Tacetta: Gunsmoke (May 2, 1953)

“Tacetta” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast May 2, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A mysterious young woman named Tacetta comes to Dodge City, where she catches the attention of a man named Dorgan. Two gunmen, Horn and Watson, try to provoke Dorgan into a fight over the girl, but Marshal Dillon intervenes and disarms them, ordering all three men to leave town. When Tacetta disappears the next morning, Dillon discovers that Dorgan has taken her aboard a westbound stage and may have forced her to go with him.

Dodge City, Kansas in spring

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Tacetta, Dorgan, Horn, Watson, Kitty

Listen for: The marshal's strategy to handle a potentially dangerous confrontation and his pursuit of a man who may have abducted a young woman

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.