Gunsmoke Radio Series

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Gunsmoke Radio Series
Western Trivia Facts Gunsmoke

The cast of radio's Gunsmoke: Howard McNear (Doc) aka Floyd from the Andy Griffith Show, William Conrad (Matt), Georgia Ellis (Kitty) and Parley Baer (Chester)

In the late 1940s, CBS chairman William S. Paley, a big fan of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe radio serial, asked his programming chief, Hubell Robinson, to develop a hardboiled Western series, a show about a "Philip Marlowe of the Old West." Robinson contacted his West Coast CBS Vice-President, Harry Ackerman, who had developed the Philip Marlowe series, to take on the task.

Ackerman and his scriptwriters, Mort Fine and David Friedkin, created an audition script called "Mark Dillon Goes to Gouge Eye". Two auditions were created in 1949. The first was very much like a hardboiled detective series and starred Rye Billsbury as Dillon; the second starred Straight Arrow actor Howard Culver in a more Western, lighter version of the same script. CBS liked the Culver version better, and Ackerman was given the green light to proceed.

But there was a complication. Culver's contract as the star of Straight Arrow would not allow him to do another Western series. So the project was shelved until three years later, when Norman MacDonnell and John Meston discovered it while looking to create an adult Western series of their own.

MacDonnell and Meston wanted to create a radio Western for adults, in contrast to the prevailing juvenile fare such as The Lone Ranger and The Cisco Kid. Gunsmoke was set in Dodge City, Kansas during the thriving cattle days of the 1870s. Dunning notes, "The show drew critical acclaim for unprecedented realism."

Radio cast and character biographies

The radio series first aired on April 26, 1952 ("Billy the Kid," written by Walter Newman) and ran until June 18, 1961 on CBS. It starred William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon; Howard McNear as Doc Charles Adams; Georgia Ellis as Kitty Russell; and Parley Baer as Dillon's assistant Chester Proudfoot.

Conrad was actually one of the last actors who auditioned for the role of Marshal Dillon. With a powerful, distinctive voice, Conrad was already one of radio's busiest actors. Though Meston championed him, MacDonnell thought Conrad might be overexposed. During his audition, however, Conrad won over MacDonnell after reading only a few lines. Dillon as portrayed by Conrad was a lonely, isolated man, toughened by a hard life. Meston relished the upending of cherished Western fiction clichés and thought that few Westerns gave any inkling of how brutal the Old West was in reality. Dunning writes that Meston was especially disgusted by the archetypal Western hero and set out "to destroy [that type of] character he loathed." In Meston's view, "Dillon was almost as scarred as the homicidal psychopaths who drifted into Dodge from all directions." (Dunning, 304)

Chester's character had no surname until Baer ad libbed "Proudfoot" during an early rehearsal. The amiable character was usually described as Dillon's "assistant," but the December 13, 1952 episode "Post Martin," Dillon described Chester as Dillon's deputy. The TV series changed Chester's last name to Goode.

Doc Adams was iconoclastic and grumpy, but McNear's performances gradually became more warm-hearted. In the January 31, 1953 episode "Cavalcade," Doc Adams' backstory is revealed: his real name is Calvin Moore, educated in Boston, and he practiced as a doctor for a year in Richmond, Virginia where he fell in love with a beautiful young woman who was also being courted by a wealthy young man named Roger Beauregard. Beauregard forced Doc into fighting a duel with him, resulting in Beauregard's being shot and killed, but even though it was a fair duel, because Doc was a Yankee and an outsider he was forced to flee. The young girl fled after him and they were married in St. Louis, but two months later she died of typhus. Doc wandered throughout the territories until he settled in Dodge City seventeen years later under the name of "Charles Adams." For sixteen years, a sign hung over "Doc's" office that read. "Dr. G. Adams". Milburn Stone was given free rein to choose the character's first name in an episode that showcased an intimate friend/ judge who visited the town. The actor chose the surname of a medical researcher named Galen, as a first name. It was explained that his parents had high hopes their son would be a physician.

Georgia Ellis appeared in the very first episode "Billy the Kid" (April 26, 1952) as "Francie Richards," a former girlfriend of Matt Dillon and the widow of a criminal. "Miss Kitty" did not appear on the radio series until the May 10, 1952 episode "Jaliscoe." Kitty's profession was hinted at, but never explicitly stated: in a 1953 interview with Time, MacDonnell declared: "Kitty is just someone Matt has to visit every once in a while. We never say it, but Kitty is a prostitute, plain and simple." (Dunning, 304) The television show portrayed Kitty as a saloon proprietor, not a prostitute.

Distinction from other radio westerns

Gunsmoke was often a somber program, particularly in its early years. Dunning writes that Dillon "played his hand and often lost. He arrived too late to prevent a lynching. He amputated a dying man's leg and lost the patient anyway. He saved a girl from brutal rapists then found himself unable to offer her what she needed to stop her from moving into... life as a prostitute." (Dunning, 304) Some listeners, such as vintage radio authority Dunning, have argued that the radio version of Gunsmoke was far more realistic than the TV series. Episodes were aimed at adults and featured some of the most explicit content of their time, including violent crimes, scalpings, massacres, and opium addicts. Many episodes ended on a somber note, and villains often got away with their crimes. Nonetheless, thanks to the subtle scripts and outstanding ensemble cast, over the years the program evolved into a warm, often humorous celebration of human nature.

Apart from the doleful tone, Gunsmoke was distinct from other radio westerns, as the dialogue was often slow and halting, and due to the outstanding sound effects, listeners had a nearly palpable sense of the prairie terrain where the show was set. The effects were subtle but multilayered, giving the show a spacious feel. John Dunning writes: "The listener heard extraneous dialogue in the background, just above the muted shouts of kids playing in an alley. He heard noises from the next block, too, where the inevitable dog was barking." (Dunning, 305)

Talk of adapting Gunsmoke to television

Not long after the show began, there was talk of adapting it to television. Privately, MacDonnell had a guarded interest in taking the show to television, but publicly, he declared that "our show is perfect for radio," and he feared that, as Dunning writes, "Gunsmoke confined by a picture could not possibly be as authentic or attentive to detail." (Dunning, 305) "In the end," writes Dunning, "CBS simply took it away from" MacDonnell and began preparing for the television version of Gunsmoke. (Dunning, 305)

Conrad and the others were given auditions, but they were little more than token efforts—especially in Conrad's case, due to his obesity. However, Meston was kept on as the main writer. In the early years, a majority of the TV episodes were adapted from the radio scripts, often using identical scenes and dialogue. Dunning writes: "That radio fans considered the TV show a sham and its players impostors should surprise no one. That the TV show was not a sham is due in no small part to the continued strength of Meston's scripts." (Dunning, 304)

MacDonnell and Meston continued the radio version of Gunsmoke until 1961, making it one of the most enduring vintage radio dramas. The Gunsmoke radio theme song and later TV theme was titled "Old Trails," also known as "Boothill." The theme was written by Rex Koury & Glenn Spencer. The original radio version was conducted by Rex Koury. The TV version was thought to have been first conducted by CBS West Coast Music Director, Lud Gluskin.

William Conrad directed two episodes of the television version, in 1963 and 1971. Howard McNear appeared on six episodes of the television version playing characters other than Doc, including three times as storekeeper Howard Rudd.