Gunsmoke was a phenomenally successful western that ran on television for 20 seasons (and had been on the radio before that - as well as during the early part of the series' run.) When it was canceled in 1975, it was still a Top 30 program (!), but its demographics weren't the "desired" ones... There were 635 episodes filmed in all. Yet I probably have only personally seen about 35 of those! Still, every once in a while I check it out, especially if there is a guest star I'm interested in seeing. Such was the case when I recently tuned in to an installment from January, 1969.
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The episode begins with a stagecoach furiously tearing across a bumpy road. This being a western drama, the chances of it arriving at its intended destination are rather slim.
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Inside is a sole passenger, Miss Kitty Russell (as played for 19 seasons by Amanda Blake.) She's returning from an extensive shopping spree and the coach is filled with various hats and cases of other items of hers. By this point, Ms. Blake was seriously on the verge of entering Baby Jane Hudson territory with the makeup...
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I'm not joking...
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The stagecoach is flagged down by a horseless rancher who needs a lift. With saloon owner Blake inside and the surprise passenger carrying a rifle and a saddle, I thought we might be in for a retread of the plot from John Wayne's Stagecoach (1939.)
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I'm not joking. Ha ha!
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Blake, managing to get both her head and her hat out the window, wants to see why the trip has come to a sudden halt.
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We find that the man who's halted the coach is John Ericson. We have always liked Ericson and did a long ago tribute to him here.
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Blake is less than trilled at having to move her stuff around to make room for an unexpected passenger, but gives up a spot for him on the opposite side. That's really the least of her troubles, though.
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Soon enough, the stagecoach is held up by a pair of robbers and before it is all over, Ericson has been shot in the torso and everyone else besides Blake and him is dead!
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In a truly hooty sequence, Blake takes the reins of the four horses and ferociously heads on down the road, grimacing and growling all the while. This brought to mind her 1954 role as a nomadic, sword-wielding, tribal leader in The Adventures of Hajji Baba!
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I'm. Not. Joking.
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Anyway, I keep getting off topic with my various shenanigans. Blake, after having to confront some gray-toothed, mining squatters, then picking up a little girl playing near the road, finally manages to get her injured pal home. It's at this point that a potential "Guest Who" post instantly morphed into a "Deja View" one...
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As she approaches the mansion where Ericson lives, it's abundantly clear that the house...
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...is the very same one used for four seasons of Underworld favorite The Big Valley! The Barkley mansion of The Big Valley was very rarely photographed from the angle shown above, but I did find this example.
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| A more familiar angle is seen here. Though this facade looks very much like Tara from Gone with the Wind (1939), it is really not the same set. The real Tara set had been dismantled and shipped to Georgia in 1959. What remains of it can be seen at The Margaret Mitchell House and Museum. The Barkley's house was built in 1947 for The Fighting Kentuckian, albeit based on Tara, and was reused many times thereafter. |
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I'm not joking. (Sick of me yet? I thought so.)
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Ericson's mother is portrayed by veteran character actress Virginia Gregg. This iron-fisted gal is even tougher in some ways than Barkley matriarch Barbara Stanwyck.
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Stanwyck could take a kick, a punch and be dragged by horses, but she was kind, fair and possessed strong moral fiber.
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Gregg could crack a half-smile, but was demanding, controlling and if, the mood struck her, could turn destructive and even deadly.
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Back to the subject at hand, the entrance to Gregg and Ericson's home is the very same one as The Barkley's.
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Early episodes of The Big Valley were minus the door knocker that appeared later.
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Inside the home, Gregg enlists Blake's aid in seeing to Ericson's bullet wound.
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This paneled room is familiar to fans of Valley. Here we spy Linda Evans and Stanwyck looking over a badly injured Peter Breck.
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One of the perks of Blake's assignment in this ep was getting to paw all over the writhing Ericson as mama extracts the bullet from his midsection.
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As he recovers, we can see that the Barkley's draped doorway has been augmented with actual doors.
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...but it's definitely the same room.
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That's hardly all, though. We then see that Gregg's home is nearly exactly the same as Stanwyck's, with only a few minor changes!
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I'm not joking!
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As seen during this pan across the landing and staircase, they even have the same painting on the wall!
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It wouldn't be so odd except that The Big Valley was still an actively running show in January of 1969! It wasn't canceled until after that fourth season was over.
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Thus one might tune in one night to see Victoria Barkley coming down the stairs of her home and then a few nights later tune into Gunsmoke...
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...and find Miss Kitty and others standing at the bottom of the very same stairs! It would be like watching one of the hit shows today and finding their exact set used in a competing show with an altogether different cast. It goes beyond "Bitch stole my look" to "Bitch stole my house!" LOL
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I don't really know why the carpet seems to vary in color from example to example. Anything from changes in lighting to degraded video being aired. But it's the very same.
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Ericson's daughter is played by Lisa Gerritsen (who would later portray Cloris Leachman's daughter Bess on Phyllis.) Her bedroom is situated on the upper landing near the stairs.
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The Barkley boys passed by here often during Valley's run.
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Ericson thoughtfully gazes out one of the open French doors.
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Many a Barkley problem was ruminated over in these doorways.
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This is actually out further on the porch, but I couldn't resist sharing this mother-daughter moment.
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One peculiarity of this Gunsmoke episode is that Blake has, literally, a wagonload of new clothes in that stagecoach, but wears the same outfit all the while she's staying at Ericson's. She'd ridden for 8 hours in it, horsewhipped her way to their house and still puts it on the next day! But look at the tat-work on her breast. That's an eye-opening spot for such decoration.
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See what I mean, Vern?? But also, while we're at breakfast, take note of the chafing dishes.
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They're the Barkley's, too!! Did Victoria rent her place out like an Air B&B?!
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The dining room is precisely the same except for some of the furnishings and the chairs at the table.
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One of the Barkley's sconces has been replaced by a framed painting in Gregg's house, but much of the rest is the same.
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Stanwyck was always at the head of the table, with Jerrod at the opposite end, but the others tended to switch seats depending on the episode's dialogue. Here we see Nick having a meal.
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But this time Blake is in that spot.
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Do get a load of this makeup. I mean, she's not working at The Long Branch this morning... It's breakfast fer cryin' out loud! Ha ha! I'm surprised she could open her eyes with these lashes on.
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Another view of the dining room.
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The Barkley's china, linens and so forth are more understated and less garish in color than the items used for Gunsmoke.
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The Big Valley has been a Top 5 favorite show of mine for practically all my life. I adored Stanwyck and thought no one on earth was more Barbie Doll beautiful than Evans.
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Then there were the occasional perks of hunky Lee Majors doing chores around the ranch, shirtless.
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Gunsmoke never quite caught my attention in the same way, but - like I said - I caught this one mainly to see Ericson. (Ericson had actually played Stanwyck's little brother in the 1957 western Forty Guns.) Five years after this, he appeared in a semi-nude Playgirl spread in an attempt to shift his image, though he later regretted it as a bit foolish. (The pics had him frolicking naked with a variety of wild animals!)
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Before I bid you adieu, there is one more tenuous connection between Gunsmoke and The Big Valley that I wanted to alert you to. You remember that Amanda Blake movie I noted earlier, The Adventures of Hadjji Baba? Well Hadjji was played by John Derek, who was the husband of Linda Evans while she was on Valley. (He was forever trying to get her to break her contract and quit.) The movie opens with Derek giving a shirtless Claude Akins (of all people!) an oily, vigorous rub-down.
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See? I wasn't joking...!!! Ha ha! Til next time.
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