RICHARD BEALS
RADIO TOWER
If radio Gunsmoke is a big interest in your life,
you will be largely disappointed to discover
that it was a very small factor
in Richard Beals' high-reaching and uplifting life.
Not counting the autobiographies of a few tv Gunsmoke actors,
there is little to read for the radio Gunsmoke fan,
once you get beyond the Barabas book.
So when you find out that Richard Beals actually wrote
an autobiography called Think Big in 1992,
you may jump up eight feet high.
Alas, Gunsmoke didn't even rate half a page in his 167-page book.
It barely got three-and-three-quarters inches of print,
not enough to achieve a ratio to Beals' four-and-a-half feet.
The mention of the show is mostly obligatory,
and Norman Macdonnell's long name
is misspelled at both ends.
Nonetheless, our admiration for Richard Beals is undiminished.
It may be that so giant are his accomplishments,
so extensive his radio resumé,
that from where he's standing, Gunsmoke is a tiny anthill.
From our diminutive point of view,
Richard Beals looms large. Extra large.
Richard Beals was there at the beginning,
playing the title character in Gunsmoke's first episode 'Billy the Kid,'
a young and normal-sounding but already murderous boy.
To those who have never heard radio Gunsmoke,
it must be explained that for a long time, no matter how old
Richard Beals was, he sounded more like a boy
than any boy on the planet.
He was almost 25 when Gunsmoke started on April 26, 1952,
and 32 when he gave his last performance on it,
yet no real boy could have sounded more boyish than Beals.
Simply put, his was the quintessence of a boy's voice.
If you want to check out Richard Beals' wonderful work on Gunsmoke,
here are the episodes in which he appeared:
-Billy The Kid
-Ben Slade's Saloon
-The Mortgage
-I Don't Know
-The Buffalo Hunter (three productions)
-Yorky (two productions)
-The Barton Boy
-Lost Rifle
-Hound Dog
-Hot Horse Hyatt
-Tried It, Didn't Like It
-The Boots
-Scared Boy
-Friend's Payoff
-Pokey Pete
-The Mortgage
-Old Gunfighter
-Unloaded Gun
-Kitty Accused
-Stage Smash
Seven years after his first Gunsmoke episode in 1952,
Beals was still as convincing as a very young boy
in a Have Gun-Will Travel episode called 'Ranse Carnival.'
September 6, 2005
Copyright © 2006-2013 E. A. Villafranca, Jr.
All Rights Reserved
If radio Gunsmoke is a big interest in your life,
you will be largely disappointed to discover
that it was a very small factor
in Richard Beals' high-reaching and uplifting life.
Not counting the autobiographies of a few tv Gunsmoke actors,
there is little to read for the radio Gunsmoke fan,
once you get beyond the Barabas book.
So when you find out that Richard Beals actually wrote
an autobiography called Think Big in 1992,
you may jump up eight feet high.
Alas, Gunsmoke didn't even rate half a page in his 167-page book.
It barely got three-and-three-quarters inches of print,
not enough to achieve a ratio to Beals' four-and-a-half feet.
The mention of the show is mostly obligatory,
and Norman Macdonnell's long name
is misspelled at both ends.
Nonetheless, our admiration for Richard Beals is undiminished.
It may be that so giant are his accomplishments,
so extensive his radio resumé,
that from where he's standing, Gunsmoke is a tiny anthill.
From our diminutive point of view,
Richard Beals looms large. Extra large.
Richard Beals was there at the beginning,
playing the title character in Gunsmoke's first episode 'Billy the Kid,'
a young and normal-sounding but already murderous boy.
To those who have never heard radio Gunsmoke,
it must be explained that for a long time, no matter how old
Richard Beals was, he sounded more like a boy
than any boy on the planet.
He was almost 25 when Gunsmoke started on April 26, 1952,
and 32 when he gave his last performance on it,
yet no real boy could have sounded more boyish than Beals.
Simply put, his was the quintessence of a boy's voice.
If you want to check out Richard Beals' wonderful work on Gunsmoke,
here are the episodes in which he appeared:
-Billy The Kid
-Ben Slade's Saloon
-The Mortgage
-I Don't Know
-The Buffalo Hunter (three productions)
-Yorky (two productions)
-The Barton Boy
-Lost Rifle
-Hound Dog
-Hot Horse Hyatt
-Tried It, Didn't Like It
-The Boots
-Scared Boy
-Friend's Payoff
-Pokey Pete
-The Mortgage
-Old Gunfighter
-Unloaded Gun
-Kitty Accused
-Stage Smash
Seven years after his first Gunsmoke episode in 1952,
Beals was still as convincing as a very young boy
in a Have Gun-Will Travel episode called 'Ranse Carnival.'
September 6, 2005
Copyright © 2006-2013 E. A. Villafranca, Jr.
All Rights Reserved
