As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
When I was young, I do not know why that now I am older, that my favorite characters on Gunsmoke are the ones I winced at as a child. Well I know as I had a proper German Lutheran raising that said you were going to hell for being you. That is why Festus being grubby was going to hell and Louie being a drunk was going to hell too. So was Miss Kitty being a whore. Newly went for being a queer. Marshall Dillon was going to hell for being a bully and well...........that Burke was going to hell as God just naturally hated this pimple ass loud mouth coward who in his memoirs said he knocked up Marilyn Monroe and got her aborted. Now that fornication stuff gets you to hell, even if you are not a German Lutheran.
I love though Festus. He is prime time. I see his "scuddar" and other phrases permeated the entire American language barrier. Ken Curtis was master of the act and I am pleased I grew up to like him, and now do not think Festus is going to hell for being grubby.
My other favorite..........oh Chester went to hell too as he had a big ass and was man whore and food glutton, Burt Reynolds was just too sexy so he went to hell to as every German Lutheran concluded, but I just as an adult love and adore Louie Pheeters.
See Andy Griffith had Otis Campbell as a drunk and Barnie as a fag, but no one liked them as Otis was a fat sweaty drunk in the south and we knew that he went to hell too, just like Barney being a man whore and a fag. That is not the way it is with Louie though.
Louie always saw crime and reported it. He was drunk, never knew what he saw, where he saw it, who did it, but he always reported crime. He also swept out the jail so he worked and he was friends to everyone, even other drunks who he shared his whiskey with.
It is hard playing a likable drunk, but James Nusser excelled at that. For 14 years he played on Gunsmoke and other venues, in fact from 1951 to 1976 Nusser was in over 50 television and movie appearances. He starred with John Wayne, Mike Connors, Rock Hudson, Robert Conrad, James Steward to name a few.
I'm glad I grew up and got to rewatch the reruns as a semi adult as Curtis and Nusser put out the best performances of any television or movie characters. Without them, Gunsmoke would have just laid there. They brought spark to the show.
...and I am pleased their characters are not going to hell.
agtG
