Juvenile Records

          There were four instances during the nine years 
of radio Gunsmoke when adult actor Richard Beals 
did not perform the boy voices.  



JOHNNY McGOVERN 
Jaliscoe                            May 10, 1952                                     3 
Quarter-Horse              March 28, 1953                               49 
Wild West                     July 18, 1953                                     65 

SAMMY OGG 
Indian White                 September 24, 1955                      180 



It wasn't quite as much of a stretch for McGovern and Ogg 
to do boy voices on radio Gunsmoke, 
because they were actually...  boys. 
Or close to being boys, anyway.  
Ogg was about 16 when he did Indian White.  

          On television, Sammy Ogg had a bit role as a delivery boy 
in a well written episode of Maverick called 'Day of Reckoning'; 
and had an excellent scene with Guy Madison at the beginning 
of the Wagon Train episode 'The Riley Gratton Story.'  

          In the radio version of Have Gun Will Travel, 
actor Joel Davis was cast as a boy in two episodes--  
'The Teacher' and 'Treasure Hunt.'  

          It is both insult and praise to the radio episodes 
'Yorky' and 'Indian White' that the tv adaptations were so disastrous, 
and shed much in the translation. 
          Both originals were excellent explorations 
of the emotional confusion experienced by children 
who had been been kidnapped by Indians; 
after having been brought up by the Indians as one of their own, 
each of the 'rescued' boys sees no signs of home in white society. 
          Alas, in the migration from radio to television, 
Indian White's Dennis Cullen was reduced to a brat and a punk. 
          Yorky's story degenerated into a 1950s teenage angst drama, 
and to make things worse, the casting agent chose a teenage actor 
who looked older. So much for the boy Yorky. 
          It is also quite telling of Peckinpah's mentality 
that in adapting Meston's thoughtful script to television, 
he felt the need to add...  baddies. 
          If you want writing with uncompromising complexity 
and acting with emotional depth, 
you must return to the source...  the radio originals.  



August 2, 2007  



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