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Bob Bailey & Virginia Gregg in front of an old Microphone

Bob Bailey & Virginia Gregg

Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio! A podcast featuring the best vintage detective radio programs. Each week from Monday through Saturday, we feature six of Old Time Radio's great detective series from the beginning of the show to its very last episode. And as a bonus, twice a month we also post a public domain movie or TV mystery or detective show video.

Along the way, I'll provide you my commentary and offer you opportunities to interact.

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- Your host, Adam Graham

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Recent Posts

Dragnet: The Human Bomb (Video Theater 286)

Step back in time with us as we revisit the very first TV episode of Dragnet, “The Human Bomb.” This episode, based on a radio script from 1949, takes you into the heart of Los Angeles, where Detective Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner, Ben Romero (Barton Yarborough), face a tense, 26-minute race against time to prevent a disaster. 

Original AIr Date: December 14, 1951 based on a radio play from July 21, 1949

Season 1, Episode 1

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Dragnet: The Big Parrot (EP4610)

Today’s Mystery:

A married couple is found murdered in their room with a dead parrot.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: November 16, 1950

Originating from Hollywood

Starring: Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday; Barton Yarborough as Sergeant Ben Romero; Herb Butterfield; Stacy Harris

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Patreon Supporter of the Day: Ben, Patreon Supporter since September 2020

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The Top 5 Sympathetic Dragnet Criminals

Dragnet has a reputation for its no-nonsense, tough-on-crime stories. Particularly in the 1960s, Sergeant Joe Friday was known for bringing down the hammer on scummy criminals, which was particularly cathartic in the midst of rising crime. Friday told off criminals in a satisfying way, as when he confronted a racist child molester. “Now you listen to me, you gutter-mouthed punk. I’ve dealt with you before, and every time I did, it took me a month to wash off the filth.”

Yet Dragnet was dedicated to realism and reality, which is often more complex in the ways that human brokenness can lead to crime. Among the perpetrators Sergeant Friday came upon were kids with negligent parents, desperate people, lonely people, and others who’d just lost their way. Despite the pop culture image, Friday didn’t try to throw the book at everybody, and the series didn’t try to make the audience hate them. There are many more examples from both the 1960s TV series and the original radio and TV series of criminals getting a more sympathetic portrayal.

Below are my Top Five. Note when I refer to Friday’s partner, he had one partner in the radio version and another in the TV version.

Spoilers ahead for programs that were all broadcast more than 50 years ago.

5) Virginia Sterling from The Big Shoplift

Radio Air Date: October 11, 1951

Original TV Air Date:  March 11, 1954

Mrs. Sterling (Peggy Webber) isn’t an obvious choice for a sympathetic criminal. She is the well-dressed wife of a wealthy doctor who commits a string of acts of shoplifting that throws suspicion on an innocent sales associate and costs that sales associate her job. When she finally confesses, she reveals that her shoplifting is part of a long-running kleptomania that is aggravated by her loneliness and feelings of low self-esteem. After telling her story, she asks Friday if there is an answer. He laments that there is, but she won’t find it in jail.

4) Stanley Stover in Burglary DR-31

Original TV Air Date: March 6, 1969

Stover (Tim Donnelly) commits a series of burglaries of superhero movie memorabilia. He is in costume as “The Crimson Crusader” and claims to be such. The costume looks silly, as it reflects both being homemade and a bit of 1960s color palette. It is only under questioning that Stover reveals what drove him into a fantasy world and a life of crime. He reveals that he was abandoned by his father and was bullied and beaten up in school. He says the pain didn’t bother him as much as the fact that he hadn’t done anything. He was a fat kid. “Why should people hate a kid for being fat? It’s hard enough being a fat kid without people hating you for it.”

3) Majorie Lewis in The Big Show

Original Radio Air Date: April 10, 1952

Original TV Air Date: January 25, 1953

Lewis (Virginia Gregg) reports that she found a seven-week old baby that had been abandoned by his mother on a bus Lewis had been riding from Phoenix. Friday and his partner investigate and find the truth: the young mother was invented. The driver tells them that Lewis got on the bus with the baby. They confront her with the evidence and she tells them what happened. She had been married to an Army Captain who left her alone when he went overseas. She had gone to a party and ended up having one night stand that led to the pregnancy. She had to choose between her husband and her baby. She asks Friday to help tell her husband about what happened and he and his partner agree to help.

2) Elroy Graham in The Big Present 

Original Radio Air Date: November 24, 1953

Original TV Air Date: October 21, 1954

Friday and Smith are searching for a burglar who has committed eighteen small burglaries and leaves behind a bottle of milk at each robbery. The culprit turns out to be a nearly fifteen-year-old boy named Elroy Graham (Sammy Ogg).  He refuses to talk until he can be assured he’ll appear in the newspaper. One of the other officers pretends to be a newspaper reporter. Eventually, he breaks down and tells his story in tears. He has been bullied by the other kids because he’s small (4’7″, 85 pounds).  The only way he could think of to gain respect was do something big, and the only he could think of was the burglaries. “I didn’t mind the kids saying I was little, but I didn’t want them to think I was small.”

1) Roberta Salazar in The Big Mother

Original Radio Air Date: November 9, 1950

Original TV Release Date: January 31, 1952

Friday and his partner are called to a hospital where a baby has been kidnapped from a nursery. They get a few tips and are able to locate the baby. A Mrs. Salazar (Peggy Webber) had taken the baby from the hospital and claimed him as her own. They arrive at the Salazar home to find a party going on for the baby’s baptism. When confronted, Mrs. Salazar reveals what had happened. She and her husband had gone through more than a decade of infertility, and finally got pregnant. Her husband (Harry Bartel) had to continue to work but sent her to a relative in Phoenix to have the baby because he thought the climate would be better. However, the baby died at birth and she feared having to tell him what happened, when she walked by the hospital and saw her chance due to a hospital security lapse.

Webber turns in a beautifully tragic performance, and Bartel deserves plaudits for his performance in the TV version as he conveys Mr. Salazar’s heartbreak that he doesn’t really express verbally, as he’s trying to be there for his wife. It’s one aspect that the TV version offers that the radio performance can’t.

Of course, these sort of episodes could stir up controversy. Some accused the TV version of The Big Show of condoning adultery.

None of these episodes pretends the crimes committed were right or somehow excusable. Dragnet maintained a strong moral core throughout its radio run and both TV runs. However, the series also reflected compassion and understanding for those whose crimes were the result of mental disturbances and human frailty. Dragnet saw no contradiction between those two ideas.

 

Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Mary Grace Matter (EP4609)

Bob Bailey

Today’s Mystery:

Johnny goes to New York to investigate the murder of an old girlfriend.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: October 20, 1957

Originating from Hollywood

Starring: Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar; Vic Perrin; Les Tremayne; Paula Winslowe; Frank Nelson; Byron Kane; Jeanne Tatum

When making your travel plans, remember http://johnnydollarair.com

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Mr. and Mrs. North: Call Me Choo Choo (EP4608)

Joseph Curtain and Alice Frost

Today’s Mystery:

Pam and Jerry hear a clarinet being played in the middle of the country near a wrecked car.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: December 9, 1947

Originating from New York City

Starring: Joseph Curtain as Jerry North; Alice Frost as Pamela North

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Broadway’s My Beat: The Joe Quito Murder Case (EP4607)

Larry Thor

Today’s Mystery:

An ex-con who just got out of prison is murdered right after speaking to Danny.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: March 3, 1950

Originating in Hollywood

Starring: Larry Thor as Lieutenant Danny Clover; Charles Calvert as Sergeant Gino Tartaglia

Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net

Patreon Supporter of the Day: Kevin, Patreon Supporter since August 2022.

Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net

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Join us again tomorrow for another detective drama from the Golden Age of Radio.

Mathew Slade: A Case of Murder (EP4606)

Today’s Mystery:

The widow of a man who was shot asks Slade to hide the body.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: August 16, 1964

Originating in Hollywood

Starring: William Wintersole as Mathew Slade; Norman Belkin; Joyce Reed; Michael Fox; William O’Connell

Aired as Starlight Mystery Theater. Also known as Matthew Slade, Private Investigator.

Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net

Patreon Supporter of the Day:

Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net

Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715

Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net

Give us a call at 208-991-4783

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Join us again tomorrow for another detective drama from the Golden Age of Radio.