Weeks of Prestige

A "prestige program," in broadcasting circles, is a show that abounds in a specific type of intelligence: it is intelligently conceived, intelligently produced and aimed at an audience with a reasonably high intelligence. It is seldom sponsored, for any intelligent sponsor knows that reasonably intelligent audiences are hardly worth spending money on. Such a program is Gunsmoke (CBS Radio, Sat. 9:30 p.m., E.S.T.).

Producer-Director Norman Macdonnell, 36, describes Gunsmoke as "an adult western." Each week U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon (a combination Wild Bill Hickok, Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp, played by Bill Conrad) meanders through a script about Dodge City & environs. The things that happen, while exciting, are seldom contrived for the sake of violence or plot; they happen because Dillon and the people of Dodge City circa 1880 are merely people who face human experiences.

Unhappy Man. In one recent script, Marshal Dillon arrives too late to prevent a lynching. Says Macdonnell: "We got tired of the standard save-'em-just-in-time show. As the play progresses, Matt learns that the guy who was lynched was completely innocent. He knows who the lynch leaders were, but what can he do? Nothing, not in those days, against those odds. So he leaves, without doing anything tangible. And yet, after he is gone, he has left behind in the minds of the townspeople a sense of tremendous shame for what they have done."

As the fulcrum of the series, Marshal Matt Dillon sets the mood. He is, says Macdonnell, "a lonely, sad, tragic man . . . a quiet, unhappy, confused marshal; these days we'd send him to an analyst." Like one of his prototypes,* Matt is not all sweetness & light. The girl in the series, Kitty, is "just someone Matt has to visit every once in a while," says Macdonnell. "We never say it, but Kitty is a prostitute, plain and simple."

Rough History. To keep the show authentic, Macdonnell and the three writers who provide scripts constantly dig away at the history of Dodge City, whose Chamber of Commerce recently wrote to say that "as near as we can determine, Matt lived here at one time." On the other hand, Kansas' Governor Edward F. Arn feels that the program is a little too realistic; last week he used a few minutes of Gunsmoke air time to assure listeners that "Dodge City today is a far cry from Dodge City of the past."

Notwithstanding all this interest, Gunsmoke, after 47 weeks on the air, remains unsponsored. But Macdonnell is not worried. "Sure," he says, "I'd feel great if someone did buy it, but there would be problems. We'd have to clean the show up. Kitty would have to be living with her parents on a sweet little ranch . . . And Matt, he'd have to wear buckskin and swagger around with his guns blazing. He'd even have to ride a pure white charger. Of course, if a sponsor did come along who would let us leave Gunsmoke as it is, then we'd really be pleased."

*Dodge City's Deputy Marshal Bat Masterson, who, the story goes, got up one morning on the wrong side of the bunk. He stepped outside, swaggered down the street, shot & killed the first man he met. His explanation: "I just felt like it."

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