Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Dragnet: "The Big Tarbaby" (10/12/1954)

Date: October 7, 2025
Podcast Host: Choice Classic Radio

Episode Overview

This classic episode of Dragnet plunges listeners into a tense and methodical investigation after a bartender, George Cabot, reports his wife missing—fearing she's been kidnapped. Detectives Joe Friday and Frank Smith piece together the case, unraveling threads of marital discord, neighborly gossip, and ultimately vigilante justice and violence. The episode is a gripping, step-by-step retelling of a true crime, notable for its signature procedural tone and sparse style.

Key Discussion Points & Investigation Progression

1. The Call: Suspicion of Foul Play

• [04:35] Setup: "You’re a detective sergeant... get a call from a man who tells you his wife has failed to keep an appointment. There’s no trace of her. There’s evidence of foul play. Your job: find her."
• Joe Friday and his partner Frank Smith are approached by George Cabot, who says his wife Ethel never misses her regular late-night drive to pick him up from his bar, but tonight she has vanished.
• George is visibly distressed, "I'm about to blow my cork not knowing what it is." (06:39)

2. Interrogation and Character Study

• [06:18 – 10:29]: Friday and Smith question George, probing for any possible reasons Ethel might be missing—alcohol issues, mental health, secret relationships—but George firmly insists on Ethel’s reliability.
• George’s agitation grows after receiving mysterious phone calls, eventually trying to dismiss the police: “I guess nothing’s happened to Ethel. Just forget I called you.” (10:26)
• Detectives sense George is hiding something, but he refuses to share details from a suspicious call warning him not to involve the police, allegedly threatening Ethel’s life if he does.
  • Friday: “You’re taking a big responsibility on yourself, Cabot.” (11:03)

3. Insights from the Neighbor

• [12:21 – 17:24]: Detectives visit neighbor Carol Lawrence, a chatty but insightful source.
• Carol fills in the backstory—marital troubles, a son lost in the war, George’s temper, and Ethel’s growing sadness:
  • “Poor Ethel isn’t very happy... It’s that husband of hers. Oh, he’s a good provider and all, but there's more to life than just that.” (14:00)
  • She recounts incidents of domestic violence: "Oh, you bet he did. Gave her a black eye once. Took a couple weeks for it to go away." (15:10)
• Carol provides a recent photograph and confirms Ethel’s regular nighttime routine of picking up her husband.

4. Finding Ethel

• [18:54]: The detectives receive word that Ethel Cabot has been found—beaten, covered in tar, and dumped by the roadside.
• At the hospital, Ethel is in shock, repeatedly crying out not to be hit anymore and expressing fear of George:
  • "Don't hit me anymore. Please don't hit me anymore." (20:41)
  • "Where's George? … I don't want to see you. Not ever." (21:11)
• Ethel claims two men assaulted her and said they were "doing it for George." But she does not recognize her attackers.

5. Motive and Wrath

• Police lose track of George Cabot, heightening concern about further violence.
• [25:49]: Bar employee Arnold Leffer reveals to detectives a bar fight from a week earlier, where George beat up two men, who then threatened revenge.
• George, distraught and perhaps vengeful, is on the hunt for these men after learning of Ethel’s fate.

6. Confrontation and Justice

• [28:17]: Detectives arrive just in time at a rooming house, preventing George from delivering his own vengeance on the two culprits, Jack and Rico Martin.
• The suspects admit abducting Ethel to get back at George, downplaying their violence:
  • “We didn’t hurt her. We just scared her a little bit, that’s all.” (28:54)
• Friday counters their smugness about getting away with it: “You got it all figured, haven’t you?” (29:04)

7. The Aftermath

• [29:34]: Both Jack and Rico are arrested, tried, and convicted of kidnapping with bodily injury—an offense punishable by life imprisonment or death.
• True to Dragnet’s format, the episode ends with legal outcomes and a solemn reminder of the real-life consequences.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Parental Anxiety

  • “It’s a funny thing about parents…all they care about is getting their kids back. After a while, they begin to think about it and get sore. Doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
    — Frank Smith (05:01)

• On Marital Tension

  • “You know, poor Ethel isn’t very happy. … Well, it’s that husband of hers. Oh, he’s a good provider and all, but I always say there’s more to life than just that.”
    — Carol Lawrence (14:00)

• On Domestic Violence

  • “Oh, you bet he did. Gave her a black eye once. … Poor Ethel. She tried to hide it with makeup, but you could still tell.”
    — Carol Lawrence (15:10)

• Ethel's Trauma

  • “Don’t hit me any more. Please don’t hit me any more. … I didn’t do anything. … George. George, tell him to stop. Not any more. Please, not any more.”
    — Ethel Cabot (incoherent hospital sequence, 20:41 – 24:12)

• Criminal Confidence

  • “We didn’t hurt her. We just scared her a little bit, that’s all… All we gotta do is come up with the right plea. … There’s a lot of ways we can go.”
    — Rico Martin (28:54 – 29:07)

Timeline of Major Events

| Timestamp | Event | |-----------|-------| | 04:35 | Detectives introduced to the case: Ethel Cabot missing, possible foul play. | | 06:18 | George Cabot recounts last contact with Ethel, shares growing panic. | | 10:29 | George, after receiving a threat, anxiously insists nothing is wrong, stonewalling police. | | 12:21 | Detectives question neighbor Carol Lawrence; learn of the troubled marriage and past abuse. | | 18:54 | Ethel is found—badly beaten and traumatized, covered with tar. | | 20:41 – 24:12 | Ethel, hospitalized, reveals fragments: two men did it "for George." Detectives gather evidence under severe distress. | | 25:47 | Arnold Leffer describes bar fight involving George, points detectives to suspects. | | 28:17 | Detectives stop George from killing Jack and Rico; confessions obtained. | | 29:34 | Conviction and sentencing; Dragnet’s legal epilogue. |

Tone & Style

The episode employs Dragnet’s signature cool, steady, almost documentary tone. Dialogue is clipped, methodical, and procedural. Personal tragedy and crime play out in understatements, punctuated by moments of raw emotion—especially from Carol Lawrence and in Ethel’s brief, harrowing scenes. The dry recitation of consequences at the episode’s end brings home the seriousness of the crime.

Summary

"The Big Tarbaby" is a somber study in the consequences of violence, marital discord, and retribution. With their measured step-by-step investigation, Friday and Smith peel back layers of ordinary life to expose the desperation—and deadly consequences—lurking beneath. As always with Dragnet, it’s the quiet, almost forensic attention to detail and motive that give the story its lasting weight.