John Lyman Meston (July 30, 1914March 24, 1979) was an American scriptwriter best known for co-creating with producer Norman Macdonnell the long-running Western series Gunsmoke. He developed storylines and wrote radio scripts and teleplays for 379 episodes for the series, which was first broadcast on CBS Radio in 1952, and then adapted to the "small screen", as well, airing on television from 1955 to 1975.Barabas, SuzAnne and Barabas, Gabor (1990). Gunsmoke: A Complete History and Analysis of the Legendary Broadcast Series. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 1990, pp. 34-35."John Meston, 64, Script Writer Who Created 'Gunsmoke' for TV", obituary, The New York Times, March 28, 1979, digitized copy of obituary. Retrieved November 6, 2018. In addition to his work on Gunsmoke, Meston also served as a writer and editorial supervisor for other radio programs such as Escape, Suspense, Lux Radio Theater, and Fort Laramie; and in the 1970s, he wrote several episodes for two other television series, Little House on the Prairie and Hec Ramsey.Barabas, pp. 29-35, 361."John Meston" writing credits, CBS Interactive, Inc. Retrieved March 28, 2019.McLeod. Elizabeth (2016). "[Macdonnell] and Meston Redux, Radio Classics, January 22, 2016. Sirius XM Radio, Inc. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
Early life John Meston was born in Colorado in 1914, the youngest of three children of Irene (née Whitehurst) and George D. Meston, who was an investment and loan specialist in Pueblo."Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920", digital image of original enumeration page listing, Pueblo, Colorado, January 13, 1920. FamilySearch. Retrieved November 6, 2018.George D. Meston and Irene Whitehurst married in Salida, Colorado, in 1908. "Colorado Statewide Marriage Index, 1853-1995", Marriage Record Report 10032, Salida, Colorado, June 30, 1908. Colorado Division of Vital Statistics. Retrieved November 7, 2018. Federal census records suggest that young John grew up in a financially comfortable household, one that was at least prosperous enough by 1920 to afford a live-in "servant". Ten years later, he was still residing in Pueblo with his parents and two older sisters, although in a larger home in a more affluent neighborhood on West 18th Street."Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930", Pueblo, Colorado, April 1–2, 1930. Retrieved November 6, 2018. During this time, as a teenager, Meston developed his skills as a horseman working in the summer with Colorado cowboys and competing periodically in regional rodeos as a bronc rider.Barabas, p. 29.
After graduation from high school, Meston received an extensive higher education at Dartmouth, Harvard, and in France at the Sorbonne."John Meston, Creator of Radio and TV Series 'Gunsmoke' Dies", Los Angeles Times, March 27, 1979, p. D11. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Retrieved November 8, 2018. In the May 1958 issue of the entertainment magazine TV Radio Mirror, reporter Gordon Budge touches on Meston's substantial academic background and on some of his other experiences prior to joining CBS Radio after World War II:
Career Following his university studies and his work as a teacher, editor, reporter, and "range rider", 27-year-old Meston returned to Pueblo and enlisted in the United States Army on July 7, 1942."United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946", John L. Meston, 07 July 7, 1942, Pueblo, Colorado, United States; transcribed file, National Archives and Records Administration, NAID 1263923, College Park, Maryland. Retrieved November 7, 2018. His military deployment during World War II included Alaska, where he served in the army's special ski-troop units in the Aleutians and also as a censor, a position that required him to review military and civilian correspondence and delete information that might prove helpful to enemy forces if those documents were intercepted. After the war, Meston was hired by KNX Radio in Los Angeles to be an assistant in the station's editing department, and by October 1945, he was promoted to head of that department."Production", news item about John Meston, Broadcasting, "The Weekly Newsmagazine of Radio" (Washington, DC), October 22, 1945, p. 62, col. 4. Internet Archive. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
Station KNX by the 1940s already served as the center of West Coast operations for the entire CBS Radio network, so Meston's next career move was a transitional one to CBS, where in 1947, he began working once again as a censor, more specifically in the network's program practices department. In that position, Meston monitored shows for any on-air comments by radio hosts or guest performers that the listening public, station owners, or program sponsors might deem profane, too sexually suggestive, slanderous, or overtly meanspirited."Godfrey Gets Spanked by CBS Censor in H'wood for Loose Lip", Variety (New York, N.Y.), September 3, 1947, p. 1, col. 1. Internet Archive. November 16, 2018. Meston in early September 1947 made front-page news in the entertainment trade paper Variety when he confronted and reprimanded national celebrity Arthur Godfrey for his "breach of good taste" on his popular weekday program. Reacting to complaints by station owners about Godfrey's unscripted comments or "ad libs" and the radio host's derisive use of the "Bronx cheer", Meston warned the radio host. "Censor John Meston", reported Variety, "served notice on CBS in New York that [Godfrey's] transcribed repeats on his daytime show would be monitored and the needle raised whenever there was a question of propriety in his off-the-cuff remarks." Godfrey was infuriated by his reprimand; but the "CBS homeoffice" supported Meston, and the radio celebrity was forced, at least for a while, to behave more carefully in his broadcasts.
Beyond the challenges he faced as a network censor and in carrying out his related duties in "'continuity acceptance'", Meston in his position enjoyed immediate and full access to scripts for every program being aired or in development at CBS. That access and Meston's experience as a writer and editor provided him opportunities to review in detail and later to start composing episodes for several highly rated radio programs. One of those CBS productions was the anthology series Escape, which had premiered in July 1947.Barabas, pp. 24-26. While working on that program, he met producer-and-director Norman Macdonnell with whom he would collaborate on future projects, including the radio and television versions of Gunsmoke and the 1956 radio series Fort Laramie. Among the popular "radio plays" written by Meston for Escape is "Crossing Paris", an episode he adapted from a 1950 short story about Nazi-occupied Paris by French novelist Marcel Ayme. The installment, originally broadcast on CBS on August 5, 1950, features Jay Novello; William Conrad, who later starred as Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke; and Howard McNear, who was cast as "Doc" in that radio drama."Escape—'Crossing Paris'", Vintage Radio Broadcasts of Dangerous Adventure, Urban Legends, and Tales of Fear and Trembling, profiles of episodes of Escape and Suspense, posted August 5, 2007. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
At this time, at the turn of the 1950s, Meston also began adapting stories, writing original scripts, and serving as an editorial supervisor for episodes of Romance, another popular CBS radio drama that had been on the air since 1943.Goldin, J. David (2018)."Romance", examples of the CBS Radio drama broadcast 1943-1956, including content descriptions and credits; "RadioGOLDINdex", database of "old time" radio programs, updated August 7, 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2018. He contributed scripts as well to installments of Suspense and Lux Radio Theater, yet two more of CBS Radio's lineup of notable programs during the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s.
Gunsmoke In 1949, executives and programmers at CBS Radio wanted to establish a new Western for the network's regular offerings, one inspired by Straight Arrow, an existing series in the genre very popular among juvenile listeners and broadcast nationally twice a week by Mutual Broadcasting System.Barabas, Gunsmoke, p. 15. Due to contractual complications, the proposed series was shelved. Macdonnell and Meston two years later discovered the proposal while developing their own concept for a Western, but one they envisioned—unlike Straight Arrow, The Lone Ranger, and The Cisco Kid—being targeted predominantly at an adult audience.Barabas, p. 16. Adapting elements from the 1949 proposal, the two men expanded on the background narratives relating to their series’ general chronology and specific location. Set in the 1870s, stories were situated in southwestern Kansas, centered principally in the rowdy, "hard-drinking" cattle town of Dodge City. Originally, Meston and Macdonnell planned to name their new Western Jeff Spain, a character created and used earlier by them "on several of the anthology shows they had done together."Budge, "Gunsmoke!", TV Radio Mirror, May 1958, p. 86. However, their boss Harry Ackerman at CBS and other network executives dismissed that title, preferring Gunsmoke, a program heading that Ackerman himself was credited for conceiving.
Once given the go-ahead to continue preproduction and begin casting, Meston added details to several projected storylines and refined the main characters who would populate Macdonnell and his radio portrayal of Dodge. Jeff Spain soon became United States Marshal Matt Dillon, and veteran voice actor William Conrad was chosen by Meston, Macdonnell, and two other network audition judges to be the lawman and the series' central figure.Barabas, pp. 22-23. Other seasoned actors filled the needed regular supporting roles, including Parley Baer as Marshal Dillon's trusty assistant Chester Proudfoot, Howard McNear as Dr. Charles "Doc" Adams, and Georgia Ellis, whose role in the series' early episodes quickly evolved into the saloon "hostess" Kitty Russell. Gunsmoke was broadcast for the first time from radio station KNX in Hollywood on Saturday, April 26, 1952.Barabas, p. 23. The premiere episode, "Billy the Kid", was not written by Meston; it was written by Walter Brown Newman, another experienced author of radio plays for CBS.Barabas, "Billy the Kid", p. 359. Nevertheless, Meston's extensive personal research into the "Old West", his intimate knowledge of the fictional characters in Dodge, and his past exploits on horseback with "real" Colorado cowboys effectively cast him in the position of editorial supervisor of that first show.
The initial broadcast was well received by both critics and the general public, and in the weeks that followed, the ratings for Gunsmoke steadily grew. The critic for Variety praised the first episode's story, acting, and Macdonnell's direction, describing the new series as "a blazing radioater...with top thesping and scripting values that pull it way ahead of the pack of AM Westerns.""Gros." (1952). "Gunsmoke", review of first radio episode, Variety, April 30, 1952, p. 28, col. 3. Internet Archive, San Francisco, California. Retrieved November 9, 2018. The growing number of fan letters received by CBS appeared to confirm Variety'''s assessment and to reflect the type of audience that Meston and Macdonnell intended to attract, for much of the complimentary mail arriving at the network "came from a highly educated section of the population".