The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio The great ones are back in action.

The Line Up

With the smash success of Dragnet, many networks and producers began to play follow the leader. On NBC, Dragnet was followed up with Tales of the Texas Rangers which dramatized real life tales from the Texas Rangers. CBS countered with The Line Up and later 21st Precinct,  and then Nightwatch which while following an actual policeman in the field was as realistic as it got in a show that was pre-cursor to modern police reality dramas like Cops.

The Line Up was a hard boiled drama of police action. Like Dragnet, it realistically showed police doing their jobs. Unlike Dragnet, it was not based on "cases taken from police files." Rather The Line Up made its fictional cases seem realistic, from kidnappings and murders to thefts and obscene phone calls. The Line Up radio show was not set in any particular city. However, when the series moved to television, it was set in San Francisco.

The Line Up, as the title indicates, centered around the police line up. The show always began with one. The Sergeant in charge of line would say, "May I have your attention please? You people  on the other side of the wire in the audience room, may I have your attention please." He would then give his name and say, "I'll explain the line up to you. Each of the suspects you will see will be numbered.  I'll call of their number, their name, and charge.  If you have any questions or identifications, please remember the number assigned to the prisoner as I call his name. At the end of each line when I ask for questions or identifications, call out the number.  If you're sure or not too sure of the suspect, have him held.   The officers who took your name will assist you, they're seated among you. Please be prompt with your questions or identifications. When the prisoners leave here,  they are sent to the washroom and dressed back into their jail clothes. It makes it quite difficult to bring them back after they leave here. The questions I ask these suspects are merely to get a natural tone of voice so do not pay too much attention to their answers as they often lie. Bring on the line."

While the line up was rarely the key to solving the case, it did give the show a rhythm and it also allowed for humor in the interrogation of the suspects by the sergeant. The series began as a Summer Replacement for The FBI in Peace and War in 1950, but quickly got its own time slot and would remain on radio until the Spring of 1953 before becoming TV only.

About the Stars:

William Johnstone (1908-96)  is best known as the second voice of the shadow beginning in 1938 a. However, Johnstone's radio career goes far beyond that. Johnstone was also a solid and indispensable character actor appearing regularly on a wide variety of programs from Cavalcade of America to Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. In 1950, he got his second starring role for CBS in The Line Up playing Lieutenant Ben Guthrie for 3 seasons.

Wally Maher (1908-51): Maher was the consumate radio character actor. He was probably best known for playing policemen,  playing the police foil to George Valentine in the first several seasons of Let George Do It and then later as Sergeant Matt Groebs on The Line Up.  Maher also starred in Mutual's  Private Detective Michael Shayne from 1944-48.

Program Log:

• Eddie Gaynor Framed for Murder (Original Air Date: July 20, 1950)
• Hit and Run Murder (Original Air Date: August 3, 1950)
• Gas Station Robbery and Murder (Original Air Date: September 16, 1950)
• The Supermarket Murders (Original Air Date: September 23, 1950)
• The Candy Store Murder (Original Air Date: November 16, 1950)
• The Topaz Earring Murder (Original Air Date: November 23, 1950)
• The Cop Killer (Original Air Date: November 30, 1950)
• The Jersey Parallel (Original Air Date: December 7, 1950)
• The Holstedter Case (Original Air Date: December 21, 1950)
• The Elsner Case (Original Air Date: December 28, 1950)
• The Case of Frankie and Joyce (Original Air Date: January 4, 1951)
• The Mad Bomber (Original Air Date: January 11, 1951)
• The Cigar Box Case (Original Air Date: February 15, 1951)
• The Silver Swan Case (Original Air Date: February 22, 1951)
• The Harrowing Haggada Handball Case (Original Air Date: June 12, 1951)
• Lieutenant Guthrie Kidnapped (Original Air Date: June 19, 1951)
• The Mad Bomber (Original Air Date: June 26, 1951)
• The Syncopic Sweazy Sweat-out (Original Air Date: July 5, 1951)
• The Pointless Pierson Polemic Society (Original Air Date: September 7, 1951)
• The Senile Slugging Case (Original Air Date: September 12, 1951)
• The Fur Flaunting Floozy (Original Air Date: September 26, 1951)
• The Wild Wild Woman Case (Original Air Date: October 4, 1951)
• The Frivolous Forger Fracas (Orginal Air Date: October 11, 1951)

New episodes will be added every Saturday.

Log information courtesy of the Digital Deli's fine Line Up log.

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