“I’m that man…Matt Dillon, United States marshal…”

As I continue to fight the Dreaded Pre-Spring Head Cold (which, in new developments, I have successfully passed on to my father, sister and niece—call me contagious!) I fed my Gunsmoke jones at work last night with some more episodes from Radio Spirits’ The Ultimate Gunsmoke Collection. First off the bat: “Westbound,” originally broadcast January 3, 1953. This one was a first-time listen for me, and I was really entertained by it: Matt and Chester arrive in Abilene to take Jack Daggett (Sam Edwards) back to Dodge—but encounter interference from both Daggett’s brothers (Barney Phillips, Larry Dobkin) and the rather uncooperative Abilene populace. My favorite is a timid hotel clerk played by John Dehner, who attempts to be the gracious host while at the same time wishing Dillon would find some other hotel room to keep his prisoner in:

CLERK: Thank heavens, gentlemen, you’re leaving…
MATT (with heavy sarcasm): Yeah, we’re leavin’…and I wanna thank you for your wonderful hospitality…I’ll be glad to recommend your hotel to anybody who plans to stop over in Abilene…
CLERK (meekly): Oh…I…hardly know what to say, Marshal…you simply don’t understand…you don’t know these Daggett brothers (quickly) no…no offense personally, Jack…I have to live in this town, and…
MATT: Come on, Jack…you boys run quite a bluff, you’ve got everybody in town jumpin’ sideways…
DAGGETT: You’d be smart if you did, Dillon…
(SFX: door open)
CLERK (calling after them): Good luck, gentlemen…eh…best of luck to…to all of you…!!!
MATT (chuckling): All of us…well, that’s hedgin’ his bet…

In the booklet that accompanies the CD set, OTR historian Anthony Tollin comments that “Westbound” shares many similarities with the 1952 film classic High Noon (in fact, a famous article in Time magazine once described the show as “the High Noon of broadcasting”). I certainly won’t quibble with this comparison, but in listening to the episode I couldn’t help but notice that it shares more kinship with two other classic Westerns: 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and Last Train From Gun Hill (1959). (The Gun Hill connection is not entirely coincidental; Gunsmoke scribe Les Crutchfield, who wrote “Westbound,” receives story credit on the John Sturges-directed film.)

I followed “Westbound” with “Word of Honor” (1/10/53), which provides a nice showcase for Howard McNear as his Doc Adams character is abducted to treat a dying man. Upon his return to Dodge, he refuses to identify his kidnappers because he gave them his word of honor as a physician. This show was followed by “The Cast” (12/12/53), another Doc-oriented episode, only in this one he doesn’t quite sound like his usual self. There is, of course, an explanation for this: veteran voice actor Paul Frees substitutes for McNear for this one-time-only broadcast. It’s quite jarring to hear Frees imitate McNear, to be sure—but you get used to it after a minute or two. In this show, Doc’s life is threatened by a widowed husband (Tom Tully) after his wife dies during surgery. This plot of simple folk distrusting doctors and modern medicine would get quite a workout on Gunsmoke, showing up again in the episodes “Cow Doctor” (5/28/55) and “The Surgery” (2/23/58), to name a few examples.

(While I’m on the subject of Paul Frees—I got a postcard from Bear Manor Media announcing their soon-to-be-released publication of Welcome, Foolish Mortals…The Life and Voices of Paul Frees, written by none other than the man behind the panda, publisher Ben Ohmart. I’m a little financially strapped right now, but I plan to snag a copy come next payday—as a cartoonist friend of mine used to say, “Paul Frees is everywhere!”)

“The Cast” also allows Gunsmoke fans to hear the program’s first sponsor: Post Toasties (“heap good corn flakes”) backed with Sugar Krinkles (“the sugar rice treat that’s just right sweet”). I’m not certain how long Post’s association with the show lasted, but you can pretty much tell that it was doomed from the get-go; the commercials are completely incongruous with Gunsmoke’s gritty realism, sounding instead more appropriate for sponsorship of something like The Lone Ranger.

I wrapped up my mini-Gunsmoke festival with a broadcast originally heard July 5, 1954: “Hack Prine,” the first episode sponsored by the program’s better-known bread-and-butter, L&M/Chesterfield. “Hack Prine” isn’t necessarily the best show, but I think it’s probably the most representative—I would choose this entry if I wanted to introduce a novice listener to the joys of the program. All of the regulars are in place here, and the plot—an old gunfighter friend of Matt’s has been hired by one of Dillon’s enemies to kill him—encompasses an oft-recurring Gunsmoke theme, that of duty vs. friendship. (Tollin notes in the booklet that “Hack Prine” was also adapted as the pilot for the television version.) Four regular members of the show’s “repertory company”—Dobkin, Dehner, Vic Perrin, and Harry Bartell—are also in the supporting cast of this episode as well.