TBT, Did you watch Gun Smoke?

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

And then we watch the "pattern" until the daily schedule started the next morning.

That's a COOL chart! Would've love to have that. Frankly, my Dad used to just make a guess and we'd hie ourselves down to the supermarket and their RCA tube tester and its cabinet below full of spares to buy. 'Course, that kind of guess & by golly never accounted for something just being out of tolerance or a little out of whack but we usually made do.


Like cars of yesteryear it didn't require a tech team to dismantle just to change a headlight. Remove the fiberboard back panel and the world was laid out in front of you. I did get a valuable lesson at a very young age though of just what kinds of voltage could be present on the pins of a tube.

[Flagg]

I remember watching Gunsmoke as a kid.

Admittedly, I was more of a McHale’s Navy, Hogan’s Heroes, and Rat Patrol fan.

I had no idea it ran for 30 years.

[PSM]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

One of the commenters on my FB post spotted the radio tower in the old B/W photo. I'm thinking it's an early HAM tower that supported the American Radio Relay League (ARRL); and the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES)

What show? I remember seeing that in Bat Masterson.

[PSM]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

And then we watch the "pattern" until the daily schedule started the next morning.

I actually still have one of those camera registration cards, from my TV days, in a memory box somewhere.

[PSM]

Originally Posted by Box

I watched it with my grandparents when I was a kid. I grew up on westerns - then forgot all about them for about 30 years.
In my Dads last few years, when ever I would visit we, would either watch The Walking Dead or old westerns - including Gun Smoke. Re-watching those old westerns is one of the things that pointed me towards Cowboy Action Shooting.

Geez, you just made me feel very old.

[Chucko]

MATTHEW! By Festus
MR DILLON! BY Chester.

I watched Gunsmoke very little as a kid but was stuck on other westerns at the time, if I recall correctly.

Until I got more channels about 15 years ago I could not watch Bonanza, but then I was able to watch Bonanza every day until they started repeating. Over time, I watched all except the last 3 years worth or so.

Last fall I started watching Gunsmoke and was dedicated. I made a listing and am now 95% through the whole series. It is a very good show and can find myself watching 6-8 new shows a night. I find myself watching these over Showtime stuff. I always DVR them and skip the commercials.

Now that I am almost caught up in Gunsmoke I can resume my Lost Bonanza episodes, but I don't care for them as much as Gunsmoke.

[Joker]

I had a Matt Dillon T-shirt when I was a little kid in the early ‘60s. I wore it out. I never missed a show if I couldn’t help it.

[Badger52]

The Mrs. watches a bunch of this, hunkered down.
She's been musing that they should run some of the old ABC evening westerns that ran for only a bit (compared to Gunsmoke).
Bronco Lane, Cheyenne, maybe The Guns of Will Sonnett; there's a bunch out there somewhere (if the film survived).

[PSM]

Not only did I watch it, I listened to it on radio. And to, Have Gun Will Travel, The Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, and The Six Shooter. My dad was a construction engineer on pipelines between Canada and South Texas. We lived in a 41' mobile home he pulled with an Olds 98. On the road we would listen to radio dramas at night and music during the day. We only stayed in one campground one week while on the road. If you've seen The Long, Long Trailer you know why. He'd find farms and ranches where we could stay while he was working. Once we got a TV we could watch several of them on the snowy Zenith. Which the threw his shoes at every night because the reception sucked. So back to the radio. Best years of my childhood life!

[WarriorDiplomat]

Its funny watching the show and seeing all the mountains and canyons in the show when Dodge City looks nothing like it being high plains and as a kid I wasn't sure and imagine learning it was filmed in Utah

These days I stil like a good western and Gunsmoke is still a top notch show with relevant and edgy storylines others I like are The High Chaparral , The rifleman, Laramie, tales of Wells Fargo, Cheyenne, Wagon Train, Rawhide, Death Valley Days

I enjoyed Bonanza as a kid but as an adult its not my flavor same goes for the Virginian and to be honest I just didn't watch it very often

[Golf1echo]

WD, there was a time I lived out beyond “Old Tucson” so many Westerns were filmed there regardless of story line... the mountains in the back ground are the give away. Even seen a few movies shot no where near the desert but they cleverly filmed the train and hid most of the OT props.
Like Box mentioned some like the ”High Chaparel” were aired only at the grand parents house, I rewatched a few episodes and was taken by their use of “overwatch” as a method of travel in Apache country...

[Chucko]

I though this write-up was interesting about James Arness.

American Old Time Radio

October 5, 2018
Although James Arness wanted to be a naval fighter pilot, he was concerned his poor eyesight would bar him. However, it was his 6 feet 7 inches frame that ended his chances because the limit for aviators was set at 6 feet 2 inches. He was drafted into the US Army and reported to Fort Snelling, Minnesota in March 1943. As a rifleman, he landed on Anzio Beachhead on January 22, 1944, with the 2nd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. Arness - due to his height - was the first man to be ordered off his landing craft to determine the depth of the water; it came up to his waist. Arness was severely wounded in his right leg during the Battle of Anzio.
Arness was sent to the U.S. Army 91st General Hospital in Clinton, Iowa, to be treated for his wounds. After undergoing several surgeries, he was honorably discharged on January 29, 1945. However, his wounds continued to bother him throughout the rest of his life; in later years he had to cope with chronic leg pain that often became acute, such as when he mounted horses during his performance on Gunsmoke. His military decorations include the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

[cbtengr]

Originally Posted by Chucko

I though this write-up was interesting about James Arness.

American Old Time Radio

October 5, 2018
Although James Arness wanted to be a naval fighter pilot, he was concerned his poor eyesight would bar him. However, it was his 6 feet 7 inches frame that ended his chances because the limit for aviators was set at 6 feet 2 inches. He was drafted into the US Army and reported to Fort Snelling, Minnesota in March 1943. As a rifleman, he landed on Anzio Beachhead on January 22, 1944, with the 2nd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. Arness - due to his height - was the first man to be ordered off his landing craft to determine the depth of the water; it came up to his waist. Arness was severely wounded in his right leg during the Battle of Anzio.
Arness was sent to the U.S. Army 91st General Hospital in Clinton, Iowa, to be treated for his wounds. After undergoing several surgeries, he was honorably discharged on January 29, 1945. However, his wounds continued to bother him throughout the rest of his life; in later years he had to cope with chronic leg pain that often became acute, such as when he mounted horses during his performance on Gunsmoke. His military decorations include the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

Great story, seems to me Paul Harvey may have used this on one of his The Rest of the Story segments a long time ago.

[Stobey]

Originally Posted by Badger52

... They did better with Festus; Ken Curtis could damn near upstage Arness just with an eyebrow.

I loved Gunsmoke as a kid. Still do. About Festus (Ken Curtis), does anyone remember that he had a damn good singing voice?
A tenor he was, and very good. It was in the John Wayne western, Rio Grande, that he sang. (He might have been in other John Wayne cavalry westerns as well.) The song was "Down by the Glenside. You'd never know he was Festus Hagen from that voice.

https://www.youknow.com/watch?v=5jwPVe_sWa8

(Change "youknow" in the link to the link I can't link.)

[Ret10Echo]

Originally Posted by Stobey

I loved Gunsmoke as a kid. Still do. About Festus (Ken Curtis), does anyone remember that he had a damn good singing voice?
A tenor he was, and very good. It was in the John Wayne western, Rio Grande, that he sang. (He might have been in other John Wayne cavalry westerns as well.) The song was "Down by the Glenside. You'd never know he was Festus Hagen from that voice.

https://www.youknow.com/watch?v=5jwPVe_sWa8

(Change "youknow" in the link to the link I can't link.)

Lead Singer from the "Son's of the Pioneers".