Marian Clark

Marian Clark (born Marian Alice Clark; June 25, 1912 – February 26, 1963) was an American scriptwriter for radio and television series during the 1950s and early 1960s, most notably for the long-running, iconic Western series Gunsmoke, which aired on CBS Radio from 1952 to 1961 and on CBS Television for two decades. Clark ranks among the most prolific writers in the history of Gunsmoke; and prior to her work on that series, she was also one of the first women in American radio to be employed full time as a news writer for a major regional station and affiliate of a national broadcasting network.

Early life Marian Clark was born in Alameda County, California, in 1912 and was the eldest of three children of Laura Lee (née Bransford) and Albert Lee Clark. Her father, a native of Missouri, had moved to California by 1910 and was working that year as a journalist in San Francisco. Later, Albert moved the short distance to Berkeley, where in 1920 he was serving as city editor of the local newspaper, a position that may have influenced Marian early in life and prompted her later as a young woman to venture into radio journalism as a profession. By 1930, however, her father had relocated the entire family to Oakland; and he had changed careers, working there as an "advertising man" in real estate. Due to the shortage of "manpower" on the home front in the United States during World War II, new job opportunities were opening to women in a wide variety of fields, including radio broadcasting. Station KNX in Los Angeles provided such opportunities through its "Hollywood Workshop", which offered training and advancement for "girl staff members" at KNX. The station's department heads taught classes to prepare workshop participants for assorted positions available in radio, such as news writers, transcription operators, mailroom clerks, and publicity managers. KNX employees therefore had frequent, if not daily, access to CBS regular staff and to the network's operations. Marian Clark's work as a writer in KNX's news department during World War II provided her interaction as well with CBS Radio colleagues. One of them, a secretary for the network, was Kathleen Hite, whom Clark met in 1943.

After the war Hite advanced professionally at CBS Los Angeles and joined the network's production staff, and after several years she became a scriptwriter. She subsequently encouraged Clark to put her own writing talents and radio experience to better use by drafting potential stories and proposing scripts to CBS Radio's nationally broadcast programs. By then, by the early 1950s, Clark had become a paraplegic and required the use of a wheelchair for reasons not disclosed in currently available documentation. Once she had given Clark some basic instruction on scriptwriting, Hite introduced her to Norman Macdonnell, a producer and director for popular CBS Radio productions, such as Suspense, Doorway to Life, Escape, and a weekly series he and writer John Meston had recently developed. Their new "adult Western", Gunsmoke, consisted of Old West stories set in the 1870s in southwestern Kansas, principally centered in the rowdy, "hard-drinking" cattle town of Dodge City. First aired on CBS Radio in 1952, Gunsmoke quickly became a highly rated, critically acclaimed series that was broadcast not only on radio but also on television by 1955.

Following her introduction to Macdonnell, Clark began working for CBS, although her early years working as a writer for the network are not fully documented like the stories and scripts she would later create for Gunsmoke. By 1957, however, the quality of her previous work had earned her assignments as a contributing writer for the very popular Western. According to the authoritative 1990 reference Gunsmoke: A Complete History and Analysis of the Legendary Broadcast Series by SuzAnne and Gabor Barabas, Clark's first script, "Jobe's Son", aired as the premiere episode for the radio series' sixth season on Sunday, September 1, 1957. In addition to Gunsmoke'''s regular cast of voice actors—William Conrad, Parley Baer, Howard McNear, and Georgia Ellis—that episode features Vic Perrin and John Dehner as guest stars in a story about a wayward son's clash with his father.

In the 1957 broadcast of "Jobe's Son", Clark receives no mention in the episode's closing voice credits; instead, her CBS colleague Les Crutchfield is credited for having "specially written" the installment, with John Meston also being mentioned for providing "editorial supervision". Despite the absence of any on-air credit for Clark, CBS and producer Macdonnell were apparently impressed with her work, for the network broadcast 13 more of her scripts in the 1957–1958 season. She finally received her first on-air credit for "Miguel's Daughter", which was broadcast near the end of that season, on August 3, 1958. Her final installment for 1957–1958, "The Piano", proved to be one of her more memorable scripts, a story about a delusional former Southern belle who dies defending her most "beloved" possession, an old cherry-wood piano. Once again, Clark received no on-air credit for that episode. During that season, she also began to receive consistently on-air credits for her writing. She received closing credits too for the 35 scripts she provided over the two remaining seasons of the radio version of Gunsmoke. Her script "Doc's Visitor", which aired on June 11, 1961, was the series' last "freshly written" episode. A rebroadcast of John Meston's 1956 episode "Letter of the Law" aired the following week to end the radio series' nine-year run. In the four seasons she wrote for Gunsmoke on CBS Radio, Clark furnished 77 scripts or almost 20 percent of the series' total catalog of 413 episodes. That individual total is only surpassed by the prodigious output of Gunsmoke co-creator John Meston, who is credited with writing 183 radio episodes, and by the 81 scripts done by Les Crutchfield. Her writings, as do other early scripts in the series, address directly or within the bounds of the network's contemporary standards and practices such sensitive issues as domestic violence, mental illness, filicide, rape, prostitution, racial and cultural discrimination, and alcoholism.

Gunsmoke on television As was common practice with Gunsmoke episodes written by CBS writers, many of Clark's radio scripts were later adapted for replay on the televised version of the series. Twenty-one of her stories were aired by CBS Television between 1959 and 1963. Nineteen of those were adapted to the "small screen" by the series' co-creator John Meston. For his 30-minute black-and-white teleplays based on Clark's writing and for one of his 60-minute episodes developed from her work, he adjusted some original dialogue and specified needs for set content, surrounding landscapes, livestock, clothing and firearms for cast, and other details required for stories now being presented in a visual format. The two stories by Clark not adapted by Meston—"The Summons" (1962) and "The Cousin" (1963)—were done by her colleague and friend Katherine Hite after the expansion of Gunsmoke's episodes to an hour at the start of televised series' seventh season. Clark's final script for Gunsmoke is "Quint's Indian", which features Burt Reynolds as Quint. That episode, the one adapted by Meston, premiered the month after Clark's death in 1963.

Other radio and television work In the late 1950s and into the 1960s, Clark wrote and adapted a few radio scripts and teleplays for CBS series other than Gunsmoke. For the network's radio version of Have Gun—Will Travel, she is credited with adapting Harry Julian Fink's script "Death of a Young Gunfighter" for its original broadcast on March 15, 1959. On television she is also credited as the writer of "Halliday's Club", an episode of the short-lived series Klondike. That installment aired on NBC in December 1960.

Death In February 1963, Marian Clark died of cancer at age 50 in Santa Monica, California.

Clark's writing credits for Gunsmoke The following list of radio and television episodes written by Clark is compiled from Gunsmoke: A Complete History and Analysis of the Legendary Broadcast Series (1990). As done with many of the scripts authored by John Meston, Norman Macdonnell, Les Crutchfield, John Dunkel, Katherine Hite, and other writers for Gunsmoke, 18 of Clark's radio scripts were later adapted and replayed as 30-minute episodes on the televised version of the series.

Gunsmoke (radio), Season 6: 19571958 As previously noted, Clark received only one on-air credit for her first 14 Gunsmoke'' scripts broadcast on CBS Radio. Her credits (or lack thereof) throughout the radio series were determined by reviewing closing acknowledgments of the original broadcast recordings, which are generally available at online sharing services, including YouTube. Ep # Episode Title Credited Writer Airdate 282(1) "Jobe's Son" Marian Clark—not on air;Les Crutchfield insteadSeptember 1, 1957 287(6) "The Rooks" Marian Clark—not on air October 6, 1957 292(11) "Gunshy" Marian Clark—not on air November 10, 1957 295(14) "Jud's Woman" Marian Clark—not on air December 1, 1957 301(20) "Second Son" Marian Clark—not on air January 12, 1958 304(23) "Kitty's Killing" Marian Clark—not on air February 2, 1958 307(26) "The Surgery" Marian Clark—not on air February 23, 1958 314(33) "Livvie's Loss" Marian Clark—not on air April 13, 1958 319(38) "The Stallion" Marian Clark—not on air May 18, 1958 320(39) "Blue Horse" Marian Clark—not on air May 25, 1958 323(42) "Old Flame" Marian Clark—not on air June 15, 1958 326(45) "Chester's Choice" Marian Clark—not on air July 6, 1958 330(49) "Miguel's Daughter" Marian Clark—on air August 3, 1958 332(51) "The Piano" Marian Clark—not on air August 17, 1958

Gunsmoke (radio), Season 7: 19581959 Ep # Episode Title Credited Writer Airdate 336(2) "False Witness" Marian Clark—on air September 14, 1958 338(4) "Kitty's Rebellion" Marian Clark—not on air September 28, 1958 340(6) "Doc's Showdown" Marian Clark—on air October 12, 1958 343(9) "Old Man's Gold" Marian Clark—on air November 2, 1958 344(10) "Target: Chester" Marian Clark—on air November 9, 1958 346(12) "The Correspondent" Marian Clark—on air November 23, 1958 347(13) "Burning Wagon" Marian Clark—on air November 30, 1958 349(15) "Kitty's Injury" Marian Clark—on air December 14, 1958 357(24) "Groat's Grudge" Marian Clark—on air February 8, 1959 358(25) "Body Snatch" Marian Clark—on air February 15, 1959 359(26) "Sarah's Search" Marian Clark—on air February 22, 1959 360(27) "Big Tom" Marian Clark—on air March 1, 1959 364(31) "Laurie's Suitor" Marian Clark—on air March 29, 1959 366(33) "Chester's Mistake" Marian Clark—on air April 12, 1959 367(34) "Third Son" Marian Clark—on air April 19, 1959 368(35) "The Badge" Marian Clark—on air April 26, 1959 369(36) "Unwanted Deputy" Marian Clark—on air May 3, 1959 370(37) "Dowager's Visit" Marian Clark—on air May 10, 1959 371(38) "Scared Boy" Marian Clark—on air May 17, 1959 373(40) "The Deserter" Marian Clark—on air May 31, 1959 374(41) "Doc's Indians" Marian Clark—on air June 7, 1959 375(42) "Kitty's Kidnap" Marian Clark—on air June 14, 1959 378(45) "Emma's Departure" Marian Clark—on air July 5, 1959 379(46) "Friend's Payoff" Marian Clark—on air July 12, 1959 380(47) "Second Arrest" Marian Clark—on air July 19, 1959 381(48) "Old Beller" Marian Clark—on air July 26, 1959 384(51) "Pokey Pete" Marian Clark—on air August 16, 1959 386(53) "Shooting Stopover" Marian Clark—on air August 30, 1959

Gunsmoke (radio), Season 8: 19591960 Ep # Title Credited Writer Airdate 387(1) "Matt's Decision" Marian Clark—on air September 6, 1959 390(4) "Personal Justice" Marian Clark—on air September 27, 1959 392(6) "Kitty's Quandary" Marian Clark—on air October 11, 1959 394(8) "Old Gunfighter" Marian Clark—on air October 25, 1959 399(13) "Hard Lesson" Marian Clark—on air November 29, 1959 401(15) "Don Mateo" Marian Clark—on air December 13, 1959 405(19) "Luke's Law" Marian Clark—on air January 10, 1960 406(20) "Fiery Arrest" Marian Clark—on air January 17, 1960 409(23) "Delia's Father" Marian Clark—on air February 7, 1960 410(24) "Distant Drummer" Marian Clark—on air February 14, 1960 412(26) "Prescribed Killing" Marian Clark—on air February 28, 1960 414(28) "Unloaded Gun" Marian Clark—on air March 13, 1960 416(30) "Indian Baby" Marian Clark—on air March 27, 1960 418(32) "Dave's Lesson" Marian Clark—on air April 10, 1960 420(34) "Stage Snatch" Marian Clark—on air April 24, 1960 422(36) "Wrong Man" Marian Clark—on air May 8, 1960 423(37) "Tall Trapper" Marian Clark—on air May 15, 1960 427(41) "Kitty Accused" Marian Clark—on air June 12, 1960 429(43) "Line Trouble" Marian Clark—on air June 26, 1960 431(45) "Reluctant Violence" Marian Clark—on air July 10, 1960 434(48) "Stage Smash" Marian Clark—on air July 31, 1960 436(50) "The Noose" Marian Clark—on air August 14, 1960 437(51) "Dangerous Bath" Marian Clark—on air August 21, 1960

Gunsmoke (radio), Season 9: 1960–1961 Ep # Episode Title Credited Writer Airdate 441(3) "Two Mothers" Marian Clark—on air September 18, 1960 443(5) "The Big Itch" Marian Clark—on air October 2, 1960 446(8) "Newsma'am" Marian Clark—on air October 23, 1960 448(10) "Jedro's Woman" Marian Clark—on air November 6, 1960 450(12) "The Professor" Marian Clark—on air November 20, 1960 452(14) "Kitty's Good Neighboring" Marian Clark—on air December 4, 1960 454(16) "Hero's Departure" Marian Clark—on air December 18, 1960 464(26) "Joe Sleet" Marian Clark—on air February 26, 1961 470(32) "Hangman's Mistake" Marian Clark—on air April 9, 1961 474(36) "Ma's Justice" Marian Clark—on air May 7, 1961 476(38) "Chester's Rendezvous" Marian Clark—on air May 21, 1961 479(41) "Doc's Visitor" Marian Clark—on air June 11, 1961

Gunsmoke (television), Season 4: 1958–1959 A total of 21 stories written by Clark were adapted as teleplays during seasons 4 through 8. John Meston developed 19 of the teleplays from her works, and Katherine Hite transformed her other two stories into teleplays. Neither of Hite's teleplays, which aired as one-hour episodes in 1962 and 1963, nor Meston's one-hour adaptation of Clark's story "Quint's Indian" in 1963 had been broadcast previously as shorter episodes in the radio series’ half-hour format. Ep # Episode Title Credited Writer Airdate 139(22) "Kitty's Rebellion" Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)February 7, 1959 155(38) "Blue Horse" Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)June 6, 1959

Gunsmoke (television), Season 5: 1959–1960 Ep # Episode Title Credited Writer Airdate 158(2) "Kitty's Injury" Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)September 19, 1959 168(12) "Miguel's Daughter" Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)November 28, 1959 170(14) "False Witness" Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)December 12, 1959 173(17) "Groat's Grudge"Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)January 2, 1960 174(18) "Big Tom"Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)January 9, 1960 180(24) "Kitty's Killing"Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)February 20, 1960 182(26) "Unwanted Deputy"Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)March 5, 1960 193(37) "Old Flame"Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)May 28, 1960 182(26) "The Deserter"Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)June 4, 1960

Gunsmoke (television), Season 6: 1960–1961 Ep # Episode Title Credited Writer Airdate 196(1) "Friend's Pay-Off" Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)September 3, 1960 200(5) "Shooting Stopover" Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)October 8, 1960 202(7) "Don Matteo"Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)October 22, 1960 204(9) "The Badge"Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)November 12, 1960 205(10) "Distant Drummer"Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)November 19, 1960 213(18) "Unloaded Gun"Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)January 14, 1961 214(19) "Tall Trapper"Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)January 21, 1961

Gunsmoke (television, one-hour episodes), Season 7: 1961–1962 Ep # Episode Title Credited Writer Airdate 262(29) "The Summons"Marian Clark (story)Kathleen Hite (teleplay)April 21, 1962

Gunsmoke (television, one-hour episodes), Season 8: 1962–1963 Ep # Episode Title Credited Writer Airdate 288(21) "The Cousin"Marian Clark (story)Kathleen Hite (teleplay)February 2, 1963 288(21) "Quint's Indian"Marian Clark (story)John Meston (teleplay)March 2, 1963