Pucket's New Year: Gunsmoke (January 5, 1958)

“Pucket's New Year” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast January 5, 1958. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

When Marshal Dillon rescues Ira Puckett from a blizzard, the old buffalo hunter's foot is crippled in the process. Unable to accept his new helplessness and his dependence on town life, Puckett grows bitter and obsessed with revenge against Ed Lorna, the man who abandoned him in the storm. When Lorna appears in Dodge City, Dillon must navigate the dangerous pride of a broken man seeking to reclaim his lost manhood.

Dodge City and the Kansas prairie during a severe winter blizzard and its aftermath

Characters: Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal, Ira Puckett, buffalo hunter, Ed Lorna, Chester, Doc, Kitty, Mr. Barkin, banker

Listen for: A tense examination of pride, helplessness, and a man's struggle to accept his changed circumstances. Listen for the moment when Puckett's desperation leads him to attempt a bank robbery, and how Dillon tries to save him from himself.

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.