Wagon Show: Gunsmoke (May 24, 1959)

“Wagon Show” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast May 24, 1959. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A circus wagon gets stuck in the creek outside Dodge City, and Marshal Dillon meets Jim Conger, an advance man for Banach's Grand International Circus and Menagerie. Conger's wife, Maggie Benock, the famous strong woman, wants to perform in town, but Dillon refuses to grant a permit after learning that two people were killed when the circus played Hayes City. Dillon confronts Maggie at the wagon, determined to keep the troubled show out of Dodge.

Dodge City and the surrounding area during hot, dry weather; the circus convoy is stuck in the creek bed outside town.

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Doc, Jim Conger, Maggie Benock

Listen for: Discussion of the circus trouble in Hayes City and other towns; the conflict between Marshal Dillon's duty to keep the peace and the circus's desire to perform in Dodge.

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.