Old Faces

Not often I'd describe a Gunsmoke episode as beautiful ... but this one is! A beautiful story about unconditional love. A beautiful young couple seeming so perfect until shame and deceit almost tear them apart. Young James Drury as Tom. So beautiful he took my breath away! Oh and Jan Shepard as Tilda. Yeah, she was okay too.😏 Hard to believe such a beautiful story complete in just half an hour. Well worth the watch!

Newlyweds Tom and Tilda Cook arrive in Dodge City with plans to settle there. Tom has a job in the stock pens. Tom is, by his own admission, "hot-headed," especially when it comes to Tilda. Tilda is quite attractive, and Tom does not appreciate it when other men focus their attention on her.

When a former gunfighter named Ed Ivers recognizes Tilda from her days working The Memphis Queen riverboat (usually similar to being a "saloon girl," which implies she was either a prostitute, or a card sharp, or both, although Tilda tells Kitty she only did some singing and hustled drinks during her time on The Memphis Queen), he begins harassing her. When Tom later encounters Ivers in the Long Branch Saloon, Ivers is brutally explicit about knowing Tilda when she worked the riverboat. Tom is understandably incensed. Tom and Ivers exchange heated words and agree to meet the next day in a gunfight.

When Tilda tells Tom that Ivers is correct about her working on The Memphis Queen in the past, Tom is heartbroken.

The cast for this episode is a treasure trove of familiar faces from television during this period. James Drury makes his fourth and final appearance in a Gunsmoke episode. Drury often appeared in television Westerns before beginning his iconic role as The Virginian on the series of that name.

The role of Tilda is played by Jan Shepard in her second Gunsmoke part. Her series debut was only a few episodes earlier in Season 6's "Tall Trapper." She returned to the series twice more.

Familiar tough guy George Keymas marks his Gunsmoke debut as gunfighter Ivers. His sidekick, Varden, is played by Ron Hayes in a smaller role. This was the third of eight roles Hayes played in Gunsmoke episodes. A couple of his more memorable parts on the show was the lead character named Jud in Season 8's "I Call Him Wonder" and as a train passenger on the two-part "Snow Train" episode in Season 16.

Robert Brubaker shows up in an early scene as the recurring character Jim Buck, who drives a stagecoach that frequents Dodge City. Brubaker can be seen in 29 different Gunsmoke episodes. In the earlier seasons, he often played this Jim Buck character. In later seasons, he played Floyd, the bartender at the Long Branch that took Sam Noonan's place after the death of Glenn Strange.

Speaking of Glenn Strange, he makes a very brief appearance in this episode presumably as Sam Noonan. Late in the episode, he is standing at the bar in the Long Branch when Ivers and Varden enter and it appears trouble may begin with Tom Cook, Kitty Russell addresses Sam by name and tells him to go get Marshal Dillon.

In the scene where Tom and Chester Goode are drinking beers in the Long Branch and engage in a confrontation with Ivers and Varden, regular Gunsmoke extra Cactus Mack (his real name was Taylor McPeters) can be seen in the background drinking at the bar. Mack appeared in a whopping 61 episodes of Gunsmoke in Seasons 3 through 7. Most of those appearances were uncredited. His last appearance in the series was in Season 7's one-hour "Marry Me" episode where he plays a major, memorable role as the patriarch of the Cathcart family. Don Dubbins and Warren Oates play his sons. Unfortunately, the actor passed away shortly after he played that role.

The Kitty Russell character makes an interesting comment during a conversation with Tilda. She tells Tilda she would gladly give up her nice room and stake in the Long Branch if she could find a husband..."I mean a good one."

There are a couple of stories in play in this installment. The primary story is essentially the love story between Tom and Tilda. The secondary story is the conflict that arises between Tom and Ivers. Neither plot element is particularly unique, compelling, or profound. This is one of those episodes where the acting outshines the material the actors were given.

In this average offering, we have a recently married young couple, Tom and Tilda Cook, come into Dodge on the stage. Tilda is a blond looker that appears to be an innocent girl while Tom is the hot-headed male that thinks everyone that looks at Tilda is breaking up their marriage.

Anyway, when a man named Ed Ivers recognizes Tilda from her days on the Mississippi riverboats Tom takes offense that he is trying to say that his wife was a loose woman years ago. Now Tom challenges Ivers to a gunfight.

But when Tilda tells Tom that what Ivers is saying about her is true, Tom is more heartbroken than mad. He feels he has been betrayed by the one he loves the most.

We have another routine story that has been played many times during the series. The story was not poor but there was just little interest shown toward the characters. The two best parts of the show were the regular cast when Chester gets caught staring at the blond beauty and when Kitty breaks up a fight in the Long Branch by means of a shotgun. Without those scenes this would have been a very average show.