| Dragnet | |
|---|---|
.jpg) DVD cover | |
| Also known as | Badge 714 |
| Created by | Jack Webb |
| Starring | Jack Webb Ben Alexander |
| Narrated by | Hal Gibney John Stephenson George Fenneman Jack Webb |
| Opening theme | "Dragnet Theme" |
| Composers | Walter Schumann (1951–58) Nathan Scott (1958–59) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 276(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Jack Webb |
| Producer | Jack Webb |
| Production locations | Los Angeles, U.S. |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | Mark VII Productions (1951–54) Mark VII Limited (1954–59)[1][2] |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | December 14, 1951 (1951-12-14) – August 23, 1959 (1959-08-23) |
| Related | |
| Dragnet (franchise) | |
Dragnet – later syndicated asBadge 714[3] – is an American crime television series, based onthe radio series of the same name, both created by their star,Jack Webb. The shows take their name from the police termdragnet, a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects. Webb reprised his radio role of Los Angeles police detective Sergeant Joe Friday.Ben Alexander co-starred as Friday's partner, Officer Frank Smith.
The ominous, four-note introduction to thebrass andtympanitheme music (titled "Danger Ahead"), composed byWalter Schumann, is instantly recognizable.[4] It is derived fromMiklós Rózsa's score for the 1946 filmThe Killers.[5]
This was the first television series in theDragnet media franchise encompassing film, television, books and comics. The series was filmed atWalt Disney Studios inBurbank, California.[1]
During its early success on radio,Dragnet was popular enough to move to television. More important was that it brought continuity between the television and radio series, using the same script devices and many of the same actors.Liggett & Myers sponsoredDragnet, both on radio and on TV, during the 1950s, with Webb seen smokingChesterfields.[6]
Webb was comfortable playing Joe Friday on radio but balked at the prospect of playing the role before the cameras; according to author-biographer Michael J. Hayde, Webb's choice for the TV Joe Friday was Hollywood actorLloyd Nolan, whose casual underplaying Webb admired. But Webb was too well established in the radioDragnet and the network insisted that he continue in the leading role.
The two familiar leads, Jack Webb andBarton Yarborough, settled in for the first season, disrupted when Yarborough suffered a fatal heart attack. Under Webb's authority, the writing staff worked his partner's demise into the storyline, and Sgt. Friday rode with various partners until settling onBen Alexander as detective Frank Smith, providing some sporadic comic relief. Most of the episodes available to viewers today feature Webb and Alexander. Alexander was also an occasional writer on the show.
Captains of other divisions had consistent names, but they were seen infrequently—and on the rare occasions they were present on-screen, their performers changed from episode to episode.Thad Brown was the chief of detectives (played byRaymond Burr in the pilot, thereafter by several other one-shot actors);R. A. Lohrman was the head of the homicide squad. Both Brown and Lohrman were based on, and named for, their real-life LAPD counterparts.
The template for the TV show was simply the proven radio formula, embellished with visuals. Most early episodes were directly adapted from earlierDragnet radio shows, and writer James E. Moser wrote the vast majority of the show's episodes through the end of 1954. Webb directed every episode ofDragnet, and was also an occasional writer on the show, writing or co-writing 14 episodes (mostly in the early seasons).
While working on the radio drama, Webb formed a friendship withLAPD chiefWilliam Parker, and agreed to allow the police department to censorDragnet in exchange for story ideas. Scripts were formally approved by the LAPD's Public Information Division before filming, with episodes potentially being discarded entirely if the department objected to an aspect of the script. The LAPD then gave Webb story ideas and financial help, such as actual police vehicles and equipment for props and real police officers as extras.[8][9][10]
John Robinson joined the writing staff in 1953, and by 1955 (after Moser left the show for a time to create and run the TV seriesMedic), Robinson becameDragnet's most frequent script contributor. Note that despite some sources claiming that Robinson was a pen-name of Jack Webb, it was not; Robinson was a separate individual with a long and well-documented scriptwriting career. (Webb, whose full legal name was "John Randolph Webb",did occasionally write under the similar pen name of "John Randolph".) Frank Burt joined the staff in 1955, and along with Robinson wrote most of the mid-periodDragnet episodes. Moser returned for the final two seasons, while Robinson and Burt reduced their participation in these final years. Overall, well over 200 of the 276 episodes ofDragnet were written (or co-written) by at least one of Moser, Robinson or Burt. There were other less frequent contributors; co-star Ben Alexander co-wrote 6 episodes (all in season 3), and Michael Cramoy was a frequent writer in seasons 6 through 8, penning over 20 episodes. Amongst the handful of writers who wrote only an episode or two, two notableStar Trek writers caught an early break, each writing a very late-runningDragnet installment:Gene L. Coon andJohn Meredyth Lucas.
The 1950sDragnet episodes in black-and-white differ significantly from the 1960sDragnet episodes in color. This first TV series took a documentary approach, with Sgt. Friday and the police force often encountering the seedy side of Los Angeles, with a steady succession of callous fugitives, desperate gunmen, slippery swindlers, and hard bitten women. Most of the cast members were veteran radio actors who could be relied upon to read the matter-of-fact dialogue naturally. Webb used most of his ensemble players again and again in different roles:Jack Kruschen,Vic Perrin,Harry Bartell,Art Gilmore,Peggy Webber,Barney Phillips,Herb Ellis,Carolyn Jones (then billed as Caroline Jones), Clarence Cassell,Virginia Christine,Ralph Moody,Kathleen Freeman,Stacy Harris, Natalie Masters,Virginia Gregg,Olan Soule,Herb Vigran,Peter Leeds, Sarah Selby, and many others.Martin Milner andLee Marvin made one of their earliest TV appearances on the series; and at the time, going against type playing heavies,Raymond Burr (billed as Ray Burr) appeared in the series' first episode, as Sgt. Friday's superior, Captain Thad Mumford. Webb staged each story withnewsreel-like authenticity, enhancing the visual action with extremely tight close-ups (unheard of in the days of tiny television screens), location photography, and unusual camera angles. Much of this inventiveness went unused in the 1960s revival. Although still using convincing dialogue readings, the newDragnet lost much of the documentary appearance, and film noir ambience.
Just before the show took its final commercial break, the show's announcer would inform the audience of something related to the case, usually the opening date on which the perpetrator's trial would take place in the Los Angeles County Superior Court (this would be accompanied by an onscreen card so the viewer could read along). After the break the camera faded in for what was presumably the perpetrator'smug shot, consisting of the perpetrator standing uncomfortably against the wall, while the results of the trial, including the sentencing, were announced. The perpetrator's name and fate were then superimposed over the screen. In most cases, this superimposed material specifically stated in what prison the perpetrator had been incarcerated, or, in the case of perpetrators deemed unfit to stand trial, to what state mental hospital or psychiatric facility they were committed. Occasionally, there were multiple perpetrators. Usually all would be shown at once during this closing sequence, but sometimes some perps would be shown separately, particularly if they received different sentencing from others in the group.
In rare cases, where the perpetrator was found guilty of murder and the death penalty was applied, the place and method of execution was noted on screen. In even rarer cases, such as in the episodes "The Big Show" or "The Big Little Jesus", there was no trial. In the episode "The Big Little Jesus", the content of the episode made it clear that no trial was to be held, and there was no final announcement. In the very rare otherDragnet episodes that did not result in a trial, the narrator would briefly explain why there was no trial, and the on-screen superimposition would describe the fate of the episode's perpetrator.
While one early episode ofDragnet centered around a criminal who was found "not guilty" by a jury at thestart of the episode, no episodeended with a perpetrator caught by Friday and his partner being found "not guilty" by a court.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 14 | December 14, 1951 (1951-12-14) | June 20, 1952 (1952-06-20) | |
| 2 | 33 | September 12, 1952 (1952-09-12) | June 26, 1953 (1953-06-26) | |
| 3 | 39 | September 4, 1953 (1953-09-04) | May 28, 1954 (1954-05-28) | |
| 4 | 39 | August 27, 1954 (1954-08-27) | May 27, 1955 (1955-05-27) | |
| 5 | 39 | September 2, 1955 (1955-09-02) | June 1, 1956 (1956-06-01) | |
| 6 | 34 | September 24, 1956 (1956-09-24) | May 23, 1957 (1957-05-23) | |
| 7 | 39 | September 26, 1957 (1957-09-26) | June 26, 1958 (1958-06-26) | |
| 8 | 39 | September 23, 1958 (1958-09-23) | August 23, 1959 (1959-08-23) | |
Over 200 of the 276 episodes ofDragnet have not seen broadcast since the late 1960s, or received any kind of home video or DVD release. It is unclear if these 'missing' episodes are lost, destroyed, or are being withheld from distribution for some reason. Approximately 64 episodes ofDragnet are known to exist in some form or another, including episodes held in the collection ofThe Paley Center for Media.
Half of the episodes of this series are in thepublic domain, with an estimated fifty-two episodes released on many DVD labels. A number of these collections recycle the same fifty-two episodes. Often some are mislabeled as there are no onscreen titles; as well, many episodes are sourced from film prints which are somewhat damaged, worn, or faded.
Eclectic DVD released a collection of three episodes.
Platinum Video released seven episodes from the original series in 2002. The two disc set also includes episodes fromBurke's Law;Peter Gunn;Richard Diamond, Private Detective;Mr. Wong, Detective; andBulldog Drummond.
