WEDNESDAY 2-3PM
http://www3.northern.edu/wild/th100/gnsmoke.htm
Gunsmoke, on radio from 1952-1961, is perhaps the greatest radio drama of all – not just the best western radio drama. It is a perfect example of all the elements of creative broadcast radio coming together week after week to create a place and time in your mind (Dodge City, mid-1880′s or so), populated with living people who you grow to know personally and care about. Chester, Doc, Kitty and Matt Dillon, US Marshal, “the first man they look for, and the last they want to meet.” become as real to us as our neighbors.
The cast featured Parley Baer as Chester, Howard McNear (who went on to be Floyd the Barber on TV’s Andy Griffith Show) as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty, The weekly supporting casts were always well drawn and believable. Producer/director Norm MacDonnell, the creative genius who made the show what it was, always took care that everything sounded just right.
William Conrad, already a major radio actor with terrific work on Escape, was at first overlooked as being ubiquitous. But they tested him anyway, and he was Matt Dillon right from the start. The role became Conrad’s greatest achievement, and must be considered as perhaps the best portrayal of show character ever heard on radio. Conrad was distraught that he wasn’t considered to play Matt Dillon on TV, being short and heavy, but he went on to a solid career in TV (best remembered for the series Cannon).
The old time radio show is Gunsmoke at its most creative and varied. The gritty dialog of the superb scripts, the honest acting, sound effects and music makes Dodge as real as any place ever created on radio. For example, Kitty’s saloon scenes featured a real honky-tonk “pieannah” being played live in a crowd of extras as the show was transcribed. Gunshots were the authentic weapons recorded and carefully mixed. The staff was the best in the business.