JACK ELLIOTT, WILD WEST CHRONICLES’S BAT MASTERSON, TALKS SEASON 6, PLUS BIRTHDAYS & MORE!

 

Jack Elliott as Bat Masterson in Wild West Chronicles

Photo by Morgan Weistling, courtesy INSP

Updated July2, 2026

Updaed July 5, 2026

Season 6 of INSP’s Wild West Chronicles is just about in the can – or on the chip, or whatever we should be calling it now. The series examines the lives of real-life westerners, from legends to the undeservedly obscure, through the eyes of lawman-turned-reporter Bat Masterson. He’s portrayed by Jack Elliott, and the show is exciting, entertaining and factually informative without being overtly educational. In other words, you’ll have fun, and you’ll probably learn something without intending to. 

With each episode built around a new character, Jack Elliott’s performance as Bat is the glue that holds the show together. Beyond his notable resemblance to the real man, Elliot is engaging, amusing, and brings an understated gravitas to the role: without showing off, you buy him as lawman you wouldn’t want to cross. About a week ago, I visited him on the Wild West Chronicles set, in a Western movie town near Chatsworth, and asked him how many times he’d portrayed Bat Masterson so far.

Bat (Jack Elliott) pounds the keys instead of the street

as he segues from lawman to journalist

(Courtest INSP)

 

Jack Elliott: I think this one we're shooting today is 63. By the end of the season we'll have 65.

Henry Parke: When you started in that role, did you think you still be playing him, six years and six seasons later?

Jack Elliott: No. Honestly, with the way most productions go, when we shot the pilot, I was thinking, this will probably be the last I hear or see of this character, and these people. Then when we got picked up, it was kind of a shocker, and then we just kept getting picked up. So every season you kind of think it might be the last one.

Jack Elliott between takes

(photo by Parke)

Henry Parke: Because in this business, usually it is.

Jack Elliott: <laugh>. Mostly it is, yeah. Gary (Tarpinian), our E.P. (Executive Producer) is really good about the statistics of how many shows go from season one to a season two, and it just drops progressively as each season goes by. It's a fraction of a percent of shows that even go to a season two, let alone a season six.

Henry Parke: Which raises the question of why does this one keep going on? Why has Wild West Chronicles not gone away, or jumped the shark?

Jack Elliott: For me it's just the fact that there's so many stories from the Old West. There's so many great characters, and moments that we can pull from. Even though it was like a 30-year period that the Old West was going on, so much happened, so much expansion in the United States. So many different big characters were alive. So I think just being able to pull from so many different places has kept it going. And then also the fans; people love this show. I get fan mail from Northern Ireland, from all over the world. One of my favorites was a gentleman in his twenties, and he wrote, I just wanna thank you. This show is what my grandparents and I bond over every week. We meet up on Thursday nights, we'll make dinner. We sit down and we watch Wild West Chronicles. So thank you for giving us a reason to get together. <laugh>. I think it kind of resonates with people. I also think the West, especially the true stories, that is our legacy as Americans. We haven't been around that long. So to have something that we can all kind of pull from, it resonates with people.

Director Michael Ojeda watching a take 

from the "video Village"

(Photo by Parke)

Henry Parke: When people recognize you, are there particular episodes that they want to talk about?

Jack Elliott: People love Doc Susie (Dr. Susan Anderson) which, as you know, is what, Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman was based on. Different episodes resonate with different people. A good friend of mine, a pen pal when I was a kid, became an elementary school teacher in New Orleans. She teaches history, and Wild West Chronicles has become a part of their curriculum. She said that a lot of the kids were blown away. Some black kids in her class had no idea there were black cowboys. So just kind of expanding people's world and what the West actually looked like, which is a lot of different folks.

Dr. Susie (Nicole Tompkins) treats an ailing Bat 

(Jack Elliott) in Dr. Susan Anderson: Frontier Medicine Woman

(courtesy INSP)

Henry Parke: Are people surprised that Bat Masterson is a real person?

Jack Elliott: Very much so. Because the life he lived was so epic, if you really dive into it, which I have. He was a renaissance man in the true sense of the word. He kept reinventing himself, kept trying different things. And I think that's kind of inspirational to people. It's almost too big for life. Some people can't believe, like you'd be a cowboy, and a lawman and all of these things for 40 years, and then move to New York, live on Broadway, write stories and hang out with Teddy Roosevelt. I think it's a little hard for people to believe.

Henry Parke: He's bigger than life.

Jack Elliott: Truly.

The real Bat Masterson

(Courtesy True West)

Henry Parke: As you've gone along, delving into Bat Masterson's life, what sort of things have influenced how you play him? What things have you picked up that widen your knowledge of him?

Jack Elliott as Bat

(photo by Morgan Weistling, courtesy INSP)

Jack Elliott: When I grew up, one of the things my dad and I bonded over was Westerns; we watched a lot of Western movies. So I definitely draw from that: it's in my genes at this point, the knowledge. As an actor, if you've got a body of material available, which Bat does, you just kind of go through it and take as much as you can. And little pieces will pop out. Like, oh, he was all about the truth. Oh, he really had a great moral compass. Just little things like that you kind of pull from and put in your tool bag as an actor. And then also, as an actor going into this, I was thinking, Bat is the through-line of this show. How am I gonna keep it interesting? How am I gonna be somebody that people are willing to come back to every week and watch? It's not like, oh, here's this guy again. It's like, oh yeah, here's that crazy uncle telling stories I can't wait to hear. You know? So for me, a big part of it is is that had to be somebody that people could relate to, that people found interesting and they looked forward to seeing.

Henry Parke: How about keeping it interesting for yourself, season after season?

Jack Elliott: For me, it has been very interesting, as an actor, to be able to sit with it, with him, for this long. It's like putting on a pair of boots. It's riding a bike again. It really has become part of my DNA. As an actor, I don't think you can separate yourself from the characters fully. I think your life informs the character as much as the character's life informs the character. So I definitely find myself having a little less tolerance for baloney, <laugh> a little more like ‘just the facts, ma'am,’ in my daily life. So I definitely, as the human being, Jack Elliott, I have pulled from Bat, inadvertently. But it's been such a gift. It's been really cool to get to know him. I've grown with Bat over the years.

Henry Parke: Over the years, as you have gotten to know him, have you had much input into the scripts?

An intense scene from Marhsal Garfias Faces the Mob, 

written by Jack Elliott

(Courtesy of INSP)

Jack Elliott: Yeah, actually I wrote a spec script just off the cuff a couple years ago. Because there was a character that I wanted to see portrayed in the show. And we didn't end up using that script, but it gave them an inkling that I knew what I was doing writing-wise, so they offered me a writing gig on season four. I got to actually do my research on John Wesley Harden, and then write an entire episode. I've written two now, but that's about as much input as you can ask for.

Henry Parke: You had pointed out to me that every episode you have a different guest star you're working with. Do you have any favorites?

From Doc Susie's Oath, Nicole Tompkins in her wedding gown

(Courtesy INSP)

Jack Elliott: You know, as a good father, you can't have any favorites, wink, wink, <laugh>. But Nicole Tompkins, who plays Doc Susie, is one of my favorites. She's been back for two or three episodes now. You know, good acting in a good scene is like sparring, like you're throwing a couple punches, they're throwing a couple punches. So to get to play with somebody like Nicole is always an absolute joy, especially when they come back multiple times. There's been quite a few actors that have come in and just kind of blown everybody's minds. Like, okay, this person is the character, and those always just make the best scenes to shoot, so much fun, because then you find little nuances in the scene. They're comfortable, they're killing it. They know their character, and then you can play with it within the scene and find nuances that you didn't even know were there.

Henry Parke: Anything interesting coming up in the near future?

Jack Elliott: Well, I'm always pulling and hoping for a season seven, and from the get-go, they've talked about a Bat Masterson movie. I keep prodding them with that.

The date for the beginning of season 6 of Wild West Chronicles has not yet been announced, so keep reading the Round-up for updates!

JUNE BIRTHDAYS!

I've had the privilege of interviewing three Western film icons who celebrated birthdays in June. Here are the links to read them. 

HAPPY 91^ST BIRTHDAY MONTE MARKHAM!

Here’s my interview with him from the Lone Pine Film Festival!https://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2025/06/happy-90th-birthday-monte-markham-heres.html 

HAPPY 86^TH BIRTHDAY TO MARIETTE HARTLEY!

Here's my True West interview with her!

https://www.truewestmagazine.com/article/hartley-of-the-west/

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON WOULD’VE TURNED 90!

Here’s my True West tribute to the Rhodes Scholar-turned music and movie legend, and my interview with him on the set of his final Western, HICKOK. That’s where I also shot the picture of him and his wife, Lisa Marie Meyers.  

https://www.truewestmagazine.com/article/kris-kristofferson-a-texan-at-oxford/

UPDATED 7-2-2026

MY RECENT RENDEZVOUS WITH A WRITER APPEARANCES

On the first Thursday of every month, I have the pleasure of joining Bobbi Jean Bell and Jim Bell on their weekly Rendezvous with a Writer radio program and podcast, for LA Talk Radio. They interview writers every week, with a special emphasis on Western writers, especially when I’m along. Here are links to my most recent appearances.

To hear and see about Bank Robber Henry Starr by Mark Archuleta, click the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/live/t8boskGzAww?si=OAVLrxqDlInKcuV1  

To hear and see about They Kill People by Kirk Ellis, click the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/live/vZ18j385-yE?si=-2_7efkHIZoort5s                       

On Thursday, July 2^nd, I was a guest once again for Bobbi Jean and Jim, and my frequent collaborator C. Courtney Joyner, with Cindy Mitchum, to discuss Them Ornery Mitchum Boys, a book about the lives of brother actors Robert Mitchum and John Mitchum, written by John, and re-published by his daughter, Cindy.  To see and hear the conversation, click the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/live/fKMXnrHoNSk

And for a change of pace, next Thursday I’ll be joining Bobbi Jean and Jim to talk with actress and author Kathryn Leigh Scott, who springboarded to stardom on the delightfully eerie 1960s soap opera Dark Shadows. We’ll be discussing her newest book, Dark Shadows Legacy, The Official 60^th Anniversary Book!

AND THAT'S A WRAP!

Please check out the July/August 2026 issue of True West! The cover story by Stuart Rosebrook is When Willie and Waylon Saved Our Country, and my film column, Willie and the Outlaws, takes a look at the Western movies that Waylon and Willie and Kris and Johnny made.

Much obliged,

Henry

All Original Content Copyright June 2026 by Henry C. Parke. All Rights Reserved. Not to be used for A.I. Training.

‘WILD WEST CHRONICLES’ PRODUCERS TELL ALL, TCM FEST STARTS TONIGHT! PLUS DUELING BILLY THE KIDS!

 

THE TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL IS ON RIGHT NOW!

The TCM Festival began today, Thursday, May 6^th, at 5 pm Pacific time, 8 pm Eastern time, with West Side Story.  The real one, not the one that hasn’t opened yet.  For the second year in a row the Festival is, of necessity, virtual.  They have a terrific line-up of films, both on TCM itself, and on HBO Max.  HBO Max is doing it as a so-called ‘hub’, which apparently means that they list all of their programming, and you can watch any of it whenever you wish, not just during the four days of the festival, but for the entire month of May.   

Following West Side Story, TCM has gathered three of the film’s stars for a reunion: Rita Moreno, who appeared in a lot of Westerns TV series in the 1960s, often playing an Indian; George Chakiris; and Russ Tamblyn, who of course starred in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, as well as the Spaghetti Western Son of a Gunfighter. 

The Western offerings are a little light this year.  Friday morning at 8:45 Pacific time, TCM is premiering a 4K restoration of Irving Berlin’s musical Annie Get Your Gun, from the original Technicolor negative.   It should look great, but it’s a rather stagey musical, and while poor Betty Hutton, the rushed replacement after Judy Garland was fired, works like crazy to please, it’s pretty disappointing.   

Saturday morning at 7, Pacific time, it’s arguably Sam Peckinpah’s finest Western, Ride The High Country, starring Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea, and introducing Mariette Hartley. (Mariette was such a wonderful discovery that two years later, Alfred Hitchcock would also introduce her in Marnie.) The ideal supporting cast includes James Drury, LQ. Jones, Warren Oates, John Davis Chandler, John Anderson, R. G. Armstrong, and Edgar Buchanan.  HBO Max will be featuring John Ford’s The Searchers, which will include a discussion by Ben Mankiewicz and Bruce Springsteen.  That’s it for Westerns.  For the whole TCM Festival schedule, go HERE.

 

‘WILD WEST CHRONICLES’ PRODUCERS TELL ALL!

Every couple of years, a cable channel announces a new series with a title like Old New True Legendary Outlaws Lawmen Gunfights of the Old West.  They’re usually okay; they throw a little income to western movie-town operators, reenactors, and historians.  They’re also interchangeable and forgettable.  When producers Craig Miller of the INSP Network, and Gary Tarpinian of MorningStar Entertainment got together, men who specialize in documentaries and reality shows, they might have done something awfully similar.  In fact, they meant to.  Gary calls it, “How we went from non-fiction to fiction in three shows.”

They were well into preparing just such a show, Craig recalls, “When Gary sent over a short list of the expert historians and authors that he wanted to use.  And these people are great, literally the world's greatest experts on the West.  But you know what? I've seen them in three or four other series already. So why do we want to do this? Is there a way to not use talking head experts, and still do a docu-drama?”

Byron Preston Jackson plays Bass Reeves

Another concern was, “we needed to stay on-brand for INSP, which means to not leave the 1800s.”  Craig explains, “Our viewers like to surf into INSP and get lost in the old West. And every time you put a talking-head historian in there, you're snapping them right out. So I called Gary and I said, what if we had a frontier reporter? And instead of talking-head experts, they're interviewing eye-witnesses to the West's most notorious events?”

Gary liked the idea, even though, “We were going to shoot (our experts) in about a week at The Autry. My partner thought I'd lost my mind when I said to her, we've been wanting to get into ‘scripted’ (shows) for a long time.”

From The Real Lone Star Ranger

Craig remembers, “Gary, a stickler for accuracy and truly an expert on the West, came back with was the solution.  He said, ‘there was a real guy who did this. His name was Bat Masterson.’”

What they’ve created with Wild West Chronicles is a lot less like those previous documentary series, and a lot more like the half-hour Western anthology series of the 1960s, like Zane Grey Theatre and Death Valley Days.  Actually a good deal like Stories of the Century was meant to be, had it stuck closer to the actual history. 

“I knew we would be pretty good at it,” Gary says.  “We are very well equipped to tell a story that's based on a true story, with real people, in a certain time period, faithfully reproduced, based on our research, and tell the story accurately. Because when you're doing non-fiction, that's what you do.  We've taken creative liberties, no doubt about it. We weren't there, so we're putting words in their mouths. But other than that, we're trying to tell the stories accurately and to show how much we love this world and these people, these characters.”

In Wild Bill Hickok and the First Quick-Draw Duel,

flirtation, and a gold watch... 

Another problem they avoided while moving away from the standard talking-heads docudramas was to not be a ‘greatest hits’ show: so far at least, they are NOT doing Jesse James and Billy the Kid and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.  “I'll let you in on a little inside baseball,” Craig shares. “When we first created the concept, we actually focus-tested three of the episodes and almost unanimously, the respondents said what they were interested in were stories they had never heard, about little-known characters of the West. Or if we were going to tell the story of a famous character, they wanted it to be a little-known story about that famous character. We intentionally kept our format to a half an hour. Because we don't want to do a birth-to-death biography of each character. We just wanted to take one slice of life, one story. And then that also allows us to do multiple episodes with the same characters.”

“Exactly,” Gary agrees. “And we think the audience is going to love it, because we're going to have the same actors play those people. For example, one episode we have a coming up is on the death of Dora Hand, in Dodge City, at the hand of Spike Kenedy. And one of the guys in the posse is Bat's deputy Bill Tilghman. And later on, Bill Tilghman's one of the Three Guardsmen (of Oklahoma), going after Bill Doolin. So it's the same actor.  And Bass Reeves -- there are so many great stories we can do with him, how we used his head to capture people, the story of him going after his own son, who was involved in domestic violence.  It has been particularly enjoyable working with INSP. Diversity is very important to us at Morningstar; my partner is not only a woman, she's Chinese. We met in film school at Loyola Marymount here in LA, and we’ve always felt that it's important to send a proper message and that just meshed perfectly with what the network wanted to do. That same focus group (said) we'd like to hear more about black cowboys, and women.   In season one we've been able to do Bass Reeves, Stagecoach Mary.  We're doing Elfego Bacca, probably the most famous Mexican-American law man. (Pioneer doctor) Susan Anderson.”

...lead to a showdown.

Craig adds, “This sense of diversity also includes the types of stories.  Because this is an anthology series, it allows us to do a wider spectrum of stories from the West. For instance, the last episode this season is on Charles M. Russell, the cowboy artist, and probably not something you're going to see in a traditional series that’s all Jesse James and Billy the Kid. It allows us to paint, no pun intended, a more accurate picture of what the West was like.”

Wild West Chronicles stars Jack Elliot, who doesn’t look or dress much like Gene Barry (who starred in Bat Masterson from 1956 to 1961), but looks a lot like the photographs of the real lawman-turned-journalist.  The episode Dr. Susan Anderson – Frontier Medicine Woman, airs Friday at 9 p.m., Pacific Time.  On Sunday at 2:30 p.m., Pacific Time, Bat Masterson & The Dodge City Deadline, Part 1, premieres.

Jack Elliot as Bat Masterson

If you’d like to read some of Bat Masterson’s actual writing, his collection, Famous Gunfighters of the Western Frontier is available from Dover Books, and other publishers.

 

JUST ONE MORE THING...

COMING SOON – DUELING BILLY THE KIDS!

Emilio Estevez, who was unforgettable as Billy the Kid in 1988’s Young Guns, and 1990’s Young Guns II, has spread the word that he’s coming back!  Screenwriter John Fusco, who wrote both Young Guns films, is hard at work on Guns 3: Alias Billy the Kid, which Estevez will direct as well as star in.  And this week the Epix Channel announced an 8-part limited series about Billy, to be written and produced by Michael Hirst, of The Tudors and Vikings fame.  Updates on both projects coming soon!

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

And please check out the May issue of True West, on newsstands now. It features my interview with author Paulette Jiles, whose News of the World is the basis for what many – including me – consider the best film of the year!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright May 2021 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

SILVER SPURS HONORS GUNSMOKE’S 60TH ANNI, PLUS GUNSMOKE BOOK REVIEWS, WORD ON WESTERNS!

SILVER SPURS HONORS GUNSMOKE'S 60TH ANNIVERSARY

At about 5 pm this past Friday, September 18^th, the folks who make the Westerns and the folks who love them, began gathering at Studio City’s famed Sportsmen’s Lodge for the 18^th Annual Silver Spur Awards.  (The Sportsmen’s, which will soon close its doors, has been the location for the Awards for many years, and in fact predates the film business in Los Angeles.  In the old days, you could fish in their ponds for trout, and have them cooked for your dinner.)

While the Silver Spurs, presented by The Reel Cowboys, has always honored Western film and television in general, this year’s Awards were much more specific, celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the longest-running live action series in television history, GUNSMOKE.  Reel Cowboys President Robert Lanthier rode shotgun, but handed the reins over to Julie Ann Ream, combining the event with her Western Legends Awards.  Julie grew up around GUNSMOKE – her grandfather, Taylor ‘Cactus Mack’ McPeters, appeared in 48 episodes, and her cousin Glenn Strange was Sam the bartender at the Long Branch in 238 shows. 

I’ve done a number of red carpets, but this time was a little different for me: Julie assigned me a cameraman, and asked me to do interviews from five ‘til six as the guests arrived, for a DVD of the event.  I was very happy to do it.  After that hour, I continued doing interviews with just my recorder, and those are what you’ll read below.  You’ll have to wait to hear what Mrs. James Arness, Bruce Boxleitner, Angie Dickinson, Morgan Woodward, and Martin Kove had to say until the DVD is ready.

Mariette Hartley flanked by costumed escort, husband Jerry Sroka

When I asked Mariette Hartley which of her three GUNSMOKES was her favorite, without hesitation she said COTTER’S GIRL (1963), in which she played a wild girl found living in the trees, and in need of civilizing.   

MARIETTE HARTLEY:  COTTER’S GIRL.  The very first.  It just stretched me to the limit.  Because I was doing a play, a very heavy play, at UCLA, at the same time as I was doing GUNSMOKE.  Jim Arness never reads the (script).  He reads the page that he’s doing that day, rips it up and throws it away.  The character I played is Clarey, and Jim was very nervous about hiring somebody to actually be on the trail with him for that long a period of time.  He didn’t want Matt to be accused of, I guess, child molestation or whatever.  So he actually insisted on meeting me, reading with me, which is very unusual.  So I got the part of this character who lives in the trees and eats berries.  Ends up getting dressed up.  But I can’t walk – they have to teach me how to walk, how to eat.  And in that particular scene, the eating scene, which was so funny, I end up grabbing a steak and shoving it into my mouth.  Now Jim, having not read the scene, had no idea what was going to happen.  And when these guys, and Kitty, got together, and started laughing, that was the end of the scene.  And it took us four hours to get that scene.  I had to leave, do the play, come back in the morning, we started again, and the minute they said ‘action’ we started laughing, and we were done, just done.  That’s one of the reasons I loved it.  Also it was a wonderful script by Kathleen Hite, who writes a lot of the ones on Sirius XM.  (Note: Sirius XM plays old time radio shows.  Kathleen Hite wrote more than eighty radio scripts, including many GUNSMOKES, and 36 FORT LARAMIE episodes.)

Four-time Emmy-winner Miss Michael Learned may be best known for playing Olivia Walton, but she also appeared on GUNSMOKE.  The first time she played, as she told me, “a hooker.”  The next time, also in 1973, she played Matt’s love interest in MATT’S LOVE STORY.  She was called upon to play the same role in 1990 in the TV movie GUNSMOKE: THE LAST APACHE.   

HENRY: You had a relationship with Matt Dillon like no one else did.

MICHAEL LEARNED: Yes I did, but we don’t talk about it.  He had amnesia, so he could be forgiven.  I knew what was going on, but I didn’t know who he was.  I didn’t know about Miss Kitty.

HENRY:  Would you have cared?

MICHAEL LEARNED: (laughs) Probably not.

HENRY:  What was it like continuing a story with so many years in between?    

MICHAEL LEARNED:  It was kind of weird, to tell you the truth, because I never knew what had happened.  I didn’t know we had a daughter until (producer) John Mantley called me and said, “We’re doing a movie of the week, and you had a daughter.”  I said oh; okay.  It was a little strange, but just being with James, he’s such a calming person.  It was wonderful.  Nice to have a second chance to be with him.

L.Q. Jones and Tanner Beard

Miss Learned has been doing a lot of theatre lately.  “I just got back from doing MOTHERS AND SONS in Austin, Texas, and I’m going off in the summer to do another play in Canada.” 

Not all of the GUNSMOKE fans were old enough to have seen it in its original run.  Tanner Beard, who directed and co-starred in 6 BULLETS TO HELL was there with co-star Ken Lukey.  Their second Western together, 6 BULLETS was shot in Spain on Leone’s sets, and is probably the first Western to replace helicopter and crane shots with drones for dramatic pull-ups.  Actress Mindy Miller, all in buckskin, was eager to speak to L.Q. Jones.  Back in 1983, they starred together in the Charles B. Pierce Western SACRED GROUND. 

L.Q. Jones and Mindy Miller

L.Q. Jones is an accomplished writer and director as well as an actor.  I asked him about his thoughts on the GUNSMOKE writers.   

L.Q. JONES:  They had the best on GUNSMOKE. And you learn very quickly, you may think you can write, and you might be able to.  But can you write for GUNSMOKE?  Can you write for thirty minutes?  Can you write for an hour show?  I can’t. I have a tough time doing an hour and a half or two hours.  That’s a very special thing.  And they knew the people, and they knew their work.  Almost everything I’m in, they ask me to change (my lines) to fit me.  And I do a lot of it over the years.  But not on GUNSMOKE.  You take what they give you, hit your marks, say your words, and pick up your check.  The writers, the producers, the crew, they were so professional in what they did.

HENRY:  You did so many Westerns series at that time.  How did the atmosphere of the sets vary?

L.Q. JONES:  What do I say?  The people had become a family on GUNSMOKE.  Now I also did a lot of VIRGINIANS; and we became a family there.  I was a regular on about seven Westerns.  I’m not saying that GUNSMOKE was the only enjoyable series – I don’t mean that.  But they were the best of the best. They had great budgets.  They could afford to do the things they wanted to do.  And a lot of the other shows…  THE VIRGINIAN bear in mind, we were putting on a new western every other week.  That means you had two weeks to make an hour and a half show, which is a full motion picture.  So we had to clip a few things here and there on budgets.  We did some changes on the scripts.  Not that nobody did any changes on GUNSMOKE; they did.  But by and large you hit your marks, said your words, because what they gave you is what they wanted, and what worked.  And that’s what you’re out there to do, to please first the director, then the producer.  And I got so familiar with them that I could pretty well do it without having to ask them what to do next.  It’s hell to beat family, and I had family on two or three others.  I started out on CHEYENNE.     

HENRY:  What’s your favorite episode of GUNSMOKE

L.Q. JONES:  I know this sounds Pollyana-ish, I don’t mean to, but any show I do is my favorite at the moment.  If I didn’t, I’d have quit the business long ago.  What for me was the greatest fun, I did the first black episode of GUNSMOKE, where except for the regulars, it was all black.  And I was a terrible person.  I literally kicked dogs.  I beat kids.  I chased women, I drank, everything you could do.  They showed it on a Sunday as opposed to a Saturday.  That Monday I went to work; we lived in Camarillo.  I had about a forty-five minute trip to get to the studio.  I was driving my MG.  The top was down.  And I was booed and hissed for the entire twenty or thirty miles.    They had all seen the show the night before.  And they were throwing things and hissing and booing.  It was great fun to work under something like that.  That is my favorite, because of what happened after the fact, but I enjoyed the others as much as that. 

Then it was time for everyone to move in to the banquet hall.  I’ll have the highlights of what was said there in the next Round-up.  For my own interest, I was trying to explain the incredible longevity of the series.  It’s easy to just say ‘it was the best,’ and it was.  But why?  It’s worth noting that this past week also marked the 50^th anniversary of the premieres of both THE BIG VALLEY (112 episodes) and LAREDO (56 episodes).  In fact, yesterday, September 20^th, marked the 60^th anniversary of the first hour-long Western drama, CHEYENNE, which ran for 108 episodes.  Why did GUNSMOKE last for more than twenty years as a series, producing 635 episodes, and four TV movies?  I believe it was the writing as much as the cast, and the secret to the writing was that it began on radio.  Radio is a much more intimate, less ‘showy’ medium than film, and with no visuals, story rather than action had to carry the interest.  And the thirty-minute running time meant that the shows had to rely on character at least as much as plot, since there was simply no time to get complicated.  The first six seasons of GUNSMOKE were half hours, most based on radio episodes, and even when the time ran up to an hour, the writers had already established the lead characters, and learned that stories about people were much more compelling than stories about events.

‘GUNSMOKE – AN AMERICAN INSTITUTION’ BY BEN COSTELLO

‘THE GUNSMOKE CHRONICLES – A NEW HISTORY OF TELEVISION’S GREATEST WESTERN’ BY DAVID R. GREENLAND

TWO BOOK REVIEWS

GUNSMOKE is everywhere, from TV-LAND to ME-TV to ENCORE WESTERNS, and with the new interest peaked by the television series’ 60^th anniversary, it’s a perfect time to pick up these two fine reference books, and deepen your knowledge, and thus your enjoyment, of the greatest Western series ever to grace the small screen. 

Each book devotes hundreds of pages to episode guides, listing cast and crew and a brief synopsis of all 635 episodes, as well as the TV movies.   Ben Costello’s book is a lavish coffee-table book, with photographs, black and white as well as color, on nearly every page.  Costello’s book, clearly a labor of love done over many years, begins with a foreword by story editor Jim Byrnes, who wrote 34 episodes, and a preface by Oscar-winner and three-time GUNSMOKE guest star Jon Voight.  

Opening chapters detail the Gunsmoke story from its beginnings as a ground-breaking radio show created by John Meston and Norman Macdonnell, how western screenwriter Charles Marquis Warren would help craft it into a television series, the casting, and the real people behind the roles of Matt, Kitty, Chester, Doc, Festus, and all of the others.  Chapters are devoted to the many fine writers and directors who crafted the show.

Among the high points are interviews with the series stars, Dennis Weaver (Chester), Burt Reynolds (Quint) and Buck Taylor (Newly).  And there are two chapters of reminiscences by guest stars, including Morgan Woodward, Paul Picerni, Anthony Caruso, James Gregory, Adam West, William Windom, William Schallert, David Carradine, Loretta Swit, Earl Holliman, William Smith, Harry Carey Jr., and many more.   There are chapters about live performances by the cast, a staggering array of toys and collectibles, and even favorite recipes of the stars – I’m definitely going to try Jim Arness’ chili if I can find enough venison! 

‘GUNSMOKE CHRONICLES’ is by David R. Greenland, whose previous excellent books include BONANZA – A VIEWERS’ GUIDE TO THE TVLEGEND  and RAWHIDE – A HISTORY OF TV’S LONGEST CATTLE DRIVE. His trade paperback-sized book opens with a long chapter about the members of the GUNSMOKE acting family.  It’s followed by a look at Dodge City’s familiar faces, a season-by-season overview of the series, and a look at the GUNSMOKE movies.  Also included are lengthy interviews with actress Peggy Rea, actor Jeremy Slate, and a particularly in-depth talk with GUNSMOKE’s greatest and most frequent villain, Morgan Woodward. 

Ben Costello’s GUNSMOKE – AN AMERICAN INSTITUTION, is published by Five Star Publications, and is available from Amazon in hardcover, softcover and Kindle HERE. 

David R. Greenland’s THE GUNSMOKE CHRONICLES, published by Bear Manor Media, is available from them HERE.

LIVE EVENTS

COWBOY LUNCH @THE AUTRY  WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 23^RD

Morgan Fairchild & Patrick Swayze 

in NORTH AND SOUTH

THE REEL CIVIL WAR will be the topic of Wednesday’s WORD ON WESTERNS.  From THE BIRTH OF A NATION, to GONE WITH THE WIND to Ken Burns’ nine-part documentary and beyond, what were the best portrayals of the Civil War?

Bruce Boxleitner in GODS AND GENERALS

Confirmed guests include:  Bruce Boxleitner (GODS & GENERALS), Alex Hyde-White (G&G, IRONCLADS), Morgan Fairchild (NORTH AND SOUTH), Lee de Broux (THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE) and historian Phil Spangenberger.  The program begins at 12:45pm.  Come early to buy lunch and get a seat!  

TWENTY MULE TEAM DAYS, BORON, SAT, OCTOBER 3!

Borax fans unite!  Activities will include a parade, games, music, food, and vendor booths!  It’ll be held at the Boron Community Park.  To learn more, call 760-793-4139.

MOJAVE TRAIL DAYS, HELENDALE, SAT & SUN, OCT. 3&4

The celebration features sagebrush songstress Belinda Gail, plus Southern Caliber and the Billhilyz.  Trick-roper, whip-cracker and gun-spinner Will Roberts will perform, and there will be reenactments and other Western entertainments courtesy of the Tombstone Legends and the Sweetwater Outlaws.  Not to mention equestrian events, stagecoach rides, a kids’ zone, vendors, food, and a beer garden.  It all happens at the Helendale Community Parke.  Learn more at 760-951-0006, ext. 230, or visit http://mojaverivertraildays.com/index.html

THAT'S A WRAP!

Here's lookin' at you!

See you back here in a couple of weeks!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright September 2015 by Henry C. Parke - All Rights Reserved