Editing Gunsmoke (section)

== Radio series (1952–1961) ==
{{Infobox radio show
| image = Gunsmoke22.jpg
| imagesize = 220px
| caption = Publicity photo from ''Gunsmoke''{{'}}s radio version (photo from 1954)
| format = [[Western (genre)|Western]]
| runtime = 30 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| television = [[#Television version|Gunsmoke]]
| starring = {{Plainlist|
* [[William Conrad]]
* [[Parley Baer]]
* [[Howard McNear]]
* [[Georgia Ellis]]
}}
| announcer = George Walsh
| creator = {{Plainlist|
* [[Norman Macdonnell]]
* [[John Meston]]
}}
| producer = Norman Macdonnell
| first_aired = {{Start date|1952|4|26}}
| last_aired = {{End date|1961|6|18}}
| num_series = 9
| num_episodes = 480 ([[List of Gunsmoke radio episodes|List of episodes]])
| audio_format = Monaural
}}

In the late 1940s, [[CBS]] chairman [[William S. Paley]], a fan of the ''[[Philip Marlowe]]'' radio series, asked his programming chief, Hubell Robinson, to develop a hardcore Western series, about a "Philip Marlowe of the Old West". Robinson delegated this to his West Coast CBS vice president, [[Harry Ackerman]], who had developed the ''Philip Marlowe'' series.<ref name=BigBroadcast>{{cite news |last1=Horwitz |first1=Murray |title=The Big Broadcast (radio show) |url=https://wamu.org/show/the-big-broadcast/ |access-date=April 5, 2019 |work=[[WAMU]] |date=March 31, 2019 |author1-link=Murray Horwitz |archive-date=April 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405023436/https://wamu.org/show/the-big-broadcast/ |url-status=live }} At exactly one hour into the four hour show. At one hour and thirty minutes host Horwitz cites interviews conducted on The Big Broadcast by former host John Hickman as his source for this information.</ref>

Ackerman and his scriptwriters, [[Morton Fine|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. Two versions were recorded. The first, recorded in June 1949, was very much like a hardcore detective series and starred [[Michael Rye]] (credited as Rye Billsbury) as Dillon;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/4pTJkv4h9IngjwUpQ09PzV|title=Mark Dillon Goes To Gouge Eye {Rye Billsbury} – Gunsmoke (06-11-49) – Gunsmoke – OTRWesterns.com|website=Spotify}}</ref><ref name="BigBroadcast" /> the second, recorded in July 1949, starred ''[[Straight Arrow]]'' actor [[Howard Culver]] in a more Western, lighter version of the same script.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NGrKyv5wM4trxcDEULOm7|title=Mark Dillon Goes To Gouge Eye {Howard Culver} – Gunsmoke (07-13-49) – Gunsmoke – OTRWesterns.com|website=Spotify}}</ref><ref>Both versions included [[June Foray]], [[Gerald Mohr]], [[Vic Perrin]] and [[Jay Novello]] in the cast.</ref> CBS liked the Culver version better, and Ackerman was told to proceed.

A complication arose when Culver's contract as the star of ''Straight Arrow'' would not allow him to do another Western series. The project was suspended for three years, when producer Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston discovered it while creating an adult Western series of their own.<ref>''Gunsmoke'' 2 Volume Set: A Complete History and Analysis of the Legendary Broadcast Series with a Comprehensive Episode-By-Episode Guide to Both the Radio and Television Programs – Suzanne Barabas and Gabor Barabas</ref>

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."<ref name=":0" />

=== Episodes ===
{{Main|List of Gunsmoke (radio series) episodes}}
{{:List of Gunsmoke (radio series) episodes}}

=== Cast ===
The radio series first aired on CBS on April 26, 1952, with the episode "Billy the Kid", written by [[Walter Newman (screenwriter)|Walter Newman]], and ended on June 18, 1961. The show stars [[William Conrad]] as Marshal Matt Dillon, [[Howard McNear]] as Doc Charles Adams, [[Georgia Ellis]] as Kitty Russell, and [[Parley Baer]] as Dillon's assistant, Chester Wesley Proudfoot.

==== Matt Dillon ====
[[File:William Conrad 1952.JPG|thumb|right|[[William Conrad]] in 1952, when Matt Dillon was created on radio]]
[[Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke)|Matt Dillon]] was played on radio by William Conrad and on television by [[James Arness]]. Two versions of the same pilot episode titled "Matt Dillon Goes to Gouge Eye" were produced with Rye Billsbury and Howard Culver playing Marshal Matt Dillon as the lead, not yet played by Conrad. Conrad was one of the last actors to audition for the role of Marshal Dillon. With a resonantly powerful and distinctive voice, Conrad was already one of radio's busiest actors. Though Meston championed him, Macdonnell thought Conrad might be overexposed. During his audition, however, Conrad won over Macdonnell after reading only a few lines. Dillon, as portrayed by Conrad, was a lonely, isolated man, toughened by a hard life. Macdonnell later claimed, "Much of Matt Dillon's character grew out of Bill Conrad."<ref>[http://gunsmokenet.com/GunsmokeTGAW/Marks-Stuff/Gunsmoke/shots/79-WilliamDillon.htm "Matt Dillon's character grew out of Bill Conrad"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100928104923/http://gunsmokenet.com/GunsmokeTGAW/Marks-Stuff/Gunsmoke/shots/79-WilliamDillon.htm |date=September 28, 2010 }}, GunsmokeNet.com.</ref>

Dunning writes that Meston was especially disgusted by the archetypal Western hero and set out "to destroy [that type of] character he loathed". In Meston's view, "Dillon was almost as scarred as the homicidal psychopaths who drifted into Dodge from all directions."<ref name=":0" />

==== Doc Adams ====
Howard McNear starred as Dr. Charles Adams in the radio series, and [[Milburn Stone]] portrayed Dr. Galen Adams in the television version. In the radio series, "Doc" Adams was initially a self-interested and somewhat dark character with a predilection for constantly attempting to increase his revenue through the procurement of autopsy fees. He was acerbic, somewhat mercenary, and borderline alcoholic, in the program's early years. His real name was Dr. Calvin Moore.<ref>[http://gunsmokenet.com/GunsmokeTGAW/Marks-Stuff/Gunsmoke/shots/76-DocsRealName.htm "On radio's ''Gunsmoke'', Doc Adams' real name was Dr. Calvin Moore"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100927094947/http://gunsmokenet.com/GunsmokeTGAW/Marks-Stuff/Gunsmoke/shots/76-DocsRealName.htm |date=September 27, 2010 }}, GunsmokeNet.com.</ref> He came west and changed his name to escape a charge of murder. However, McNear's performances steadily became more warm-hearted and sympathetic. Doc wandered throughout the territories until he settled in Dodge City 17 years later under the name of Charles Adams. Conrad borrowed the surname from cartoonist [[Charles Addams]] as a testament to Doc's initially ghoulish comportment. Milburn Stone was given free rein to choose the character's first name, and chose that of the ancient Greek physician and medical researcher [[Galen]].

==== Miss Kitty ====
Kitty was played by actress Georgia Ellis on radio. Ellis first appeared in the radio episode "Billy the Kid" (April 26, 1952) as "Francie Richards" – a former girlfriend of Matt Dillon's and the widow of a criminal, but the character of "Miss Kitty" did not appear until the May 10, 1952, episode "Jaliscoe". Sometime in 1959, Ellis was billed as Georgia Hawkins instead of Georgia Ellis. 

In the radio series, Kitty's profession was hinted at, but never explicit; in a 1953 interview with ''Time'', Macdonnell declared, "Kitty is just someone Matt has to visit every once in a while".<ref name=":0" /> The magazine observed that she is "obviously not selling [[chocolate bar]]s".<ref name="sixgungalahad">{{Cite magazine |date=March 30, 1959 |title=The Six-Gun Galahad |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892441,00.html?internalid=ACA |magazine=Time |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214134022/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892441,00.html |archive-date=February 14, 2008}}</ref>

Dillon and Kitty clearly have a close personal relationship.

=== Distinction from other radio Westerns ===
[[File:Long Branch Saloon interior.jpg|thumb|right|The interior of the real [[Long Branch Saloon]] in [[Dodge City, Kansas]], photographed between 1870 and 1885]]
''Gunsmoke'' is often a somber program, particularly in its early years. Dunning writes that Dillon "played his hand and often lost. He arrived too late to prevent a lynching. He amputated a dying man's leg and lost the patient anyway. He saved a girl from brutal rapists, then found himself unable to offer her what she needed to stop her from moving into ... life as a prostitute."<ref name=":0" /> Some listeners, such as Dunning, argue the radio version was more realistic. Episodes were aimed at adults with some of the most explicit content of their time, including violent crimes, [[scalping]]s, [[wikt:massacre|massacres]], and [[opium]] addicts. Many episodes end on a somber note, and villains often get away with their crimes.

The program was set after the arrival of the railroad in Dodge City (1872), and Kansas had been a state since 1861. In reality, a U.S. Marshal (actually a deputy marshal, because only the senior officer in the district holds the title "marshal") would not be based in Dodge City and would not be involved in local law enforcement.

Apart from the doleful tone, ''Gunsmoke'' is distinct from other radio Westerns, as the dialogue is often slow and halting, and the outstanding [[sound effect]]s give a palpable sense of the prairie setting. The effects are subtle but multilayered, giving the show a spacious feel. [[John Dunning (detective fiction author)|John Dunning]] wrote, "The listener heard extraneous dialogue in the background, just above the muted shouts of kids playing in an alley. He heard noises from the next block, too, where the inevitable dog was barking."<ref name=":0" />

''Gunsmoke'' is unique from other Westerns in that it was unsponsored in the first few years of production. The program was funded by CBS in the first two years. Series producers said that if the show were sponsored, they would have to "clean the show up".<ref>''Time'', 1953</ref> The producers wanted to find a sponsor that would allow them to keep the show the way it was.<ref>{{cite news |title=Weeks of Prestige |newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=March 23, 1953 |page=106}}</ref>