Emotions ran high as JamesArness and Amanda Blake-among others-came back tomake ‘Gunsmoke: Return toDodge’By Bill O’HallarenCBS is scheduled to air “Gunsmoke:Return to Dodge” as a TV-movie on Sept.26 at 8 P.M. (ET). See local listings fortime and channel in your area.

It is early morning in a dusty warehousein Calgary, Alberta, that has been con-verted to a TV sound stage. A tall manin buckskin and a red-haired woman ina long, bustled green gown linger out-

side the swinging saloon doors, out ofcamera range. They hear her cue from

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inside, the two embrace tightly, then shewalks in. It’s supposed to be a auietentrance but inside, some 40 actors ‘andextras break into spontaneous applauseand whistles. Miss Kitty has come backto the Lona Branch

Outside, the tall man, James Arnessbeams and shakes his head in deliahtat Amanda Blake’s reception. “Doesn'tshe look incredible?” he whispers to areporter. Indeed, the 56-year-old Blakedoes look marvelous, and the 64-year-oldArness appears fit and rugged and everyinch a commanding Matt Dillon. Aboveall, he looks happy.

“I’ve been with Jim for 15 years,” ex-plains producer John Mantley, “and I’venever seen him so excited.” Buck Taylor,who began on Gunsmoke 20 years agoas Newly, and now plays the marshal

of Dodge City, reports, “Jim came outgrinning the first morning, and it hasn’tstopped.”

The company doing this TV-movie hasbeen on mountain locations for nearlythree weeks, but this is the first morningon the “Gunsmoke” set and the first timethe actors have seen the Canadian DodgeCity. It’s also Blake’s first day at workand the first time she’s performed withArness in 13 years. “When I came inthis morning I went straight to the LongBranch, alone, and sat down. I didn’tknow what to expect. But it was so right,so perfect. And then I began to cry. . . .‘I

A bit later Arness muses, “WhenArnanda was standing in that doorway,it was suddenly like going back to the1950s when we started .32 years ago. where did it all go?” A long pause,then, “It’s a big day here.”

The story has Matt, now retired as mar-shal, living alone as a trapper in theRockies, his sunset years enlivened bya series of visits from revenge-seekingoutlaws. Now Mannon, the most viciousand cunning of them all, has been re-leased from prison, and guess who heintends to gun down? Mannon is playedbv Steve Forrest, and the story is builtaround a 1969 episode titled "Mannon",also starring Forrest.

Mounting a new Gunsmoke wasn’t easy.Mantley explains, “At one point CBS com-missioned a script without asking Mr.Arness if he would be interested, or talk-ing to me. They finally got around tothat. Our target air date was Novemberof ‘85 but the first script was somethingof a disaster. For starters, one of thesupporting roles, for a character namedJake Flagg, was better than Dillon’s Jimcalled me and said, ‘If you really wantme to do this, all right, but I'll have toplay Jake Flagg’.”

The script problems weren’t licked toMantley’s satisfaction until shortly beforeshooting started, and meantime there wasthe problem of rounding up those familiarGunsmoke faces. “I called DennisWeaver’s agent and he said Denniswouldn’t be available.”TV GUIDE SEPTEMBER 26. 1987

Weaver said, through a spokesman,that there were discussions about hisappearing, “but other projects came alongand I was unavailable.” The other proj-ects included Buck James, Weaver’s newfall series for ABC.

Mantley remembers Weaver’s Gun-smoke character, Chester, as “one of thegreat characters of TV. Dennis won anEmmy for it-Jim and Amanda never wonan Emmy-but Dennis just walked away.Actually Dennis left Gunsmoke three timesand came back twice. After the thirdtime, he was replaced with Festus [KenCurtis].” Mantley says that when he tookover as producer, “Dennis’s agent calledasking if he could come back as a guest,but I said no.” Weaver’s spokesman de-clined to comment on this point.

Curtis would have returned, accordingto Mantley, except for money. “He wantedtwice what Amanda is getting. I said,‘Ken, I can’t do that.’ He said, ‘Then I’mnot coming.’ And that’s how it ended.”

One who returned happily is Fran Ryan,the sturdy lady who replaced Blake asproprietress of the Long Branch in Gun-smoke’s final year. “There’d always beenrumors Gunsmoke would be back, butnoth ing seemed to happen. Then myagent phoned and in a voice half anoctave higher than usual said JohnMantley is going to call. I started to cry.”Ryan, recently seen on CBS’s The Wizard,explains, “Every actor knows Gunsmokesare done with such love and care.”

Blake’s initial scene in the Long Branchdoesn’t go well, mainly because her voicekeeps choking. Finally Ryan stops theaction, wraps a protective arm aroundher and asks, “What’s the matter, honey?”Blake chokes out one word. . . “Doc.” Re-ferring to the late Milburn Stone, whoplayed Doc Adams.

Later in her dressing room, she ex-plains, “Milburn would just be in his gloryhere. He was not only Doc but our techni-cal adviser. He would straighten us out,even if we didn’t need straightening out.I miss him so much.”

Mantley “never considered having anew Doc. Milburn gave such a bril- +

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liant performance and we all loved himso deeply that I didn’t think we shouldreplace him,” The script mentions thatthere is a new Doc in Dodge City buthe is never seen.

Mantley received “ugly phone calls”from people objecting to the show beingfilmed in Canada, and though he is Ca-nadian born and served in the RoyalCanadian Air Force, “no one feels worseabout it than I do. But economics droveus here. This Gunsmoke is the mostexpensive two-hour show CBS has everproduced-835 mi l l ion . We cou ldn ’ t doit in the States for less than $4.2-m i l l i o n . ”

Director Vincent McEveety is “amazedat the quality and professionalism of theCanadian crew, and Calgary is a beauti-ful place to work, but it’s sad we aren’tdoing it at home.”

McEveety directed 35 of the hour-longGunsmokes: a total exceeded by hisbrother Bernard, who did 38. Buck Taylorrecalls, “Vince directed my screen test

for Gunsmoke 20 years ago.”Arness, at 6-feet-6, though it seems

more, is the tallest man on the set, closelyfollowed by his longtime double and stand-in, Ben Bates. Bates, Mantley notes, barelysurvived his first day on Gunsmoke.

“J im has th is p ronounced l imp, theresult of machine-gun fire riddling hisleg at Anzio [in World War II]. It gotworse, and when we showed him limp-ing, the audience complained, demand-ing he be given medical attention. So Idecided to use this big fellow Bates todo Jim’s walking. I told Ben to practiceso from the rear he would look like Jim.After a couple of weeks he said he wasready, the director called for action andBen started across the street, limpingjust like Jim. He had got the limp downperfect. I screamed, ‘Jeeez, Ben, we hiredyou not to limp!“’

The most pampered member of thecast is Cisco, a shaggy little white dogbelonging to camera operator CyrusBlock. Cisco is trained to stay out of the

camera’s vision but if trapped will scrunchdown and put his paws over his eyes.

Blake, the dedicated animal lover, an-nounces she intends to kidnap Ciscoand spirit him back to her new homein Calabasas, near Los Angeles. Her yearsin Phoenix, where she started her ownzoo, ended in divorce, “and now I’m backin La La Land,” where she shares herhome with “a whole bunch of cats anddogs and birds.” She also plans to addllamas. “In time I see hundreds of acresand hundreds of llamas.”

She has completely recovered from themouth cancer she suffered about 11 yearsago and has been active in cheeringother victims. And she has kept in touchwith her Gunsmoke pals. “I see Jim aboutonce a year and Dennis and Buck. Wekeep track of one another.”

Arness has lived for years inBrentwood, Cal., and is probably its mostreclusive celebrity. He brought his wifeand mother-in-law to the Canadianlocation.

Easing slowly into a director’s chair,Arness reflects on the show that madehim rich and famous and entertained acoup le o f genera t ions . “ G u n s m o k e wassomething whose time had come. Whatmade the difference was they didn’t tryto do an entertainment fictionalized West-ern. They really tried like hell to makeit hot and dry and dusty, and peoplewere ready for it.”

There were feuds between the peoplewho created the original radio Gunsmokeand those who brought it to TV, but Arnesswill have none of that. “The radio versiongot us off to a great start. The characterswere all there for us, honed and tunedby those brilliant writers.”

He still doesn’t care for roles that callfor a suit and tie. “It’s more fun to goback a hundred years or so. Believe me,this is better than slamming car doors.”Of this TV-movie: “I like it better everyday, and every day I feel better aboutit. But we’ll still have to wait and seewhat the people think.” @