Both employed the same Los Angeles Police Department technical adviser, used actual police cases and presented the case in "just the facts" manner that became a hallmark of Dragnet. The origins of Dragnet can be traced to a semi-documentary film, "He Walked by Night" from 1948, in which Webb had a small role. From September, 1949 through February 1957, Dragnet's 30 minute shows, broadcast on NBC, brought to radio true police stories in a low-key, documentary style. When Jack Webb died, so did Joe Friday.Dragnet, the brainchild of Jack Webb, may very well be the most well-remembered, and the best, radio police drama series. He had a State Funeral in Los Angeles City Hall. Actually, this show was rude in that the LAPD retired Friday's badge after his death. The other premiered in 2003: Joe Friday, now Detective Joe Friday, had badge 714 and a partner named Frank Smith, who was Joe's permanent partner after Ben Romero died in 1951 on the original series. It had different characters and a very different feel. One was a syndicated program in the late 1980s. There were two other programs with the Dragnet name. When the show came back on the air in the 1960s, he was back to Sergeant. One thing a nitpicky guy like me notices is that at the end of Dragnet in the 1950s, Joe Friday was promoted to Lieutenant. Of course, Joe Friday's partner, Bill Gannon, would get better stuff in the years to follow, as Col. While it was a good, wholesome show for the entire family, it wasn't the old series.
#Dragnet episodes from 50s lost to time series#
Those of us who loved the 1950s series find the 1960s series lacking in some ways. Peggy Webber, a woman who was probably born about the same year as Jack Webb, portrayed Joe Friday's mother, with whom he lived. Up and coming stars included Leonard Nimoy (bad guy), Dennis Weaver (worked in the police lab), and Martin Milner (your typical teenager from any Los Angeles high school). Some of the actors were "has beens" like Natalie Masters (who was Candy Matson on a radio series in the late 1940s) and Ben Alexander (Joe Friday's partner-had a big part in the 1930 antiwar flick "All Quiet on the Western Front.") Her husband, Monty Masters was on the production crew. They included Harry Bartell, Ed Phillips, Virginia Gregg, Olan Soule, Allene Roberts, Virginia Christine (Folgers Coffee lady), and many others. Some actors on Dragnet appeared as several different characters. I won't spoil it by telling you the ending, but you can probably figure what happens, three minutes into the show. It was also the only episode which did not bear the statement, "The names have been changed to protect the innocent." There was a Christmas episode used prior to this one which was about a little boy who got a rifle for Christmas. All of the 1950s shows were in black and white with the exception of the annual Christmas show (The Big Little Jesus), which was always done in color. Jack's first venture in broadcasting was a weekly comedy-variety series originating from KGO in San Francisco and heard on ABC West Coast stations during the spring of 1946. If you look hard in even the soberest episode about police officers getting killed, you will find smatterings of humor. Comedy is a hallmark in every Dragnet episode. It should be remembered that Jack Webb was a comedian at heart.
#Dragnet episodes from 50s lost to time tv#
Because Barton Yarborough, who played Ben Romero, died while working on the TV show at the Disney studios in Burbank, his rural wisdom was sadly missed. Many of Jim's scripts were adapted for television when the TV version started in 1951. The lone writer for the radio show was James Moser. On the third program, even the theme music had changed. Letters from listeners changed this aspect of the program. The first two programs contained a lot of gratuitous violence.
0 kommentar(er)
