spurs for Matt. Whoever was walking with him would be without spurs. So you could differentiate between two people, Matt and Chester, for instance. Walking down the street, they went into the whole bit of the squeak of the leather. When Matt would mount a saddle, you could hear the stirrup leathers stretch and squeak. And we took time to play the sound patterns, which I think contributed in great part to the color and the. The feel of authenticity, if you will. Mr. Dylan. Mr. Dillon. Come here. Quit, huh? Look. Lynched. Scared me half to death. I seen him hanging there. It isn't a very pretty sight. Ain't no horse around. Where's his horse? He probably stole it. Then they caught up with him and took it back. Who do you suppose done it? I don't know. I don't know how we're ever gonna find that now. Come on, let's cut him down and get him into the ground. You know, when they did horse's hoofs effects, for example, I can remember Bill would use one set of coconuts to depict our horses, which were shod. And they'd use another set of equipment if an Indian horse came up or something like that. And probably to the listeners there was no difference, but to them there was a vast difference. And they would change background noises from one saloon to another. And they were punctilious enough that they had a different set of street sounds for the day and for the night. These fellows were really dedicated for their job. Must have been easy for you, Duck. Really easy. Marshall. He's kind of fun. Fun? Killing that nice boy fun. Ah, taking my time that way. What are you doing? Give me my gun. You're not gonna be needing a gun. He sure never expected that, did he? No gunman would, Kitty, but he's sure never going to forget it. I became a challenge, I think, to the two soundmen that were assigned to the program then. Ray Kemper and Tom Hanley, announcer George Walsh. And as I remember, it was around the 4th of July because they had a firecracker. And during the middle commercial of the dress rehearsal, they decided they were going to shoot off this firecracker. Well, as anybody who's ever been on the air can understand, my only concern was not their firecracker. My only concern was how I could read that middle commercial and make it sound like I was at a regular pace. But I was really killing time so I'd have some time to play with when I got on the air and they shot off the firecracker. And I just went right on. I think this may have impressed Norm MacDonald a little bit because he was kind of surprised that it didn't stop me. But it really impressed those two soundmen because for the duration of the program, they tried every week to break me up at that middle class commercial during the rehearsal, of course, but they'd bring up a table full of equipment for the program and a table and a half full of equipment to try to break up Wall street commercial. We had some. Some high old times. Funny. Howard McNear sometimes used to refer to Saturdays when we recorded them as Dirty Saturday. Sometimes somebody would make an inflection in a line that would come out slightly spiked and colored. And from then on, no matter what you said, the most innocuous line became really a dirty bunch of words when they were not intended. So. But these guys would spend hours working up a ribbled sound effect or something of the sort. And then we would all beautifully collapse. One of the nicest things of the Saturday morning table reading was when Parley Bear would arrive with two enormous boxes of goodies from Benesh's Bakery, which was a marvelous bakery. And of course, everyone would always complain that Parley brought the wrong kind of torts or the wrong kind, which would drive Parley up the wall. And Howard McNair would laugh. But anyway, it was a pleasant way to start out. And all of the members of the. Both the casual and the regular cast were such professionals that they could. They could kid as they work without losing emphasis. Georgia Ellis recalls a particular Saturday morning when supporting player Vic Perrin appeared wearing jeans that were held up with elastic. Perrin reportedly had a special interest in another casual player, Gene Bates, who happened to be working this particular program. He had sort of a kind of a secret crush on her. He was lusting through his script at her sidewise in a nice, sweet way, of course. But Vic was standing opposite Jean Bates and he was so impressed with her. You see this kind of a calf like thing. And she was playing a scene with him at this one microphone. I walked up behind him and pulled down his pants. What elastic. I just pulled him down and went back and sit at the table. And there was Bill, you know, and Danny and everybody looking. I don't know what they thought of me. No, I'm looking out of the booth there, said Vic in his shorts. And he gets over me. Script factor was always Jean just raised hers a little bit higher. What I had hoped to be complete utter confusion turned out to be nothing more than Vic turning Purple, but at the same time acting away, reaching down with one hand and pulling on his head. Well, you see, I didn't see any part of this except later on Vic said to me over lunch at Nickadel's, well, for heaven's sake, you might at least have checked to see if I was wearing underwear. Actor John Dana was a regular member of the Gunsmoke Stock Company and he too looked forward to those Saturday rehearsals. Oh, they were the most happy because for one thing, we all knew each other. And once the show was established, and we were rather established as a, as a group, we worked so well together. We knew what the other's reactions were going to be and we felt at ease personally with each other. Princess. We'd come to work in the morning and we wouldn't get down to the first reading for an hour. We'd be sitting around with Danish and coffee, jabbering, having a marvelous time. And I mention that only because it is from this kind of intimate relationship with the other actors, the other people, let alone being actors on the show, allowed you a tremendous inner freedom, a relaxation, a feeling of comfort that there was no tension at all in those days. It was an absolute ball. We'd do two shows on Saturday. We'd do one in the morning, go to lunch and then do one in the afternoon. And the total, we'd probably start at 11 and be through by 3:30 or 4 or something like that. It was joyful, it really was. Everybody looked forward to coming to work. And Doug. Here we have the Limu imu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us. Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. Liberty Savings. Very unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts. If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering. With on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift and you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. I wanted to ride out to Odie Richards camp that night, but Obie insisted on staying in Dodge. I wanted to write out to Obie Richards. Excuse me. The reason I got screwed, because on this side, I. I wanted to write out to OD Rich. Well, I'm a son of a bitch. Yes, you are. I wanted to write out to OB Richards. Well, I can't possibly do it now. Okay. All right, here we go. I got. Damn it. All right, quiet, everybody. Jesus Christ follows. I wanted to ride out to Obie Ridgers camp that night, but Obie insisted on staying in Dodge. For years, Bill and I had a running gag where he'd say, hand me those handcuffs or hand me this. It's in the drawer. And I don't know what started it really, but it became a running gag as you'd have the sound effect of the door open. I'd say, here. Well, there's my. I've been looking all over for that. How did that get there? Or would you hand me my jacket or hand me my gun out of the closet? Yes, sir, here's your. Well, who put my. What? I don't know why people put my things in. What's that doing there? And after this had been going on for many, many years, Bill said to me one day, for nearly 10 years we've been playing this show and you've been looking for something and found it. Now, for heaven's sake, what is it? I said, it's right here in my pocket and here it is, and you can have it. So he gave something appropriately pithy in his comment and we went. But I couldn't have told you what it was. It just seemed like a good gimmick at the time. And it used to annoy Bill through Dylan, the fact that I always referred to circular, those circlers. And I'd say, a new batch of circlers. Come in, Mr. Dillon. Circlers, yes, Circulars. How do you spell it? S I, R, K L, U, R, S. And he was just droned while I came bouncing into the office one day all excited because there was a stranger in town and Joan wanted to know some particulars. And I said, well, he's some sort of Dutchman. How do you know he's a Dutchman so. Well, he talks funny and he comes from Europe or Asia or one of them towns. And Bill, who was easily broken up, Europe or Asia, one of them towns yesterday, said, and then the wonderful quality there. Bill would never pursue it. He would rise above Chester. Chester talked Doc into helping him make a garden. And when Doc wanted to know what he had planted, Chester didn't know. He had just found some seeds and had planted them where they were. Going to come up flowers or vegetables or not. One of the best running gags in the show was recalled by John Dator. The idea would be that Matt Dillon would be riding along with Chester and a little fellow of the town, a little guy who sort of always admired Matt, would just call out, hello Mr. Dylan. Matt would answer, where you sir, will he hello John. And off you'd ride. And this happened time after time after time. Out of out of the blue along come this little character saying hello Dylan or hello Marshall Dylan. And that's all he said. And sometimes I remember now Matt would be out in the prairie somewhere isolated way, Helen gone out somewhere. And out of the blue I would walk up to the microphone and say, hello Marshall Dylan. You just say hello John, and off we go. Pass it off as though, you know, it's the most ordinary thing in the world that this little guy should be out there among the Arapaho Indians. We were doing a show called the New Hotel sometime in, well, I don't remember the date exactly. Let's say it was in 55 and it was one of those mornings where just everything was on a tilt. Conrad at one point broke up so much that he. I thought he was really just through for the day following whatever Bill ad libbed or whatever Larry Dobkin ad libbed or whatever John Dana ad libbed the sound men would ad lib sound underneath to go right with it. The story of the new hotel concerns a hotel being built which is later destroyed by a fire. And it's a very dramatic moment. And the cue line comes up from Conrad and the hotel is in flames in the background. And Rex Corey plays I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire which of course broke up the cast completely for about five minutes. Well, so that's Enoch Mills's new hotel. Well, it will be when they got it built. Chester never heard of a cattle rancher going into hotel business before. Mr. Jones. Enigma is a man of enterprise. Look yonder, Adam. Well, he's as proud as a new father, ain't he? Well, it isn't every day a man builds a new hotel. In touch I always say. Hello, Marshall Chester. Oh, Mr. Miller. It's going up pretty fast, isn't it? Oh, it's got most a month before it's finished. Marshall, how many rooms you going to have? People? 15. Could have more but this going to be a class hotel, not some hay tent like Jim Doby's Dodge House. I'll bet he's jealous. Do's had Monopoly in this Town long enough. You're right about him being jealous, J. He's already done everything he can to keep me from building. Oh? What's he done? Well, he tried to buy up all the good lumber in town for once. The think good lumber in town thought he'd leave me with nothing but a lot of warpy cottonwood. But I got on to him soon enough. And I'm building with the best. Marshall. All Ash and Hackberry, John. Oh, hello. Scouting the enemy, I guess. Leave him, Scout. He'll be out of business soon enough. Scouting the enemy? Scouting the enemy. Yeah. Looks like a town meeting we're about to have. How are you, Marshall? How's this old Mr. Doby coming along? Fine, Dobie. Of course, it's only a little bitty hotel. Half the rooms, but twice the class. The Dodge House. You won't get my trade. Oh, John, I've been in business too long. What a figure. Who's your little friend, Dobie? You'll never beat me, eunuch. Now you're getting too old. Old? I'll eat the goose that fattens in your grave, Jim Dopey. And not likely. Anyways, what do you know about the hotel business, Enoch? You won't last a month. Good question. Now, look, you men Dodge can use two hotels. There are plenty of trade here. Why don't you quit fighting each other? You're too scared of a little competition, Doby. You ain't slept a night since I started building. You got a ranch to run, Enoch. That's enough for one man. You shouldn't be pushing on other people's territory. Well, you ain't gonna stop me. I've tried to stop you. Now go on trying. All right. He's threatening me, Marshall. You heard him. I'm going to fight you, Enoch. I'm going to fight you all the way. So now you'd better start staying up. Nice. Man belongs in jail, Marshall. Dobies are hard. When Enoch, he'll give you a fight, but I don't think he'll do anything illegal. He won't, huh? Well, you wait and see. And it's going to be your fault for not stopping him. Now, the whole blame is going to be on your shoulders, Marshall. And I ain't going to let nobody forget it. Kitty, get that thing out of here. This is the loneliest jailhouse I was ever in, math. You and Chester don't spend much time here, do you? We'll be around more often if you drive in occasionally. I haven't got a license. Oh, I see. Well, you never did have. Well, that's one reason I'm gonna live so long. I came by to tell you something, Matt. Oh, yeah? Look out for this Christmas traffic. Don't tell me that's around again. Yep. Met a guy at the Long Branch this afternoon. He didn't say much, but a man like that stands out like a white buffalo. Ah, you can pick him, Kitty. Gil Shank's a gunman and a crook. He isn't wanted that I know of, but he sure ought to be. Well, I didn't figure him for a drummer. Oh, well, I think I'll let him stay around a few days, see what he's up to. A drummer? There are a couple of men with him, but it's hard to say if they're friends or if they just met. Well, they're probably friends. Bill Shank never liked traveling alone much. I didn't look like Gunman Matt. They're just a couple of saddle buns. Maybe I'm wrong then. Well, thanks for telling me, though, Kitty. How's Enoch Mills Hotel coming? I haven't been by there lately. Oh, they got the frame up. Enoch says it'll be another month anyway. Jim Dobie been letting him along? Well, he keeps prodding pretty hard, I guess. Those two will never get together. Not the way they're gone. I stick on my knee again. Always, Kitty. Something scare you, Chester? Oh, worse than that. Oh. New hotel's on fire. On fire. And. Oh, Enit San Jim Dobit. Oh, my knees killing me. You better get down there, mister. It going. Oh, dear. And Doug, here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu. Is that guy with the binoculars watching us? Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. Affiliates excludes Massachusetts. If you're an H Vac technician and a call comes in, Grainger knows that you need a partner that helps you find the right product fast and hassle free. And you know that when the first problem of the day is a clanking blower motor, there's no need to break a sweat with. With Grainger's easy to use website and product details, you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. Those were happy. Happy Halcyon times, it's been close to 14 or 15 years since we did them. Some of those Saturday recording sessions seem as though they were this yesterday, and I wish they were tomorrow. Within two years, Gunsmoke had become a smash hit. Favorable reviews from the critics came first. Then, in 1954, the program acquired its longtime sponsor, L and M Cigarettes. The series began to receive numerous awards. It was aired twice a week. There was a surprising amount of fan mail to answer. The program inspired several Western spin offs. And there was even talk of transferring gun smoke to television. George Walsh begins the story. The sponsor I remembered best, probably because I had more to do with it over a long period of time, was Liggett and Myers Tobacco Company. In those days, it was permissible to advertise cigarettes on the air. And I did the L and M commercials and George Feniman did the Chesterfield commercials. This. This brings to mind the day that we were in the middle of a rehearsal. One of the agency men representing Liggett, Myers Tobacco and L and M and or Chesterfield Cigarettes was in the control room and out on the prairie. All of a sudden, Marshall Dillon and Chester were riding along and how a pistol shot came out of nowhere. And they hit the dirt and crawled down behind a clump of range grass. And Chester turned to the marshal and said, Golly, Mr. Dillon, it's lucky he didn't have a rifle. Cut. Yell the agency man, we can't have that word lucky in there. And everything came to a halt until there was a great deal of editorial judgment. Finally, it did turn out into the script as lucky, but because Norm MacDonald, I remember him standing there drawing himself up to his full Scottish 6 foot 2 at the time and said to this man, do you mean to tell me that I am to have Chester Proudfoot say to Marshall Dillon it is extremely fortunate that he didn't have a rifle? So Lucky stayed in the script. But this was the type of thing that I never have understood the advertising agency business. I've been exposed to it, and I use the word advisedly. I've been close to it from my standpoint, my side of the business, but I've never understood the. The aura of fear and wonderment that surrounds this business. I remember once that the small agency the Cunningham and Walsh had on the West Coast. Now my name is. My real legitimate name is Walsh, and I have no relation whatever to the Walsh, of course, Cunningham and Walsh, a very big successful advertising agency. But one time during the course of commercials that we were recording, aside from the program, we were wild, tracking the Commercials. One of the representatives of the West Coast Agency was having a difficult time. It just seemed that I couldn't do anything to please him. No matter how I did this L and M commercial, it just wasn't right. He didn't like anything about it. He didn't like the speed. He didn't like the pacing. He didn't like my accents. He didn't like anything about it. And after the tension began to build and I had done many attempts at it, I had a moment of, I thought was jest. I leaned back to the microphone and said, well, if that's the way you want it, okay. But I'm not sure that Uncle Fred would like it that way. Now, I had learned shortly before that Fred Walsh was a real character. Who in those days was. Was an old man, but still used to terrify everybody at the headquarters back in New York. So I just threw this in facetiously. But the man in the control room didn't take it that way. He thought, good Lord, this guy might really be related to the old man. From that day on, I could do nothing wrong for that matter. And as long as I knew him, there was always this aura of doubt mixed with fear that he might be related to the old man. In New York. I. I wasn't. But I cherish this memory because I'm bad when it comes to a put on. But this was one time I think I got away with. Over the 10 years that Gunsmoke was on the air, we were fortunate to win a number of awards. For instance, the Radio Television Mirror Daily Awards. We won one for Best Radio Drama or Best radio Western in 54 and 5 and 6 and 7 and 8, and I believe in 9, but I'm not sure about that. One of the things, I always hesitate to say this, but I think it should be known that perhaps the most deserving award which was never passed out was the one that should have gone to John Meston, who wrote hundreds of these scripts. And to the best of my knowledge received no specific award for it. Which I think is. Is rather a tragedy and an. And an oversight. There were times that John came in for his good notices. For instance, in a Jack Gould column in the times late 52 or early 53. Jack Gould gave us really quite a rave review. And I think was largely responsible for the show continuing on and indeed picking up commercial sponsorship. The Gunsmoke name appears in a lot of odd places. As a matter of fact, it's in the Congressional Record. A rather amusing thing when someone was saying that Matt Dillon would never have done that. And then he was reminded that Matt Dillon never really existed, and he said no. But he was so real it seemed as though he really existed. At this time. It is with great pride that Gunsmoke is able to bring you a specially recorded message by the Honorable Edward F. Arne, Governor of the State of Kansas. Ladies and gentlemen, Governor Arne. It's a real pleasure for me on behalf of Kansans everywhere to congratulate the state CBS Radio Network, the writers, producers, directors, actors and technicians on the splendid job you are doing with Gunsmoke. Here is real adult Western drama without the usual horse opera cliches, portraying an era and community of Kansas that graphically mark the formative years of our great state. Let me point out, however, the Dodge City of today is a far cry from the Dodge City, so vividly broad brought to life in gun smoke from those early pioneer and frontier days. God City has developed into one of the fine cities of our state, industrially, agriculturally and historically. The folks of Dodge City and indeed all the people of this great Sunflower State, thank you for a good job. Well done. Thank you Governor Arne Foreign. 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 YouTube 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 podcast trwesterns.com and you can you can call and leave us a voicemail 707-986-8739 this episode is copyrighted under the Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Copyright. For more information go to otrwesterns.com copyright have a great day and thanks for listening. And Doug Here we have the Limu Imu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us. Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts. If you're an H Vac technician and a call comes in. Granger knows that you need a partner that helps you find the right product fast and hassle free. And you know that when the first problem of the day is a clanking blower motor, there's no need to break a sweat. With Grainger's easy to use website and product details, you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why, hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering with on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift and you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.