Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.
Air date: 1956-09-08
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: After he is summoned unknowingly by Ben Pitcher to treat one of his cows, a human patient of Doc's dies. During a fight with Pitcher, Doc is knifed.
Air date: 1956-09-15
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: After his friend Ben Williams is shot down by Lou Shippen, Matt travels to Elkader to bring him him. The only problem, he doesn't know what he looks like and the town is protecting Shippen.
Air date: 1956-09-22
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Matt refuses to turn the rustler Joe Trimble over to Major Banker for court-martial.
Air date: 1956-09-29
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Matt closes up shops to a group of drunken cowboys, which causes trouble.
Writer: Winston Miller
Air date: 1956-10-20
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: After gunman, Sam Kercher is killed by Matt, his 16-year-old brother arrives to fight Matt.
Air date: 1956-10-27
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: At Fort Dodge, home of the third cavalry, Mrs. Mary Cullen tells the colonel that the twelve year old white boy they recovered from the Cheyenne is her son Dennis. The tribe had taken him when he was two years old.
Air date: 1956-11-10
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Matt is used by an old friend in a con game.
Air date: 1956-11-17
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Doc comes upon a homesteader with a busted leg—and a gun to protect himself from his wife.
Air date: 1956-11-24
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Matt leaves Dodge City unprotected when he sets out to find a killer (Mike Connors) (Bert Rumsey credited as 'Bartender', but referred to by Chester as 'Sam Noonan').
Air date: 1956-12-01
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: An outlaw threatens to kill Doc if he does not help his wounded buddy.
Air date: 1956-12-08
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Matt and Chester act as decoys to ambush outlaws (including Mickey Simpson) that are masking their crimes as those of renegade Indians (Fintan Meyler and Herbert Rudley appear).
Air date: 1956-12-15
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Matt discovers that he was the intended victim of a murder he is investigating.
Air date: 1956-12-22
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Matt helps a woman whose suitors are about to duel for her affections.
Air date: 1956-12-29
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: A landowner (Paul Fix) tries to terrorize homesteaders (Bartlett Robinson and Peg Hillias) off their land (Gordon Gebert, John Smith, and Stuart Whitman appear).
Air date: 1957-01-05
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: An old buffalo hunter (Edgar Stehli) swears revenge on the skinner (Grant Withers) that left him to die (Richard Deacon appears as banker Botkin, Bert Rumsey credited as 'Bartender').
Air date: 1957-01-12
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Matt traps a cattleman (Tyler McVey) who shot two homesteaders (including Roy Engel) (Malcolm Atterbury and Vivi Janiss appear).
Air date: 1957-01-19
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: An Indian woman (Angie Dickinson) faces prejudice for her father's raid on Dodge City (Peter Whitney and Paul Wexler appear).
Air date: 1957-01-26
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: A bank robber (Robert H. Harris) murders his wife and frames Tobeel (Frank de Kova) for the crime (Paul Lambert appears).
Air date: 1957-02-02
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: A young gunfighter, Tom Clegg, forces farmer Abe Curry into a duel and kills him. Matt can't arrest Clegg since Abe drew first. However, Abe's brother Morgan plots revenge.
Air date: 1957-02-09
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Townspeople protect an outlaw (Carl Betz) they believe has reformed (Tige Andrews, Joe De Santis, John Dierkes, Marianne Stewart, and Ward Wood appear).
Air date: 1957-02-16
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: The shooting of several members of an outlaw gang, though in self defense, triggers an emotional crisis in Matt, haunted by memories of all the men he has killed (Lawrence Dobkin, Russell Johnson, and Gloria Marshall appear).
Air date: 1957-02-23
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: An Eastern girl makes the long trip to Dodge, only to find that her fiancé has lost his money and won't marry her.
Air date: 1957-03-02
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Rena Decker, a new dance hall girl, purposely gets her admirers into fighting over her. Despite Kitty's negative opinion of her, Matt befreinds Rena and gets her a job at the Long Branch. Soon afterward, 4 men are dead and Rena is the cause.
Air date: 1957-03-09
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Ex-gunslinger Joel Adams' past is about to catch up with him.
Air date: 1957-03-16
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: A Washington official is determined to tame Dodge City.
Air date: 1957-03-23
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Kitty gets annoyed by a pair of old farmers who are each trying to have a fling with her.
Air date: 1957-03-30
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Chester is drinking at the Long Branch and gets into an argument with a gambler over a girl. When the marshal breaks it up, he tells Chester to bring the man to jail. On the way there, the man is killed and everyone thinks Chester did it.
Air date: 1957-04-06
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Dodge City meets a Photographer who shows the residents how a camera works. Jacoby wants to take pictures of how the Wild West looks. When Matt learns someone died, he thinks the photographer may have hired someone to kill Grubby for a picture of the west.
Air date: 1957-04-13
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: A cowboy vows revenge for the shooting of his friend, who was mistaken for a criminal (Don Keefer and Catherine McLeod, real-life husband and wife, appear as a husband and wife).
Air date: 1957-04-20
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Philip Locke is looking for Laura Simmons, a saloon girl, but she doesn't want him to know where she works. Laura tells Matt that she and Philip were previously engaged, and she asks him not to say anything about her job. Philip warns Matt that he will be killed if he doesn't tell the truth.
Air date: 1957-04-27
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Matt fakes his death to lure a gunman (Vic Perrin) out in the open (Robert Karnes appears, Bert Rumsey credited as 'Sam').
Air date: 1957-05-04
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: A former gunfighter has turned away from violence, but his fiancee's brother is determined to goad him into a gunfight.
Air date: 1957-05-11
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: After Charlie Brewer is found dead, Jack Salter who was a friend of Charlie Brewer comes to Matt's office saying Vint killed Brewer. Matt then tries to find out if Jack is right.
Air date: 1957-05-18
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Joe Delk causes trouble at The Long Branch after shooting two men who were unarmed.
Air date: 1957-05-25
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Matt goes after an outlaw (Earle Hodgins) who shot Chester (Paul Wexler appears).
Air date: 1957-06-01
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Kitty's father, Wayne Russell, arrives in Dodge to meet his daughter after abandoning her and her mother as a baby. He insists that saloon life is not fit for a proper lady and wants to take her back to New Orleans so he can pamper her and invest her savings in his freight business.
Air date: 1957-06-15
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: A former Army Officer wants Matt Dillon's job. Matt then takes Mr. Egan on his rounds. Matt lets Egan try his brand of justice that almost costs Egan his life.
Writer: John Meston
Air date: 1957-06-22
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: A braggart tries to provoke a gunfight with a harmless drunk.
Air date: 1957-07-06
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Jack Kelly plays a hot-tempered husband who thinks Matt is after his wife.
