Cherry Red: Gunsmoke (December 16, 1956)

“Cherry Red” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 16, 1956. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A Wells Fargo agent named Red Larnard arrives in Dodge City carrying news that Slim Odell, a local man, was killed while attempting to hold up a stage coach. Marshal Matt Dillon has kept this information quiet, suspecting Odell's partner in the robbery might come to Dodge seeking help from Odell's wife, Cherry. Red arrives just as Cherry confronts the marshal about the townsmen's disrespectful behavior toward her, and the two men must work together to uncover the truth about Odell's death and track down his missing partner.

Dodge City and the surrounding frontier territory

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Red Larnard, Cherry Odell, Slim Odell

Listen for: The revelation that Slim Odell died in a stage robbery attempt, the tension between Red and Matt as they figure out whose side each man is on, and Cherry Odell's emotional reaction to learning her husband's fate.

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.