Busy night at the motel, but I found time to squeeze in a pair of Gunsmoke episodes (part of the CD set that I took with me on the July 4th jaunt to Sister Kat’s but never got to listen to), beginning with “Change of Heart,” a broadcast from September 3, 1955. Jerry Cass (Sam Edwards) falls in love with dance hall gal Bella Grant (Virginia Christine) and plans to marry her—much to the consternation of brother Briscoe (Vic Perrin), who’s dead-set agin’ it. Written by prolific series scribe John Meston, “Change of Heart” is a fairly standard but enjoyable Gunsmoke outing.

The second entry was much better; “Alarm at Pleasant Valley,” an entry from John Dunkel broadcast the following week. Matt and Chester, while riding back to Dodge, encounter the Fraser family, the head of which—son Sam (Vic Perrin)—is planning to pull up stakes and head West to California. Ma Fraser (Helen Kleeb) wants to stay, and it looks like she’ll get her wish when the group is besieged by a pack of Kiowa renegades—and Sam’s wife (Eleanore Tanin) goes into labor (don’t you hate when that happens?). The September 10, 1955 features an announcement from star William Conrad that the television version of Gunsmoke premieres that evening (the first show featuring a brief introduction by the Duke himself, John Wayne), and for a guy who got shafted out of a role that should have been rightly his, he sounds pretty upbeat about it.
9:14:20 PM    comment []  trackback []