"Love's Young Dream"

This is the second episode in which a pre-Festus Ken Curtis plays Monk. Though a (presumed) hillbilly, the character is not much like the first version of Festus, and only a little like what Festus would morph into.

Curtis was convincing in just about anything, playing such Gunsmoke roles as a mixed-ethnicity scout and a loves-'em-and-leaves-'em rake who's murdered by one of his conquests. Here he gets to show off his singing voice -- and his athletic prowess. The bordello's co-owner is so taken with the brash-and-scruffy fella that it's love at first sight, and the story ends happily ever after. In the scenes where Boone is laughing, it's obvious that much of the laughter comes from his reaction to Curtis.

Ken Curtis (born Curtis Wayne Gates) was a high-school quarterback, and in "Love's Young Dream" we get a sense of why John Ford's daughter was so hot for him. (They were married for several years.) Curtis is very much a poster boy for "wiry", and in the scene where Boone tosses him into a bathtub ("You smell like cooked cabbage and a wet airedale"), we see Curtis below the knees, and it is a sight to behold.

Curtis could have been a stunt man, and was a master at acting with his whole body. In the scenes where Mike Mazurki tosses him out of the "club", I'm pretty certain it's him. When he fires the revolver, the recoil has him falling backward into a puddle, and he plays it for all it's worth.

As Curtis aged (he was 44 when this episode was filmed), his face became leaner and more "sensuous". He could have moved in the direction of sex object (his Perry Mason episode suggests this), but Festus pretty much derailed things. But Festus was to TV what Gabby Hayes was to movies, and who can be unhappy about that?