Parley Baer

PARLEY BAER

   Good or bad, there is one word that describes
Parley Baer's voice and tone perfectly,
and that word is... bleat.
That was its sound when he was being natural,
such as when he settled down to playing Chester
in nearly 500 episodes of Gunsmoke.
And when he settled down to old age and played
just about every mayor and town official on television.
   There were times when he solidified or lowered
or softened his voice--such as when he plays a guilty judge
in the Have Gun-Will Travel episode 'Wedding Day'--
and the effect was to make his character and him
deeper, more intelligent, more substantial.
   But as with most radio actors,
Parley Baer was at his most interesting
when he was playing little irregular roles
in programs such as Suspense, Escape, Romance, etc.
Indeed, the trick to really enjoying able actors
such as Parley Baer and William Conrad,
is to finally go beyond their regular roles
and find these gems of varied performances.
   It was in these almost countless radio shows
of the 1940s and 1950s, where some actors skipped nuance
and simply resorted to affecting accents,
that Baer showed there was so much more to acting.

Parley Baer and Peggy Webber pull off perfect performances
in the February 17, 1950 Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar episode
about Mr. and Mrs. Arbuthnel Trump,
an old couple who intend to commit suicide
so the insurance money can be used to re-people the world via snakes
after a cataclysm.
(Fans of Peggy Webber already know she excelled
in old lady characters from roles such as Lady May
in the Have Gun-Will Travel episode 'Bad Bert.')
Watch out for the in-joke when Mr. Trump refers to his reptilian plan: "According to the Meston theory as set down in 1903."