I Should’ve Been A Cowboy

“I bet you never heard ol’ Marshal Dillon say
‘Miss Kitty, have you ever thought of runnin’ away?
Settlin’ down, would you marry me
If I asked you twice and begged you, pretty please?’

She’d have said, ‘Yes’, in a New York minute
They never tied the knot, his heart wasn’t in it
He just stole a kiss as he rode away
He never hung his hat up at Kitty’s place” – Should’ve Been a Cowboy (Toby Keith) © Universal Music

While Matthew Dillon may have been reluctant to verbalize his affection for Miss Kitty Russell, one phrase that was no stranger to his lips was, “Get outta Dodge!” – a command that he surely uttered dozens, maybe even hundreds of times, during the twenty-three years that the series Gunsmoke was broadcast on radio and television. For as the head lawman in the town of Dodge City, Kansas, Marshal Dillon plainly viewed his role as peacekeeper more seriously than he did any impulsive ideas of long-term romance.

In 1927, Samuel Paley – a Jewish immigrant and father of William S. Paley – along with several partners, purchased a struggling Philadelphia-based radio network of 16 stations called the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System. Paley’s idea was to primarily use the stations as a broadcasting medium to promote his family’s already successful cigar company.

William, a graduate of the Wharton School, was able to double cigar sales within a year, giving his family the ability to buy out their partners in the broadcasting network. He soon realized that success in broadcasting would come about through quality programming, understanding that superior content was key in attracting advertisers and sponsors, and would allow the network to charge more for ad time. Within a decade William S. Paley had expanded the Columbia network to 114 stations.

William Paley was a fan of the Phillip Marlowe radio series, and the genre of “hardboiled” detective fiction. In the late 1940s, he asked his programming chief to develop a hardboiled Western series, something he characterized as a “Philip Marlowe of the Old West”. The assignment was then passed along to West Coast CBS Vice President, Harry Ackerman, who had developed the Philip Marlowe series.

After several development stages, producer Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston succeeded in creating Gunsmoke, set in Dodge City, Kansas, during the thriving cattle days of the 1870s. Their aim had been to present a grown-up Western series, something converse to the good guy/bad guy, white hat/black hat fare that was currently popular with younger audiences.

Gunsmoke debuted on the CBS Radio airwaves on April 26, 1952, with the episode “Billy the Kid”. The show starred 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. The series ran on CBS radio for nine years, ending in June of 1961. Writer John Dunning notes, “The show drew critical acclaim for unprecedented realism.”

In the early stages of development, the lead character was known as Marshal “Mark” Dillon, with a pilot episode being titled “Mark Dillon Goes to Gouge Eye”. Actor William Conrad was a popular and steadily working radio actor of the time, and although it was at first believed that he may be overexposed, after auditioning only a few lines for the producers, it was clear that Conrad’s voice was the one for the role. He portrayed Dillon as a lonely, isolated man, toughened by a hard life on a lawless frontier. Norman Macdonnell would later remark that, “. . . much of Matt Dillon’s character grew out of Bill Conrad.”

With the success of Gunsmoke on the radio, it wasn’t long before there was talk of adapting it for television. Producer Macdonnell was hesitant, declaring that, “our show is perfect for radio. Gunsmoke confined by a picture could not possibly be as authentic or attentive to detail.” But CBS moved forward with the TV development anyway.

Although the radio cast members were given auditions, the TV roles were eventually filled by new actors. William Conrad’s corpulence has been cited as the main reason he was not considered for the small screen adaptation, but all of the primary roles were given to newcomers. John Dunning wrote, “That radio fans considered the TV show a sham and its players impostors should surprise no one.”

Early on there were rumors that John Wayne had been offered the TV role of Marshal Dillon. This was never true, as Wayne was one of the biggest box-office draws of the period, and would never sacrifice his big-screen career for the fledgling medium of television. What is true is that when Gunsmoke made its CBS Television debut on September 10, 1955, the episode was prefaced by an introduction from “Duke” Wayne himself (see video link at end of post). Wayne introduces James Arness as the man who will portray Matt Dillon and predicts that the towering actor (6’7”) will have a very successful career. Prescient words indeed, as over the series’ 20 yr span Arness was the only cast member to appear in all 635 episodes, as well as the subsequent TV movies.

Joining Arness in the primary roles of the TV cast were Amanda Blake (Miss Kitty), Milburn Stone (“Doc” Adams), and Dennis Weaver (Chester Goode).

From 1955 to 1961, Gunsmoke was presented in a half-hour format, after which it was extended to one hour. Beginning in 1966 the show was broadcast in color.

As the show had been developed for an adult audience, some early episodes opened with Marshal Dillon striding through the headstones of “Boot Hill”, gazing across toward the environs of Dodge City. Through a voice-over monologue, the peacekeeper would characterize his role in bringing law and order to a new frontier. One such monologue is from a season 1 episode entitled “The Hunter”:

“Law comes hard to a young country . . . especially out here on the frontier. I know just how hard: I’m Matt Dillon, US Marshall; I’m out of Dodge City. It’s a roaring town, filled to overflowing with cowmen, gamblers, buffalo hunters . . . and killers.

And this is Boot Hill. There aren’t many tears lost for these men lying here; not back there in Dodge. Most men can look at the result of their job and say, ‘I did that pretty well, the best I knew how’, and they can be proud of their handy work. But not me, because part of this is my handy work; I’ve put some of these men here. I take no pride in killing; it’s just that sometimes it’s a part of my job – a job that has to be done.”

“I might of had a sidekick with a funny name
Runnin’ wild through the hills chasin’ Jesse James
Ending up on the brink of danger
Ridin’ shotgun for the Texas Rangers” – Should’ve Been a Cowboy (Keith)

Over the show’s twenty-three year span Matt Dillon had a number of sidekicks with funny names, beginning with Chester Proudfoote/Goode, played by Parley Baer on radio and Dennis Weaver on TV. Weaver’s character, which he played through the 1963 season (290 episodes), sported a limp from a Civil War injury, an aspect of the role that Weaver claimed became somewhat tedious over the span of nine seasons. Later sidekicks were Festus Haggen, an illiterate hillbilly played by Ken Curtis (306 episodes), and “halfbreed” blacksmith Quint Asper, played by Burt Reynolds (50 episodes). One 1964 episode, “Prairie Wolfer”, included all three actors playing their respective sidekick roles.

Amanda Blake portrayed Miss Kitty Russell for nearly the entire 20-year span (569 episodes) of the show. Being part-owner of the Long Branch Saloon kept her in Dodge City, and though she was frequently shown in Matt Dillon’s company, she had clearly resigned herself to never being much more than a cherished friend of the stalwart lawman. In one episode she is heard to remark, “Matt Dillon’s a man with no strings on him. Let’s just say he’s more mine than anybody else’s.” And any devoted fan of the show knows that she would indeed have “Yes” in a New York minute.

The character with nearly as much longevity as Matt Dillon was that of “Doc” Adams, played by Milburn Stone (605 episodes). In addition to being the sole health care provider for the bustling frontier town of Dodge City, with a job description that included patching up numerous gunshot and stab wounds, he was also a sounding board for the Marshal, imparting his wisdom, and displaying clear frustration at times when his sage advice to the lawman went unheeded, but remaining loyal to the end.

“Go west young man, haven’t you been told?
California’s full of whiskey, women, and gold
Sleepin’ out all night beneath the desert stars
With a dream in my eye and a prayer in my heart” – Should’ve Been a Cowboy (Keith)

From 1957 – 1961, Gunsmoke was the number-one show on television, its popularity dipping slightly when the show’s format was expanded to one hour. In 1967, the show’s 12th season, CBS planned to cancel Gunsmoke, but the story has been told that after pressure from his wife (Babe Paley), William S. Paley chose to cancel Gilligan’s Island instead.

Gunsmoke held the title of television’s longest-running, primetime, live-action series for decades, only to be surpassed in September 2019, when Law & Order: Special Victims Unit began its 21st season. During the 1950s & 1960s – the Golden Age of TV westerns – dozens of shows with western themes were broadcast on the three major networks, but most came & went during Gunsmoke’s tenure. Only Bonanza (403 episodes) & Death Valley Days (452 episodes) came close to matching the exposure of Marshal Dillon & the characters of “Dodge”.

All 635 episodes of the television series, and almost all 480 episodes of the radio show, still exist. The TV version of the show remains popular in syndication, and just the other day I passed a freeway billboard featuring a larger than life-size rendering of James Arness in his US Marshal garb with the caption “Matt”, and a listing for local broadcast time.

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. Our own Iliad and Odyssey, created from standard elements of the dime novel and the pulp Western as romanticized by Buntline, Harte, and Twain. It was ever the stuff of legend.”

How the show has influenced younger generations is readily evident in this post’s featured song, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy”, which was the first single from Toby Keith’s debut album in 1993, and became his first #1 hit months later. Keith’s recording – after more than 3 million air plays – has also been acknowledged by radio as the most played country song of the 1990s

While Matt will never “pop the question”, and Miss Kitty will never get to say “Yes” in a New York minute, Dodge City, Kansas will forever enjoy the law & order provided by good old faithful Marshal Dillon, as long as there are reruns airing on television somewhere.

“I should’ve been a cowboy
I should’ve learned to rope and ride
Wearin’ my six-shooter, ridin’ my pony on a cattle drive
Stealin’ the young girls’ hearts
Just like Gene and Roy
Singin’ those campfire songs
Woah, I should’ve been a cowboy” – Should’ve Been a Cowboy (Keith)

Coming May 18 @ A Cowboy Song: Big Iron

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunsmoke

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Paley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Should%27ve_Been_a_Cowboy

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.