Skid Row: Gunsmoke (April 9, 1955)

“Skid Row” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast April 9, 1955. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A young woman named Anne Cabot arrives in Dodge City looking for Jack Schomer, a man she apparently knows. When Marshall Dillon and Chester find Schomer, they discover he's a broken alcoholic living in squalor by the river. Doc joins them to help get Schomer sobered up, but Schomer is ashamed to face Anne and convinced he's no good for her.

Dodge City, Kansas, including the Long Branch Saloon and Jack Schomer's shack by the river

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Kitty, Hank Groot, Anne Cabot, Jack Schomer, Doc

Listen for: The tension between Hank Groot and Matt Dillon over Kitty; Anne Cabot's arrival and search for Jack Schomer; the discovery of Schomer's alcoholism and the attempt to sober him up; Schomer's despair about facing Anne while in his current condition.

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.