Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Gunsmoke" - Overland Express (10-31-52)

Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Gunsmoke"
"Overland Express" (Aired October 31, 1952)

The radio version ran from 1952 to 1961, and John Dunning writes that among radio drama enthusiasts "Gunsmoke is routinely placed among the best shows of any kind and any time." The television version ran for 20 seasons from 1955 to 1975, and was the United States' longest-running prime time, live-action drama with 635 episodes. In 2010, Law & Order tied this record of 20 seasons (but only 456 episodes). At the end of its run in 1975, Los Angeles Times columnist Cecil Smith wrote "Gunsmoke was the dramatization of the American epic legend of the west. Our own Iliad and Odyssey, created from standard elements of the dime novel and the pulp western as romanticized by Buntline, Harte, and Twain. It was ever the stuff of legend.

THIS EPISODE:

October 31, 1952. CBS network. "Overland Express". Sustaining. While taking an escaped killed named Joe Bodrie back to Dodge, Matt and Chester find plenty of action aboard a stagecoach. One of the public service announcements mentions that CBS News will be using "Univac" to predict election returns. The script was used on the Gunsmoke television series May 31, 1958. Clancey Cassell (announcer), James Nusser, John Meston (writer), Junius Matthews, Lawrence Dobkin, Lou Krugman, Parley Baer, Ralph Moody, Vic Perrin, William Conrad. 30:09. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index. Cat. #39952.