- To within one year, when was the first Gunsmoke audition
show made?
Answer: 1949 on June 11th
- The name of the Gunsmoke audition show, which was
never aired, was titled
- (T/F) The first audition tape of Gunsmoke is lost.
False
- (T/F) The actor who played Dillon in the audition
tape was named Rye Billsbury. A second audition tape was made on July 15th
on the same year with the same script this time starring Howard Culver
as Dillon. Howard Culver also starred as a regular on television's Gunsmoke
as Howie, the clerk at the Dodge House. He passed away in 1984.
True
- To within a year, when was the first radio broadcast
of Gunsmoke?
Answer: 1952 on April 26th
- The name of the first episode of Gunsmoke On the radio
was
- (T/F) Variety reviewed the first radio broadcast
of Gunsmoke as "...without substance ... full of dead air."
False. they said rather that the "series is presented
with top thesping and scripting values that pull it way ahead of the pack
of AM westerns."
- At its peak, how many times each week was Gunsmoke
aired over network radio?
Twice
- When Gunsmoke first aired on the radio, which of the
following weekly radio plays did it bump from its time slot?
- Radio's Gunsmoke was sponsored a majority of the time
by the makers of the cigarettes
- Lucky Strike.
- L&M and Chesterfield.
- Pall Malls.
- Camels.
Answer: ... L &M and Chesterfield cigarettes began sponsoring radio's
Gunsmoke in 1954. George Fenneman, who was the announcer and straight man
on Grouch Marx' You Bet Your Life typically did the Chesterfield commercials
and George Walsh, Gunsmoke's announcer on both television and radio, typically
did the L&M commercials.
 George
Walsh announced for Gunsmoke both on radio and television.
- (T/F) Cigarette commercials on radio's Gunsmoke actually
used the phrase "Just what the doctor ordered".
True
- (T/F) So paranoid of the competition were the cigarette
ad-men from Cuttingham & Walsh, that, for a time, no Gunsmoke character
was allowed to be called Lucky.
True
- (T/F) The drama on radio's Gunsmoke was so realistic,
that the head of the Chamber of Commerce in Dodge City wrote the program
and asked during what period of history was Matt Dillon their United States
Marshal.
True
- As on early television, radio's Gunsmoke was centered
around four main characters: Matt, Doc, Chester and Kitty. Did the actors
who portrayed these radio roles ever appear on the television version of
Gunsmoke?
Yes ... Howard McNear, who played Doc on the radio,
appeared more than once on television's Gunsmoke.
- (T/F) A television pilot of Gunsmoke was made using
the radio actors in their radio roles ... but was rejected.
True
- The producer of radio's Gunsmoke, who also produced
the early television episodes of Gunsmoke, was
- Norman Macdonnel.
- Burt Lum.
- Francis Holt.
- John Meston.
- Connie Mack.
Answer: ... Macdonnel
- The working title for Gunsmoke used by creaters Norman
Macdonnel and John Meston was
- Dodge City Marshal
- Jeff Spain
- Chester's Boss
- Death Gun
- Dillon's Dodge
Answer: ... Jeff Spain
- (T/F) Many of the early Gunsmoke radio plays were
written by Rod Serling, the creator and host of The Twilight Zone.
False
- (T/F) Many of the stories that were initially aired
on radio were later redone on television.
True
- (T/F) On the same day that Gunsmoke premiered on television,
a radio episode was aired.
True
- Was the television premier of Gunsmoke advertised
on the radio version?
Yes
- (T/F) Ronald Reagan played the role of a cattle baron
in a 1956 radio episode of Gunsmoke.
False ... Reagan never appeared on either radio's or
television's Gunsmoke.)
- (T/F) Stan Laural played a traveling circus clown
on a 1954 Gunsmoke radio play.
False
- (T/F) Many of the actors who played bit parts on the
early Gunsmoke radio plays later became major television personalities.
False
- What actor who later starred in the television The
Untouchables was seriously considered for the radio role of Matt Dillon?
Robert Stack
- What actor who later starred in the title role of
the television series Perry Mason auditioned for the radio role
of Matt Dillon?
Raymond Burr
- (T/F) Before Gunsmoke appeared on televion, radio's
Gunsmoke won Radio & Television's Mirror Daily's award for Best
Radio Western.
True ... Gunsmoke won the award each year from 1954
through 1958.
- Three of the following were the sound effects normally
heard at the beginning of each Gunsmoke radio play. Choose the three and
place them in order:
- Fill in the blanks to the introduction given each
week to radio's Gunsmoke: "Around Dodge City and the territory out
west, there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers. And
that's with a U.S. Marshal and the ______ _______(two words) Gunsmoke.
Gunsmoke: the story of the violence that that moved west and _____ _____
(two words) that moved with them."
"smell of" and "the man"
- The first words muttered by Matt Dillon on the radio
each week were in the show's introduction and were the same. Fill in the
blanks of this weekly utterance: "I'm that man Matt Dillon, United
States Marshal. The first man they look for and the __ __ __ __ __ __
six words). It's a chancy job and it makes a man watchful and a little
_________"
Answer: ``last one they want to see" and ``lonely"
- (T/F) The governor of the state of Kansas condemned
Gunsmoke radio plays as ``... overly violent (and) degrading to the history
and traditions of the great state of Kansas".
False ... He actually gave a short speech at a break
in a Gunsmoke radio play praising the show. He was careful, however, to
point out that modern Dodge City was nothing like that depicted on Gunsmoke.)
- (T/F) To authenticate historical accuracy of scripts,
history reference books were known to be brought to the Gunsmoke studio.
True
- (T/F) Gunsmoke was the first western to be aired on
the radio where at no time did the hero kiss his horse.
False ... Hawk Larabie didn't either.
- On what radio network did Gunsmoke air?
CBS ... the same as on television
- Did Dillon's office have curtains in the radio episodes?
No ... Dillon once severely scolded Chester for hanging
curtains and instructed he take them down.
- What was the name of the classiest hotel in Dodge
City?
The Dodge House
- The classiest hotel in Dodge City was located at the
corner of the plaza and
- To within 5, name one of the first two numbers to
the combination in Dillon's safe.
27 and 69 in that order
- The announcer for radio's Gunsmoke's also announced
the television series. His name was
- (T/F) All of the scripts for radio's Gunsmoke were
written by men.
False
- John Dehner, veteran character actor, played a great
number of characters on radio's Gunsmoke ranging from cold blooded killers
to dull witted sod busters. He had a running joke with Conrad. When Dillon
was walking somewhere, Dehner would ad lib a mumble ``Uh ... Hello Marshall"
in the voice of a little old man. Conrad would invariably respond "Hello
- Bruce".
- Stinky".
- John".
Answer: ... John
- The writer who wrote the largest number of early Gunsmoke
scripts for radio was
- John Meston.
- Billy Wong.
- Everett Dirkson.
- Clyde Ware.
- Paul Savage.
Answer: ... Meston
- (T/F) On the radio, Dodge City had an opera house.
True
- (T/F) One prolific writer of Gunsmoke radio scripts
was confined to a wheelchair.
True ... Marian Clark wrote over 60 half hour scripts.
- (T/F) When canceled, Gunsmoke was the last network
radio drama to originate from Hollywood.
True
- To within one, what was the last year in which Gunsmoke
was aired over network radio?
Answer: 1964 in June
- When performing in the last Gunsmoke radio play, were
the actors aware that it was the last show?
No
- Was there an announcement on the last radio Gunsmoke
play that the show was being terminated?
Yes
- (T/F) After the show was cancelled, the members of
the cast of radio's Gunsmoke have on occasion recreated the radio classic.
True ... for example at the SPERDVAC (Society to Preserve
and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy) convention in November 1988,
Parley Baer, Vic Perrin (who played a number of parts in the radio drama),
Lillian Buyeff and George Walsh (the announcer) re-created a Gunsmoke radio
drama. Micheal Rye played Dillon.
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