User Reviews

Here is another episode that is primarily concerning how rough it was to live on the prairie in the late 1800's. First off we find two young people with a small baby that have contracted spotted fever. Both die leaving the small baby alone. Next a middle age couple, Joe Adler and his wife, that are near starving since the ground will not produce any seed and they are out of money. Both couples will play a part of bring this episode to life.

The baby is brought into Dodge and is to be taken care of by Ma Smalley. It is not long before Ms Adler, a meek hard working woman, comes to Dodge and wants to adopt the baby since she can not produce any children of her own. But there is a problem. It seems that Joe Adler is stealing cattle from a neighbor's farm and selling the meat around Dodge. When Ma Smalley hears about this she refuses to give the baby to the Adlers'.

And so the story continues showing how life around Dodge, for the most part, is hard- but by the end we are given some hope as the episode ends better then we expected. Good watch

Note- Mabel Albertson plays Ma Smalley- a reoccurring character on the series. This is the only time Ms Albertson played the part. It will soon be played by Sarah Selby for the remainder of the run.

Doc Adams is treating a Dodge City family for spotted fever -- a tick borne disease that can be deadly if not treated early with antibiotics. When the husband and wife both pass away, they leave behind an orphaned baby.

Joe Nadler and his wife are another homesteader family that live near Dodge City. When Mrs. Nadler learns about the baby, she expresses interest in adopting the child. Unfortunately, the impoverished Nadlers have struggled to successfully grow anything on their farm.

Joe has given up on trying to grow anything on the farm and resorted to killing cattle owned by prominent cattle rancher Emmett Bowers. He sells beef from the cattle to Dodge City restaurants. The Nadlers live on the edge of the Bowers ranch.

Bowers is unhappy when he visits restaurants in town and is served beef stolen from his farm. He complains to Marshal Dillon and tells Matt if something is not done to stop Nadler, Bowers will take matters into his own hands.

Matt is faced with doing something about the orphaned Thorpe baby and trying to prevent the situation between Nadler and Bowers from getting out of hand.

Actress Kathie Browne (credited as Cathy Browne) makes her only Gunsmoke appearance as the doomed Mrs. Thorpe. This is one of Browne's earliest acting credits. Browne would later play Adam Cartwright's love interest Laura Dayton in a few episodes of Bonanza. (The character eventually left Adam behind when she ran off with his cousin, Will Cartwright.) She portrayed the character Angie Dow in the short-lived series Hondo. She was married to actor Darren McGavin, another actor that appeared on Gunsmoke, for over thirty years.

Bartlett Robinson portrays wealthy cattle rancher Emmett Bowers in this story. He had previously appeared in Season 2's "Cholera" episode. He can be seen as a guest in seven different Gunsmoke episodes.

Mabel Albertson appears for the first of three Gunsmoke episode appearances. She portrays Dodge City resident Ma Smalley in this story. This is the only time Albertson played the character, and it is the first time the character appears in the series, although Ma Smalley had been mentioned previously. Albertson turns in an impressive performance, and I would have loved to see her develop this character further. Actress Sarah Selby would later begin playing the Ma Smalley character in thirteen episodes spread over several seasons of the series.

Anne Barton returns for her second appearance in the series. She plays Mrs. Nadler in this story. Barton can be seen in several television shows in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. She has the distinction of playing Eddie Haskell's mother in two episodes of the series Leave It to Beaver.

Familiar actor Val Avery plays thieving Joe Nadler in the first of four Gunsmoke roles.

Judson "Jud" Taylor appears briefly as Ed Thorpe. Taylor began his career in Hollywood as an actor but later became better known as a director of television shows and movies. He directed several episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series.

This episode features some excellent performances all around. Kathleen Hite once again adapts a John Meston story for television. The Hite and Meston team had a knack for portraying strong women in tough situations. In this story, both Albertson's Ma Smalley and Barton's Mrs. Nadler fall into that category.

There are a couple of nice moments of humor, too. When Matt tells Chester to take the baby to Kitty Russell, the Chester character finds the effort amusingly uncomfortable. (Note the baby is clearly a doll in some of the scenes, and then a real infant is shown in the closeups.) Later, the Ma Smalley character stops a wounded Matt on the street and insists he listen to her plans regarding the Thorpe baby after which she lectures Matt about taking care of himself.

The scene where Matt lectures Joe Nadler about spending money on expensive boots when he needs seed to plant on his farm is one of those odd moments where Marshal Dillon oversteps his authority in the pursuit of justice. The viewer can certainly sympathize with Matt's anger, but it is nevertheless an abuse of power.

Note: Bowers boasting about how much money he made from the sale of some cattle, while he later complains about Nadler stealing and slaughtering an occasional calf can be seen as an indictment of excess. While stealing is wrong and unjustified, it clearly has negligible effect on Bowers. Bowers even contends that he has compassion for Mrs. Nadler's plight, but he is unwilling to do anything with his wealth to help alleviate her poverty.

A wonderful heartwarming episode, even with the death of the lawless homesteader Nadler. Matt's kindly nature comes through as he shows his caring for the orphaned baby and even poor Mrs. Nadler and her situation. The episode also introduces the wonderful Ma Smalley, the local boardinghouse operator. Matt's respect for Ma is also evident. Bottomline, a great episode.

Head writer Meston again shows concern for women on the frontier. The Nadler's are barely holding on to their farm, mainly because the Mrs. (Barton) does all the work while hubby (Avery) seems only interested in himself. When neighbor woman (Browne) succumbs to spotted fever, Mrs. Nadler adopts her orphaned baby. However, Nadler's no-good husband looks to hold onto the failing farm by rustling neighbor's cattle. Now Matt has to act.

Good episode, where Arness gets to show more of his softer side than usual. The plain-faced Barton is effective too as the struggling wife, as is Albertson as the commanding Ma Smalley. However, I'm rather surprised that Smalley's colorful character didn't become more of a series regular. As played by Albertson, she seems a natural. Anyway, the entry's pretty good for showing how tenuous farming life on the prairie could be. It's also a story whose ending could have gone in either an up or down direction.