User Reviews

The Professor's banjo playing sidekick is played by the towering Jester Hairston, the first Black actor to appear on Gunsmoke. Juilliard educated and a grad of Tufts University also, Hairston had a long and distinguished career in radio, film and TV. For 15 seasons he played Leroy on the radio version of "Amos 'n Andy." He really made a mark as a songwriter: his Christmas carol, "Mary's Boy Child," was a hit for Harry Belafonte in 1956 and is now a seasonal standard. In 1964 his gospel song "Amen," heard in the 1963 film Lilies of the Field, starring Sidney Poitier (whose singing voice was dubbed by Jester), was a top 10 hit for the Curtis Mayfield-ed Impressions. He also had acting roles in "To Kill a Mockingbird," "In the Heat of the Night" and "The Alamo." Never a household name, he cast a long shadow in his time in his quiet way. It's amazing to see him in Gunsmoke and to hear him play snippets of some beloved songs. In the final scene, his austere rendition of the Gunsmoke theme song is positively haunting.

Professor Lute Bone travels with his sidekick Wellington selling a "cure-all" elixir. Bone is convinced his elixir is helpful, and Chester is willing to endorse the product. Doc Adams has seen the harmful effects of the liquid on the Ringle baby he treated when Mr. And Mrs. Ringle admitted they gave the baby some of the elixir. Matt Dillon sides with Doc, but he lacks the evidence to arrest Bone for any crime.

When Doc discovers the medicine contains opium, he is livid. Doc is willing to do anything to stop Bone, and Bone wants to settle in Dodge permanently. Matt tries to impose mandatory labeling on Bone.

Actor John Abbott often played eccentric characters, and he was frequently cast as doctors or professors. He is excellent as Professor Lute Bone in this story. Abbott appeared in one additional episode in Season 5.

Jester Hairston makes an appearance in this episode as Bone's banjo-playing sidekick Wellington. Hairston was a renowned composer and singer, as well as taking on numerous acting roles. His appearance here marks the first time a black actor appeared in a Gunsmoke episode. This is Hairston's only Gunsmoke role.

Strother Martin makes the first of eleven Gunsmoke appearances in this story as Hank Stooler (credited as Mr. Stooler). Martin has the distinction of being one of the few actors that was not part of the regular cast that appeared in both the first and last seasons of Gunsmoke.

Despite the outstanding guest cast, this story contains too many questionable elements to be considered one of the better episodes. Milburn Stone's exaggerated fury becomes almost comical at times. Matt's relative ambivalence about forcing Bone to leave Dodge is odd. Matt's thoughtless humiliation of Chester is distasteful. It is not believable that Bone has been traveling throughout the prairie selling this liquid and has not previously encountered any protest or resistance. The sudden resolution to the dilemma after everything that has happened to that point is not realistic.

Especially during this first season, Doc Adams is portrayed as a ornery malcontent unlike the lovable softy that is Doc Adams later in the series. And in this episode Doc gets so nasty that he even obtains a gun to shoot a peddling medicine man that Doc believes is killing people with his opium laced elixir.

Professor Lute Bone is the one selling the elixir that has already nearly killed a infant. As he pushes his medicine, out of the back of his wagon, he claims that elixir can cure all types ailments. When Hank Stooler tells the Professor that his father is sick, the Professor recommends his elixir that will have his father up and out of the bed in no time. A few days later Hank is back in town seeking to kill the Professor saying that his father had died after taking the medicine. Now Matt has to get involved in the situation.

This was not the most exciting episode by any means. John Abbott was perfectly cast as the peddling Professor but it had more to do with the story that the characters. With Doc Adam's flaws and very little excitement, this episode was lacking. Just not as entertaining as other episodes in this first season.

John Abbott as the dyspeptic Professor Lute Bone (great name) shows why he was one of Hollywood's best eccentric character actors. Here his character of the professor is fudged around a lot by the screenplay-- is he a charlatan bent on skinning naive frontier folk or a just a well-meaning but misguided guy with a gift of high-tone gab. Perhaps it doesn't matter but it does get confusing. Notable also for early appearance of the one and only Strother Martin in a fairly conventional role. Apparently this was before someone discovered Martin's own gift for wacky characters. Not much else to recommend, except Matt's questionable ordering around of the hapless Chester, making him look like a misbehaving child and in front of a crowd, no less. This may be the only time that I, for one, wished Chester had asserted himself against the marshal.

....and that is a lot as I grew up watching the show. Along with Roy Rodgers, The Cisco Kid, and all the great old shows. But I have to be honest.

The radio show with William Conrad as Matt, Howard McNear as Doc, Parley Baer as Chester, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty really was better. This episode (along with Home Surgery) are examples of side by side comparisons where I think the radio versions were better. Not intending to knock the TV cast. They were great.

But radio is always better because the picture is in my head!