Gunsmoke was on CBS from 1955 to 1975. There were a whopping 635 episodes of the show. It was a western drama set in 1800’s Dodge City, Kansas. James Arness played Marshall Matt Dillon. Amanda Blake was Miss Kitty, the owner of the Long Branch Saloon. Other important characters were Milburn Stone as Doc, Ken Curtis as Festus, and Dennis Weaver as Chester.
When TVs started appearing in homes in the 1950’s, Gunsmoke was the thing to watch. For anyone who was growing up during the early days of TV, Gunsmoke was a regular part of the week.
Let’s talk about kissing.
In the early days of TV, there wasn’t much kissing. Even married couples on TV had to sleep in twin beds. There was certainly no sex outside of marriage, and Marshall Dillon and Miss Kitty were not married. Things were a lot different then.
Getting Musical
Not long ago I was at a concert watching singer Claudia Nygaard perform. With no introductory explanation, she launched into a song with these lyrics:
She’s self-employed and runs a business out of her home,
She lives up over the Long Branch all alone
That’s all it took for me to get what was coming and I started to laugh with delight. The song turned out to be as much fun as I was expecting and it’s been a favorite ever since. The song is called “Miss Kitty.”
Wouldn’t it be fun to post a video of Claudia singing the song on my blog, I thought, as a tribute to Gunsmoke and the good old days. When I searched on YouTube for a video, I found this. Claudia isn’t shown in it, but it’s her singing. And it’s absolutely perfect. I hope you agree.
Here’s to remembering how it used to be.
You can watch Gunsmoke on Amazon Prime and Yidio. TV.com has some episodes. Netflix has some seasons on DVD.
Amanda Blake image ©CBS
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