From Those Were the Days:

1947 - People gathered around the radio to listen to a half-hour version of Sergeant Preston of The Yukon for the first time (the show was also known as Challenge of the Yukon). The show, with the Canadian Mountie and his trusty dog, King, continued on the radio until 1955 (and on TV from 1955-1958). Sgt. Preston was produced at WXYZ in Detroit by George W. Trendle, who also oversaw The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet.

1955 - The first network radio show to be produced with no script, The University of Chicago Round Table, was heard for the final time after 24 years on NBC radio. The program was the first network radio program to win the coveted George Foster Peabody Award.

1956 - “This is Monitor, a weekend program service of NBC Radio,” was heard for the first time. Notables such as Bill Cullen, Ed McMahon, Hugh Downs, and Dave Garroway recited this line. It was a network cue to NBC radio stations across the nation who carried the long form news, entertainment and variety broadcast from New York City. Stations and listeners who were “on the Monitor beacon” were entertained for six hours or more each Saturday and Sunday night for nearly two decades. NBC’s Monitor was one of the last live network radio programs on the air.
9:15:06 AM    comment []  trackback []  

“...when man hunts man…”

One of the many things that I love about old-time radio is discovering programs that were either overlooked or had relatively short runs when first broadcast, but through hindsight and surviving recordings provide a pleasant listening surprise to those curious to seek them out. I checked out a real goody last night: the suspenseful detective drama Pursuit, first heard over CBS Radio October 27, 1949.

Pursuit’s hero was Inspector Peter Black of Scotland Yard (the character was called Inspector Harvey in the show’s pilot), who each week doggedly engaged in “relentless, dangerous pursuit, when man hunts man.” In the show’s first season, Black was played by the wonderful character actor Ted de Corsia, whose film resume is stuffed with gems like The Lady From Shanghai (1948), The Enforcer (1951), and especially The Naked City (1948); his Willie Garza is one of film noir’s most fascinating villains, and his death tumble off the Williamsburg Bridge remains in the memory long, long after. De Corsia really got the opportunity to flex some acting muscles in the role of Black (he has almost a Ronald Colman-quality to his character's voice), since he was normally typecast in movies as a Brylcreemed thug. (Plus, it’s good to hear him get a promotion; his previous radio cop roles include those of Commissioner Weston on The Shadow and Sgt. Velie on The Adventures of Ellery Queen.)

The episode I listened to—“Three For All,” from November 10, 1949—was the third episode to air and it’s extremely well-written by veteran scribes Morton Fine and David Friedkin. The two writing partners always brought a refreshing tongue-in-cheek slant to their dialogue, as witnessed in this exchange between Black and his superior, Chief Inspector Harkness (Bill Johnstone):

(SFX: door open)

HARKNESS: Ah…good morning, Black…come in, come in… (SFX: door close) Sit down…

BLACK: Uh, thank you…Sergeant Moffatt made it sound very urgent, sir…

HARKNESS: Hmm…did he? It may or may not be…I want your opinion on it…

BLACK: On what, sir?

HARKNESS: This note… (SFX: paper rustle) It came in this morning’s mail…it’s made up of letters clipped from a newspaper…thing was addressed to me and it says, “A man, Melville Rogers, will be found dead today with a knife in him…he will be dead…”

BLACK: May I see it, sir?

HARKNESS: Of course…have we found a…man with a knife in him today, Black?

BLACK: Not yet, sir…we’ve had many notes of this type before and nothing has come of them…

HARKNESS: However, Black—will you look into it?

BLACK: Of course, sir…

(SFX: phone rings)

HARKNESS: Excuse me, Black… (SFX: phone pickup) Harkness here…what? Yes? Give me that address again…Gruber’s Tea Shop, 12 Buxton Lane…I have it, thank you… (SFX: phone hangup) Well, Black…?

BLACK: Yes, sir?

HARKNESS: They found a man with a knife in him…man named Melville Rogers…you’ll look into it, won’t you?

Johnstone’s delivery of the line “Have we found a man with a knife in him today, Black?” is absolutely priceless (Johnstone also doubles as another character later on, and handles the announcing duties as well); another choice line is in response to Black’s query as to how a witness to the murder came to discover that the victim was dead: “Well, I’m not a physician, sir—but that knife sticking in his side…and he wasn’t breathin’, sir…”

It’s hard to fathom why Pursuit never caught on with audiences—its writing was first-rate, with the likes of Fine, Friedkin, Antony Ellis and E. Jack Neuman all turning in quality scripts. The producer-director chores were handled by two of radio’s finest—Elliott Lewis and William N. Robson—and Leith Stevens provided the music, followed by Marlin Skiles and Eddie Dunstedter (with a budget-minded organ in 1951). Pursuit also cast the cream of the crop of Hollywood radio performers, among them Jeanette Nolan, Tudor Owen, Joseph Kearns, Raymond Lawrence, Eleanor Audley and Jay Novello, to name but a few.

Nevertheless, Pursuit lasted only a brief season before it found itself relegated to two separate summer runs; one in 1950 for Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch and in 1951 for Life With Luigi. (John Dehner replaced de Corsia as Black in those two summer versions.) Molle shaving cream and Sterling Drugs took a flutter on Pursuit for one more season beginning September 18, 1951 (with actor Ben Wright as Inspector Black) but the series finally gave up the ghost March 25, 1952.

Time hasn’t been too kind to Pursuit; there are barely a dozen episodes extant today, which is a crying shame considering the quality of the show. But OTR fans can take solace in that many of the program’s scripts have survived, most of them available for rent via the fine folks at SPERDVAC (an organization that I just renewed my membership in this week). In fact, OTR researcher Stewart Wright was able to cobble together a top-notch log for the series by painstakingly poring over many of the remaining scripts in the KNX Collection at the Grant R. Brimhall Library in Thousand Oaks, CA. I shall close this post with the words of Inspector Black himself: “Pursuit, and the pursuit is ended.”
9:07:16 AM    comment []  trackback []