Prairie Happy: Gunsmoke (September 12, 1953)

“Prairie Happy” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast September 12, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Marshal Dillon returns to Dodge City after a week away to find the entire town in a panic over rumors of an impending Pawnee Indian attack scheduled for tomorrow. No one has actually seen any Indians or evidence of a raid, but the town is armed and jittery. Dillon sets out to discover who started the unfounded rumor before panic causes the citizens to turn on each other.

Dodge City, Kansas in the 1870s

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Mr. Green, Doc, Kitty, Sam, Mr. Jokesbury

Listen for: A talkative old frontiersman named Jokesbury boasts of his experience with Indians and marshals, while Dillon quietly investigates the source of the panic.

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.