Month: September 2023

Dragnet: Production 7 (aka: City Hall Bomb) (EP4196)

Todays Mystery: Friday and Romero have less than half an hour to stop a man who’s thratening to blow up City Hall unless the police release his brother.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: July 21, 1948

Originated from Hollywood

Starred: Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday, Barton Yarborough as Sergeant Ben Romero, Raymond Burr as Ed Backstrand, Chief of Detectives, Herb Butterfield as Lieutenant Lee Jones

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The Oscar-Winning Short Films of John Nesbitt, Part Three: Main Street on the March

Previous Films: That Mothers Might Live and Of Pups and Puzzles

Main Street on the March (1942)

From 1936-1956, there were actually two categories for live-action short films, one-reel films (up to eleven minutes long) and two-reel films (up to 22 minutes long.) The only year which saw Nesbitt win an Oscar for the two-reel category was 1942. It actually won the same year that  Pups and Puzzles won in the one-reel category.

Some Americans might imagine that the country moved immediately from a footing of self-satisfied isolationism to the country being all-in for World War II. The reality was more complicated than that. Main Street on the March shows America undergoing a subtle evolution, with the events of Pearl Harbor being the end rather than the beginning. It starts on a typical American Main Street in May 1940, where Americans tended to believe the year-old War was a “phony war.” However, Germany’s May 10, 1940 invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Holland began to awaken Americans to the importance of strengthening America’s national defense.

The film is of great historical significance, as Nesbitt’s narration is mixed with real-life historic statements by figures such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Nesbitt describes a process of change and the country passing through multiple stages over the year and a half between Germany’s actions and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It also shows how Americans prepared for war in that crucial year and a half. Without those prepartions, the war could have had a very different outcome.

The film had actually been completed and slated for release on December 8, 1941. However, events led to the film being pulled back, and new scenes and narration being added to reflect the events of Pearl Harbor and America’s final evolution. The original film wrapped before America’s entry into the war, and would have had a different conclusion, and you can see a few hints of what that might have been in the surviving footage.

Not all edits were merely for dramatic or thematic purposes. Some street scenes were filmed in Hagerstown, Maryland on West Washington Street and North Potomac. As such, the premiere of the film was held on January 5, 1942 in Hagerstown. However, in the original cut, there were more scenes in Hagerstown’s leading defense factories, but after the US joined the War, it was determined that these scenes had to be removed.

While I’d be curious to see the original cut, the final film is well worth a view and definitely earned its Oscar. It tells how America changed over the course of a year and a half. It’s a film that would really be of interest to anyone who’s interested in the events of World War II and America’s involvement in it.

As of this writing, Main Street on the March is available on YouTube.

Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Matter of the Medium Well Done, Episodes Three, Four, and Five (EP4195)

Bob Bailey

Today’s Mystery:

Johnny is dealing with death threats as well as a medium who convinced an heiress client to change her insurance beneficiary.

Original Radio Broadcast Dates: May 16, 17, and 18, 1956

Originated from Hollywood

Stars: Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar. Virginia Gregg, Lawrence Dobkin, Lurene Tuttle, HarrynBartell, Eleanor Audley, Joseph Kearns, Herb Vigran, Junius Matthews, Tony Barrett, Sam Edwards

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Mr. Chameleon: The Case of Murder and the Sleeping Men (EP4194)

Karl Swenson

Today’s Mystery:

A ruthless businessman is poisoned, and his two associates, who were at the same table, were knocked out.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: November 10, 1948

Originated in: New York City

Starred: Karl Swenson as Mister Chameleon

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Dangerous Assignment: Ghost Hunters (EP4193)


Today’s Mystery:

Steve goes to Darwin, Australia, because a man who offered the U.S. information on the location of a World War II traitor has been murdered.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: March 10, 1952

Originated in Hollywood

Stars: Brian Donlevy as Steve Mitchell, Herb Butterfield as the Commissioner, Kay Stewart, Dan O’Herliy, Don Morrisson, Ben Wright

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Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Matter of the Medium Well Done, Episodes One and Two (EP4192)

Bob Bailey

Today’s Mystery:

Johnny is sent to New York to investigate when an insured heiress wants to change her beneficiary to a shady medium.

Original Radio Broadcast Dates: May 14 and 15, 1956

Originated from Hollywood

Stars: Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar. Virginia Gregg, Lawrence Dobkin, Lurene Tuttle, HarrynBartell, Eleanor Audley, Joseph Kearns, Herb Vigran, Junius Matthews, Tony Barrett, Sam Edwards

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Sam Spade: The Sinister Siren Caper (EP4191)

Steve Dunne

Today’s Mystery:

A man hires Spade after receiving an ominous warning that his life is in peril from a dangerous red-headed woman.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: March 16, 1951

Originated from Hollywood

Starred Steven Dunne as Sam Spade, Lurene Tuttle as Effie

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U.S. Marshal: Stool Pigeon (Detective Video Theater 256)

Marshal Morgan tries to get a captured narcotics smuggler to reveal who the leader of the racket is.

Season 1, Episode 27

Original Air Date: January 22, 1959

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Dragnet: Production 6 (aka: The Red Light Bandit) (EP4190)

Todays Mystery:

Friday and Romero search for a man who robs and beats up innocent citizens while impersonating a police officer.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: July 14, 1949

Originated from Hollywood

Starred: Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday, Barton Yarborough as Sergeant Ben Romero, Raymond Burr as Ed Backstrand, Chief of Detectives, Barney Phillips

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The Oscar-Winning Short-Films of John Nesbitt, Part Two: Of Pups and Puzzles

Previous Film: That Mothers Might Live

Of Pups and Puzzles (1941)

This short film is about a revolution in American industrial hiring practices. The one-reel film talks about the old way, where a foreman would look at a group of men, and make a superficial choice as to whom to hire based on who looked strong.

Circumstances were going to make such arcane hiring practices untenable. While the film was released three months prior to Pearl Harbor and America’s entry into World War II, America had begun a peace-time draft and ramped up national defense production. Getting the right person into the right job would be critical. To do that, employers turned to psychologists, and behavioral experiments involving three dogs and a chimpanzee.

The film does a good job of making its potentially dry content interesting, as it explains how animal behavior studies changed human hiring practices. Having cute animals on the screen for much of the run time keeps things interesting, and Nesbitt’s storytelling abilities keep the story moving along. The resulting hiring practices of the 1940s are quaint to say the least, as we travel back to a time when unexpectedly pulling a gun out of a drawer and firing it was just all part of the hiring process.

While Of Pups and Puzzles presents its material in an entertaining way, I can’t help but feel actual interest in the film’s content is a bit niche for modern audiences. One IMDB user said it’d be of most interest to “research psychologists and industrial/ organizational personnel specialists.” If you fit that niche or just want to see some old animal footage, you may enjoy this film.

Of Pups and Puzzles is available on YouTube.

Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Silver Blue Matter, Episodes Three, Four, and Five (EP4189)

Bob Bailey

Today’s Mystery:

The murder of a lunchroom owner has raised the stakes in Johnny’s investigation

Original Radio Broadcast Dates: May 9, 10, and 11, 1956

Originated from Hollywood

Stars: Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar. Virginia Gregg, Harry Bartell, Lillian Buyeff, Will Wright, Jeanne Bates, Carleton Young, Lawrence Dobkin, Bert Holland, Marvin Miller, Herb Vigran

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Mr. Chameleon: The Case of the Fatal Impersonation (EP4188)

Karl Swenson

Today’s Mystery:

A friend of Mr. Chameleon’s is murdered while dressed in costume as him.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: November 3, 1948

Originated in: New York City

Starred: Karl Swenson as Mister Chameleon

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Dangerous Assignment: Nazi Fugitive-Captain Shiller (EP4187)


Today’s Mystery:

Steve goes to Dakar in West Africa in search of a supposedly dead Nazi sea captain who was a key part of the Fuhrer’s escape plan.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: November 3, 1951

Originated in Hollywood

Stars: Brian Donlevy as Steve Mitchell, Herb Butterfield as the Commissioner

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Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Silver Blue Matter, Episodes One and Two (EP4186)

Bob Bailey

Today’s Mystery:

Johnny goes to Los Angeles to investigate a fur robbery committed by a juvenile gang.

Original Radio Broadcast Dates: May 7 and 8, 1956

Originated from Hollywood

Stars: Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar. Lucille Meredith, Edgar Barrier, Vic Perrin, Jack Kruschen, Tommy Cook, Richard Crenna

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Sam Spade: The Spanish Prisoner Caper (EP4185)

Steve Dunne

Today’s Mystery:

Sam tries to help a retired teacher who lost $1,000 to an old con game.

Original Radio Broadcast Date: March 9, 1951

Originated from Hollywood

Starred Steven Dunne as Sam Spade, Lurene Tuttle as Effie, Ed Mack, Verna Felton, Lou Merrill, Tony Barrett, Shirley Mitchell, Nester Paiva, Jerry Hausner

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