Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Gunsmoke" - Jaliscoe Pete (05-10-52)

"Jaliscoe Pete" (Aired May 10, 1952)

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 told 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. The project was shelved for three years, when MacDonnell and Meston discovered it creating 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."


THIS EPISODE:

May 10, 1952. CBS net.work "Jaliscoe Pete". Sustaining. "Jaliscoe Pete" and his three friends murder Will Thompson and his family and try to make it look like it was done by Indians. Barney Phillips, Georgia Ellis, Harry Bartell, Howard McNear, Jack Kruschen, John McGovern, Les Crutchfield (writer), Lou Krugman, Norman Macdonnell (producer, director), Parley Baer, Rex Koury (composer, performer), Roy Rowan (announcer), Vivi Janis, William Conrad. 30:17. Episode Notes From The Radio Golld Index.