Around Dodge City and in the territory on west there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers.
And that's with a US Marshal on the smell of Gunsmoke.
Gunsmoke starring William Conrad. The story of the violins that moved west with young America. The story of a man who moved with it. Matt Dillon, United States Marshal.
How are you this morning Mr. Bumby?
Oh, hello Marshal.
Morning Mr. Dillon.
Morning Sam. Is Kitty around?
Oh, don't know if she's up yet, but if she is she ought to be down soon.
I'll wait.
Nippy this morning.
Oh, feels good. It's a nice time of year.
I don't know. I kind of like spring myself.
Sam, you better wash that glass over.
Oh, yeah. Thanks.
Can I get you something? Beer maybe?
Got any coffee?
Sure, just made a pot.
Oh, that'll be fine.
Her face is something wonderful.
That's pretty man. You got a pretty voice.
Good enough for calling hogs I guess.
You just got up?
A while ago. Why?
Just strikes me I haven't seen you close to early like this.
Uh huh. No, no, you look fine. I mean that you...
You better quit by your head.
Yeah, I guess.
Where's Sam?
Oh, he's bringing in coffee.
Oh. Sam, cup for me please.
Sure Miss Kitty.
What's the occasion, Matt?
Kitty?
There's a party tomorrow night. A dance.
It's a benefit for the new school down at the hall, you know.
And, uh, every fellow's to bring a girl. You know?
It happens at dances. Go on.
Well, uh, when I'm trying to...
Will you go? With me?
I'd kind of like to, Matt, but no thanks.
Oh.
Well, I got a work here, you know that. Besides...
Well, you ought to be able to get off.
Well, even if I could, ladies might not take kindly to it, Matt.
Not rightly polite society.
Ah, what do you care about what...
Well, thanks anyway, Matt.
Ah, that smells wonderful. Sammy, I think I'll marry you.
Me? Shocks. Me? Oh, shocks.
But, uh, listen Kitty, about the dance, I've already bought the tickets.
Oh, sweet, Matt, and I thank you kindly for thinking of me, but...
You better ask someone else.
Well, it isn't...
Sam, will you go and polish up your glasses, please?
Hmm? Oh, sure, Mr. Dillon. Sure.
Now, look, Kitty, I'm asking you to go with me.
Well, it's important to me that you go.
Are you making love to me, Matt? At this hour in the morning?
No, no, I mean it. I... I want you to go to the dance.
You want to be embarrassed. You want everyone to stare at us.
You know what they'll say?
My, my, the marshal really should have better sense than to bring that woman here.
It ain't decent. It ain't proper.
Oh, Kitty.
Well, it's true. I'm a hostess at the Texas Trail, a saloon.
You know what they think about me.
Well, I...
Will you go, Kitty?
No.
I'll call by four, you at seven.
I'll drink a bottle of whiskey and clout some old bitty on the head.
Then you'll be sorry.
Oh, Kitty.
I haven't got anything to wear, Matt. I can't wear my working clothes.
You look just fine like you are, Kitty. Just fine. Just like you are.
Marshal.
Yeah.
I shouldn't, but I guess I'll go to the dance with you.
I'll be ready at seven.
Music
How do you talk about a woman like Kitty?
The color of her hair, eyes, the shape of her leg, the way she spoke, thought.
Well, that's a picture you had to get by looking and hearing.
Otherwise, you'd never know it.
And I felt real good about taking Kitty to the party.
The first time we'd really be out in company.
And I liked the idea.
Oh, morning, Mr. Dillon.
Good morning, Jester.
Nice day.
What is that?
That, Mr. Dillon?
Yeah, all over my desk. That ink.
Yes, sir, I know. I was just cleaning it up, Mr. Dillon.
Seems like a big blue bottle fly, last of his kind this fall, I guess.
Big, cool blue bottle fly was a-settin' on your desk, Mr. Dillon.
Oh, you're slopping it all over the floor, Jester.
Yes, sir, I see it.
That lazy, cool blue bottle fly was a-stomping all over your desk, Mr. Dillon.
And I took a flak at him with a paper I happened to have in my hand.
And I got him.
Well, thanks a lot.
Well, that's all right, Mr. Dillon.
If there's anything in this world I hate, it's a big maggoty blue bottle fly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, Jester.
The mail come in yet?
Yes, sir. A couple of minutes. Go with Friday over there.
Oh, okay.
There. I think that should do it, Mr. Dillon.
All right, Jester.
Anything likely in the mail, Mr. Dillon?
No, no.
Look, Jester, we better get these government circulars posted.
Would you do that for me?
Yes, sir, I'll do that.
Say, Mr. Dillon.
Yeah, what is it, Jester?
About the dance tomorrow.
Now, what about it?
Well, you're going, aren't you, sir? Doc's going. He's taking Miss McNish.
I'm going. Everybody's going. You are going, aren't you, Mr. Dillon?
Yeah, I'm going.
Don't seem right, a man here standing up to go to a big social like we're...
You are?
Yes.
Well, that's fine. Just fine.
Doc and me, we were talking, and it just didn't seem right to us
that a man like you didn't have no real nice sweet girl to escort to a big social.
I got one, Jester. A real nice sweet girl.
I'm taking Kitty.
Miss Kitty?
I asked her before I came down, and she accepted.
Well, that's good. Miss Kitty...
That's right, Jester.
I got to get a couple of letters off to Washington, Jester.
You want to go and see about posting those circulars, huh?
Yes, Mr. Dillon.
Ah, fine.
Mr. Dillon?
Yes?
Oh, what is it, Jester?
Well, Mr. Dillon, it ain't none of my business,
and I did not have no right to say it.
Say what?
Well, sir, I...
I...
Yeah?
I was wondering if I might borrow one of them fancy ties off you for the party.
That's not your business.
That's what you haven't got any right to say.
Yes, sir. No, that's right.
You're a liar, Jester, but you can borrow a tie.
I thank you kindly, Mr. Dillon.
You work for a long time with a man, and you share a lot of life and a lot of death.
And after a while, you... you know him even better than yourself.
Well, that's the way it is with Jester and with me.
Now, he had something on his mind, and I figured after a while he'd get it off.
Well, the morning went and it was almost known when Jester came back.
Gonna go have some dinner, Mr. Dillon?
Yeah, I think I will. How about you?
Hungry as a rag-a-bone possum.
Did you get the posters up?
Yes, sir.
Well, okay, let's go.
Uh, Mr. Dillon?
Yeah?
I guess there's something you ought to know, sir.
There's talk.
Yeah. All right, Jester, come on, get it out.
It's all over town.
About you taking Miss Kitty to the dance tomorrow night.
What do you mean all over town?
I only asked her this morning.
Yes, sir, I know.
Best I can figure, Sam, over at the Texas Trail must have heard you and let it slip.
There's been a mighty fierce mess of gum clobbering up and down.
All over.
All right.
Uh, thanks for telling me, Jester.
It ain't none of my business.
Yeah, I know, you said that before.
Yes, sir. I surely did.
Well, let's go get something to eat.
It's hard to tell about people.
Maybe it's hard to tell about yourself because you come under that same heading.
People.
And when they're mean and small, there's not an animal to touch them.
Jester and I walked down the street, and it didn't take long to hear and see what was going on.
Some of the drifters leaning against the wall on the corner came right out with it.
Morning, Marshal.
I understand this gal in town's got herself a new boat.
What did you say?
Maybe you ought to look into it, Marshal.
Folks are being downright rude.
Mister, you're gonna...
Come on, Jester.
I ought to haul them in. Everyone.
Yeah.
What are you gonna charge them with?
Pestilence, Mr. Dillon. Just plain pestilence.
I knew better what Kitty had meant about the ladies of the town when a couple came out of Olivette's dry goods store.
They didn't see me until it was too late.
I'm not complaining to the banks, Minnie. It's indecent, that's what it is, why she's common.
Nothing but a common saloon woman.
What's this city coming to when a United States Marshal...
Morning, Miss Sprinkle.
When a man's born, they say he's blessed or cursed with a lot of things already in him.
Take pride, for instance.
Sometimes pride can be a curse.
Well, maybe I had more in my share.
Maybe it would have been a sight kinder if I'd not taken Kitty the dance.
But I did.
We will return for the second act of gun smoke in just a moment, but first, this hint for weekend driving.
Whatever you do, be moderate. Be obedient to all traffic laws. Be careful. Use your head and don't take chances.
Now for the second act of gun smoke.
I picked up Kitty at the Texas Trail at seven the next evening.
She was waiting by the side door and when I saw her, she kind of moved back in the shadows almost as though she was ashamed for me to see her.
Hi. Hello, Matt. Are you all set?
Yes, sir. Matt, are you sure?
Hey Kitty, you look fine. You look just fine.
Do you like it? Yeah. Yeah, I like it.
We walked along the street down to the hall and I kept looking at her like, like I say, you know, you had to know this Kitty to understand what I mean.
And even then you get a surprise.
She was like a 17 year old on her first date and she was like all the women you'd ever known and loved.
Soft and innocent. And something else, something that's female and you can't figure out what.
Something that makes you drunk without a drink inside you.
It was snowing a little and the flakes caught in her hair and melted into the black of her velvet cloak.
And just before we went in, I looked at her again and I didn't care. I was proud she was with me.
Evening, Marshal Dylan. Evening, Miss Murfin. You know, Miss Russell.
How do you have your tickets, Marshal Dylan? Oh, yeah.
Here we are. Fine. Go right in, won't you? Oh, sure.
Oh, excuse me, Mrs. Murfin. Is there somewhere I can put my cloak?
Oh, yes, yes, of course. The ladies reception room is right through there.
I didn't catch the name. Catherine Russell, ma'am. Excuse me, ma'am.
Yes, sure. I'll wait for you. Thanks. You better.
I could see them through the big open doors in the hall. They were all there.
Faces flushed, smiling, happy, dancing. All the women seemed pretty and the men handsome.
And Chester was up on the platform calling the dance and Doc was fiddling.
And I was waiting for my dancing partner, Miss Kitty Russell.
Now run away home and sing your own and leave my buffalo gal alone.
And come and eat all around you go.
Hi. What took you so long? I'm sorry, Matt. I had a skirmish with one of the genteel females in there.
Oh, I'm sorry. You know, I get the idea. I'm not welcome around here.
Let's go in and get some punch. Sure.
How are you, John? Oh, that's a nice dress, Kitty.
I haven't worn it since a few years back in New Orleans.
Hey, Marshall. Miss Kitty. That's Doc.
When? Hi. Oh, fine, Doc.
Hello, Doc. I say, we got a bottle of whiskey outside. You care to join us?
Oh, this punch.
Oh, not right now. Thank you, Doc.
Oh, well, it's your famous Kitty. I saw you come in. Best looking woman in here.
Oh, there's lots of scratching going on. Thank you, Doc.
If you see Mrs. Magnish, don't tell her where I am, will you?
Man gets kind of dry, fiddling.
Oh, I haven't been so long. So long, Doc.
Punch, Marshall, Kitty? Kitty?
I guess so.
Mr. Sprinkle, have you met Miss Catherine Russell?
No, no, I'm afraid I haven't.
You got a short memory, Mr. Sprinkle. Huh?
I could have saw it was you in the Texas Trail a couple of weeks back, drunk or no hoot-ow.
Don't you remember I had to slap your face?
I think... Edward? Edward?
Yes, dear.
You let somebody else take care of the punch. I want you to come with me.
Oh, well, I promised. I'm on the committee.
Even, Miss Sprinkle.
I have no wish to speak to you, Marshall Dillon, or this woman you brought with you.
I will not have my husband serving such people.
Aren't you being a trifle bad mannered, Miss Sprinkle?
How dare you say that?
Well, aren't you?
I suggest that you leave, Marshall.
You're not wanted here.
Not with that woman you've seen fit to bring.
Come on, Matt, I want to go.
No!
This is a public dance, Miss Sprinkle.
Right now you're trying to make it private.
If you can't behave like a lady, I'll thank you to leave this lady's presence.
Now, see here, Marshall, you can't talk like that to my wife.
Hey, Kitty! What do you say, Kitty?
Matt, please, I want to go.
We're not going anywhere. We're staying.
How about some music? All right now, folks. It'll be a while.
Thanks for the punch, Mr. Sprinkle.
Come on, Kitty.
I warned you, ma'am.
Now, please, will you take me out of here before something happens?
Nothing's going to happen, Kitty.
You and me are going to dance. Have a good time. That's all.
You're acting like a kid.
Matt, it won't work. I've seen this kind of thing before.
May I have this dance, Miss Kitty?
Please, Matt. You're being pigheaded and you know it.
Let's get out.
You're refusing me, Miss Kitty?
Oh, Matt!
We danced. But it wasn't what I hoped it'd be.
Kitty closed her eyes. I guess she was trying to blot it out.
But I could see the other couples looking, whispering,
and one by one dropping away over into a small group that got larger.
There were only about six of us left when the wall sent it.
That's when the stranger and a couple of his pals walked out onto the floor.
They were drifters. Probably been in town for a week.
And they were having their fun before they moved on.
Marshal, I got a painful duty.
Yeah?
The folks in this town seem real upset about you bringing that woman in here.
What's your name?
I'm just a fella.
I kind of made myself and my friends here a committee of three,
seeing as how everything's done by committees here.
And we figured it would be best if you'd take your friend home.
Mr., I'm the marshal in Dark City and I...
Matt, I'm leaving.
You're staying here, Kitty.
She's smarter than you, Marshal.
Everything all right?
Everything's fine, Chester.
This ain't a matter of law, you know, Marshal.
It's decency and what's right.
If so...
And, Marshal, this ain't right.
Mr., I'm taking this badge off.
Chester, you stay here with Kitty.
Matt, don't you do it.
Now, come on outside.
Matt!
You!
We're going to talk some more about this out there.
Oh, it's cold outside.
Now, you be a good fella and get out of where you ain't wanted.
You know I won't hit you in here, don't you?
Were you thinking of doing that, Marshal?
Now, that ain't lawful.
I ain't done nothing.
Kitty.
Kitty, wait!
Now, there's a gal with sense.
All right, mister.
Now, I'm telling you, you and your pals are going to have to come out sooner or later.
And when you do, you better start hightailing it out of Dodge before I catch up with you.
We'll think of that.
We sure will, Marshal.
Just three no-good drifters, hating the law, finding pleasure in trouble.
Kitty had gone and I went out into the street.
It had stopped snowing.
Just cold.
Much colder.
I went up to the Texas trail.
There was only two people in there.
Some guy dead drunk on a table and someone else standing at the bar looking into the mirror at me.
What happened, Mr. Dillon?
Nothing, sir.
Yeah.
I got some things to do in the back.
Give me a call if anyone comes in, will you?
Yeah, sure.
Kitty.
I'm...
I'm sorry, Kitty.
Shut up.
I'm sorry.
I'm mad.
No, Kitty.
It's all right.
Sure, it's all right.
I'm so mad.
Yeah, I know.
No, it was me, not you.
No, it wasn't that either.
It was all those polite ladies and gentlemen.
Give me a cuddle, will you?
Yeah.
Here.
It's been a long time since I've cried.
Yeah, sure.
It wasn't so much for me, for you.
I wanted to cry right there in the hall, watching you and knowing there was nothing you could do.
Nice mess of people we got in the garage.
No, it's not them, Matt.
It's me.
I've run into this before.
The only difference was I didn't have you around.
I wanted it to be right tonight because of you.
A lot of narrow-minded prayer spoutings.
Yeah.
They hurt your pride, didn't they?
No.
No, it wasn't that.
No?
No, I...
I wanted you to go with me.
That made me real happy.
But maybe we're different, Matt.
You and me figure life different to them.
That's not their fault.
There's a lot of folks there, I know.
I smile at them on the street.
They talk to me.
But tonight, well, that was different.
I made them uncomfortable.
Yeah?
Oh, I didn't do a bad job with you.
Oh, you can't look at it that way.
And you can't go fighting the whole town either.
These three fellas are gonna get hurt.
No, I don't want you to do that, Matt.
Just...
let it go.
Let it go, Matt.
They don't mean nothing.
You know what means something to me?
What?
That you ask me to go to the dance with you.
I knew what was gonna happen, but it was worth the chance.
I thank you for it, Matt.
You're a funny one.
Am I?
But you sure showed them up, those women.
The way you look.
Oh, I'm glad.
You know, you look pretty fine yourself.
Sam!
Yeah?
You got any champagne, Sam?
No, I don't.
You got any champagne, Sam?
What? Have I got any what?
Champagne.
Oh, yeah.
I guess maybe.
A bottle or two? Yeah, maybe.
Well, break it out.
Miss Kitty?
I think the next dance is mine.
Oh, Matt.
I'd be real pleased, Mr. Dillon.
Gunsmoke, under the direction of Norman MacDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
Tonight's story was specially written for Gunsmoke by Anthony Dillon,
who was a former U.S. Marshal.
He was a great man, and he was a great man.
He was a great man.
It was specially written for Gunsmoke by Anthony Ellis, with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey.
Featured in the cast were John Dana, Vivi Janis, Bob Sweeney, Lawrence Dobkin, and Mary Lansing.
Parley Bear is Chester, Howard McNair is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
Gunsmoke is heard by our troops overseas through the worldwide facilities of the Armed Forces Radio Service.
Join us again next week as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal, fights to bring law and order out of the wild violence of the West in Gunsmoke.
Don't miss Robert Trout and his timely roundup of world news tomorrow on most of these same CBS radio stations.
Roy Rowan speaking.
And remember, Amos and Andy are here every Sunday on the CBS Radio Network.
Thank you.