User Reviews

I will say that the episode started out with a bang when Chester and a large man name Groat is in a fight on Front Street. But the most surprising part is Kitty is doing all she can trying to get the large brute off Chester that was defending her honor against words made by Groat.

After the scuffle the regular group is in the Marshal's office when a young attractive woman named Ann walks-in wanting to know where she could find a childhood friend named Shomer. Ann advises that she is making this surprise visit in order to marry him. But little does Ann know that Shomer is a no-good drunk and the laughing stock of Dodge.

Matt, Doc and Chester go out to Shomer's shack and advise him that Ann is in town. They sober him up and say they will make a story up to give Shomer a few days before seeing Ann. But things are not going to end as planned.

Was really not expecting much from this episode but was pleasantly impressed with the results. A stiff ending makes this entire episode even better. Good show.

A brute named Hank Groat has an awful habit of harassing women. In the opening scene of this episode, Chester Goode is trying to defend Kitty Russell from the big man, and even with Kitty's assistance, Chester is losing the battle. Matt Dillon comes to the rescue and manages to stop Groat from inflicting further damage on his friends.

Matt, Chester, Kitty and Doc Adams make their way to the Marshal's office where Doc tends to the wounds. A woman named Ann enters the office and tells the group she has arrived in Dodge City from Connecticut. She has traveled to Dodge to surprise her fiancé, a man named Jake Shomer.

The mention of Shomer's name raises some eyebrows. Ann does not know Shomer spends most of his time in a drunken state. He lives in a rurun-down shack in the Dodge area. Matt buys some time by telling Ann her fiancé is away. He later tells Ann that Shomer is a horse trader and should return from a business trip soon.

Meanwhile, Matt, Doc, and Chester visit Shomer's shack. As expected, they find the man drunk and unconscious. They begin pouring coffee into Shomer, and he eventually sobers. Shomer tells the men the familiar story of failing as a homesteader. The plan was for Shomer to establish a homestead, and Ann would join him once everything was settled. He tried to make things work, but the repeated failures wore on him to the point he gave up and started drinking heavily. He had even stopped communicating with Ann.

Kitty helps Ann get a room at Ma Smalley's (one of the first, if not THE first mention of the boarding house in the series) and accompanies her around town. She tries to keep Ann occupied while they wait for Shomer to decide what he will do.

The situation is further complicated when Groat sees Ann and takes an interest in developing a relationship with her.

Joseph Sargent is excellent as the diminutive Jake Shomer character in one of Sargent's two appearances on Gunsmoke. Sargent was better known as a director than an actor. He directed episodes of several notable television shows, as well as numerous movies later in his career. In addition to the two episodes where he guest starred, Sargent directed eight of the one-hour episodes of Gunsmoke.

Susan Morrow appears as Ann in this story. Morrow was a mysterious Hollywood personality. She was once married to Gary Morton, who later married Lucille Ball. Her career existed mostly in the 1950s. By 1960, she had quit acting, and little is known about her life afterwards.

Actor Guinn Williams makes his only Gunsmoke appearance as the character named Groat. Williams was given the nickname "Big Boy" by Will Rogers. His acting career started in the silent film era and continued into the era of "talkies." Most of his film roles were in westerns. He appeared in several television westerns in addition to Gunsmoke. One of his last acting jobs was in The Comancheros starring John Wayne.

A distinction that sets Gunsmoke apart from so many other television series -- especially when viewed in historical context -- is the number of stories that are so despairing and hopeless. Over sixty years later, some of these stories still pack an emotional wallop.

Note: The name of this episode is odd and possibly anachronistic, since Skid Row is a specific area of Los Angeles, California that did not exist until the late 19th century.

Strong dramatic episode. Sweet young Ann arrives in Dodge to marry farmer Shomer. But she's left waiting because the farmer has turned alcoholic after failing to make a go of his homestead. Worse, town thug Groat eyes defenseless girl while she marks time in town. The question is-- will Shomer dry out and get up the gumption in time to save Ann from the predatory Groat.

Catch that opening brawl as gimpy Chester and tiger cat Kitty try to take down the hulking Groat. It's a real eye-catcher. Also, the aftermath in Matt's office is a fine mix of humor and pathos (Chester's). Actor Sargent (later a top TV director) manages an affecting turn as the weak- willed Shomer on which the drama depends. Again, the series emphasizes the difficulties of homesteading on the prairie— a reality too often passed over by other westerns of the time. The ending, for me, is a low-key powerhouse, showing once more why the series was exceptional for its time.

There is a funny quote in this episode. Pertaining to a bad man bully who harasses people. Miss Kitty says to the Matt Dillon, "When are you going to get around to shooting that man". It takes so long for episodes to roll around again. It still took me by surprise and I broke our laughing.