The Cast: Gunsmoke (December 12, 1953)

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

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What happens

A woman swallows a nail and falls seriously ill. Doc Adams rides out to the Tucker ranch to treat her, but Paul Tucker, who distrusts doctors and has forbidden his family from seeking medical care, is away on the prairie. Doc does everything he can, but the woman dies before Paul returns home.

Dodge City and the Tucker ranch on the prairie

Characters: Matt Dillon, US Marshal, Doc Adams, Ruf Tucker, Paul Tucker, Chester, Shelly Tucker

Listen for: The tension between Paul Tucker's stubborn prejudice against doctors and the desperate need for medical care; Matt Dillon's compassionate explanation that ignorance, not malice, drives Paul's hatred of physicians.

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.