Twelfth Night: Gunsmoke (December 25, 1955)

“Twelfth Night” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 25, 1955. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A tall mountain man named Eben Hakes arrives in Dodge City looking for Joss Monger, a fellow Ozark resident, with whom he has a long-standing feud. When Matt learns that Hakes intends to kill Monger and that Monger's wife is worried about her husband, Matt must find Joss before the two men meet in deadly violence.

Dodge City and surrounding Kansas territory, including a homestead near Rock Springs; the present day (1950s) with reference to the Ozark Mountains as the characters' origin.

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Doc, Eben Hakes, Joss Monger, Miss Maggard, Kitty

Listen for: The contrast between the independent mountain feuding culture and the law's attempt to prevent violence; Eben Hakes' distinctive speech and his determination to settle an old score.

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.