Miss Kitty

Famed writer Kathleen Hite was hired to write this script, and it was an overt effort to present a stage for Amanda Blake to exercise the full range of her acting skills. Blake met the challenge and then some!

The script is tight and there are unanswered questions that the audience must wait for, but the answers are delivered shortly before the explosive climax. From start to finish, Blake is the central figure in this story and it is very much written from the female point of view.

The ultimate lesson is never stand between a Momma Grizzly and her cub!

Any episode featuring Amanda Blake is sure to highlight Miss Kitty's strength of character and resilience, and that is the case here. My only issue with the episode is the unanswered question hanging over the ending like a veil. Kitty seems honest in her explanation to Mattie and Horace about Thad's backstory, so why doesn't she tell Matt? It's clear by his expression as he watches Kitty and Thad walk hand in hand that he has a different idea about Thad's parentage than the one Kitty reveals. She too seems to be hiding something from him, and yet she's never deceived him or her other friends before. Did she lie to Mattie and Horace? With a resolution of this question, the episode would certainly be a classic of the series. It's still a great story, but frustratingly so.

You can count on K. Hite to wrirte a strong script for a woman. And Chester was very funny. Not enough killing for some men. Really an interesting story with a strong cast.

This seemed to be a story that was written last year for a thirty minute show that they stretched into the new hour format. While watching this episode it contained about 20% story and the rest was filler that appeared to have been written only for time sake.

The story began as promising as any episode could begin- as Miss Kitty, without a word to anyone, seems to sneak out-of-town in the middle of the night. She rides many miles to a stagecoach stop where she meets a a child named Thad (about 12 years of age). The child calls her Aunt Kitty as they set off on her horse to a farm house.

At the farm owned by Horace and Mattie Kelk, Ms Kitty drops the boy off under suspicious circumstances. With Ms Kitty acting so cautious concerning the boy, we the viewer suspect that the child could have been Ms Kitty's own child. Even when Ms Kitty confided with the Kelk's the story behind the child, it really did not take an suspicions away. Add to the fact that the child's father, an outlaw named Tucker Ferrin, was seeking the boy and the hatred that Ms Kitty had for Tucker- we get the feeling that the boy story is not told absolutely correct.

And with the ending of the show we are again left with a cloud over the entire story as Ms Kitty brings the boy to Dodge with no clear cut explanation of her intentions. Making the viewer feel that there is much more to this story than what was told.

This really is not a bad story, in fact it could have been one of the better episodes in the collection. But it appeared that the writer played it too close to the vest. The show really only had three parts, the sneaking out of town, the story of the child and when Ms Kitty takes matter into her own hands near the end. With such a good story the script was just too safe. Sad to see all the great interesting material unused.

The episode opens with Miss Kitty, with her hair uncharacteristically braided and down rather than assembled into a concise but glamorous bun, sneaking out into the stable in the middle of the night and riding off. She meets a young boy of about ten at a stagecoach depot in another town. They greet each other enthusiastically and affectionately at the depot, and she rides off with him. Any secrecy about all of this that Kitty wished to preserve is ruined by the fact that Jonas, owner of the general store in Dodge City, is in another stagecoach on its way back to Dodge City, and sees all of this. When he returns he of course spills the beans, and soon Matt Dillon, Doc Adams, and Chester all know what happened. Kitty returns to Dodge City without the boy - she left him at a farm with friends. She is completely mum on the subject.

So what nobody is saying and everybody is thinking is - Could this be Kitty's son from her pre Matt Dillon/Dodge City days? In the 19th century a single woman just couldn't have a child born outside of marriage and raise that child in the clear light of day without both being ostracized, so that would explain Kitty's actions. Is this what is going on? Watch and find out.

This is the great thing about these one hour Gunsmoke episodes - the amount of character development that is allowed in the supporting characters. In this episode we see both the softer and fiercely loyal side of Miss Kitty. We also see some of the affection displayed between Matt and Kitty where he tells her how he feels without really telling her and she reciprocates.

This is a rare but very good showcase for Amanda Blake's acting talents, and I'd highly recommend it.