Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae - ARTS 053: Gunsmoke

ARTS 053: Gunsmoke

Explicit content warning

05/07/23 • 180 min

Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae

On this episode of the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae, Monica brings you the classic show Gunsmoke, which first started on the radio before moving to it’s iconic spot on national television stations.

Monica brings you six Gunsmoke episodes beginning with the first pilot episodes of the series that CBS first contracted the producers to write. The first, a darker version of Phillip Marlowe type cowboy, and the second one a lighter version so CBS officials could see which resonated with test audiences.

CBS chose the lighter version, and thus the series started it’s production with one snag, the show’s main star, Howard Culver was on contact with another studio doing another western, but in the three years CBS waited for Culver to end his contract, the producers settled on a more adult themed show, and Gunsmoke was renowned as a true to life account of life in the Dodge city of the west, winning several awards for it’s production levels. Thus, a series was born that later translated onto the screen, when televisions became more mainstream.

You can now catch the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae Podcast on it’s own podcast feed, so if you only wish to subscribe to the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae podcast, just follow the link below:

https://afternoonradiotheatersundae.transistor.fm/

And if you would like to reach the crew, Monica or Victor, you can write them at:

[email protected]

Join Monica Jones and her crew, on The Afternoon Radio Theatre Sundae on Whose Blind Life is it Anyway, every Sundays, at 2:00 pm (EST), 11:00 am (PST), and with no distracting images to focus on, it will simply take you away to faraway lands, distant times and to meet interesting people, all using your imagination.

You can now catch the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae Podcast on it’s own podcast feed, so if you only wish to subscribe to the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae podcast, just follow the link below:

https://afternoonradiotheatersundae.transistor.fm/

And if you would like to reach the crew, Monica or Victor, you can write them at:

[email protected]

Previous Episode

ARTS 052: The Dennis Day Show

The comparable Dennis Day was born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty, who grew up in the Bronx area of New York City. He first started singing with Larry Clinton for network radio programs which were then aimed at a collegiate audience and often broadcast from a college campus.

Gene McNulty, as he was then known, came to the attention of Mary Livingston, who was then married to Jack Benny, and upon hearing Gene for the first time, she took his recording to Benny, who then flew to New York to audition the young man. Dennis Day was soon brought on-board to the Jack Benny Show, replacing Benny’s tenor, Kenny Baker. He would remain on the Jack Benny Show until Jack Benny’s death in 1974.

In 1944, as so many of his contemporaries did, Dennis Day served in the armed forces, in the United States Navy until 1946, when he returned to his civilian life and returning to the Jack Benny Show, while performing in his Own show, A Day in the Life of Dennis Day, where he played the same character he portrayed on the Benny show.

On this episode of the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae, Pepsi-Mama brings you Dennis Day’s second attempt at his own show, The Dennis Day Show, or the RCA Victor Show, where Day portrayed an older fictionalized version of his Jack Benny character, using his actual voice and behaving more maturely then he did on the Jack Benny Show.

You can now catch the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae Podcast on it’s own podcast feed, so if you on’y wish to subscribe to the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae podcast, just follow the link below:

https://afternoonradiotheatersundae.transistor.fm/

And if you would like to reach the crew, Monica or Victor, you can write them at:

[email protected]

Next Episode

ARTS 054: The Big Show

This week’s Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae, features variety in two big shows, literally and figuratively.

Pepsi-Mama brings you The Big Show, NBC’s last ditch effort to keep radio alive, trying to keep it’s audience which was being lured away by television, a new medium that just started selling on the market.

The Big show was hosted by Tallulah Bankhead, and featured comic, stage, cinema and music talent from where ever NBC could find it. Featuring such stars as Fred Allen, Jimmy Durante, Miguel Ferrer, Bob Hope and Phil Harris, The Big Show proved to be a success on radio, but not successful enough to keep old-time-radio alive. Though The Big Show lasted one-and-a-half years on radio, the television version only lasted a few months. Reports did praise Tallulah Bankhead in her role as emcee of the show, but again, it just wasn’t enough.

You can now catch the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae Podcast on it’s own podcast feed, so if you only wish to subscribe to the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae podcast, just follow the link below:

https://afternoonradiotheatersundae.transistor.fm/

And if you would like to reach the crew, Monica or Victor, you can write them at:

[email protected]