A quiet night in Dodge City is disrupted when a little person who calls himself "Arizona" (his real name is Virgil Yoleberry) rides into town on a giant horse. He tells everyone he is a "were-elephant" who transforms into an elephant at midnight when the moon is full. He pays three men who have a reputation for being troublemaking drunks $50 to take care of him after he turns into an elephant. The little man had a shipment of apples delivered to the freight office to provide the elephant food.
Just before midnight, Arizona ducks into a barn. When the three men hear noises, they enter the barn to find an elephant. The men, along with many of the Dodge residents, are convinced Arizona has turned into an elephant and will turn back into his human form when the sun rises.
Actor Billy Curtis makes his only Gunsmoke appearance as the Arizona character. Curtis was a familiar actor in films and television shows where a little person was needed to fill a role. One of his first roles was in the cult film The Terror of Tiny Town in 1938. He played a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz. He played the character Mordecai in the film High Plains Drifter around the same time this episode was filmed. Curtis was not known as a particularly good actor.
Gunsmoke veterans Mills Watson, Ken Mayer, and Stanley Clements play the three drunks -- Fred, Ed, and Red. The Festus Haggen, Kitty Russell, and Doc Adams characters have the most screen time of the regular cast members. Matt Dillon is featured later in the episode and holds the answers to the mystery of the Arizona character.
This is the most absurd episode of the entire twenty-year run of Gunsmoke. Obviously, it is intended to be a light-hearted, humorous installment. Ken Curtis's Festus Haggen was chameleon-like in the way the character was written. At times he was wise and shrewd, at other times he is portrayed as a buffoon. This is one of the latter characterizations.
The credit for writing this episode is someone named Dudley Bromley. This is the only television or film writing credit associated with that name.
There is not much substance to this story. There are no villains. There is only the mystery of Arizona and the elephant. One implausible plot detail that is never explained is how Arizona managed to sneak an elephant into Dodge City undetected and keep it hidden until midnight. This is especially puzzling since the elephant is very noisy and destructive after midnight.
In the end, I find this episode worth viewing once simply for the absurd nature and uniqueness. It falls far, far short of the best this series has to offer, though.