Gunsmoke, Doc was an old curmudgeon etc.

[rwsmith]

Going to an hour......

I think it was Chester's idea to have the limp. Set him apart from other sidekicks.

IIRC on Encore some of the shows are called Marshall Dillion and some are called Gunsmoke. I think Arness repackaged the intro on some of the half hour shows.

Many good half hour shows were ruined when they went to an hour. Writers just filled the time with fluff and stuff plus the accountants got two more commercial breaks.


The "old one hour shows" run almost 55 minutes without commercials. I think it is down to 40 minutes now.

Gunsmoke did poorly going to the hour format until everybody learned how to make a good one hour show. An hour long show in the early 60's was practically a movie.

It's really amazing how many shows were just a half hour. They didn't seem to fly by so quick then. I think everything ran at a slower pace. I can't watch network TV. I can't follow the story line with so many, and so long commercial interruptions. Especially when those interruptions are such an assault on your senses.

 

[rwsmith]

Think of a few more...

Dillion was in the 3rd ID and was wounded at Anzio. At 6'7" he must have made a good target. Can you imagine him and Audie Murphy in the same platoon?

Chester was a US Navy pilot in WWII.

I thought Chester would have been 4F. Beside being gimpy he was kinda slow, too. OH, you mean Dennis Weaver!!!!!!

PS Chester, Kentucky Jones, McCloud. Dennis Weaver was one of many favorites from that time.

 

[rwsmith]

Oh, in general.....

EVERYBODY on Gunsmoke was a lot rougher in the early years. Doc was grumpier and almost an alcoholic. Miss Kitty was almost undeniably a prostitute. Matt wasn't quite so 'invincible'.

 

[Tom S.]

I thought Chester's limp came from watching Miss Kitty.

 

[Trooperdan]

There is an ex city marshal in Chama, NM who has a bad leg.
You got it - he's called Chester.
When you go to charming Chama, you might want to stay in his motel.
That's where I stay.
Charles Askins went there, I go there. An Ur-ban legend says that Willie Nelson went there.
Chama Trails Inn, Chama, New Mexico

I own a bit of property just outside Chama, don't get to visit it much from south Florida!

 

[Jack Flash]

As far as I know, the series was always called Gunsmoke here in the US. After all, it was the adaptation for TV of the long-running radio show with the same name, and with the same characters. I have heard it was called Gun Law when shown in England. And yes, reruns were shown with the title Marshall Dillon on Wednesday nights, IIRC.

In the radio version, Doc was a much different character. You wonder if he had any formal medical training at all or was pretty much a frontier quack. He wasn't any too admirable, being mostly interested in making money. For example, in one radio show he volunteers to autopsy a deceased criminal for free if he can put the body on public display and charge ten cents a head to view the corpse! In the early years of the TV show, there was some carry over of the radio Doc's personality, but it was greatly watered down. After the first few years Doc became the kind, altruistic (if a little gruff and grumpy) Doc we think of now.

The early shows were a lot grittier than the later ones. In one early show, three drunken miscreants hang a harmless old guy basically just to amuse themselves, but Dillon can't prove anything. At the end of the show, the townspeople rise up and hang these three evil doers. Dillon says something like "If I find out who did this I will arrest them." It's clear he intends to do nothing about it.

In another early one, Dillon and Chester ambush a gang that has been plundering rural homesteads and murdering the occupants. The lawmen begin firing without any warning, killing several outlaws and forcing the others to surrender. Dillon's attitude is that he gave them the same chance that they gave their victims.

Well, Gunsmoke was supposed to be an adult show, not the Saturday morning mush made for children. In later years, this was toned down a lot.

 

[model3sw]

In one episode ... and I believe it only happened once in the entire series... Doc shoots and kills an outlaw that is preventing him from making a call to a seriously ill citizen. It later turns out that this bad guy was wanted with reward offered, dead or alive.

Question is ... what did Doc use to kill this bad guy and who was the bad guy's brother that wanted revenge by attempting to kill Doc ? Doc later saves the life of the brother (that was trying to kill him) and gives the brother the reward money to give to the bad guy's wife (that Doc killed).

 

[Toyman]

You mentioned the radio show GUNSMOKE, the part of DOC was played by Howard McNair the barber on Andy of Mayberry

 

[Chuck24]

In one episode ... and I believe it only happened once in the entire series... Doc shoots and kills an outlaw that is preventing him from making a call to a seriously ill citizen. It later turns out that this bad guy was wanted with reward offered, dead or alive.

Question is ... what did Doc use to kill this bad guy and who was the bad guy's brother that wanted revenge by attempting to kill Doc ? Doc later saves the life of the brother (that was trying to kill him) and gives the brother the reward money to give to the bad guy's wife (that Doc killed).

In season 3 episode 14 "Doc's Reward" he kills a man who is trying to keep him from getting to his patient. Iirc he uses a shotgun.

 

[Jack Flash]

You mentioned the radio show GUNSMOKE, the part of DOC was played by Howard McNair the barber on Andy of Mayberry

Howard McNair also appeared in a few episodes of the TV Gunsmoke. He ran a general store in Dodge.

Doc handled a gun from time to time, but I do not recall "the Reward" episode. I do remember Doc using a rifle to kill a man who was about to shoot Matt in the back. Doc shows no remorse at all, stating "I told him I'd kill him." I think this was in the final season of the show.

 

[Chuck24]

Doc's reward guest star is Jack Lord.

 

[model3sw]

In season 3 episode 14 "Doc's Reward" he kills a man who is trying to keep him from getting to his patient. Iirc he uses a shotgun.

Correct .. SHOTGUN, now for double jeopardy ... LOL. Who was the guest start (the brother of the man Doc killed) ?

 

[model3sw]

Doc's reward guest star is Jack Lord.

Yes, Jack Lord. Who was one of the hero's of my High School in Ozone Park NY, as he was a 1938 Graduate and just about as big as a rock star to us.

I also discovered, Jack Lord's fellow cast member
"Dr. No", Joseph Wiseman (Dr. No, himself) was a 1935 Graduate of the same High School: John Adams High School, Ozone Park, NY.

 

[Bozz10mm]

James Arness and Peter Graves (TV's Mission Impossible) are brothers.

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, (Bones) and James Doohan (Scotty) all appeared in separate episodes of Gunsmoke.

Dennis Weaver was an anti-gun, anti hunting activist.

 

[the ringo kid]

Dillion was in the 3rd ID and was wounded at Anzio. At 6'7" he must have made a good target. Can you imagine him and Audie Murphy in the same platoon?

Chester was a US Navy pilot in WWII.

Believe it or not? Chuck Connors towers over Arness. I saw an season 1 episode-shown in '56, that had Connors as a former heavyweight sports guy of some type. He comes in on the same stagecoach with some guy (who turned out to be a disenchanted Preacher) and Connors gets pissed because the guy wouldnt talk to him. He beats the heck out of the guy till Dillon beats him in a fight.

 

[the ringo kid]

Austin Powers in Goldmember (5/5) Movie CLIP - Nice To Mole You (2002) HD - YouTube

I know a local lady who had a mole like that, same place and had a single inch long hair growing from it. Not to sound mean, but I always wanted to yank it out. Recently I saw her again and she had it surgically removed. This lady really looks better now.

 

[the ringo kid]

You know I still disagree about the opening scene, Arvo O'jala says he did it in his book, also stills of him in his museum, and every reference I can find including his obit in several papers says it was him. That aside it is interesting that the Main Street used for the scene is the same Main Street used in High Noon. Title Marshall Dillon was used because when half hour episodes went into syndication, the hour show was still on and producers required the change. Dennis weaver hated the limp and says in his bio he wished he had never done it because it was a pain. Also all 4 of the top Star Trek officers appeared in various episodes.

Ill still have to argue on the opening. That sequence was taken from another angle and was used in Leo Gordons scene. It was the episode: Hack Prine and near the end.

Exact outfit: Leo Gordon: Hack Prine.

 

[the ringo kid]

I remember reading that John Wayne was supposed to play Matt Dillon but He was busy on another project so He suggested His Friend James Arness and the rest is History.
Festus Hagan always called Doc a ornery old Scutter, I guess that must have been the word for curmudgeon back in those days.
I did some research and Chester(Dennis Weaver) was just fooling around in front of the Director and was limping so They put the limp in the Show,They explained the limp as Chester was a wounded Confederate Soldier.I also read that if You really pay attention to the show You can see Chester forget what Leg is bad and limp on the wrong one.

John Wayne had Arness under contract with him in his own production company called: Batjac. I THINK he got that name from the name of a ship in a movie he was inn where he died? Anyway, Arness had already made 4 movies Duke produced, but as Duke was busy, he released Arness from his contract so he could be the lead.

I havent seen the episode yet where Chester's injury is explained but, in another episode earlier on, he seemed to indicate some kind of service in the Union milk--but I cant remember any details. Soon as I see that episode where explained, ill post either concurrment or denial of what itll be.

 

[the ringo kid]

I think you misread my post. I am the one supporting Ojala having done much research on this at the Ojala museum and numerous obits and gunsmoke websites. I have had a long running friendly disagreement with Ringo who thinks it is Leo Gordon. Everything I read supports Ojala as the first, there were
3 others who came later. Sorry about spelling, guess my spellcheck was set on Irish.
3

It still makes an interesting debate-like if Bigfoot really exists or not?

 

[mauser9]

Oh yeah Jack Lord. Anyone recall Stoney Burke. Warren Oates was a regular. Series did not last long however.