Emma's Departure: Gunsmoke (July 5, 1959)

“Emma's Departure” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast July 5, 1959. 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 Matt Dillon and his deputy Chester stop at an isolated farmhouse to ask for water while transporting a prisoner. The homeowner, Emma Hyde, welcomes them warmly and offers them pie and coffee, revealing her loneliness and unhappiness with her sparse, work-filled life with her taciturn husband Ben.

A remote farmhouse in Kansas territory, three miles out of town on the way to Dodge City.

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester Proudfoot, Emma Hyde, Ben Hyde, Percy

Listen for: Emma's poignant admission of her isolated and unfulfilled life, and her desperate hope that the marshal might return to visit.

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.