Luke Slaughter of Tombstone - 1958

It's one of the single greatest tragedies in old time radio drama; that the incredible show Luke Slaughter of Tombstone produced only sixteen episodes in it's entire run.  It was 1958,  the tail end of the golden era of radio, and far fewer shows were being made. Television was the new kid on the block,  and it was forcefully draining away those vital listeners and advertising dollars. To add to the larger problem, LSoT had apparently been eclipsed in the CBS radio stable by the popularity of the recent Frontier Gentleman and the upcoming Have Gun Will Travel.  These were incredible shows,  (both starring John Dehner, one of the best voices in OTR),  but the stunning burst of energy that was LSoT was suffocated between them...and the merciless onslaught of television. Luke Slaughter was played by character actor Sam Buffington, whose hyper-masculine vocal timbre made for a commanding radio figure.  He had the kind of gravitas that one associates with more famous voices like William Conrad and Orson Welles, and I believe that, if his career had started twenty years sooner, he might have had a better place in radio history.   Buffington played dozens of bit parts on television throughout the late 1950's, primarily westerns,  ending with a regular part in the fun Audie Murphy series Whispering Smith.  Sadly, both his part on the show and his life ended with his suicide in 1960.  He was only 27 years old.  To me, this adds a poignancy to the strong impression that the loss of  LSoT itself naturally provides;  how such an amazing talent could have passed so quickly and unfortunately.

Unlike many westerns, the character of  Luke  Slaughter was the boss of the Cattle operation,  and unlike so many western figures,  he was no mysterious loner.  He was the man in charge,  the man giving the orders,  and everyone around him knew it.   LSoT was populated by a colourful cast of various cowboy-type characters,  including the obligatory coot, Witchita,  played by the highly amusing Junius Matthews (the voice of Rabbit in the classic Winnie the Pooh films from 1966 to 1977).  The noted writer and producer of radio dramas, William N. Robson,  the man who put some of the spine in the scripts of both Escape and Suspense, injected an amazing amount of colour in each of the personalities on the show,  coaxing the humanity from what could have easily been stock peripheral characters. 

In my opinion Luke Slaughter of Tombstone effortlessly rises to the level of legendary radio westerns like The Six Shooter and Gunsmoke.  Those 16 episodes are as solid as any I've heard,  with sophisticated scripts and acting that reflect the maturity of the classic radio drama in it's final years.  It's good,  potent stuff,  and I recommend it highly!
Free HQ downloads of the entire series on Archive.org HERE