Hello,

I was only 8 years old when I saw the very first episode of "Gunsmoke" aired on TV. I do remember it, and that whole first season rather well . I can even remember John Wayne's commercial advertising the show. "Gunsmoke" was so different from other TV Westerns of that era, it made an impression on me. My parents compared it to "High Noon" and said it was an "ADULT WESTERN".............what??????? I thought it was very much a show for us kids. The opening scene was so neat. Matt Dillion up on that very spooky Boot Hill Cemetery, and there he introduced the viewer to the show mentioning the sad fate of the many buried there who came from the town below.........Dodge, and that he knew the stories of them folks, because he was the Marshall of it. I know it's true, because I fantasized that role, and that setting many times, as a child will do when at play. I was very unhappy when they changed that opening to a Gunfight scene and was upset that it lost that powerful opening. They went for some very ordinary old action scene like all those other very ordinary TV Westerns used. My "Gunsmoke" love affair was never as unique to me again. Poor me, Davy Crockett was dead (thanks to Walt Disney & History), and "Gunsmoke" now left out the best TV Western opening scene ever. Oh those bitter sweat recollections in the history of my childhood memories. I was all of nine years old by then, and already wise to the stupidity of the Media of TV.

"Mr. Dillon! Mr. Dillon! Get back on that Hill, right now!!!!

**Grin** 

Thank you for creating your "well-researched", website and sharing it with all of us.

Scott A. Tackett Sr.