Gunsmoke TV Show

[Cherokee Mike]

I recently subscribed to the Encore movie channels and enjoy watching old western shows from the 1950's and 1960's.  Just about every day I watch The Virginian, Cheyenne, Paladin and Gunsmoke.  I watched many of these episodes as a young boy.  Now, as I view them through older eyes, I pay more attention to the details and situations involved.  It's interesting to see if the Hollywood westerns are close to the real thing.  I also like to watch the young guest stars who later became big stars in TV and movies.   

Here are a couple of things I've noticed:

- On Gunsmoke everyone spends a lot of time in The Longbranch Saloon owned by Miss Kitty Russell.  It seems like I've viewed a few episodes where cowboys order cold beer.  In that era, 1870's - 1880's, did any of the western saloons have the ability to serve their beer cold, or was it always served room temperature?  I know some towns located farther North had ice houses where blocks of ice were cut during the winter months and used during the rest of the year.  I think they would use sawdust for insulation.  I wonder if the real Dodge City had an ice house that supplied ice to the taverns and saloons?   

- Doc Adams' office was located on a building's second floor.  Everyone had to climb stairs to reach it.  Over the years a lot of wounded and injured people (Matt Dillon included) were operated on and recuperated in Doc Adams' office.  Would actual Doctors' offices have been located on ground level so patients wouldn't have to be carried up stairs?  I read somewhere that Milburn Stone, who played Doc Adams, grew up in a little town in Kansas, and as a child he remembered talking to old timers who lived during the real Dodge City days.  If, during filming of a Gunsmoke episode, he saw something that wasn't authentic, he would strongly urge the writers and producers to make it right.                 

[Duke0313]

From Wikipedia..."Beer, served at room temperature, was also a popular drink, with Adolphus Busch introducing the artificial refrigeration and pasteurization of beer in 1880 with his Budweiser brand.[1] Some saloons kept the beer in kegs stored on racks inside the saloon.[3] Some saloons prided themselves on homemade beer and it was not always served at room temperature."

And yes, doctor's offices were usually located on the ground floor. Mostly at the physician's home.

[Range Rider]

By the 1880 in most of the larger western towns ice cream parlors were very popular.  The saloons were show places with as many as 3 bands playing at once around the saloon.  The mixed drinks and imported wines were very much in by the 1880s. Yes, cold beer was served by this time.  The crash of the mining industry and the end of the big cattle  operations led to the end of the big saloons.  It was just like today it took money to play.  Dodge City was not a tiny little dump.  It was planned and layed out by a developer I think his name was McCoy. Dodge was a very modern city. The story of Dodge in Gunsmoke is a real joke. But dog gone I lked it 50 years ago and still watch everyday.

RR