What the Whiskey Drummer Heard

Good unpredictable story. Strange little whiskey drummer says he overheard a man hire another man to kill the marshal. Matt doesn't know what to make of it until somebody takes a shot at him. So Matt lays a trap, pretending to be dead in order to draw out the culprit. Now there's a guy at the Long Branch, bragging he out-drew the marshal. So what's going on.

There's more than usual suspense since it's unclear who's doing what and why. Also, the acting is above average, particularly Karnes as the carousing cowboy. Note too, Doc's brief appearance that's so grouchily effective. It's hard to say enough about the colorful support that Weaver, Stone, and Blake provide the series.

Wilbur Hawkins is an oddball traveling whiskey salesman -- a "drummer" -- who visits Dodge City. He tells Marshal Matt Dillon he overheard a conversation where two men discussed a plan to assassinate Matt. One of the men agreed to pay the other $300 to kill Dillon After someone takes a shot at Marshal Dillon, Matt has Chester spread the word that he (Matt) was killed in the hopes the culprit will be revealed.

When multiple men begin boasting about killing Dillon, the situation becomes quite confusing. (I am not sure why anyone in their right mind would boast about out-drawing Matt Dillon since it would invite all manner of gunfighters to challenge them.)

Vic Perrin appears for the second time in a Gunsmoke guest role. Perrin, along with John Dehner and Virginia Gregg, frequently played different characters on the radio version of the show. He fits the role of the eccentric Wilbur Hawkins well. He would appear in one more of the thirty-minute episodes and one of the one-hour episodes. During his extensive career, Perrin made occasional guest appearances in westerns and crime shows, but he was most prolific for his voice work. His voice can be heard in numerous animated shows.

Actor Robert Burton only appears in this one episode of Gunsmoke where he plays Sheriff Smith from Tascosa. Burton appeared in a substantial number of early television dramas.

Robert Karnes makes his first Gunsmoke appearance in this story. He plays the man in the Long Branch that was boasting about killing Dillon. Karnes would go on to appear in ten more episodes in the series.

"What the Whiskey Drummer Heard" is one of the stranger, more unpredictable stories in the Gunsmoke series, but it is also a simple story. There are many twists and turns packed into this thirty-minute episode, and the resolution is quite a surprise.

When I read the plot of the show it really did not stir that much interesting in the show's material. But after watching the episode it turned out to be a well written mystery that was entertaining to the very end.

The episode begins as a whiskey drummer named Wilburn Hawkins tells Marshal Dillon that he overheard a conversation, by two unknown people, that Matt was going to be killed. He said that a man was paid $300 for the killing but it was too dark to see the people's faces. Well it is not long before Matt is leaving the rear of the office when someone take a shot at him. Even though he is uninjured the talk around town is he is dead.

Before long someone at the Long Branch starts running their mouth about out-drawing the Marshal. Matt starts to arrest the man when Chester runs up and says a man at the Lady Gay is claiming he shot Marshal Dillon. Matt knows there is no way to prove who was the person that took a shot at him. But it will not be long before someone else relays at story to Matt that is very similar to what the whiskey drummer was telling.

Nice mystery episode that was entertaining and interesting. Well written and well acted that would even hold up well in today's programing. Good watch.