|
Police Series - The year 1949
introduced the police detective to television when the ABC network aired
STAND BY FOR CRIME beginning January 22 through August 27th. This
thirty-minute murder mystery used a guest detective to solve the crime.
In May of 1949, Myron Wallace (aka 60 MINUTES newsman Mike
Wallace) appeared as Lieutenant Kidd, Chief of Homicide who used a series of
flashbacks to explain the killers dirty deeds.
The ABC network also aired PHOTOCRIME (a.k.a. "LOOK
PHOTOCRIME") from September 21st through December 14th of 1949. This
Wednesday-night half-hour crime drama followed Chuck Webster as Inspector
Hannibal Cobb as he sought to solve mysteries of the murderous kind.
The DUMONT Network debuted THE CHICAGOLAND MYSTERY PLAYERS
on September 11th 1949 through July 23 1950. Broadcast live from Chicago,
this police drama featured Gordon Urguhart as criminologist Jeffrey Hall and
Bob Smith as Sergeant Holland. This program actually started two years
earlier as a local series (and technically could be called the first police
drama). Viewers of the program had to find out "Who done it?" by reading the
solution to the murder in the next day's edition of the Chicago Tribune
newspaper.
The DUMONT Network also produced the half-hour police drama
THE PLAINCLOTHESMAN which ran from October 12th 1949 through September 12th
1954 (their longest running show). The half-hour program starred Ken Lynch
as The Lieutenant and Jack Orrison as Sergeant Brady. The series used the
subjective view camera technique and thus The Lieutenant was never seen. See
also FACELESS FAVORITES.
External Links
Back to Top |
