Saturday, August 11, 2007
Gunsmoke
When Gunsmoke, with James Arness, debuted in the Fall of 1955 TV in Canada was seven years old and this writer six. When it appeared on Canadian TV my neighbours would have watched in on a “Sylvania TV with Halo Light”. In it’s final season in 1975-6 I’d been away from home for eight years and my nearest neighbours were staying up to watch it on CTV from 11:00 PM to Midnight; a scandalous hour for a farming family to be out of bed but my parents would have seen the telltale flickering green light in their neighbour’s parlour window.
Were this series to debut today in the opening gunfight six-foot seven inch Matt Dillon’s skin tight jeans would show off the dimples on his butt and in the premiere episode in the scene where Doc is patching up the just shot Matt he’d have been shirtless to show off his chiseled pecs and rock-hard abdominals. But back in the day action heroes did not have personal trainers and Charles Atlas appeared on the back of Comic Books; not on the front cover of Fitness Magazines.
Gunsmoke began life as a radio programme in 1952 starring William Conrad as Matt Dillon. When it came to TV in ‘55 as a half hour black and white series it was introduced by none other than John Wayne and the principle male actors shilled for cigarettes during the commercial breaks. There are other subtle differences in social morays that are apparent. Although Miss Kitty, the proprietor of the Long Branch obviously runs a bordello and Matt is sweet on her they are never seen in any amorous poses and they never marry. The premise that begins every show is that matters are settled in what amounts to a duel with six-shooters in the middle of Main Street as High Noon. Recreation involved going to town to have a pint at the saloon where entertainment was provided by the in house maidens of the night and the honky-tonk piano.
The old beat-up enamel coffee-pot that featured in the closing credits of later seasons makes its appearance early on in the show. Doc’s office is up a very steep flight of stairs on a second floor. Horses get tied up to hitching rails but nary a water trough in sight and even more remarkable no road apples. Given the size of the man that had to be one heavy duty horse he rode yet I never remember it being called by name nor does it have any cult following as did other western hero’s mounts. It just seems to be taken for granted that horseback riding was the way one got around.
The tall lanky Dennis Weaver looks small beside Arness. Save for crusty old Doc Adams who seems ageless all the principle characters seem so young in this, the first season. Many expressions if not invented here entered the popular lexicon as a result of this show. “Get out of Dodge”; “boot hill”; “lynch mob”; the Long Branch. Dodge portraits the wild west of legend. Gunsmoke spawned dozens of similar westerns but while they came and went it hung around for a record 20 seasons.
After the opening credits I’ve now discovered the opening sequence of the shoot-out on Main Street cuts to Matt walking among the grave markers on “Boot Hill” where the malcontents and lawbreakers he’s shot lie buried while a voiceover of his matter of fact philosophy mulls over the morality of the situation. Even lawmen must wrestle their demons.
