Episode 43 - Fate Moves its Huge Hand (Gunsmoke & Philip Marlowe)

Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

Jack Mooney

Tv & Film, Performing Arts, Arts

4.5 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2014

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, we present a tribute to one of the titans of the Golden Age of Radio - William Conrad. First, Conrad stars in his signature role of Matt Dillon, US Marshal on Gunsmoke. We'll hear "The Photographer," originally aired on CBS on May 5, 1956. Then, he fills in for an absent Gerald Mohr on The Adventures of Philip Marlowe in "The Anniversary Gift," originally aired on CBS on April 11, 1950.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Welcome back to down these mean streets, where this week we're saluting one of the
0:26.4	giants of the Golden Age of Radio, William Conrad. If you don't know his name,
0:31.6	you probably know his voice.
0:34.0	By his own estimation, he played over 7,500 roles on radio, and his career in entertainment
0:39.8	spanned five decades.
0:41.8	He passed away 20 years ago this week and today we're celebrating the life
0:46.2	and work of this radio legend. Conrad was born John William Cannes Jr. in Lexington, Kentucky on September 27th, 1920, and he started his show business career as an announcer, writer, and director for station KMPC in Los Angeles.
1:04.8	He served as a fighter pilot in World War II and came out of the war as a producer and director
1:10.5	in the Armed Forces radio service. After the war he was in demand as a supporting actor in dozens of shows including Escape, Nightbeat, Pete Kelly's Blues, and the Adventures of Sam Spade.
1:23.8	He was such a frequently heard voice on the air that his familiarity with audiences almost
1:28.8	cost him what would become his most celebrated role.
1:32.2	That role was U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon on the CBS Western Gunsmoke,
1:37.0	a role Conrad played from 1952 until the series left the air in 1961.
1:44.0	The show was developed at the request of CBS President William Paley,
1:48.0	who wanted a series that could be a Philip Marlow of the Old West.
1:53.4	The series was developed by Norman McDonnell, who at the time was producing and directing the
1:58.0	adventures of Philip Marlow starring Gerald Moore.
2:01.7	Series writer John Meston pushed for William Conrad to play the role of Dylan,
2:06.5	and McDonnell was won over minutes into the actor's audition.
2:10.2	Matt Dylan was a man who lived by the gun, but he struggled with taking a life even when it was in the line of duty.
2:17.0	Even though he walked a beat in Dodge City, Kansas, he had a great deal in common with the radio detectives we've heard on the podcast, as he fought to bring law and order to the lawless west.
2:28.0	Today, Gunsmoke is heralded as a radio classic. It helped to usher in the era of the adult Western on radio and it set a high
	...

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