← The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio)
The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio)
Dragnet: The Big Casing (EP4758)
00:42:53
Today's Mystery: A woman is found shot in her apartment. The husband insists it's suicide, but the evidence seems to point to murder. Original Radio Broadcast Date: May 3, 1951 Originating from Hollywood Starring: Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday;...
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- [00:00]
Ryan
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Adam Graham
Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnet. But first I want to encourage you if you're enjoying the podcast to please follow us using your favorite podcast software. And if you're enjoying the podcast on YouTube, be sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel and mark the notification bell. All those great things that help YouTube channels to grow. Today's program is also brought to you in part by the financial support of our listeners. You can support the show on a one time basis by mailing a donation to Adam Graham, P.O. box 15913. That's P.O. box 15913, Boise, ID 83715. I want to thank John and Joy and Carol for supporting the program. That way you can also become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as $2 per month by going to patreon.greatdetectives.net and I want to go ahead and thank our latest Patreon supporters. And I want to thank T, Tom and Pam all coming on board at the shamus level of $4 or more per month. Thank you so much for your support. Well now from May 3, 1951, it's the big Casey.
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Ryan
Hello, it is Ryan and I was on a flight the other day playing one of my favorite social spin slot games on jumbaccasino.com I looked over the person sitting next to me and you know what they were doing? They were also playing Chumba Casino. Everybody's loving having fun with it. Jumba Casino is home to hundreds of casino style games that you can play for free anytime, anywhere. So sign up now@chumbacasino.com to claim your free welcome bonus. That's chumbacasino.com and live the Chumba Life sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary VGW Group Void where prohibited by Law21+, terms and conditions apply. The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed. To protect the innocent. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a homicide detail. You go to an apartment house in answer to a shooting and dead body. Call her husband tells you it's suicide. The facts show it to be murder. Your job, find out Dragnet. The documented drama of an actual crime. For the next 30 minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case transcribed from official police files. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is the story of your police force in action. It was Sunday, March 9th. It was windy in Los Angeles. We were working the day. Watch out. A homicide detail. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Thad Brown, Chief of Detectives. My name's Friday. It was 4:35pm when we got to the first floor of the Kelsey Apartment Hotel, apartment 112. Hi, Joe, Ben. Hi, Harry. How are you? What have you got here? A woman's dead. Shot through the right temple with a.45 automatic. Husband claims it's suicide. What's the name? Mr. And Mrs. Andrew Robertson. Wife's name was Marie. That's Mr. Robertson right over here. There's a crime lab been called about two minutes ago. Mr. Robertson. This is Sergeant Romero. Sergeant Friday. How do you do? How are you, sir? Have you questioned Mr. Robertson? No, not yet. Mr. Robertson, do you want to tell us what happened here? I'd just gotten back from the corner grocery store. My wife and I had a little argument going. It started before I left for this door and it was still on when I got back. I see she was fixing chicken fried steaks for dinner. Putting a flour on them. We had a few more words and I went over and sat on the davenport right where I am now. She was standing there in the doorway to the kitchen. She said something that set me off and I guess I got pretty mad and said a few things. Then she went back over to that little nightstand there by the door to the kitchen. That one right there? Yeah, that's it. That's where I keep my army automatic. She pulled it out of the drawer and backed up into the kitchen. She put the gun to her head and said, this will put an end to the argument once and for all. I yelled at her and tried to stop her, but I was too late. She pulled the trigger and fell right there where she is. What'd you do then? I went upstairs to Ted Carlton's place. He lives in 212, right above us. We don't have a phone here. I asked him to call the police and send for an ambulance. Did you go over to see how badly your wife was shot? Yeah. I forgot to tell you. The minute she fired, I rushed right over to her, but I was too late. She was dead. Now, did you touch anything in here, move, anything at all? No, sir, not a thing. I've been sitting here ever since I got back down from Ted's room upstairs. I see. Joe? Yeah? Empty cartridge casing here on the floor. Yeah. When Jones gets here, we'll measure the distance out. Just a minute. We can put this saucer over till the crime lab gets here. Right? All right, Lee. All right. Crime lab is here. Friday, Lee. Jonah. Hi, Lee. Hello, Joe Bennett. Hi, Lee. Fremont. Would you mind taking Mr. Robertson downtown? We'll be right down as soon as we finish up here. Right, Joe. See you later. Thanks a lot, Harry. Let's go. What do we got here? Shot through the right temple. Husband claimed suicide. Mm. What's under the saucer? Empty casing. Looks like she was flouring meat, huh? That's what the husband says. Yeah. It's probably what that is in the barrel of the automatic there. Yeah, we noticed that. Waste basket. Sure full, isn't it? Yeah. Right tempo, huh? 45 automatic. Yeah. If she shot herself in the kitchen, how do you figure the empty casing got out there in the living room? Position of the body doesn't want that. That'll be Ed McGill, the photographer. Come in Friday. Go in. How are you, Ed? Well, what you want to shoot? Why don't you get an overall of the room first and grab one in the kitchen there. All right. Wait till I get that saucer off the casing end. Okay? Right. Mary, you want to move over there? Lou? Oh, yeah. Thanks. All right, now, you want the kitchen right from where you are now is good. We can get out of your way here. Okay, this is fine. Now right over the body. Better get that chair to stand up. Oh, yeah. Here you are. Not much room to work in here. Can you get it all in there? Yeah, I think so. Use the waste basket as your outside line here and kitchen sink on the other side. Can't get the sink in. Will you settle for the waste basket only? Fine. Just use that as your right hand side line, huh? Okay, so while you fellas finish up in here, we're gonna run upstairs in that way. Okay, Joe. Come on, man. Where do you want to go first? Do 12. Well, that's this Ted Carlton Robertson mentioned in it? Yeah, the fellow who's supposed to have called in for him. All right. There it is, right at the head of the stairs. Yes? Police officers. You're Mr. Carlton? Yes, that's right. Come in. Thank you very much. This is an awful thing, isn't it? Yes, sir. We understand that you're a friend of the Robertsons. Yes, I am. Have you found out anything yet? You think Andy killed her? We don't know. We haven't completed our investigation. Oh, I see. I'll bet that's the way it was. I hate to say that, but from all indications, it certainly looks that way. How do you mean? The argument, the shouting, then that single shot. I don't know, but it sure struck me that Andy did it. When did the argument start? Was it prolonged? You know. What do you mean? When did it start? What time? You know, this one Today started about 3:30 when Andy got back from the store. But they've been arguing ever since I've known them. How long have you known them? About two years. Those two never should have gotten married to begin with, if I'm any judge. Are you married? No, sir, I'm not. Wonder if you could tell us, did Mrs. Robertson ever say anything that would lead you to believe that she was in fear of her life? Well, yes, she did. One time, Andy stalked out of the apartment down there and Marie came up here to see me. She was in tears, all broken up about it, as usual during these spats, she said, I'll try to remember exactly how she put it. She said, andy gets so mad sometimes, I think he's gonna kill me. What did they usually argue about, do you know? All different things. This particular time that I was telling you about, I think it was over his being late for dinner. Now, aside from this one instance, is there anything else that you can tell us? Well, Andy has a terrible temper that I know. We used to go out and bowl once in a while. Marie, Andy and myself. We had to stop every time he'd miss a spare. You'd think it was the end of the world. Would he usually seem to take it out on his wife? Most of the time, yeah. Although I must say I caught it a few times myself. Abusive language. She really carried on over nothing at all. Did Robertson leave his wife home alone much of the time? No, not any more than usual. Seems like he always wanted to get home just so they could argue. Everybody in that far from the house knows about him. You said that Mrs. Robertson came up here after that one particular argument. Is that right? Yes, it is right. Well, does she come up here often? No, not very often. Just when she was unusually upset and her nerves were on edge. But only then when Andy would rush out mad. Well, do you know whether or not Robertson owns a gun? Yes, I believe he does. Matter of fact, I know he does. One night we were having trouble with prowlers and he came up here with his automatic. I see. Later on, I think I asked him where he got the gun. He said, from the Army. Is there anything else you can add, Mr. Carter? I was the one who called the police. You knew that? That's what we understand. Didn't Andy tell you? He came up here right after the shot and asked me to call the police for him. They don't have a phone. Well, exactly how did he tell you? What do you mean? Well, what were his exact words? Can you remember them? Well, he said, my wife shot. Call the police and get an ambulance, quick. What was your reaction to this? I'd heard the shot, so I wasn't too surprised. But when Andy came running up here, I knew before he said a word. You could tell. Just to look at him, you could tell what? Something was wrong. I had a hunch all along that this might happen someday. What's that? That Andy had Kelly's wife. Ben and I continued questioning the various neighbors in the apartment building. Their stories all matched in every detail. The Robertsons had been known to argue quite frequently and quite loud. None of the neighbors could definitely say that they had ever heard Andrew Robertson threaten his wife. All of them volunteered it would be entirely possible. We put in a call to R and I. We found that there was no previous record on Andrew Robertson nor his wife, Marie. Before Lee Jones had finished his investigation, Layton fingerprint men had arrived and the men from the coroner's office were standing by for removal of the body. We canvassed the neighborhood and checked with the various merchants in the area. They could shed no further light on the death of Marie Robertson. The coroner removed the body from apartment 112 and Lee Jones continued with his investigation. Ben and I returned downtown for further interrogation of the suspect. Everything I've told you is the truth. Would you mind going over it just once more? All right. We had our quarrels and arguments, and I guess some of them were pretty bad. But I'd never do a thing like this to Marie. Well, you don't seem very upset about all this, Robertson. I'm not crying, if that's what you mean. I'm sorry she had to do it. Tried to stop her, but there was nothing I could do. You seem to be taking all this pretty well under the circumstances. I don't know if I can explain how I feel about it. You see, Marie and I weren't too happy the past couple of years. We've been married eight years. And I guess from the start we never could hit it off. Did you used to argue quite a bit? No, not at first, we didn't. Just seemed that we've drifted apart the last couple of years. Seem to fight all the time over nothing at all. I honestly believe we fell out of love. Would you mind telling us again exactly what happened this afternoon? First of all, I got up. I always liked to sleep on Sundays. She asked me to go to the store. That started the argument. She knows I don't like to go shopping. But it seemed like she was always forgetting something and I'd have to go. When I got back from the store, she was making chicken fried steaks for dinner. She was putting a flour on the meat. We argued back and forth for a minute and then she stepped into the living room. I went over and sat on the davenport. All right, go on. We had a few more words and she went over to the small nightstand by the kitchen door. And took out my army automatic that I kept in there. She backed up into the kitchen and pointed the gun at her head. Here, she said. This will end the argument once and for all. I said. I was on the davenport about 12ft away from her. I yelled at her. What did you say? I said, marie, put that gun down. It's loaded. Before I could reach her, she pulled the trigger. Then what'd you do? I rushed over to her, but it was too late. She was dead. What happened then? We don't have a phone, so I rushed upstairs to the apartment. Right over us. Ted Carlton's. I asked him to phone for the police and the ambulance. Did you tell Carlton about your wife? Yes, I did. Told him she'd been shot. Then where'd you go? So just like I told you, out the apartment. I went back downstairs and waited in the living room for you people to get there. Did you go near your wife's body? No, I did not. Did you always keep that gun loaded? Yes, I did. I always kept it loaded and actuated the shell in the chamber. But I kept the safety lock on. Marie knew how to operate the gun because I showed her or when I was out late. She wasn't strong enough to actuate it, but she could work to safety. Did your wife Ever try to commit suicide before? Not to my knowledge. Mr. Robertson, you sure that everything you've told us is the truth? It's the absolute truth, Every word of it. Mel. Sir, here's the way it looks to us. We think you killed your wife. I didn't. Let us lay out a few things for you. We talked to your friends and neighbors in the apartment house. We have people who will testify to the fact that your wife was afraid that you might kill her. She told one man that it isn't true. I don't know what she may have told somebody, but I didn't kill her. It's a known fact throughout the entire apartment building that you and your wife had violent quarrels. The kind of arguments, from all reports, that could easily lead to something like this. I told you, we argued, but I didn't kill Murray. I couldn't do a thing like that. Mr. Robertson, we've made a preliminary investigation of your apartment. You say your wife killed herself. Let me show you some of the flaws in your story here. All I can say is what I've told you is the truth. I didn't kill her. Now, you told us that your wife went to the nightstand and got the gun. That's right. How did she pick up the automatic? How do you mean? Well, how'd she take it? From the drawer, like anyone would pick up a gun. By the butt. She picked it up like anybody would who was gonna use it. You're sure about that? Positive. She didn't touch anything but the butt. Well, she had part of her hand on the trigger. We know that. But she didn't touch any other part of the weapon. She did not. She didn't have time. Well, then how do you account for the fact that we found traces of flour on the barrel of the gun? Well, sure. She was flouring meat. Well, how'd the flour get on the barrel? I don't know. Well, isn't it true that when you approached her with the automatic pointed at her, she tried to ward off the shot with her hand? Isn't that how the flour got on that barrel? That isn't true. Now, you said your wife was putting flour on some steaks. That's right. How do you account for the fact that we didn't find any flour on the butt of the gun where it belonged, or on the drawer of the nightstand where you say she first picked up the automatic? I can't answer that. I don't know what all this means. Well, it means that unless you've got some kind of explanation we have to assume that you're lying, that you killed your wife. I don't know how to explain all these things, but I didn't kill her. Mr. Robertson, you say you were an army man. Isn't that what you told us at the apartment? Yes, I was a sergeant in the army during the last war. What outfit were you in? I was an instructor in sidearm weapons at Santa Ana Army Air Base. Then you'd be somewhat of an Authority on the Colt.45 caliber automatic pistol, wouldn't you? I guess I would, yeah. That was one of the weapons I instructed in. You'd know all about the system of ejection employed by the colt company on their.45 automatic? Yes, I would. The empty casing ejects to the right up and back. Is that correct? Yeah, that's right. In other words, if you were pointing a.45 at me and you pulled the trigger, the empty casing would eject to your right up and fall on the floor to the rear, on your right side. All right? Yeah, that's where it would end up. You still maintain that your wife shot herself? Yes, I do. Where was she standing when she pulled the trigger? As I told you before, in the kitchen. How was she standing? What do you mean? Which way was she facing? Let's see. Facing me. That's right. In the kitchen with her back to the sink, facing out toward me. And where were you? On the davenport, in the living room, facing her. Now, bearing in mind what we've already discussed and agreed upon concerning the ejection system of a.45. How do you account for the fact that the empty casing was found in the living room 6ft and 4 inches from the kitchen? Let's see, I'll figure it for you. The empty casing should have been found on the floor of the kitchen somewhere to the right and rear of your wife. Isn't that about it? I don't understand. Why are you trying to prove me guilty? I've told you, and I swear to you, I didn't kill my wife. Well, it'd be a physical impossibility for that empty casing to have landed anywhere but in the kitchen. If your wife had pulled the trigger of that automatic. How about that? What can I say? Please believe what I'm telling you. I didn't do it. Not according to the evidence. I don't understand any of this. Well, here's the way we've got it reconstructed. You had a quarrel. You got the gun. You met your wife at the doorway to the kitchen. You pointed the gun at her. She tried to ward it off with her left hand leaving flour on the barrel of the gun. You fired and the casing was thrown up and back to the right where it landed on the rug of the living room. The testimony of the neighbors, the flower in your wife's hand. The position of the empty casing. Robertson, you're right. I don't know why all these things are the way you say they are. We do. We don't believe your wife committed suicide. You think about it. Come on, Ben. Yeah. Well, what do you think? Evidence we've got so far has got him tabbed. Yeah. With all that proof, he still refuses to cop out. Something doesn't. John, Maybe we can find out why. You are listening to Dragnet. We had Gene Bechtel take Andrew Robertson's statement. We had his testimony that his wife had committed suicide. A fact that he couldn't prove and that we could disprove. We had before us the final investigation. All evidence was taken to the crime lab for analysis. The photographs taken at the scene were developed and brought in for careful checking. In accordance with Robertson's story, both he and his deceased wife were given paraffin tests to determine the presence of nitrates. Both of them were fingerprinted. And latent prints details started to check them out. Two teams of men were sent out to talk with the close relatives of the two people. Sunday, March 9, 7pm we got a call from Lt. Lee Jones that he had the final results of his investigation. We went over to the second floor of the Central Station crime lab. Got a couple of things for you. Okay. How'd you make out with Robinson? Well, he insisted it was suicide. What's your ID on it? Let me show you what we got. All right. Yeah. Look at this. No picture of the.45 casing? That's right. Take a close look at it. Right here in particular. Yeah. You notice this one edge is a little crimped here? Yeah. Ejector marks. No, here are your ejector marks up here. See, this crimping is something entirely different. What is it? You remember where you found this case? Six feet, four inches into the living room. That's right. We wondered how it could have been thrown that far by the ejector. If the husband's story is true, the ejector didn't do that. I wondered, too. On closer inspection, I noticed this crimping. Let me show you how this casing got out there in the living room. Here's an identical.45 caliber called empty casing. Yeah. We place it here on the floor on a piece of carpeting the same thickness that was in their kitchen linoleum. Now watch this. I'll step on it. Hitting it from an angle. There's your answer to that. When the husband ran over to his wife's side, what did he say he did? Yeah, it's about the size of it. He stepped on the casing accidentally and certainly not caring about it at that moment, bounced out into the living room just like a tiddlyweek. Now, here, notice the casing. Now the crimping. Check it against the photo. Looks exactly the same way. It matches. Did the flower on the barrel of the gun. It was flour, by the way. Did it figure in for you fellas? Well, yeah, we figured the wife was trying to ward off the gun when he pointed it at her. Certainly the logical deduction. Let me show you how it really got on there. Here's that shot of the kitchen out there. Notice the wastebasket here? Pretty full, isn't it? Yeah, we noticed that when we were out there. What you probably didn't notice is this here's a blow up of just that section where the wastebasket was. Can you see what's on the top of the stuff in the basket there? Hold it over here and leave little lights in. Yeah. Looks like a flour sack, isn't it? That's right, an empty flour sack. Now, figuring the position of the body in relation to that waste basket, when she dropped the gun fell from her hand, striking the wastebasket, bouncing off and landing on the floor where you found it. You said when she dropped the gun, you figured it was suicide. It's beginning to shape up that way, isn't it? There was no flower found on the butt of the gun. That part of the automatic didn't come in contact with the flour sack. Yeah, but at least she was flouring meat. There were no traces of it on her right hand. On the palm, just on the back. In checking the clothing, we found streaks of. Of flour where she could have wiped her hands clean before picking up the gun. Yeah, and out there we could only see the backs of her hand. The coroner checked that through, huh? Well, doesn't look like he killed her. There's more here. As you know, we ran paraffin tests on both the victim and Robertson. Yeah. Here's the results of the test. See Andrew Robertson, known nitrates negative. Marie Robertson, evidence of nitrates positive. She fired a gun, he didn't. Huh? That's it. Something else. Here's the report from latent prints. Smudges one Good. Thumbprint, right hand belonging to Marie Robertson, indicating she was the last one to handle the weapon. Well, that's about it, Lee. No, that's more fair. Now, this shot was taken facing the east wall of the kitchen. That's the wall that would be on anyone's left sitting on the davenport in the front room. Wouldn't be possible to see that wall from the davenport. No, it wouldn't. That's right. You can see the white X where we located the slug relative to the position of the body. If she was standing, holding the gun at approximately a right angle to the side of her head, the bullet would come to rest approximately 4 inches below the crown of her head. There was a checkout. The coroner says she was 5 4. The bullet was found at a height of 5 and 18 proving that she shot herself rather than anyone else doing it. Judging from the inclination of the bullet, as you know, this is critical. From what it's worth. The condition of the wound indicates that it was inflicted from extreme close range. Fair point when you consider that most people wouldn't submit to being shot from close range without a struggle or unless taken by surprise. From all reports, we know she wasn't taken by surprise. Well, that's it, fellas. That's all we have. Thanks, Lee. Sure enough. Crime lab. Jones? Yeah, right here. Just a minute. For either one of you. All right, Lee. I'll get it, huh? Thank you. Friday. Oh, hi, Harry. You did, huh? What's that? Yeah. Do you have a letter with you? It does, huh? Yeah. Yeah, right, Harry. Thank you very much. Bye, Harry. Fremont. He just left. Marie Robertson's mother. What'd she have to say? Well, Fremont says she gave him a letter. He's on his way in with it now. It was written by Marie Robertson. Says something about taking her own life. Her mother says that the husband couldn't have done it. Says the daughter shown indication in the past of her of wanting to take her own life. Well, not about singers. It makes you feel kind of good, doesn't it? Yeah. Find a man clear on a charge instead of having to hang him up. Come on, Ben. Right. Where you headed? Back cross street. Wait till I get my coat. I'll go with you. What for? I want to see him too. When you tell him the story you've just heard was true. Only the names were changed to protect the innocent. On March 12, the hearing was held in the office of the coroner, City and county of Los Angeles, State of California. In a moment, the results of that hearing, Andrew William Robertson was immediately released from custody, a 510form was made out exonerating him from any complicity in the death of his wife. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. James M. Fox, president of the Southern California chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. The Edgar Allan Poe Awards of the Mystery Writers of America are made each year for outstanding contributions in the field of mystery. This year, by a nationwide vote of 300 professional mystery writers, the radio award goes to Dragnet. For consistent excellence in the use of the medium in the best traditions of our craft. The Mystery Writers of America are happy to present their Edgar's statuettes of Poe to Dragnet's Jim Moser, who writes the scripts and a duplicate statuette to Dragnet. Congratulations, Mr. Moser. Thank you, Mr. Fox. You have just heard Dragnet a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice comes from the office of Chief of Police W.H. parker, Los Angeles Police Department. Stay tuned for Counter Spy next over many NBC stations.
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- [29:53]
Adam Graham
Conditions apply welcome back to me. This episode has always been one that highlighted our hero's humanity and the fallibility of players police officers. It's a case where Joe Friday and Ben Romero got ahead of the actual evidence and appropriate interpretation of it in a haste to close what looked like an open and shut case. Probably influenced by so many cases where people lied to them and so many instances where the husband did it. Even the narrator was in on it saying the facts indicated that a murder had been committed. That was a bit off. They didn't really understand the facts or wait for them to be analyzed or wait for all the facts. In the case of the testimony of the mother in law, I mean, Friday used a word like impossible for where the shell casing ended up that a lot of people could have supposed and come up with a plausible explanation which of course wouldn't have been evidence. But it's hard to say. Ah, that's impossible. Of course, trained police officers have experience and they can read a scene and they also have instinct that has been honed by that experience. But that's not a substitute for the work of the forensic scientist, and this episode brought that point home. And Herb Butterfield, I think we hear him play a lot of roles in this series, but he is really good as Lee Jones in professionally bringing home the evidence and and explaining the science and showing what really happened and how the inconsistencies they saw were explained. To be fair, some of their analysis may have been thrown off by the oddities of the space. It occurred in a small apartment where movement was probably a challenge, but Jones gets to the bottom of it. And I like when Ben got to a point of saying, okay, I guess you proved we were wrong and Lisa said effectively, wait, here are some more reasons you are wrong. Of course, in a professional setting it should never be about ego, and certainly not when it comes to law enforcement. It should be about getting it right and being sure that justice is done and they pretty much are with him, and being glad the truth came out, even if it showed that they made a mistake. I have a comment from Daniel, who emails in and said and this is regarding the Big Saint. I started playing this week's episode of Dragnet, the Big Saint, and was surprised that it was the same basic plot as an Ironside TV episode I'd watched only a few hours earlier. Season one, episode 12, a very cool Hawk car, updated a bit 60s versus 50s, but it was even a Cadillac that was used to catch them. Of course, Ironside took more liberties with the drama, but it was clearly inspired by Dragnet or the actual events that Dragnet was based on. Well Daniel, thank you so much for letting me know and I will try to get to watch that episode of Ironside. Unfortunately, all of my extra TV viewing at this point is taken up by Get Smart. I'm trying to announce the newsletter kind of got pushed back because of events in the family, but we are trying to get that first issue out. And for that first issue I'm watching all of the episodes from season one of Get Smart. But would you believe I only have two episodes left? Okay, would you believe? Would you believe 10? Okay, how about 20? Not quite that many, but as soon as I give some free extra TV watching time, I'll check that out. And I am looking for more reasons to watch episodes of Ironside and Kojak and all those good things that have been posted over on Amazon prime recently. And then over on the site called X Bernard writes, hi, have you seen any copies of the new Dragnet TV series ever plays? Adam, this is the 89 to 90 version 52 TV episodes. And the answer is yes, I did. I did not see it when it was originally on the air. My dad was not someone who would let nine or ten year old watch modern crime drama. And I can appreciate that. One of the early forgotten TV streaming services was called into tv. It was an ad supported service that was started by Tom Warner and AOL and it launched in 2005. It came out onto AOL in 2006, but anyone could watch it and they had some TV shows on there. And at this point I believe that the Original Dragnet and Adam12 were being licensed at least when I watched them on into tv, which I think really kind of wound down towards the end of the 2000s. But they were on either Hulu or Netflix one. So into TV got the rights to a lot of shows that were a bit rarer and more off the beaten path. And among them were the new Dragnet and the new Adam 12. And I watched quite a few episodes of the new Dragnet, a few of the new Adam 12. And overall I actually enjoyed the new Dragnet. I don't think it was great, but it was a pretty good series. You had two pretty solid lead actors. You had Jeff Osterhage as Sergeant Vic Daniels and Bernard White as his partner Carl Molina. And the cases pretty much follow Dragnet formula. And in terms of the crimes and the way they portrayed the investigation were very true to the original. I enjoyed it, but I can see why it didn't make it. And it had really two problems going for it. It was too much like the original Dragnet and it was not enough like the original Dragnet. On one hand, it was so much like Dragnet in terms of formula and approach to case. And even being a half hour in length in many ways, television had moved on in police shows. A half hour crime drama in the late 1980s was a bit unusual. I mean, and it doesn't bother me because I love them. And I grew up on a lot of half hour dramas in the 80s and early 90s, things like RIN 1010, canine cop or My Secret Identity or the Superboy series. I have fond memories of cheaply made syndication. And so some of the issues didn't in that regard didn't bother me. On the other hand, you just have the lack of Jack Webb and I think that is huge for Dragnet. You can't really overstate how important Jack Webb and Joe Friday are are to the series as a whole. And again, I think that the actors in there did a really Good job. That's part of the reason why I enjoyed it a lot more than the new Adam 12, where the leads were a bit more spotty. Osterage had a decent career in the 70s and 80s. He was in the sackets, among other things. And Bernard Wyatt is still active. He was even in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But neither one of them were Jack Webb and they didn't quite, quite have that combination. They did make believable Everyman Cops, but neither one of them was Jack Webb. And the music they could not. They didn't get the iconic Dragnet music. They went with more of a kind of typical jazzy 80s theme. And it's not bad, but it's kind of forgettable. But I liked it fine. It's just not been legally available anywhere for at least the last 15 years. Plus I did see someone post in an online forum that there are ways to get it illegally. And while I enjoyed New Dragnet, I could not imagine anyone taking the risk involved with getting illegal content to watch it. There are some clips you can find online and I think certainly the opening sequence. But yeah, it's a series that got unfortunately memory holed. But it's worthwhile if you're a big Dragnet fan and want more. Now, if you want more of a 1980s take on Dragnet that veers closer to the original, then I actually recommend Mathnet, which has got. Pretty much all of its episodes have been posted on YouTube. It was a PBS parody for the kids program Square One that eventually practically devoured Square One tv. The theme music is very close to the original, although a little bit different. And I think the humor and the relationship between the two partners is a lot closer to what you saw on television with Dragnet. Now, I'm a bit biased towards Mathnet because without Mathnet I probably wouldn't be doing this podcast. It was Mathnet which got me interested in the 1960s Dragnet TV series, which got me interested in the 1950s Dragnet TV series, which Got me interested in the radio series, which got me more broadly interested in old time radio in general. But at any rate, thank you for the question, Bernard. Really appreciate it. Then we turn to the Apple Podcast store, where we have a new review from scholar Ace Records, who writes a wide variety that changes semi regularly with a different show six days a week. There is a show for anyone. There have been a few over the years that I haven't connected with, but with six shows a week, this is a trifle. I know some have a problem with Adam's voice and or commentary. But this is not the basis of the podcast. I for one appreciate the historical context and for those who don't, there is a skip button and Adam always puts in a small pause between his opening and the start of the radio show. Again, if you like detective shows, this is the best in the genre. Well, thanks so much. Appreciate you taking the time to leave a review and provide a bit of a counterbalance to the sort of negative, some of the negative reviews that have been left there which we don't read out because we don't want to dwell on non constructive negativity. And then we turn to our listener survey where Scott in Beaverton writes thank you for a great show. Well, thanks so much Scott. And now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day. And I want to go ahead and thank Idle patreon Supporter since April 2021, currently supporting the podcast at the rookie level of $2 or more per month. Thanks so much for your support and that will do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software. And if you're enjoying the podcast on YouTube, be sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel and mark the notification bell. And now to the part I'm having to re record because I was so used to Dragnet being on Saturday and being the end end of our programming week. But we will be back next Thursday with another episode of Dragnet. But join us back here tomorrow for yours truly, Johnny Doll. Or where?
- [43:07]
Ryan
Look, Dal, I already told the cops that Claire was here in the club last evening. All evening until midnight, out in the bar most of the time. What difference does it make? How about the rest of the time we were talking here in my office, just the two of you? Just the two of us. Now look, darling, what it boils down to is you've each got alibis for one another. Huh? That's right. Now look, nosy boy. Claire didn't kill Benton. At the moment, I wasn't thinking so much about her. Wait a minute. You're trying to pin this on me? You and Claire have been pretty friendly. Santa's. She benefits to the tune of a hundred grand by Benton's death. Look, Dala, Dala, you're blowing smoke in the wrong direction. I like the arrangement the way it was. Why should I try to change it? That's a good question. So just let it drop. You get me? You got nothing to worry about, Santis. If you've got nothing to hide, I.
- [44:02]
Adam Graham
Hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime, send your comments to Box 13. Great detectives.net follow us on Twitter at radiodetectives and check us out on Instagram. Instagram.com greatdetectives from Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.