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.
#THE CROOKED MAN WALKTHROUGH HOTEL AND GOLD KEY SERIES#
The project was shelved for three years, when producer Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston discovered it while creating an adult Western series of their own. CBS liked the Culver version better, and Ackerman was told to proceed.Ī complication arose, though Culver's contract as the star of Straight Arrow would not allow him to do another Western series. The first, recorded in June 1949, was very much like a hardboiled detective series and starred Michael Rye (credited as Rye Billsbury) as Dillon the second, recorded in July 1949, starred Straight Arrow actor Howard Culver in a more Western, lighter version of the same script. Īckerman and his scriptwriters, Mort Fine and David Friedkin, created an audition script called "Mark Dillon Goes to Gouge Eye" based on one of their Michael Shayne radio scripts, "The Case of the Crooked Wheel" from mid-1948. Robinson instructed his West Coast CBS vice president, Harry Ackerman, who had developed the Philip Marlowe series, to take on the task. Paley, a fan of the Philip Marlowe radio series, asked his programming chief, Hubell Robinson, to develop a hardboiled Western series, a show about a "Philip Marlowe of the Old West". In the late 1940s, CBS chairman William S. Publicity photo from Gunsmoke 's radio version (photo from 1954) 2.11 Primetime Emmy Award wins and nominations.1.3 Talk of adapting Gunsmoke to television.1.2 Distinction from other radio Westerns.1.1 Radio cast and character biographies.Our own Iliad and Odyssey, created from standard elements of the dime novel and the pulp Western as romanticized by Buntline, Harte, and Twain. 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. John Dunning wrote that among radio drama enthusiasts, " Gunsmoke is routinely placed among the best shows of any kind and any time." The television series ran for 20 seasons from 1955 to 1975, and lasted for 635 episodes. When aired in the United Kingdom, the television series was initially titled Gun Law, later reverting to Gunsmoke. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. It is set in and around Dodge City, Kansas in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. ( September 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. This article possibly contains original research.