Sometimes one gets tired of the serious stuff, so How about a little diversion: the object of this game is what is wrong with Gun Smoke? You remember "Gun Smoke" the TV program that was on the air for twenty years. It was good entertainment but poor history.
The first question is why can‘t Matt’s part-time deputy Festus Haggen ever be a marshal or even perhaps a full-time deputy. This is a very easy question for anyone who has any knowledge of the show and law enforcement and the legal system. Consider the social conditions of the country at the time. Perhaps Festus could get a waiver that would allow him to be a full-time deputy, but there is something that disqualifies him from ever being a U.S. Marshal; what is it.
Re: What is wrong with Gun Smoke?
Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2021 3:38 am
by Bicycle Bill
First of all, and for the record, it's "Gunsmoke" — all one word. Even my little sister knows that.
It's my understanding that Festus WAS the full-time deputy in the later years of the series. In fact, the only reason Newly O'Brien (Buck Taylor) became a second deputy is that Ken Curtis, the actor who portrayed Festus, refused to come back for any of the made-for-TV movies after leaning how little he would be paid, contending that he should be paid an amount commensurate to the importance of Hagen to the storyline — and so the Newly character was created and added to the cast.
As for why he couldn't be a full U.S. Marshal, that might be because of his origins as an uneducated, illiterate plainsman whose first appearance on the show was when he formed an uneasy alliance with Matt to track down his murderous uncle ("Black Jack" Hagen) in order to avenge the death of his twin brother Fergus. Not exactly a paragon of virtue.... although when you consider that the Marshal's own love interest was the owner of the town's saloon/bordello, he wasn't exactly a pillar of moral rectitude either.
But he could read and write — and outshoot just about anyone who came up ag'nst him. -"BB"-
First of all, and for the record, it's "Gunsmoke" — all one word. Even my little sister knows that.
It's my understanding that Festus WAS the full-time deputy in the later years of the series. In fact, the only reason Newly O'Brien (Buck Taylor) became a second deputy is that Ken Curtis, the actor who portrayed Festus, refused to come back for any of the made-for-TV movies after leaning how little he would be paid, contending that he should be paid an amount commensurate to the importance of Hagen to the storyline — and so the Newly character was created and added to the cast.
As for why he couldn't be a full U.S. Marshal, that might be because of his origins as an uneducated, illiterate plainsman whose first appearance on the show was when he formed an uneasy alliance with Matt to track down his murderous uncle ("Black Jack" Hagen) in order to avenge the death of his twin brother Fergus. Not exactly a paragon of virtue.... although when you consider that the Marshal's own love interest was the owner of the town's saloon/bordello, he wasn't exactly a pillar of moral rectitude either.
But he could read and write — and outshoot just about anyone who came up ag'nst him. -"BB"-
Well, I said it was an easy question. A Marshall or A Sheriff then the same as now was an administrative position; they usually had deputies that did the fieldwork. They mostly did paperwork.
But he could read and write — and outshoot just about anyone who came up ag'nst him.
Just like his brother, he did the impossible.
Re: What is wrong with Gun Smoke?
Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2021 10:41 pm
by MGMcAnick
I know I've mentioned watching Gunsmoke many times.
Did you know that Gunsmoke was a radio show before it came to TV? William Conrad (Later starring as Cannon) voiced Matt Dillon. Cannon was too heavy for a horse to support him for any length of time. The Marshall couldn't very well patrol the prairie in a buggy, so Conrad was out.
I used to have a link to old radio shows four or five computers ago. Unfortunately I've never been able to find it again. Mrs Mc watches Gunsmoke reruns A LOT. I watch some too. We watched an episode on TV, and then listened to it on the radio link. The dialog was EXACTLY the same. Only the sound effects were different. Clippity clop, Clippity Clop.
Yes Miss Kitty was portrayed as a pillar of the Dodge City community. In reality she would have been the Madam of the Long Branch bordello, AKA Cat house or house of ill repute. That was never mentioned in the TV series, but it was a fact of life. There were LOTS of "soiled doves", who travelled west after the Civil War. Their men were dead. They had little or no education.
Milburn Stone, who played Doc, was born and raised near here. He was supposedly once engaged to one of my teachers. He went to Hollywood to seek fame and fortune. She refused to go.
Dodge City and the show play on Dodge's past as a "cow town". That was particularly true during the brief period that the railroad's construction ended there on it's march to the west. Ellsworth KS had that "honor" a few years earlier. I guess Ellsworth didn't get as good "press" as Dodge did. I've never seen its TV series...
The Front Street museum is a semi-preserved representation of how Dodge City used to look. It's "boot hill" cemetery is very fake. The real one was not near "downtown" Dodge. Many towns in that area had "boot hills" where unidentified people were buried "with their boots on". I lived in Hays KS (AKA Hays City, near Ft Hays) for nearly two years, and drove by its real boot hill many times, never realizing what it was.
There are staged gunfights on Front Street during warm weather. There are ladies who portray the saloon girls of the Gunsmoke era. I know a lady who played Miss Kitty more than a couple of years ago. She's in her 60s now, and could still play the part. Her husband died so she lives here now, not in Dodge. No, she's not a soiled dove.
Ft Dodge is about five miles east of Dodge City. I don't recall ever seeing an episode of Gunsmoke that portrayed any soldiers from the fort. You can bet they were there, probably "seeing" some of Miss Kitty's soiled doves.
And then there are the mountains. It is 250 or so miles from Dodge City to Colorado's front range. I've been to, through, and even over Dodge City MANY times. You can't see any mountains from there, or even close to there. Yet, there are always BIG TALL mountains in Matt Dillon's background.
It bugs Mrs Mc to no end when I point out script discrepancies, like the time he rode from Dodge to Spivy, Kansas (Current population about 80.) in an afternoon. It's about 120 miles. Most men and their horses could make 25 or 30 miles in a day. Matt, ever the hero, did it in half a day. Must have had a really good horse.
Mrs Mc keeps reminding me that it's only a TV show.
Any questions? I'll try to channel Matt Dillon, for whom the Dodge City police dept still occasionally gets phone calls for.
William Conrad (Later starring as Cannon) voiced Matt Dillon. Cannon was too heavy for a horse to support him for any length of time. The Marshall couldn't very well patrol the prairie in a buggy, so Conrad was out.
It bugs Mrs Mc to no end when I point out script discrepancies, like the time he rode from Dodge to Spivy, Kansas (Current population about 80.) in an afternoon. It's about 120 miles. Most men and their horses could make 25 or 30 miles in a day. Matt, ever the hero, did it in half a day. Must have had a really good horse.
Kind of like the 30-minute ride from the Bonanza ranch to Virginia City; a trip that takes about an hour by car.
Video definitely killed the radio star. Yes there are a FEW nationwide well known radio personalities, but they are not like the actors of yore.
There was one, and it says so right on his death certificate, under 'OCCUPATION':
According to reports, his wife, Kathryn Limbaugh, was listed as having provided the information for the document, so it's most likely her handiwork that got it listed just so.
I wonder if she can be charged for falsifying an official document? -"BB"-
I wonder if she can be charged for falsifying an official document?
If that is the official document, it would be nice if they'd try.
Of course I don't consider an announcer, no matter how "great" he might have been, to be on a par with radio actors of old.
