The Big Con: Gunsmoke (November 13, 1960)

“The Big Con” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast November 13, 1960. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A banker named Mr. Pat lends $20,000 from the bank to a gambler named Hook who puts up his poker hand as collateral, betting on a game at the Lady Gay saloon. When Hook loses the hand and the money, the banker realizes he has gambled away depositors' funds, and Marshal Dillon must manage the crisis while Hook promises to wire money from St. Louis to repay the loan.

Dodge City - the bank and the Lady Gay saloon

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Mr. Pat, Hook, Sheenwees, Doc

Listen for: A banker's desperate decision to lend bank funds on a poker hand as collateral; the poker game where the loan is lost; the marshal's response to the financial crisis.

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.