Gunsmoke lives on....................

[Bob Wright]

The MeTV channel runs old Gunsmoke each day at noon. These running now are dated 1953 or so, and began with Matt Dillon walking up on Boot Hill to sort of introduce he program.

I notice that the piano player in the Longbranch favors "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and "The Camptown Races" as that is often heard while in that establishment. And someone played "Home on the Range" which was out of time element, as that was not writen until after 1900. And today's episode had Dan Blocker as a outlaw companion. Funny, he didn't look so big along side James Arness.

And, a bit of trivia: The stupio dyed Arness' hair black for Gunsmoke. In "Carbine Williams" and other early movies, his hair is sort of sandy blond, much like Harry Carey Jr.'s in color. And noticed Arness was one of the C-46 pilots in "Island in the Sky."

Real old movies are interesting!

Bob Wright

 

[contender]

Yep,, it's a classic.

 

[Watertender]

MeTV is one of my favorite channels. I watch The Twilight Zone at 12:35am weeknights when I get home from work. I sometimes catch a little bit of Gunsmoke and can watch a full episode of the half hour ones but have to leave for work before an hour episode is over.

 

[hittman]

INSP shows it here every day several times a day. They run them in order beginning with episode 1 and go clear to the end. They also run the Gunsmoke made for tv movies that came later.

Wish they'd run Lonesome Dove. Only the pay channels show that here.

 

[Mobuck]

I think I saw every episode of Gunsmoke from the beginning while I was laid up after being burned. Milburn Stone's aging process was surprising. He seemed to be an old man from the get go.

 

[Mauser9]

Acting was always great on Gunsmoke. Glad for reruns.

 

[woodsy]

The best Gunsmoke episodes are in color, when they show Miss Kitty's hair (Amanda Blake) in her glorious red.

 

[KIR]

Glenn Strange the bartender who played Frankenstein after Karloff...

 

[hittman]

Yep, and born in the late 1800s in New Mexico TERRITORY. No idea why I remember that. Think he also was a rodeo cowboy at one time. Ahhh….the good ole days.

 

[nrobe50]

Did you ever see Matt finish a beer? I think it happened on only one episode but can't remember which one.

 

[steveodtw]

He did a LOT of movies throughout the 30s, 40s nad 50s ,before Gunsmoke. Mostly westerns.

 

[crstrode]

The MeTV channel runs old Gunsmoke each day at noon. These running now are dated 1953 or so, and began with Matt Dillon walking up on Boot Hill to sort of introduce he program.



Bob Wright

Gunsmoke debuted on television in 1955. John Wayne introduced the first episode.

 

[fataboo]

You can watch Gunsmoke all day 24-7on Pluto (Roku) none stop,
except for the many commercials. Love IT.

 

[Bob Wright]

Gunsmoke debuted on television in 1955. John Wayne introduced the first episode.

You are correct, of course. I misread the date in Roman numerals. It was MCMLVIII, not MCMLIII. I'm not real swift in reading those, especially in the time displayed!

Bob Wright

 

[golferboy426]

I'm hooked on Wagon Grain

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Bob mentioned "Island In The Sky" which was written by Ernest Gann who I'm a huge fan of. I have copies of all of his books. At the Experimental Aircraft Museum they have a reproduction of Gann's converted chicken coop studio.

And the rest of the story
The script was based on a true story about a flight on February 3, 1943, although its copilot was not killed as in the film. In his autobiography Fate Is the Hunter, on which the film of the same name is very loosely based, writer Ernest K. Gann related the true story and his role as one of the search pilots while serving with Air Transport Command at Presque Isle Airfield, Maine. Gann had been scheduled to fly the mission that ran into trouble, but was bumped from the flight by a more senior pilot.

 

[ned]

Bob mentioned "Island In The Sky" which was written by Ernest Gann who I'm a huge fan of. I have copies of all of his books. At the Experimental Aircraft Museum they have a reproduction of Gann's converted chicken coop studio.

And the rest of the story
The script was based on a true story about a flight on February 3, 1943, although its copilot was not killed as in the film. In his autobiography Fate Is the Hunter, on which the film of the same name is very loosely based, writer Ernest K. Gann related the true story and his role as one of the search pilots while serving with Air Transport Command at Presque Isle Airfield, Maine. Gann had been scheduled to fly the mission that ran into trouble, but was bumped from the flight by a more senior pilot.

There is a DVD on Mr. Gann, interviewed at his Red Mill farm on San Juan Island.I just spent 30 minutes looking for it…if I find it I will send it. A friend from the Snohomish drop zone took him on a tandem jump, landing in his yard. He had to have been mid seventies at the time.