I always get a kick out of watching Miss Kitty's saloon in "Gunsmoke," filled with "working girls." Straight arrow Marshall Matt Dillon would go in there to have a drink and NEVER indulged in the women. Maybe they should have had an episode where Marshall Dillon returned to Dodge City after a couple of weeks on the trail and asks Miss Kitty to get him a room plus one of the working women for the evening.
The gist of the story was that Matt was making it with Miss Kitty, The Madam. They never really showed it though, it started as a family show.
As I got older I began to wonder how many bad guys Marshall Dillon and the rest of the tv six-gun heroes dispatched in their years on the tube. Certainly Dillon must lead the pack. The show ran 20 years, and it seemed he sent at least one or more desperadoes to Boot Hill every episode.
One note about the Long Branch: if you watch the early black-and-white episodes, there is no doubt that Miss Kitty’s place is a brothel first, and a watering hole second. In numerous shots, you’ll see cowboys and bar girls go up the stairs, while others are descending the staircase, after a little “paid” entertainment. The producers prided themselves on the realism of Gunsmoke and decided to keep the obvious references to prostitution in the scenes at the Long Branch, certain the network censors would demand their deletion.
The censors never said a word. And this was in an era when “married” couples on TV couldn’t share the same bed.
I would like to see the 'Boot hill' introduction at the beginning of that episode! :)