Carnival Comes to Town

Bright lights glittered in the hot, dusty air. Blaring music blended with the shouts of scared and excited children as the rides dipped, hurled, swirled, bounced, jounced, and tilted them in all directions. Parents snapped pictures and guarded half-eaten snacks when the kiddos abandoned the food for yet another run down the big slide. The carnival had arrived!

As I surveyed the scene and accompanied my granddaughter on some of the gentler rides (thank goodness a friend came along and offered to take her on the scarier ones), an analogy came to my mind about how we live our lives. Okay, I guess that's the writer in me!

Those who simply exist on a daily basis are Ferris wheel folk. They sit safe and secure in a chair that gently escorts them to the top of the ride where they can gaze down on all that is going on around them. They watch everyone else having a good time on the midway, but there is no risk and no danger.

Then there are those people who like to fly a little. Enter the flying swings. Their surroundings pass by in a blur of color, sound, and motion as they embrace the wind on their cheeks and give in to the giddy uncertainty of dizziness.. The sensation of flying, almost a sense of weightlessness, takes over. They believe they can do almost anything and attack life like it is true!

Move on to one of the more daring rides, which I'm sure is identified by different names. Lovers of this one find themselves locked inside a cage, then rocketed away, not only in a giant circle, but as centrifugal force takes over, spun upside down. This one is for the people who let things happen to them, pleasant or unpleasant (sometimes the effect of this ride on the stomach is most unpleasant), and allow themselves to be swept into circumstances beyond their control with no way out.

The super slide is not for the faint of heart. Usually towering at a formidable height, it nevertheless affords some level of control. Those who ride can choose when to push off from the top. Once they launch themselves down the slippery groove, though, they are

challenged by bumps that threaten to unseat them as they sail through the air on their magic burlap carpet and coast to a gradual stop.

Sea Dragon riders start out with a continuous sway back and forth that rapidly increases in speed and lifts them to ever loftier heights. This one is for people who are look for ways to move up the ladder and enjoy the challenges when they get there. Yet, their feet stay rooted to the firmly on the floor.

How about the house of mirrors. This non-threatening attraction is comparable to those who travel the mazes of life never quite sure where they are going. In their attempt to seek a way out, they encounter the one thing that inhibits their progress - themselves!

Whether you spend your time on the rides or sitting on a bench stuffing your face with nachos and funnel cake,

there is something for everyone at the carnival.

Which ride represents the way you lead your life?

Thanks for reading my blog!

RIP James Arness

It was a little over two years ago that I entered a post on this blog expressing my excitement over the news that I had won a prize in James Arness' birthday poetry contest. He sent me a beautiful autographed photo from his web site which I still treasure along with the others I have accumulated over the years.

Today, I heard the sad news that, a few short days after his 88th birthday, Jim passed away in his sleep at his home in California.

I won't bore my readers with a history of Jim's life because you can go online and find it. Rather, I will share with you my thoughts about Jim Arness and Gunsmoke as told in a speech I delivered at Toastmasters about seven years ago:

WILL THE REAL SURVIVOR PLEASE TAKE A BOW

Survivor – a weekly 60 min TV show, classified as a reality show, in which contestants use every ounce of energy to demoralize, undermine, and thwart other competitors in order to win a million dollar prize.

The show attracts hundreds of thousands of fans who eagerly anticipate the events that occur from week to week as the competition becomes more brutal, the tension overwhelming, and the process of elimination winds down to that final winner.

In all the years of TV viewing I have enjoyed: the dramas, the sitcoms, the mystery movies, the mini-series, the nighttime soap operas like “Dallas”, one show stands out as a survivor, in my mind, above and beyond all others.

This show is the legendary “Gunsmoke”. An adult TV western that made its debut on Sept 10, 1955 with an impressive introduction by western super star John Wayne, it was the first of its kind. The success of “Gunsmoke” sparked the airing of 30 westerns simultaneously on prime time and outlasted all these others with its epic 20 yr. run. It holds the record as the longest running drama in the history of television with continuing characters.

Unlike today’s popular reality show, the story lines on Gunsmoke promoted respect for our fellow man, downplayed the value of material wealth, esteemed human life, and portrayed a world where justice prevails and evil loses its destructive power.

The main character, played by 6’7” James Arness, portrayed US Marshal Matt Dillon, a lawman who maintained justice at all costs in the frontier cowtown of 1873 Dodge City, Kansas. Amanda Blake played the alluring Kitty Russell, a saloon owner by trade, yet respected as a shrewd but honest businesswoman. Milburn Stone appeared as Doc Adams, a feisty, often grumpy, yet compassionate sawbones who spent long hours caring for the sick, the wounded, and the ailing throughout an area that encompassed not only the town of Dodge, but all of Ford County and beyond.

Matt Dillon, of course, as in any good western, had his sidekicks. First to fill that role was Dennis Weaver, who played the lovable Chester Goode, a docile yet loyal man who sported a limp during the nine years he remained with the show. Next came hillbilly Festus Haggan, who, despite his lack of education, was much smarter than he appeared. This part was played by Bent County’s own Ken Curtis. Those in Las Animas who were close to Ken claim that if you had met Ken Curtis, you had met Festus Haggan. Buck Taylor joined the cast in 1967 as the versatile Newly O’Brien, a gunsmith by trade who also had a smattering of law and medical education in his background. He fit in nicely as an extra deputy when the need arose in Dodge City.

These characters blended to form a series of scenarios that gave the TV viewer his fill of drama, humor, suspense, adventure, violence, romance, and always, a warm feeling that all is right with the world.

Gunsmoke episodes were dramatized, of course, yet, the writers worked hard to make the scripts, the scenes, the events as authentic as possible. They dealt with situations pertinent to the time period: land and water rights, cattle barons versus squatters, pestilence, Indian hostility, compulsory education, vigilante law. Yet, among the 635 aired episodes of Gunsmoke were issues that still concern us today: prejudice, violence, robbery, rape, murder, child abuse, government corruption.

Although not all Gunsmoke episodes closed with a happy ending, they conveyed the message that in the end, the law prevails - man’s law and God’s law.

Almost thirty years after the last show was filmed and aired, reruns of Gunsmoke are available on TV stations in every part of the United States and in other countries as well. The Internet boasts at least one message board containing over five thousand messages that address virtually every aspect of the show, from a complete discussion of every single episode, every character, every actor who ever made a guest appearance, to the writers, the directors, and the producers. Known as the “The Delphi Gunsmoke Gang”, several of us fans have been to LA, most of us twice, to meet and spend time with Jim Arness in person. Many of us have had the opportunity to visit with Buck Taylor at western events across the country on numerous occasions.

Gunsmoke fans will be celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the show’s inception in Sept of next year. From the Festival of the West in Scotsdale, Arizona to the Western Legends Roundup in Kanab, Utah, and at several other events throughout the country, Gunsmoke will be the focus of attention.

A survivor? I’d say so. I can’t help but wonder, as I listen to people discuss the television show “Survivor”, just how many people, fifty years from now, will recall even one of the characters who starred in it.

I first saw Jim on our black and white TV at the age of four when he appeared for the first time in the role of Marshal Matt Dillon. I saw him for the first time in person as he filmed "How The West Was Won" at Bent's Old Fort in the 1970's. In 2001, I went to LA and attended his the booksigning of his autobiography. 2003 found me in LA again as I celebrated his 80th birthday. I got pictures with him and even got to give him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek! Just yesterday, my husband and I watched one of the post-Gunsmoke movies on TV. All my life, this man has been a hero to be admired, respected, and loved.

A dear friend of mine was one of the most avid Gunsmoke fans I ever knew. She had a whole room filled with memorabilia dedicated to the show. We called her "Brooklyn" because she was from Brooklyn, and the moment she opened her mouth, everyone knew it. She developed cancer a few years back.

I will always remember the story she related to me about Jim Arness. She was downstairs giving piano lessons when her daughter told her she had a phone call. When she asked who it was, her daughter told her it was James Arness on the phone. She said negotiating the stairs had become quite a chore for her due to her illness, but when she heard who was on the end of the line, she bounded up those stairs in about two leaps. Jim had called to tell her he was sorry to hear about her cancer and he hoped the treatments would prove effective. She said she was so excited that all she could of to say was, "I love you, Jim!" over and over. He told her he loved her too.

When I heard the sad news of Jim's death today, I pictured "Brooklyn" giving Jim a huge welcome hug as he entered Heaven's gates. Jim was the last member of the original cast, so I pray he is now celebrating with his close friends and those fans who have left this world. RIP James Arness!

Thanks for reading my blog.