Beeker's Barn: Gunsmoke (December 23, 1956)

“Beeker's Barn” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 23, 1956. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

Listen to Gunsmoke free, live around the clock: every episode, in the order it first aired. No sign-up.

What happens

Marshal Dillon receives a complaint from Beeker, a stubborn farmer who refuses to acknowledge his estranged daughter Harmony. Beeker demands that Dillon remove a couple who have taken shelter in his barn during a blizzard, threatening to burn the barn down with them inside. Dillon investigates and finds that the couple is Will and Harmony, Beeker's own daughter and her husband, who have been forced to seek refuge from the storm.

Dodge City and the surrounding territory during a winter blizzard, including Beeker's barn and the marshal's office.

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Kitty, Beeker, Ross, Will, Harmony

Listen for: The conflict between a father's pride and family reconciliation, with Dillon caught in the middle of a tense standoff as the storm rages outside.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.