Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Gunsmoke" - Bloody Hands (04-02-55)

Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Gunsmoke" - Bloody Hands (04-02-55)

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:

April 2, 1955. CBS network. "Bloody Hands". Sponsored by: L & M Cigarettes, Chesterfield. Marshal Dillon gets sick of killing and resigns his job. The script was used on the Gunsmoke television series on February 16, 1957. William Conrad, Parley Baer, Georgia Ellis, Howard McNear, John Dehner, Lawrence Dobkin, John Meston (writer), Norman Macdonnell (producer, director), Rex Koury (composer, conductor), Tom Hanley (sound patterns), Ray Kemper (sound patterns), George Fenneman (commercial spokesman), George Walsh (announcer). 30:20. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.