Friday, November 19, 2021

Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Gunsmoke" - The Gentleman (03-06-54)

Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Gunsmoke"
The Gentleman (Aired March 6, 1954)


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:

March 6, 1954. CBS network. "The Gentleman". Sustaining. A Philadelphia gambler named Marcus France is in love with Mavis McLeod, and heading for a showdown with a bully named Tiller Evans. The script was used on the Gunsmoke television series on June 7, 1958. Eleanor Tanin, George Walsh (announcer), Georgia Ellis, Harry Bartell, Howard McNear, John Dehner, John Meston (writer), Lawrence Dobkin, Norman Macdonnell (producer, director), Parley Baer, Rex Koury (composer, performer), William Conrad. 25:33. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.


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