The Thing. One of my favorite sci fi's.
Posted on 06/03/2011 4:27:58 PM PDT by Evil Slayer
James Arness, who burnished the legend of America’s epic West as Marshal Matt Dillon, the laconic peacemaker of Dodge City on “Gunsmoke,” one of the longest-running dramatic series in television history, died on Friday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 88.
A family spokeswoman, Ginny Fazer, confirmed the death. Mr. Arness was terribly shy and had almost no training as an actor. A wartime leg wound made it painful for him to mount a horse. But he became the best-known tin star of his era, portraying the towering, weathered marshal for 20 years, from 1955 to 1975. He also made some 50 films and television movies, mostly westerns, in a career that stretched across five decades.
To a generation of television viewers, Mr. Arness and “Gunsmoke” embodied a new, more adult vision of the mythic Old West: a quiet, vulnerable lawman facing not stereotyped villains and clichéd situations but a chaotic frontier freighted with moral judgments and occasional failure. He might be too late to stop a killing. He could save a girl from kidnappers, but not from her father’s brutality.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
When Rush announced this on his show today I almost cried. We admired and respected Mr. Arness. He’s part of our greatest generation and we’ll miss him. Hub and I ordered the complete set of Gunsmoke a couple of years ago and watched every one of them......it took several nights but we did it. RIP “Mr. Dillon”.......:(
Same thing here, I watched the show as a kid but didn’t realize the ladies were hookers in the Long Branch. You never saw them go upstairs with the customers though, they were just shown drinking with them.
Gunsmoke and Rawhide are still 2 of my favorite shows to watch today on DVD. Those old shows are so much better than the garbage they make now, no doubt about it.
What a nice picture. Thank you for posting.
Rest in Peace, Mr. Arness; thank you for the good, clean entertainment you provided for so many years.
The weren’t. They only danced and drank with the cowboys. The cowboys were charged a dime a dance and had to behave themselves, else Miss Kitty would dispatch them if the sheriff wasn’t around to take care of things in the saloon. The girls charged a nickel a drink to drink and talk with the cowboys (plus the cost of her drink, of course). That’s the straight story on that. The Long Branch was a reputable establishment and that’s how it was.
Actually, in the 1/2 hour episodes, every now and then you would see the girls taking men upstairs. As the show progressed over the years, the producers completely ignored the prostitution angle, although it was often pointed out that saloon girls were not fit for marrying. They also glossed over the fact two of the top citizens of Dodge, Dillon and Doc Adams, frequented a saloon/brothel. You never saw the town’s banker or any other Dodge businessmen there. The producers also ignored the fact Miss Kitty regularly cheated her customers. There was no way any of her girls were ever given any real liquor when a guy bought them a drink- otherwise, they’d be passed out on the floor after a couple of hours. The truly odd thing- there was no mayor of Dodge or any politicians for that matter.
Another one of the great ones lost.
What a comparison to the drug addled girly-men so popular today.
Not many people know that Arness was an avid sailor - keel boats and catamarans.
Big cats, not Hobie cats.
His first cat was a 60 footer custom buit by Rudy Choy.
He was a avid west coast racer and captained hs boats in the California to Hawaii race.
Speaking of Gunsmoke - how many remember the character, blacksmith Quint Asper?
And who played the part?
I really enjoyed the show too but it was not very realistic in many ways. The show would have been set in the 1870’s or 80’s yet that city had no town marshal nor did Ford County have a sheriff.
The real Dodge City had Wyatt Earp as deputy marshal and Bat Masterson was County sheriff.
I used to work in Dodge City and once Amanda Blake came to visit. I recall one thing she said was they did teach them a bit of history of Dodge but of course could not keep it really accurate.
Good point. Do you know what was the biggest difference between Gunsmoke and Bonnanza?
I met him once at Big Lake in Wasilla, AK. Very nice man.
That B.R., the Bandit! Halfbreed Commanche, friend to Festus Haggen.
The best part about gunsmoke, besides the writing and acting, was all the character actors who showed up a million times. I always watch the ones with Warren Oates and Lee Van Cleef.
Freegards
It would be interesting to know both how many men Matthew shot and killed, as well as how many times he was shot. Over the course of 20 years, I know that shoulder would be pretty sore...I bet he was shot at least 50+times. Probably more.
Freegards
I am not sure what the major difference between Bonanza and Gunsmoke but I did notice at first the Cartwrights used cap and ball revolvers but later used 1873 Colts and model 92 Winchesters.
I will say the scenery in Bonanza was probably more accurate as Ford County, Kansas is pretty flat. Also Gunsmoke rarely mentioned the Arkansas river which flowed through Dodge.
I am not sure what the major difference between Bonanza and Gunsmoke but I did notice at first the Cartwrights used cap and ball revolvers but later used 1873 Colts and model 92 Winchesters.
I will say the scenery in Bonanza was probably more accurate as Ford County, Kansas is pretty flat. Also Gunsmoke rarely mentioned the Arkansas river which flowed through Dodge.
Good eye for detail. But the one thing I always seem to notice. No one on Bonnanza ever got shot in the back. On Gunsmoke, it seemed to happen every other day.
bttt
That is MISS Kitty.
The Thing. One of my favorite sci fi's.
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