Season Three

Crackup, September 14, 1957 Written by John Meston, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: John Dehner, Jess Kirkpatrick, Jean Vaughn. Matt learns there is a hired killer in Dodge City, the hired killer gives Matt a challenge to find out who paid Nate Springer to kill Matt.

Gun For Chester, September 21, 1957 Written by John Meston, Directed by Louis King, Guest Cast: Thomas Coley, George Selk, Clayton Post. Chester believes Asa Ledbetter is out to kill him. After Chester is shot, he tells Matt Asa Ledbetter shot him. Matt worries that Chester may be working too hard on finding Asa Ledbetter. Asa Ledbetter claims Chester killed his brother.

Blood Money, September 28, 1957 Written by John Meston, Directed by Louis King, Guest Cast: James Dobson, Vinton Haywofth, Lawrence Green. After Harry Spencer's life is saved Matt receives a wanted poster for Joe Sharpe who robbed a bank. Matt learns that Joe and Shape left Dodge so Sharpe could try and get the reward money.

Kitty's Outlaw, October 5, 1957 Written by John Meston, Story by Kathleen Hite, Guest Cast: Ainslie Pryor, Chris Alcaide. Doc, Chester, and Matt suspect Kitty of helping a bank robber when she invites Matt to an out of the way spot for dinner. What they didn't know was that the bank robber was the first 'man' Kitty had ever known. This is a half hour episode and is available from Columbia House video.

Potato Road, October 12, 1957 Written by John Meston, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: Tom Pittman, Robert F. Simon, Jeanette Nolan. The "smartest man in the world" traps Matt & Chester in a potato cellar.

Jesse, October 19, 1957 Written by John Meston, Direceted by Andrew McLaglen, Guest Cast: James Maloney, George Brenlin, Edward Binns

Mavis McCloud, October 26, 1957 Written by John Meston, Directed by Buzz Kulik, Guest Cast: Fay Spain, Casey Adams, Robert Comthwaite, Kelly Thordsen

Born To Hang, November 2,l957 Written by John Meston, Directed by Buzz Kulik, Guest Cast: Anthony Caruso, Wright King, Mort Mills. Joe Digger's dad said Joe was born to hang.

Romeo, November 9, 1957 Written by John Meston, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: Robert Vaughn, Barry Kelley, Barbara Eden, Robert McQueeney, Tyler McVey

Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jeannie)

Never Pester Chester, November 16, 1957 Written by John Meston, Directed by Richard Whorf, Guest Cast: Buddy Baer, Tom Greenway, Woodrow Chambliss. When Matt sends Chester out to handle a rowdy couple of cow pokers, Chester ends up nearly dead. Matt is so guilt ridden he vows to find the men who did it and make them pay.

Fingered, November 23, 1957 Written by John Meston, Directed by James Sheldon, Guest Cast: John Larch, Virginia Christine, Karl Swenson

How To Kill A Woman, November 30, 1957 Written by John Meston, Story by Sam Peckinpah, Guest Cast: Robert Brubaker, Barry Atwater, Pernell Roberts, June Lockhart, Grant Withers, Peg Hillias, Ruth Storey

< June Lockart

 < June Lockhart (Lost in Space) with Guy Williams
< Pernell Roberts (Bonanza & Trapper John)

Cows And Cribs, December 7, 1957 Written by John Meston,Story by Kathleen Hite, Directed by Richard Whorf, Guest Cast: Val Avery, Kathie Browne, Judson Taylor, Anne Barton

Kathie Browne

Doc's Reward, December 14, 1957 Written by John Meston, Directed by Richard Whorf, Guest Cast: Jack Lord, Bruce Wendell. Doc shoots a man in cold blood but its okay. The man is wanted dead or alive.

Amanda Blake in "Doc's Reward". Click on image for details.

Jack Lord (Hawaii Five-O)

 

Kitty Lost, December 21, 1957 Written by John Meston, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: Warren Stevens, Gage Clarke, Brett King, Steve Ellsworth. An eastern dude asks Kitty if she'd like to take a midnight drive, but when she doesn't return the next day, Matt goes looking.

Twelfth Night, December 28, 1957 Written by John Meston, Directed by John Rich, Guest Cast: William Schallert, James Griffith, Rose Marie, Dick Rich. Weird hillbillies.

< William Schallert (The Patty Duke Show)

< Rose Marie (The Dick Van Dyke Show)

Joe Phy, January 4, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: Paul Richards, Morey Amsterdam, William Kendis. Phoney lawman is all talk.

Morey Amsterdam (The Dick Van Dyke Show)

Buffalo Man, January 11, 1958 Written by John Meston, Story by Les Crutchfield, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: Jack Klugman, John Anderson, Patricia Smith. Psycho hunter enjoys being mean.

Jack Klugman (The Odd Couple, Quincy)

Kitty Caught, January 18, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by Richard Whorf, Guest Cast: Bruce Gordon, Pat Conway, John Compton

Pat Conway

Claustrophobia, January 25, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: James Winslow, Will Sage, Vaughn Taylor, Joe Maross

Ma Tennis, February 1, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by Buzz Kulik, Guest Cast: Nina Varela, Ron Hagerthy, Corey Allen. Ma diciplines all the way.

Sunday Supplement, February 8, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by Richard Whorf, Guest Cast: Jack Weston, Werner Klemperer, Ed Little, David Whorf. Newsmen go too far.

< Jack Weston

< Werner Klemperer (Hogan's Heroes)

Wild West, February 15, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by Richard Whorf, Guest Cast: Paul Engel, Phyllis Coates, Philip Bourneuf, Murray Hamilton, Robert Gist

The Cabin, February 22, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by John Rich, Guest Cast: Dean Stanton, Claude Akins, Patricia Barry. Never has so much quality story been packed into a half hour! A bone chilling blizzard, two post civil war crazies, eye widening violence, mealy potatoes, and an abused prairie woman who, in the end, heartbreakingly turns to prostitution because of intense emotional scars cut from the horror of her experience. Drama, intrigue, murder, hard reality and black humor are skillfully interlaced - and Dillon finds an interesting use for a pitch fork. Every war produces its group of sociopaths. World War II produced Hell's Angels - a debauched macho-imaged motor cycle gang formed from air force recruits with numbed morality. The United States Civil War produced boarder raiders and jayhawkers, like Quantrill and Jesse James, who, after the war, continued to terrorize and burn entire towns. These were men whose morality was dulled by long term uninterupted exposure to the butchery and gore of war. Gunsmoke writer and co-creator, John Meston, remarkably captured the characters of these soulless men on the early Gunsmokes. This episode is Meston's writing at its best.

Dirt, March 1, 1958 Written by John Meston, Story by Sam Peckinpah, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: June Lockhart, Wayne Morris, Gail Kobe

June Lockhart

...with Lassie

Dooley Surrenders, March 8, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by John Rich, Guest Cast: Strother Martin, Ken Lynch, James Maloney, Ben Wright

Ben Wright

Joke's On Us, March 15, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: Virginia Gregg, Bartlett Robinson, Michael Hinn, James Kevin, Herbert C. Lytton, Craig Duncan

Tom Cassidy, March 22, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by John Rich, Guest Cast: John Dehner, Ross Martin, Peggy McKay

Laughing Gas, March 29, 1958 Written by James Fonda, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: Dean Harens, June Dayton, Val Benedict, Jess Kirkpatrick.

Texas Cowboys, April 5, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by John Rich, Guest Cast: Clark Gordon, Allen Lane, Ned Glass

Amy's Good Deed, April 12, 1958 Written by John Meston, Story by Kathleen Hite, Directed by John Rich, Guest Cast: Jeanette Nolan, Lou Krugman

Lou Krugman

Hanging Man, April 19, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by John Rich, Guest Cast: Luis van Rooten, Robert Osterloh, Zina Provendie

Innocent Broad, April 26, 1958 Written by John Meston, Story by Kathleen Hite, Directed by John Rich, Guest Cast: Myrna Fahey, Joe Bassett, Edward Kemmer The Big Con, May 3, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by John Rich, Guest Cast: Joe Kearns, Alan Dexter, Gordon Mills, Raymond Bailey

Widow's Mite, May 10, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: Marshall Thompson, Katherine Bard, Ken Mayer

Marshall Thompson (Daktari)

Chester's Hanging, May 17, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: Charles Cooper, Sam Edwards, Walter Barnes

Sam Edwards

Carmen, May 24, l958 Written by John Meston, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: Ruta Lee, Robert Patten, Tommy Farrell, Ray Teal, Alan Gifford

Overland Express, May 31, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by Seymour Bems, Guest Cast: Simon Oakland, Peter Mamakos, James Gavin

(Click HERE to read the story)

The Gentleman, June 7, 1958 Written by John Meston, Directed by Ted Post, Guest Cast: Timothy Carey, Virginia Baker, Jack Cassidy

Cow Doctor, July 26, 1958 Written by John Meston, Story by John Dunkel, Directed by Andrew McLaglen, Guest Cast: Robert H. Harris, Dorothy Adams, Tommy Kirk. No one appreciates ol' Doc.

Tommy Kirk (Disney's Ol' Yeller).