Now, post-toasties, the Heat Good Corn Flakes is proud to present Gunsmoke.
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 U.S. Marshal and the smell of Gunsmoke.
Gunsmoke, the story of the violence that moved west with young America,
the story of a man who moved with it, Matt Dillon, United States Marshal.
Say there, next time you hear a crackling noise in your kitchen, better get up and investigate.
Maybe somebody just couldn't wait for his breakfast of crackling crisp post-toasties.
And that's a treat you shouldn't miss.
Post-toasties, you know, are the Heat Good Corn Flakes.
Why, after one taste, I'll bet anything you'll agree with me.
Post-toasties is just the best thing that's happened to corn since the Indians discovered it.
There's nothing quite like sweet kernel corn flavor when it's toasted right in,
toasted into crisp, fresh corn flakes.
Man, oh man, that's post-toasties, Heat Good Corn Flakes.
Better try them.
And now, Gunsmoke, starring William Conrad.
You sure are slow with that beer, Doc. I'm ready for another.
You had enough last night, Chester. Matt told me you were still asleep at 9 o'clock this morning.
Oh, I was.
And you were still asleep.
I was.
And you were still asleep.
I was.
And you were still asleep.
I was.
And you were still asleep at 9 o'clock this morning.
Oh, I was.
And it was mighty kind of him not to wake me up.
Say, are you sure he said he'd be back this afternoon?
That's what he told me.
So I...
Oh.
Now, what in the world was that fellow?
Who?
That just came in the door there with Tyler and Short.
Oh, him. That weed pendle.
He rode in on a mule a couple days ago.
Which has the bigger ears, him or the mule?
And he acts peculiar, too.
That's a mighty scrawny mule, Pendle.
I seen you on him this morning.
Pendle here is kind of scrawny yourself, Short.
Maybe some beer to fatten him up a little.
I'd like some beer, all right.
But I got no money.
Why don't you sell that guitar of yours?
Sell my guitar?
No, I'd never do that.
You must have a nickel, at least.
Last money I had got stole.
Now, who would dare steal money off a tiger like you, Pendle?
I was asleep.
I started to wake up, but they kicked me in the head.
You call that a head?
Looks to me more like your neck just growed out and haired over.
I ain't very handsome.
You sure ain't.
What'd your old lady think of you when she saw you, Pendle?
I don't know. She died.
Yeah. Laughing, I'll bet.
Oh, now that's enough, Tyler.
That's too mean.
Pendle's a harmless little fella.
Ain't nobody talking to you, Chester.
Bar tender, three beers.
You buying, Tyler?
I'm proud to.
A fine old soldier like we'd Pendle.
How'd you know I was a soldier?
I didn't.
Where was you a soldier, Pendle?
Third Illinois Cavalry.
Illinois?
You was with the Yankees?
Well, I never done much.
We had hard luck.
Never got to see no real Confederates talk.
Just a bunch of ragged tailed bushwhackers
in South Missouri.
They was led by an old chicken thief
named Klein.
Yeah, so there was.
Tell me something, Pendle.
Did you ever kill any Klein's men?
A few.
Before I got shot myself.
They caught some of them after and hung them.
But I never did see a hanging.
You never saw a hanging?
Nowhere. I never did.
Not so.
Well, Pendle, you're in luck.
Since we was kind of in the war together,
so to speak, I'm going to show you a hanging.
You're about ready.
Ain't you short?
My rope's on my saddle.
I'll get it and meet you out back.
They gonna be a hanging?
Real hanging?
Sure is.
You're lucky, Pendle. You run into us just in time.
What are you talking about, Tyler?
Who are you gonna hang?
It's a kind of surprise, Chester.
You can watch, too.
You know it's against the law to hang people around here.
I saw Marshal Dillon right out town this morning.
When he gets back, it'll be all over.
And don't you try to buck me in short, Chester.
You'll die if you do.
Come on, Pendle.
You don't want to miss it.
Sure.
What do you suppose they're up to, Doc?
I don't know, Chester.
I'd like to find out.
I guess we'd better.
I sure do wish Mr. Dillon was here.
I never did think much of Tyler.
I never did think much of Tyler in short.
They play no good.
I'm worried, Doc.
There they are.
Why, it's Pendle.
They got a rope around his neck.
Of course.
You won't see all the hanging, Pendle, just the start of it.
What are you hanging me for?
I ain't done nothing.
You was in the 3rd Illinois Cavalry.
Well, sure.
We was fighting under that old chicken thief, Cline, in South Missouri.
It's a real pleasure to hang a Yankee like you.
But I only done what they told me to.
I didn't kill nobody on purpose.
All right, now wait a minute. You two, you've gone far enough.
Shoot him, Tyler.
You go shooting anybody and you'll be the ones to end up in a rope.
Doc ain't armed. He never is. Go on, Tyler.
All right.
You can try it.
But you're sure going to have to kill me before you hang anybody.
I'll kill you.
You'll have to kill me too, Tyler.
Mr. Dillon.
Where'd he come from?
Take your rope off that man's neck short and do it quick.
Sure, Marshal.
Sure.
I told you you shouldn't hang me.
Oh, we was just funnin' the Marshal.
We wasn't going to hang him.
What's this all about, Short?
Well, he's a Yankee, Marshal.
Killed a lot of us in Missouri during the war.
We was going to scare him and then run him over.
Well, you forget about that.
And forget about the war too. It's over.
The next time I catch you up to anything like this, you're going to go to jail.
Go to jail?
Over a dumb Yankee who don't own nothing but a skinny mule and a guitar?
Get out of here, Short.
Now you too, Tyler.
Okay, Marshal.
With this Yankee, you'd better get out of here too.
Out of dog...
Shut up, Tyler. I got moving.
Sure.
See you later, Findle.
Findle, Marshal Dillon's here. He wants to see you.
I sure do thank you for letting me sleep in your jail last night, Marshal.
Why, you've been sleeping before, Findle.
With my mule. I always do.
I hear you broke.
What do you do for a living?
I'm a
I'm a mule.
What about your guitar?
Don't you ever play and take up a collection or something?
Oh, no, Marshal. I wouldn't do that.
Why not?
Can't you play well enough?
I don't know, Marshal.
I never played it for nobody to hear.
Except me.
Ah.
All right. Chester,
take him over to the Texas Trail.
Maybe Sam can give him a job of some kind.
Well, I'm not sure I can.
Maybe Sam can give him a job of some kind.
Well, it wouldn't be steady, would it?
Well, I don't know, but
Why shouldn't it be?
Because I'll be leaving in a day or two.
Oh? Where are you headed?
Nowhere.
Nowhere?
Just right around on my mule. I always do.
And where are you from, anyway?
I was born San Benito.
Oh, on the Rio Grande?
Yes. I left soon after.
Took my guitar with me, though.
Never did go back.
Well, if you're from Texas, how come you fought in the Union Army?
I don't know.
One army's just like another, I guess.
Well, maybe you're right at that.
Chester, take him over to Sam's.
All right, sir.
I left my guitar back. I'll go get it.
He sure is a peculiar little fellow, Mr. Dillon.
Yeah.
Pretty helpless, too.
You think Short and Kyler will bother him any more?
I don't know in them. I believe they'd have hung him yesterday
if they could have.
You tell Sam to let me know if they even start talking to him again, huh?
Yes, sir, I will.
They're about the meanest pair of men I ever knew.
Yeah, they are.
And they'll think of something.
Well, Fennel said he's leaving in a day or two.
I hope that's soon enough, Chester.
Say, how are morning appetites at your house?
You fare pretty drowsy.
Here's a real good way to wake them up.
Set a bowl full of post-toasties,
the heap-good cornflakes,
at everybody's place.
Just watch your folks take notice
when they see how crisp post-toasties are.
And wait till they taste
that sweet kernel corn flavor toasted in.
Bet your whole tribe will agree with you.
Post-toasties are the best thing
that's happened to corn since the Indians discovered it.
And here's a thought.
If you'd like to make a good thing easy,
you'd better have a good time.
Here's a thought.
If you'd like to make a good thing even better,
try topping post-toasties with your favorite fruit.
You'll find that's a mighty good way to start the day.
Fact is, it's a downright delicious way.
So next time you shop,
be sure to ask for post-toasties.
They're the heap-good cornflakes.
You'll see.
Post-toasties, heap-good cornflakes,
the best thing that's happened to corn
since the Indians discovered it.
Heap-good cornflakes,
post-toasties, heap-good cornflakes,
post-toasties, heap-good cornflakes.
Now back to
gumsmo.
Music
Sam gave Weed Pendle
a job sweeping up the saloon
and let him live in a tiny shack
out back.
He tried to get him to play his guitar,
but Pendle wouldn't do it.
And we all began to think that he probably didn't even know how.
It's hard to believe that anyone as simple
as he was could
learn to do anything.
I looked up short on Tyler
and warned him again to leave him alone.
And they didn't.
Until one morning a couple of days later.
Chester and I had just come out of Delmonico's
and we're walking up Front Street.
Look at there, Mr. Dillon,
across the plaza. Yeah, I saw them.
Let's go over there, Chester.
Here's Pendle and his mule, all right.
Yeah. And Tyler
and Short, too.
I told them to keep away from him.
What are they laughing at? They're laughing,
but he isn't. What do you suppose
they've done to him now?
Look at his mule, Chester.
That's what they've done. Oh, my
goodness, Mr. Dillon, he's lost a ear.
I thought he'd get to his life-carrying
mule without the way he's short.
At least I wouldn't hurt him if he did.
I guess there's just no pleasing some men,
Tyler. You shouldn't have done that
to my mule.
Well, it's
the Marshal again.
Did you men do this?
Now, Marshal, we ain't done nothing to Pendle.
Did they do it, Pendle?
I tried to stop him, but Tyler held me.
Then they gave him a mule here,
Marshal. Right here.
See?
Yeah.
Turn around, both of you.
Turn around, I said!
Now, take their guns, Chester. Yes, sir.
Can't do nothing, Marshal.
We didn't hurt Pendle. I don't like what you did
to my mule. I got him, Mr. Dillon.
Now, I'll let you turn around again.
I ought to cut an ear off
of each of you.
But I can't do that.
So I'm going to do the next
best thing.
Now, look here, Marshal.
Now, leave him there, Chester.
Pendle, I'm sorry about your mule.
He ain't much of a mule anymore.
Well, you better go take care of him.
And maybe these two will
leave you alone now.
Poor mule.
Well, I'll see you around.
You know what Weed Pendle told me yesterday, Matt?
Well, it could have been almost anything.
No one him, Kitty.
No, this kind of makes sense.
He was ever lonely, and he said,
no, he never stayed anywhere long enough
to get to know anybody that well.
Yeah, he's a little strange, all right.
Now, what are they up to?
Who? Tyler and Short. They just came in with Pendle.
Oh? Look, Matt, he's got his guitar with him.
Yeah.
Hey, listen, everybody.
Little Yanky is going to play his guitar
for us. At least he's going to try.
Hey, G-Ank,
don't shoot my mule.
We ain't going to shoot your mule.
Not if you play good enough.
Go on, get started.
If you know how. They threaten to kill his mule, Matt.
You got to stop them. No, wait a minute, Kitty.
Go on, Pendle.
Go on, play.
All right.
Oh, Matt, that was beautiful.
Yeah, he kind of surprised everybody, didn't he?
Tyler and Short don't look so happy about it.
No.
The crowd's with Pendle now.
Good. They'll leave him.
Yeah, they'd better.
Yeah.
Hello, Yankee.
Hello.
You've been playing that
guitar a long time in there,
ain't you, Pendle?
They wanted me to.
They liked it.
Well, me and Short been waiting
to tell you how we liked it, too.
Yeah.
Let me see that guitar, Pendle.
No. You hurt my mule.
Give it to me. I got a gun in your belly,
Pendle. Don't move. I want my guitar.
You can have it.
I just want to sort of tune it for you first.
Please.
There. Please don't do that.
Another thing that's wrong with this
guitar is it's a little bit too big for
a man like you. But I
can make it smaller.
There you are, Yankee
soldier. Maybe this
will learn them.
Let's go, Short.
Are they both dead, Doc?
Oh, my, yes.
Real dead.
For several hours, at least.
Why, they must have been asleep
when it happened, Doc.
Looks like Short there struggled a little.
I guess Tyler got his first
and woke Short up for a minute.
He wasn't awake very long, man.
Just long enough to see who was cutting his throat, probably.
Well, they can't talk now.
No.
I guess I'm all through here.
What do you want to do with them?
We'll let the hotel worry about them.
I guess
it's Weed Pendle I want now.
My. And him, such a
mild little fellow.
Any man can take just so much, Chester.
I sure hate to see poor Pendle
hang for killing
these two buzzards, man.
Chester, wait for me at the jail.
I'll bring
him over as soon as I can find him.
Sam.
Where's Weed Pendle, Sam?
Oh, I just sent him out back for a bucket of sawdust.
What do you want him for?
Short and Tyler got their
throats cut early this morning.
Good.
I guess their smashing his guitar was
too much for Pendle.
That's so.
Oh, there he is now.
Pendle, I'm over here.
Morning, Marshal.
Good morning.
Pendle, where was you last night?
Where was you last night?
I don't know. Here, I guess.
You don't know?
Wait a minute, Marshal. Pendle, where was you after
they wrecked your guitar?
Well, I sat in the alley
awhile, then I come back here.
Yeah, that's right. He was
so broke up about his guitar, I didn't want to
leave him alone, so I
took him up and let him
sleep on the floor in my room.
Isn't that right, Pendle?
Well, go on, tell him now.
Sure, Sam.
That's right. Are you trying to alibi for him, Sam?
I know,
Marshal Dillon.
But I care about him.
Some people care about me.
Who, Pendle? He's just talking, Marshal.
Who cares about you, Pendle? Tell me.
Those men. What men?
He means some of the boys that was
here when he came back with his busted
guitar, Marshal. He just
told him how sorry he was, that's all.
I see.
They liked his music, didn't they?
Yes, they did. They liked to hear me
play. Who was in here then,
Sam?
Well,
now, Marshal Dillon, you know how it is.
I'm busy pouring drinks,
and I don't pay no mind to who's
here and who ain't. I
couldn't rightly say it all.
Okay, Sam, I guess I can't beat the truth
out of you. Oh, now, Marshal Dillon,
who cares about Tyler in short?
Dodger is better off without him.
It's law against murder, Sam, and it's the same
for everybody.
I'll be back later.
Music
What are you going to do
now, Mr. Dillon? Well, I've done all I
can, Chester. The whole town's just
plain quit talking.
Nobody knows anything.
Well, I guess they're all trying
to protect Pendle.
Yeah, they are. But he didn't
do it.
Well, who did then?
Well, if I could prove who did it, Chester,
I'd have him in jail.
Say, come
over here.
What?
Well, I declare, Mr. Dillon, it looks to me like he's leaving
town. Yeah, I told him he could
go. He looks funnier
than ever on that one-eared mule.
Yeah.
Now, Dodge treated Pendle pretty
rough. It sure
did. Poor little
fella looks kind of empty like without his
guitar, don't he? Well, maybe he'll
find another one somewhere.
Anyway,
they sure like to hear
him play in this town.
And a couple
of the boys in particular, I guess.
Yeah, they like
to hear him play.
Say, Mother,
want to see your small fry eat a better
breakfast than ever? Well, may I
suggest that you dish him up some sugar
crinkles to start with? Sugar
crinkles, you know, make breakfast more fun
than a circus. Sugar crinkles
is the sugar rice treat that's
just right sweet.
It's high time to forget these sugar-coated
cereals that seem too sweet to you
and those others that don't seem sweet enough
to the kids. Just pour
out crisp, golden sugar
crinkles and see how
just right sweet a sugar-coated
cereal can be. Just
right sweet. Be sure to
get several packages of sugar crinkles
because they're great for snacks.
Kids love them that way. Kids
love them anyway. Try sugar
crinkles and you'll love them, too.
Remember, new sugar
crinkles is the sugar rice
treat that's just right
sweet.
Gunsmoke,
under the direction of Norman
McDonald, stars William Conrad
as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
Tonight's story was specially written
for Gunsmoke by John Meston,
with music composed and conducted
by the
American Army.
The story is
about a man who was a soldier
in the US Army in Boston, with music
composed and conducted by Rex Corey.
Featured in the cast were Vic Perrin,
John Boehner, Lawrence Dovkin, and Harry
Bartel. Parley Bear
is Chester, Howard McNear is Doc,
and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
Special guitar effects by Al
Hendrickson. Ken Peters speaking.
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.
Music
Gunsmoke was brought to you
tonight by Post Toasties
and Sugar Crinkles.
Music