Rocky Jordan is a series many see as evocative of Casablanca as both featured American café owners facing adventure and intrigue in Middle Eastern cities. The film became a sensation in the 1940s and A Man Named Jordan was introduced over the West Coast CBS network towards the end of World War II. Jack Moyles, played Rocky, the no-nonsense owner of the Instanbul-based Café Tambourine. For the first six months, A Man Named Jordan was a daily serial in which Rocky matched wits with Axis powers in the waning days of the war and made a tidy profit along with the way. After the war A Man Name Jordan became a weekly half hour series that bounced around the schedule until 1947. According to John Dunning’s Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio, the series gave Rocky a pretty good supporting cast of characters including a girlfriend, a best friend, and a “man Friday.” Unfortunately, only two unconnected serialized episodes and no half hour episodes of A Man Named Jordan are in circulation.
Thus when Rocky Jordan premiered over the West Coast CBS network on October 31, 1948 it was a revival of a series that was quite popular at the time but which has been lost to the ages. In this series, Rocky has relocated from Istanbul to Cairo and outside of his restaurant staff, he’s alone. Although when trouble calls coming, a visit from Captain Sam Sabaaya of the Cairo Police would be in order. The writers of the series used the Army’s Pocket Guide to Egypt as a guide to writing the series which gives the show a flavor of authenticity, even if the knowledge is occasionally a bit shallow. The series often reused scripts and ideas from other programs and made mainly cosmetic changes to move a story that’s set in Los Angeles to Cairo.
Still, at it’s best Rocky Jordan manages to make good use of its setting and atmosphere, with solid performances from Moyles, and well-written mysteries. The series ended in 1950, but saw in revival in 1951 when famed Hollywood tough guy actor George Raft (who turned down the leading role in Casablanca) taking over the role of Rocky Jordan in a Summer replacement series that was broadcast over the entire CBS network. The series was considered for another revival when CBS decided to produced a serialized detective show in the mid-1950s. Jack Moyles recorded an audition for the series, but unlike the Mister Keen, Tracer of Lost Person and Mr. and Mrs. North serialized programs, the new serialized Rocky Jordan never aired. CBS would find success in the serialized format with Yours Truly Johnny Dollar instead.
Star Bios:
Jack Moyles (1913-73): Moyles began his radio career in San Francisco over station KGO before moving to Hollywood in 1944. Moyles is best remember for playing Rocky Jordan in two separate series over CBS, but he also starred the American Forces Radio series Douglas of the World while also having regular roles as Sergeant Pete Karger on The Line Up and Major Daggett on Fort Laramie. In addition, Moyles was a talented character actor who appeared frequently on programs such as Suspense, The Whistler, Gunsmoke, and Yours Truly Johnny Dollar.
George Raft (1901-80): George Raft’s career began on Broadway and led to Hollywood where he became known for his roles as gangsters in films like the 1932 classic Scarface. Raft also turned down a variety of roles in films that were iconic roles for other actors including High Sierra and the Maltese Falcon which Humphrey Bogart took and Double Indemnity which would star Fred MacMurray. In the 1940s, Raft started in the radio series, The Cases of Mr. Ace. In the 1950s, Raft starred as Lieutenant George Kirby in the Detective series, I’m the Law. His popularity waned in the 1950s but he made a comeback in Some Like It Hot in 1959.
Starring Jack Moyles:
- The Bartered Bridegroom (Original Air Date: October 31, 1948)
- Count Me Out (Original Air Date: November 7, 1948)
- The Man in the Morgue (Original Air Date: November 21, 1948)
- Strangers Three (Original Air Date: December 5, 1948)
- Ace High Straight (Original Air Date: December 12, 1948)
- Up in Flames (Original Air Date: December 19, 1948)
- Death in the Sand (Original Air Date: January 2, 1949)
- Escapade with Paula (Original Air Date: January 9, 1949)
- The Case of the Sleepy Camel (Original Air Date: January 16, 1949)
- The Baksheesh Boy (Original Air Date: January 16, 1949)
- Champagne, Caviar, and Hot Ice (Original Air Date: February 6, 1949)
- Red Stands for Blood (Original Air Date: February 13, 1949)
- Twenty Fathoms Under (Original Air Date: February 20, 1949)
- The Two O’clock Man (Original Air Date: March 6, 1949)
- The St. Louis Blues (Original Air Date: March 13, 1949)
- A Passport for Vivi (Original Air Date: March 20, 1949)
- Everything Shipshape (Original Air Date: March 27, 1949)
- My Quiet Friend (Original Air Date: April 10, 1949)
- Consignment for Naples (Original Air Date: April 24, 1949)
- Lady in Disguise (Original Air Date: May 8, 1949)
- The Make-Up Man (Original Air Date: May 22, 1949)
- Betrayal in the Desert (Original Air Date: May 29, 1949)
- The Man They All Loved (Original Air Date: June 5, 1949)
- The Man from Damascus (Original Air Date: June 12, 1948)
- The Big Ditch (Original Air Date: June 19, 1949)
- Journey to Nashier (Original Air Date: June 26, 1949)
- The Map of Murder (Original Air Date: July 3, 1949)
- The Broken Wing (Original Air Date: July 10, 1949)
- The Race (Original Air Date: July 17, 1949)
- The Coward of Mutah Kahn (Original Air Date: July 24, 1949)
- Valachi (Original Air Date: December 31, 1947)
- Gold Fever (Original Air Date: August 7, 1949)
- Cairo Vendetta (Original Air Date: August 14, 1949)
- The Gum Queen (Original Air Date: August 21, 1949)
- Lady from Istanbul (Original Air Date: August 28, 1949)
- A Stranger to the Desert (Original Air Date: January 28, 1948)
- Adventures with Andrea (Original Air Date: September 11, 1949)
- The Nile Runs High (Original Air Date: September 18, 1949)
- Memento from Adelaide (Original Air Date: September 25, 1949)
- Pattern for Revenge (Original Air Date: October 2, 1949)
- The Man with No Name (Original Air Date:October 9, 1949)
- Quest for Traneeneh (Original Air Date: October 16, 1949)
- The Diorite Bowl (Original Air Date: October 23, 1949)
- The Demarco Affair (Original Air Date: October 30, 1949)
- The Black Ball (Original Air Date: November 6, 1949)
- The Strange Death of Van Dorn (Original Air Date: November 13, 1949)
- The Big Heist (Original Air Date: November 20, 1949)
- High Pressure (Original Air Date: November 27, 1949)
- The Veiled People (Original Air Date: December 11, 1949)
- The Man from Cairo (Original Air Date: January 1, 1950)
- Smoke Screen (Original Air Date: January 8, 1950)
- The Loomis Affair (Original Air Date: January 15, 1950)
- An Air of Death (Original Air Date: January 29, 1950)
- The Return of Toni (Original Air Date: February 5, 1950)
- Madam Dulac’s Daughter (Original Air Date: February 12, 1950)
- Paid in Full (Original Air Date: February 19, 1950)
- The Return of Dr. Pyrue (Original Air Date: February 26, 1950)
- Wong Lee’s Secret (Original Air Date: March 5, 1950)
- The White Beetle (Original Air Date: March 12, 1950)
- The Perfect Witness (Original Air Date: March 19, 1950)
- Foolproof (Original Air Date: March 26, 1950)
- The Strange Fate of Professor Amar (Original Air Date: April 2, 1950)
- Holiday Weekend (Original Air Date: April 9, 1950)
- Adventure in Zaqaziq (Original Air Date: April 16, 1950)
- The Big Gamble (Original Air Date: April 23, 1950)
- The Mystery of the Carl Kleist (Original Air Date: April 30, 1950)
- Horde of the Manluks (Original Air Date: January 12, 1949)
- Congo Copper (Original Air Date: May 14, 1950)
- The Beggar of Ferrar (Original Air Date: May 21, 1950)
- Song in the Night (Original Air Date: May 28, 1950)
- The Word of a Bishop (Original Air Date: June 4, 1950)
- The Pharaoh’s Formula (Original Air Date: June 11, 1950)\
- Shakedown (Original Air Date: June 18, 1950)
- Dilemma (Original Air Date: June 25, 1950)
- The Dead Colleen (Original Air Date: July 2, 1950)
- Interlude with Laurena (Original Air Date: July 9, 1950)
- The Lotus Cup of Amin Ra (Original Air Date: July 16, 1950)
- Cairo Tour (Original Air Date: July 23, 1950)
- The Money Changers (Original Air Date: July 30, 1950)
- The Broken Wing (Original Air Date: August 6, 1950)
- City of the Baksheesh (Original Air Date: August 13, 1950)
- The Man from Damascus (Original Air Date: August 20, 1950)
- Dr. Markof’s Discovery (Original Air Date: August 27, 1950)
- Ace High Straight (Original Air Date: September 3, 1950)
- Trail of the Assassin (Original Air Date: September 10, 1950)
Starring George Raft:
- The Man from Damascus (Audition Date: March 28, 1951)
- The Lady from Tangiers (Original Air Date: July 4, 1951)
- The Genacos Affair (Original Air Date: July 11, 1951)
- Valley of the Dead (Original Air Date: July 25, 1951)
- The Man in the Nile (Original Air Date: August 15, 1951)
Log complete