Hollywood technical advisor Arvo Ojala
(February 21, 1920 – July 1, 2005)

In the opening credits of Gunsmoke!, Marshal Matt Dillon draws his
gun at the bad guy. Who is the gunslinger? A Finnish-American gun master named Arvo Ojala (above). The quick-draw specialist not only trained James Arness in gunfighting, he also trained Robert
Culp, James Garner,  and Paul Newman in the art.

As a joke on the producers, James Arness and Arvo actually did the opener once with Dillon falling to the ground.

Accordiing to Wikipedia, Ojala taught himself marksmanship and
how to quick-draw a handgun while living on his father’s ranch
near Yakima, Washington. He said he sharpened his skill by  
shooting the heads off rattlesnakes.

Behind the camera view.

Cased Third Generation Colt SAA Arvo Ojala/Gunsmoke Commemorative revolver, .45 cal., 7-1/2” barre.

On August 26, 1939, the first televised Major League baseball game
was broadcast on station W2XBS, the station that was to become
WNBC-TV. Announcer Red Barber called the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in
Brooklyn, New York.

At the time, television was still in its infancy. Regular programming
did not yet exist, and very few people owned television sets—there
were only about 400 in the New York area. Not until 1946 did regular network broadcasting catch on in the United States, and only in the
mid-1950s did TV sets become more common in the American household.

Walter Lanier "Red" Barber
(February 17, 1908 – October 22, 1992)

Barber was nicknamed "The Ol’ Redhead".
     

1939 RCA Model TT-5, 5" screen, 5 channel, NO SOUND (Sold for $199.50)

Of the 600 of these manufactured, only a dozen are known to exist
today, and only a handful of those are still working. The set had to
be connected to a special TV-sound equipped radio, in order to
hear the television sound for each channel. 

    
Vincent Edward Scully (November 29, 1927 – August 2, 2022)

Vin Scully was a sportscaster, best known for his 67
seasons calling games for Major League Baseball‘s
Los Angeles Dodgers, beginning in 1950 (when the
franchise was located in Brooklyn) and ending in 2016.

In addition to Dodgers baseball, Scully called various
nationally-televised football and golf contests for CBS
Sports from 1975 to 1982, and was NBC Sports‘ lead
baseball play-by-play announcer from 1983 to 1989. He
also called the World Series for CBS Radio from 1979
to 1982 and again from 1990 to 1997. Scully died at his
home in Hidden Hills, California. 
      
       
     

MIKE GRACIA