Episode 597 - Friday’s Men Friday (Dragnet)

Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

Jack Mooney

Arts, Performing Arts, Mystery, Detectives, Old, Radio, Time, Tv & Film, Oldtimeradio

4.6 • 982 Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2024

⏱️ 131 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over the long run of the Dragnet radio series, Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) was paired with four different partners. Each of these cops brought a different energy to the show and had a similar but different dynamic with Friday. We'll hear all four of them in this week's episode. First, Barton Yarborough is Sgt. Ben Romero in "The Big Ben" (originally aired on NBC on March 15, 1951). Then, Barney Phillips plays Sgt. Ed Jacobs in "The Big Almost No-Show" (originally aired on NBC on January 31, 1952). Future Adam-12 star Martin Milner is Officer Bill Lockwood in "The Big Bunco" (originally aired on NBC on April 17, 1952). And Ben Alexander plays Officer Frank Smith - Friday's longest-tenured partner on radio, television, and the big screen - in "The Big False Make" (originally aired on NBC on May 17, 1953).

Transcript

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0:00.0	Get this and get it straight.
0:02.0	Crime is a suckers road,
0:04.0	and those who travel it wind up in the gut of the prison of the grave.
0:07.0	The story you are about to hear is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
0:18.0	The Adventures of Sam Spade Detective.
0:22.0	The Adventures of the Saints starring Vincent Price.
0:25.0	Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account.
0:30.0	America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator.
0:33.0	Yours truly, Johnny Deller. the Hello and welcome to down these mean streets and more old-time radio
1:00.3	detectives and crime fighters.
1:03.3	Today our focus is on the grandfather of police procedural's
1:08.6	Dragnet.
1:10.0	Of course today it's probably best known for its long-running TV incarnations, but us old-time
1:16.3	radio junkies know that before it ever hit the small screen, Dragnet was a long-running radio show.
1:23.6	It was a series that focused on the ins and outs,
1:26.9	the technical procedure of police investigating crimes.
1:31.6	It essentially created a new genre, one that we're still seeing today in law and order in its various spin-offs.
1:40.0	When we think of Dragnet, we usually think of Jack Webb's iconic portrayal of Sergeant Joe Friday,
1:48.0	but a crucial part of the show's success and longevity was that Friday had a partner to bounce off of and
1:55.9	often provide some comic relief to what was otherwise a very serious no-nonsense
2:01.7	show.
2:03.0	Over the course of the series, Friday was partnered with four different characters,
	...

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