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Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎06-10-2010

Re: JANET SURTEES ARNESS, WIFE OF JAMES ARNESS

 


@Mmsfoxxie wrote:

Seeing James Arness' name reminds me I'd being a teenager spending Saturday night with my grandmother.  She loved those her westerns.  At 8:30 we watched Have Gun, Will Travel and then at 9:00, we would watch Gunsmoke, her favorite.  She acted like she knew Matt (Dillion) and Chester personally talking to them while they were on screen, lol.  She also loved Wyatt Earp with Hugh O'Brien.


@Mmsfoxxie  Your post brings back a lot of good memories for me, too.  When I spent the night at grandma's and grandpa's farm, grandpa always watched Gunsmoke...and I watched the show with him. I learned to love westerns and still do! Have Gun Will Travel was another one. Grandma would make carmel corn, too....an added bonus. Ha!

 

DH and I have been watching Gunsmoke lately and we still like it. Thanks for this post and thanks to @Oznell  for posting it.  Now I will go watch the interview.

Esteemed Contributor
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Re: JANET SURTEES ARNESS, WIFE OF JAMES ARNESS

[ Edited ]

When my kids were growing up, we watched old reruns of Gunsmoke on Saturday mornings.  

 

My youngest son just loved old westerns ... along with some old black and white comedy shows.   He offhandedly mentioned one day ... "Marshal Dillon always shoots to kill, never to just  wound somebody."   After that I paid more attention ... and my son was right ... Dillon would always shoot to kill. 

 

Don't know what made me think of this after all these years, LOL.  

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Re: JANET SURTEES ARNESS, WIFE OF JAMES ARNESS

[ Edited ]

@Oznell 

 

How interesting, and I will watch it for sure.  James Arness was a perfect Marshall Dillion!

 

I grew up on these Westerns and, at one time or another, had crushes on the leading men!  Miss Kitty was my go to Halloween costume for many years (improvised, of course since there weren't any costumes back then.)  I loved her character!

 

For years, I had a little, black "business card" for "Have Gun Will Travel" on one side, and Paladin on the other.  Have no idea where I got it Cat LOL  I found this image.

 

 

 

 

I think I was attracted to the rugged, aloof nature of most of these characters.  And, the stories were almost always entertaining at the very least.  There was some violence, but not like the graphic violence today. 

 

When the movie "Silverado" came out, I fell in love with those Westerns all over again.

Honored Contributor
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Re: JANET SURTEES ARNESS, WIFE OF JAMES ARNESS

I loved the cowboy shows.  I have to add James Garner (Bumgarner) to the list!  A good Oklahoma boy, I knew some of his relatives when I was in college in his home town area.  Maverick was my favorite show!  

 

I also liked Sugarfoot and  of course Rawhide!  And I never understood how come the Rifleman's wimpy son wouldn't pick up a shovel in the barn and whomp the guy beating up "Paw!"  

Honored Contributor
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Re: JANET SURTEES ARNESS, WIFE OF JAMES ARNESS

Sorry folks.   CHEYENNE ! IS TOPS.

 

He couldn't act , but, nobody cared. LOL

 

Of course I wasn't born then, but, in repeats I know this.

 

 

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Honored Contributor
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Re: JANET SURTEES ARNESS, WIFE OF JAMES ARNESS

Bad thing about some of the Gunsmoke shows is women aren't treated very well, always being beaten up,  or worse. Male writers

I suspect.

 

Poor Ms. Kitty all she wanted was for Matt to go upstairs with her he was always unavailable, chasing after a criminal, etc. Everytime he had trouble with a female criminal, orphaned kid, etc. he would tell poor Chester "take her over to Kitty".

 

Wonder how the guy who played Chester managed to keep that leg so stiff all the time ? can't remember his name went on to play later that detective. They must had to fashion some kind of brace for him. Drive me nuts.  Why didn't Chester ever call Matt, 'Matt', instead of Mr. Dillion all the time.

 

I bet Matt took at least a couple 100 bullets, but, always survived LOL

Honored Contributor
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Re: JANET SURTEES ARNESS, WIFE OF JAMES ARNESS

[ Edited ]

Oznell, don't forget that many of us grew up not only attending Saturday morning  double features (usually two Westerns) at the movies, but we also watched our cowboy shows on TV.

 

Some old names not as well known as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers were Rex Allen and Lash LaRue.  Lash was an early crush of mine.

 

Let's not forget Hopalong Cassidy, either.

 

ETA:  I just remembered another lesser-known cowboy star but one we enjoyed -- The Durango Kid.

 

Need I remind anyone that we played "cowboys and _____" most of the time when playing outdoors?

 

It was a natural movement for us to love "Gunsmoke" and James Arness.  Actually, many of the times I saw the show was in the TV room of my first set of in-laws, whom I loved very much.

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Re: JANET SURTEES ARNESS, WIFE OF JAMES ARNESS

Watched and enjoyed it very much. He sounds like a great guy.

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Re: JANET SURTEES ARNESS, WIFE OF JAMES ARNESS

@Oznell  This is one of my favorite YT channels.. Rob Word has interviewed a lot of western stars. I've watched this video that you speak of and I love watching Bruce Boxleitner talk about Jim. 
There is a video on that channel from a while back, where he is interviewing Bruce B. and they're talking about Gunsmoke. Bruce let it be known that even though "everyone" wanted Kitty and Matt together.. that Amanda Blake and Milburn "Doc" Stone had a 'fling" in real life!! 😳😳😲😲. Everyone in the comments is shocked. Lol. 
Anyway, Bruce speaks so highly of Jim.. also Jim was a great surfer and his son was a World Champion surfer. His brother Peter chose the last name Graves as it was their mother's maiden name. I've read a lot about these older stats!. I love it!

Honored Contributor
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Re: JANET SURTEES ARNESS, WIFE OF JAMES ARNESS

Doc ? that old grumpy man. Kitty must had really been tired of waiting on Matt.

 

 

EWWWWW..................