Marian Clark
Born
Marian Alice Clark

(1912-06-25)June 25, 1912[1][2]
DiedFebruary 26, 1963(1963-02-26) (aged 50)
Occupation(s)Scriptwriter, news writer
Years active1940s–1962

Marian Clark (born Marian Alice Clark; June 25, 1912  February 26, 1963) was an American scriptwriter for radio and television series during the 1950s and early 1960s, most notably for the long-running, iconic Western series Gunsmoke, which aired on CBS Radio from 1952 to 1961 and on CBS Television for two decades. Clark ranks among the most prolific writers in the history of Gunsmoke; and prior to her work on that series, she was also one of the first women in American radio to be employed full time as a news writer for a major regional station and affiliate of a national broadcasting network.[3]

Early life

Marian Clark was born in Alameda County, California, in 1912 and was the eldest of three children of Laura Lee (née Bransford) and Albert Lee Clark.[4][lower-alpha 1] Her father, a native of Missouri, had moved to California by 1910 and was working that year as a journalist in San Francisco.[5] Later, Albert moved the short distance to Berkeley, where in 1920 he was serving as city editor of the local newspaper, a position that may have influenced Marian early in life and prompted her later as a young woman to venture into radio journalism as a profession.[6][lower-alpha 2] By 1930, however, her father had relocated the entire family to Oakland; and he had changed careers, working there as an "advertising man" in real estate.[4]

Radio news writer

Little is known about Clark's personal or professional life between the 1930 federal census and late 1942, when she enrolled in a 10-week training workshop offered by radio station KNX in Los Angeles.[7] Due to the shortage of "manpower" on the home front in the United States during World War II, new job opportunities were opening to women in a wide variety of fields, including radio broadcasting. Station KNX in Los Angeles provided such opportunities through its "Hollywood Workshop", which offered training and advancement for "girl staff members" at KNX. The station's department heads taught classes to prepare workshop participants for assorted positions available in radio, such as news writers, transcription operators, mailroom clerks, and publicity managers.[7]

In its February 22, 1943 issue, the trade magazine Broadcasting recognized Clark as one of the recent graduates of KNX's Hollywood Workshop.[7] Since the workshop was 10 weeks in length and available only to staff members, Clark must have been working at KNX by at least the final months of 1942. Upon graduation, she and two other female employees were assigned to the station's news bureau as "junior writers". Those assignments were apparently probationary, for Clark was the only writer of the three who became a full-time writer at KNX and distinguished herself as "the first woman member in [the] station's news department", working there for the duration of World War II.[3]

Gunsmoke on radio

In 1938, KNX Los Angeles had begun serving as an affiliate of CBS Radio and also the broadcast center of that national network's West Coast or "Hollywood" programming.[8][lower-alpha 3] KNX employees therefore had frequent, if not daily, access to CBS regular staff and to the network's operations. Marian Clark's work as a writer in KNX's news department during World War II provided her interaction as well with CBS Radio colleagues. One of them, a secretary for the network, was Kathleen Hite, whom Clark met in 1943.[9]

After the war Hite advanced professionally at CBS Los Angeles and joined the network's production staff, and after several years she became a scriptwriter.[10] She subsequently encouraged Clark to put her own writing talents and radio experience to better use by drafting potential stories and proposing scripts to CBS Radio's nationally broadcast programs. By then, by the early 1950s, Clark had become a paraplegic and required the use of a wheelchair for reasons not disclosed in currently available documentation.[9] Hite, in addition to recognizing Clark's potential, believed some new professional challenges would serve as a form of therapy for her friend and might benefit her health.[11] Once she had given Clark some basic instruction on scriptwriting, Hite introduced her to Norman Macdonnell, a producer and director for popular CBS Radio productions, such as Suspense, Doorway to Life, Escape, and a weekly series he and writer John Meston had recently developed.[12] Their new "adult Western", Gunsmoke, consisted of Old West stories set in the 1870s in southwestern Kansas, principally centered in the rowdy, "hard-drinking" cattle town of Dodge City.[13] First aired on CBS Radio in 1952, Gunsmoke quickly became a highly rated, critically acclaimed series that was broadcast not only on radio but also on television by 1955.

Following her introduction to Macdonnell, Clark began working for CBS, although her early years working as a writer for the network are not fully documented like the stories and scripts she would later create for Gunsmoke. By 1957, however, the quality of her previous work had earned her assignments as a contributing writer for the very popular Western. According to the authoritative 1990 reference Gunsmoke: A Complete History and Analysis of the Legendary Broadcast Series by SuzAnne and Gabor Barabas, Clark's first script, "Jobe's Son", aired as the premiere episode for the radio series' sixth season on Sunday, September 1, 1957.[14] In addition to Gunsmoke's regular cast of voice actors—William Conrad, Parley Baer, Howard McNear, and Georgia Ellis—that episode features Vic Perrin and John Dehner as guest stars in a story about a wayward son's clash with his father.

In the 1957 broadcast of "Jobe's Son", Clark receives no mention in the episode's closing voice credits; instead, her CBS colleague Les Crutchfield is credited for having "specially written" the installment, with John Meston also being mentioned for providing "editorial supervision". Despite the absence of any on-air credit for Clark, CBS and producer Macdonnell were apparently impressed with her work, for the network broadcast 13 more of her scripts in the 1957–1958 season. She finally received her first on-air credit for "Miguel's Daughter", which was broadcast near the end of that season, on August 3, 1958.[15][16] Her final installment for 1957–1958, "The Piano", proved to be one of her more memorable scripts, a story about a delusional former Southern belle who dies defending her most "beloved" possession, an old cherry-wood piano.[17][18] Once again, Clark received no on-air credit for that episode.[18]

The next year, in the radio series' seventh season, Clark became Gunsmoke's primary script contributor, furnishing over half the stories—28 of 53 episodes—broadcast between September 1958 and the end of August 1959.[19] During that season, she also began to receive consistently on-air credits for her writing. She received closing credits too for the 35 scripts she provided over the two remaining seasons of the radio version of Gunsmoke. Her script "Doc's Visitor", which aired on June 11, 1961, was the series' last "freshly written" episode.[20] A rebroadcast of John Meston's 1956 episode "Letter of the Law" aired the following week to end the radio series' nine-year run.[21] In the four seasons she wrote for Gunsmoke on CBS Radio, Clark furnished 77 scripts or almost 20 percent of the series' total catalog of 413 episodes.[22] That individual total is only surpassed by the prodigious output of Gunsmoke co-creator John Meston, who is credited with writing 183 radio episodes, and by the 81 scripts done by Les Crutchfield.[22]

With Hollywood productions of the "Old West" historically dominated by male characters, and in a 1950s television industry dominated by male writers, Clark proved to be a quick study in the Western genre, demonstrating a remarkable ability in her writing to identify with and credibly portray on paper the lives of cattle drovers, buffalo hunters, farmers, the displaced native people of Kansas, as well as the assorted inhabitants of Dodge City in the 1870s.[9] Her storylines for Gunsmoke are quite diverse thematically, although approximately one-quarter of her scripts focus to varying degree on women, dealing with their isolation and physical struggles on prairie homesteads and with the emotional conflicts they faced within the given social structure of the latter nineteenth century.[9] Beyond the usual barroom brawls, shootouts, and stagecoach robberies presented in Hollywood's traditional "Cowboy-and-Indian" features and serials, her scripts reflected Macdonnell and Meston's original intention to present Gunsmoke as an "adult Western".[23] Her writings, as do other early scripts in the series, address directly or within the bounds of the network's contemporary standards and practices such sensitive issues as domestic violence, mental illness, filicide, rape, prostitution, racial and cultural discrimination, and alcoholism.[24]

Gunsmoke on television

As was common practice with Gunsmoke episodes written by CBS writers, many of Clark's radio scripts were later adapted for replay on the televised version of the series. Twenty-one of her stories were aired by CBS Television between 1959 and 1963. Nineteen of those were adapted to the "small screen" by the series' co-creator John Meston. For his 30-minute black-and-white teleplays based on Clark's writing and for one of his 60-minute episodes developed from her work, he adjusted some original dialogue and specified needs for set content, surrounding landscapes, livestock, clothing and firearms for cast, and other details required for stories now being presented in a visual format. The two stories by Clark not adapted by Meston—"The Summons" (1962) and "The Cousin" (1963)—were done by her colleague and friend Katherine Hite after the expansion of Gunsmoke's episodes to an hour at the start of televised series' seventh season.[25] Clark's final script for Gunsmoke is "Quint's Indian", which features Burt Reynolds as Quint. That episode, the one adapted by Meston, premiered the month after Clark's death in 1963.[26]

Other radio and television work

In the late 1950s and into the 1960s, Clark wrote and adapted a few radio scripts and teleplays for CBS series other than Gunsmoke. For the network's radio version of Have Gun—Will Travel, she is credited with adapting Harry Julian Fink's script "Death of a Young Gunfighter" for its original broadcast on March 15, 1959.[27] On television she is also credited as the writer of "Halliday's Club", an episode of the short-lived series Klondike. That installment aired on NBC in December 1960.[28]

Death

In February 1963, Marian Clark died of cancer at age 50 in Santa Monica, California.[3][9] Her gravesite is located in Oak Hill Cemetery in Red Bluff, California, where her parents are also buried.[29]

Clark's writing credits for Gunsmoke

The following list of radio and television episodes written by Clark is compiled from Gunsmoke: A Complete History and Analysis of the Legendary Broadcast Series (1990).[24][lower-alpha 4] As done with many of the scripts authored by John Meston, Norman Macdonnell, Les Crutchfield, John Dunkel, Katherine Hite, and other writers for Gunsmoke, 18 of Clark's radio scripts were later adapted and replayed as 30-minute episodes on the televised version of the series.

Gunsmoke (radio), Season 6: 19571958

As previously noted, Clark received only one on-air credit for her first 14 Gunsmoke scripts broadcast on CBS Radio. Her credits (or lack thereof) throughout the radio series were determined by reviewing closing acknowledgments of the original broadcast recordings, which are generally available at online sharing services, including YouTube.

Ep #Episode TitleCredited WriterAirdate
282(1)"Jobe's Son"Marian Clark—not on air;
Les Crutchfield instead
September 1, 1957
287(6)"The Rooks"Marian Clark—not on airOctober 6, 1957
292(11)"Gunshy"Marian Clark—not on airNovember 10, 1957
295(14)"Jud's Woman"Marian Clark—not on airDecember 1, 1957
301(20)"Second Son"Marian Clark—not on airJanuary 12, 1958
304(23)"Kitty's Killing"Marian Clark—not on airFebruary 2, 1958
307(26)"The Surgery"Marian Clark—not on airFebruary 23, 1958
314(33)"Livvie's Loss"Marian Clark—not on airApril 13, 1958
319(38)"The Stallion"Marian Clark—not on airMay 18, 1958
320(39)"Blue Horse"Marian Clark—not on airMay 25, 1958
323(42)"Old Flame"Marian Clark—not on airJune 15, 1958
326(45)"Chester's Choice"Marian Clark—not on airJuly 6, 1958
330(49)"Miguel's Daughter"Marian Clark—on airAugust 3, 1958
332(51)"The Piano"Marian Clark—not on airAugust 17, 1958

Gunsmoke (radio), Season 7: 19581959

Ep #Episode TitleCredited WriterAirdate
336(2)"False Witness"Marian Clark—on airSeptember 14, 1958
338(4)"Kitty's Rebellion"Marian Clark—not on airSeptember 28, 1958
340(6)"Doc's Showdown"Marian Clark—on airOctober 12, 1958
343(9)"Old Man's Gold"Marian Clark—on airNovember 2, 1958
344(10)"Target: Chester"Marian Clark—on airNovember 9, 1958
346(12)"The Correspondent"Marian Clark—on airNovember 23, 1958
347(13)"Burning Wagon"Marian Clark—on airNovember 30, 1958
349(15)"Kitty's Injury"Marian Clark—on airDecember 14, 1958
357(24)"Groat's Grudge"Marian Clark—on airFebruary 8, 1959
358(25)"Body Snatch"Marian Clark—on airFebruary 15, 1959
359(26)"Sarah's Search"Marian Clark—on airFebruary 22, 1959
360(27)"Big Tom"Marian Clark—on airMarch 1, 1959
364(31)"Laurie's Suitor"Marian Clark—on airMarch 29, 1959
366(33)"Chester's Mistake"Marian Clark—on airApril 12, 1959
367(34)"Third Son"Marian Clark—on airApril 19, 1959
368(35)"The Badge"Marian Clark—on airApril 26, 1959
369(36)"Unwanted Deputy"Marian Clark—on airMay 3, 1959
370(37)"Dowager's Visit"Marian Clark—on airMay 10, 1959
371(38)"Scared Boy"Marian Clark—on airMay 17, 1959
373(40)"The Deserter"Marian Clark—on airMay 31, 1959
374(41)"Doc's Indians"Marian Clark—on airJune 7, 1959
375(42)"Kitty's Kidnap"Marian Clark—on airJune 14, 1959
378(45)"Emma's Departure"Marian Clark—on airJuly 5, 1959
379(46)"Friend's Payoff"Marian Clark—on airJuly 12, 1959
380(47)"Second Arrest"Marian Clark—on airJuly 19, 1959
381(48)"Old Beller"Marian Clark—on airJuly 26, 1959
384(51)"Pokey Pete"Marian Clark—on airAugust 16, 1959
386(53)"Shooting Stopover"Marian Clark—on airAugust 30, 1959

Gunsmoke (radio), Season 8: 19591960

Ep #TitleCredited WriterAirdate
387(1)"Matt's Decision"Marian Clark—on airSeptember 6, 1959
390(4)"Personal Justice"Marian Clark—on airSeptember 27, 1959
392(6)"Kitty's Quandary"Marian Clark—on airOctober 11, 1959
394(8)"Old Gunfighter"Marian Clark—on airOctober 25, 1959
399(13)"Hard Lesson"Marian Clark—on airNovember 29, 1959
401(15)"Don Mateo"Marian Clark—on airDecember 13, 1959
405(19)"Luke's Law"Marian Clark—on airJanuary 10, 1960
406(20)"Fiery Arrest"Marian Clark—on airJanuary 17, 1960
409(23)"Delia's Father"Marian Clark—on airFebruary 7, 1960
410(24)"Distant Drummer"Marian Clark—on airFebruary 14, 1960
412(26)"Prescribed Killing"Marian Clark—on airFebruary 28, 1960
414(28)"Unloaded Gun"Marian Clark—on airMarch 13, 1960
416(30)"Indian Baby"Marian Clark—on airMarch 27, 1960
418(32)"Dave's Lesson"Marian Clark—on airApril 10, 1960
420(34)"Stage Snatch"Marian Clark—on airApril 24, 1960
422(36)"Wrong Man"Marian Clark—on airMay 8, 1960
423(37)"Tall Trapper"Marian Clark—on airMay 15, 1960
427(41)"Kitty Accused"Marian Clark—on airJune 12, 1960
429(43)"Line Trouble"Marian Clark—on airJune 26, 1960
431(45)"Reluctant Violence"Marian Clark—on airJuly 10, 1960
434(48)"Stage Smash"Marian Clark—on airJuly 31, 1960
436(50)"The Noose"Marian Clark—on airAugust 14, 1960
437(51)"Dangerous Bath"Marian Clark—on airAugust 21, 1960

Gunsmoke (radio), Season 9: 1960–1961

Ep #Episode TitleCredited WriterAirdate
441(3)"Two Mothers"Marian Clark—on airSeptember 18, 1960
443(5)"The Big Itch"Marian Clark—on airOctober 2, 1960
446(8)"Newsma'am"Marian Clark—on airOctober 23, 1960
448(10)"Jedro's Woman"Marian Clark—on airNovember 6, 1960
450(12)"The Professor"Marian Clark—on airNovember 20, 1960
452(14)"Kitty's Good Neighboring"Marian Clark—on airDecember 4, 1960
454(16)"Hero's Departure"Marian Clark—on airDecember 18, 1960
464(26)"Joe Sleet"Marian Clark—on airFebruary 26, 1961
470(32)"Hangman's Mistake"Marian Clark—on airApril 9, 1961
474(36)"Ma's Justice"Marian Clark—on airMay 7, 1961
476(38)"Chester's Rendezvous"Marian Clark—on airMay 21, 1961
479(41)"Doc's Visitor"Marian Clark—on airJune 11, 1961

Gunsmoke (television), Season 4: 1958–1959

A total of 21 stories written by Clark were adapted as teleplays during seasons 4 through 8. John Meston developed 19 of the teleplays from her works, and Katherine Hite transformed her other two stories into teleplays. Neither of Hite's teleplays, which aired as one-hour episodes in 1962 and 1963, nor Meston's one-hour adaptation of Clark's story "Quint's Indian" in 1963 had been broadcast previously as shorter episodes in the radio series’ half-hour format.

Ep #Episode TitleCredited WriterAirdate
139(22)"Kitty's Rebellion"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
February 7, 1959
155(38)"Blue Horse"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
June 6, 1959

Gunsmoke (television), Season 5: 1959–1960

Ep #Episode TitleCredited WriterAirdate
158(2)"Kitty's Injury"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
September 19, 1959
168(12)"Miguel's Daughter"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
November 28, 1959
170(14)"False Witness"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
December 12, 1959
173(17)"Groat's Grudge"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
January 2, 1960
174(18)"Big Tom"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
January 9, 1960
180(24)"Kitty's Killing"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
February 20, 1960
182(26)"Unwanted Deputy"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
March 5, 1960
193(37)"Old Flame"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
May 28, 1960
182(26)"The Deserter"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
June 4, 1960

Gunsmoke (television), Season 6: 1960–1961

Ep #Episode TitleCredited WriterAirdate
196(1)"Friend's Pay-Off"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
September 3, 1960
200(5)"Shooting Stopover"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
October 8, 1960
202(7)"Don Matteo"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
October 22, 1960
204(9)"The Badge"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
November 12, 1960
205(10)"Distant Drummer"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
November 19, 1960
213(18)"Unloaded Gun"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
January 14, 1961
214(19)"Tall Trapper"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
January 21, 1961

Gunsmoke (television, one-hour episodes), Season 7: 1961–1962

Ep #Episode TitleCredited WriterAirdate
262(29)"The Summons"Marian Clark (story)
Kathleen Hite (teleplay)
April 21, 1962

Gunsmoke (television, one-hour episodes), Season 8: 1962–1963

Ep #Episode TitleCredited WriterAirdate
288(21)"The Cousin"Marian Clark (story)
Kathleen Hite (teleplay)
February 2, 1963
288(21)"Quint's Indian"Marian Clark (story)
John Meston (teleplay)
March 2, 1963

References

Notes

  1. There are discrepancies regarding the year of Clark's birth, which account for differences in her given age at death. The online reference Find a Grave cites 1911 as her birth year; but her parents' original marriage certificate dated in June 1911, the federal census of 1920, California birth records, and records at Oak Hill Cemetery in Red Bluff, California, indicate her birth year was 1912.
  2. Identified as a "city editor" in Berkeley in 1920, Albert Clark was likely employed by The Berkeley Daily Gazette, which by then had been in circulation in the city for over two decades.
  3. Radio station KNX and "Columbia Pacific Network" (the official title of CBS National Radio's Hollywood division) were housed in the same facilities at CBS Columbia Square in Los Angeles.
  4. Copies of the original radio broadcasts of Gunsmoke and most of the early 30-minute televised episodes are available for review at various online locations, including YouTube.

Sources

  1. "California Birth Index, 1905–1995", Alameda County, California Department of Health Services, Vital Statistics Department, Sacramento. FamilySearch. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  2. Tehama County, California cemetery records, "Oak Hill Cemetery", "Marion [Marian] A. Clark", USGenWeb Project. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "DEATHS/ Marian Clark", Broadcasting (Washington, D.C.), identified as "The Newsweekly of Television and Radio Telecasting", March 11, 1963, p. 91, col. 2. Internet Archive. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930", Albert Lee "Clarke" family, "Oakland City", California, April 11, 1930. FamilySearch. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  5. "The Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910", digital copy of original census page, Clark family, San Francisco, California, April 28, 1910. FamilySearch. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
  6. "The Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920", "Berkeley City", California, January 10, 1920. FamilySearch. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 "Studio Notes", news item about "GRADUATES", Broadcasting, February 22, 1943, p. 50, col. 2. Internet Archive. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  8. Barabas, p.23.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Wright, Stewart (2014). "Gunsmoke's Unknown Writer", profile on Marian Clark, Radio Recall, October 2014. Metropolitan Washington Old-Time Radio Club (Washington, D.C.). Retrieved November 29, 2018.
  10. Barabas, SuzAnne and Barabas, Gabor (1990). Gunsmoke: A Complete History and Analysis of the Legendary Broadcast Series. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 1990, p. 38.
  11. Barabas, p. 37.
  12. Barabas, p. 59.
  13. Barabas, p. 15-16, 24.
  14. Barabas, p. 58.
  15. "Gunsmoke, Old Time Radio Show Western, 580803 Miguel's Daughter", full recording of episode's original broadcast on CBS Radio, August 3, 1958. Classic Archives, posted January 29, 2017 on YouTube, Alphabet, Inc. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  16. Barabas, pp. 411–418
  17. Barabas, p. 418.
  18. 1 2 "Gunsmoke|Ep332|'The Piano'", full radio episode originally broadcast August 17, 1958; uploaded March 4, 2018 by VOKROX-Old Time Radio on YouTube. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
  19. Barabas, pp. 418–427.
  20. "Gunsmoke, Old Time Radio Show Western, 610611 Doc's Visitor", The Classic Archives, posted January 29, 2017. YouTube. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  21. Barabas, pp. 402, 442.
  22. 1 2 Barabas, p. 39.
  23. Barabas, pp. 20-21.
  24. 1 2 Barabas, pp. 359-442.
  25. Barabas, pp. 538, 549–550.
  26. Barabas, p. 550.
  27. "Have Gun, Will Travel – Death Of A Young Gunfighter (March 15, 1959)", published by "Room With a View" on June 25, 2016. YouTube. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  28. "Marian Clark", writer, "Halliday's Club", Klondike, originally broadcast December 19, 1960. TV.com, CBS Interactive, Inc. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  29. "Marian Alice Clark", memorial 117386214, Oak Hill Cemetery, Red Bluff, Tehama County, California. Find A Grave, Ancestry.com, Lehi, Utah. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
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