Dragnet premiered on television in 1952 during the waning years of radio’s golden age. A truly groundbreaking drama in its day, Dragnet offered its fans unprecedented realism in its depiction of Los Angeles Police officers and the various cases they pursue. With resounding success in both radio and television, the program became the archetype for all police dramas that followed. And its theme-song, The Dragnet March, would provide pop-culture with the best known four-note musical phrase since Beethoven’s fifth symphony!

The show was the creation of Jack Webb, a California native who at an early age found an interest in acting and radio. Webb was born in 1920 in the city of Santa Monica. As a young man he would moonlight on various Los Angeles radio stations, while working a string of day jobs to support himself and his mother. During the war years he came to write, direct, host, and perform in various shows for the Army Air Forces. In 1945 he landed a position at KGO in San Francisco, working as a disc jockey/announcer. Soon he began hosting various local programs ranging from morning jazz shows to docudramas to bizarre comedy sketches. His first major part was as a waterfront detective on Pat Novack in 1946.

In 1947 Webb moved back to Los Angeles and began playing detective-style roles in such programs as Johnny Modero, Escape, The Whistler, and This is Your FBI. In 1948 while acting in the film "He Walked By Night", Webb met Sergeant Marty Wynn of the Los Angeles Police, who was providing technical advice for the film. It is said that both Webb and Wynn shared a dislike for the melodrama of the typical “real-life crime” productions of the day –feeling that realism and pure investigative procedure was drama enough. Together they began to discuss the idea for a show much like Dragnet, a show that would dramatize real police cases without the cloak and dagger antics of the “hardboiled” detective story.

Webb spent a year developing his ideas for Dragnet; always striving for realism and authenticity he began hanging-out at police headquarters, riding with detective teams, and attending classes at a local police academy. In 1949 Webb approached NBC with his idea; executives were unimpressed, but gave him a week to get an audition record together. Webb produced his record and took it to the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, explaining his plans for a radio program about fictitious Los Angeles Police Detectives solving cases based on real police files. The police were lukewarm to Webb’s proposal as well, but approved it on the condition that the department retain control over program sponsorship, that Webb’s access to police record’s would not compromise confidentiality, and that he would agree not to portray the department, or its officers, in an ‘unflattering light.’ Webb gladly agreed to all conditions and premiered his first show in June of that year.

In the early years of Dragnet the program’s lead characters were “Sergeant Joe Friday” -a cop’s cop, “tough but not hard, conservative but caring”- played by Jack Webb himself and his partner “Sergeant Ben Romero,” played by actor Barton Yarborough. Webb and Yarborough worked well together and soon became good friends, so much so, that when plans were made for Dragnet to also become a television series, Webb went against “the standard wisdom” and prepared to use members of his radio cast, including Yarborough, for their same roles on television. One episode was shot with Yarborough as “Sergeant Romero” in December of 1951, shortly before Yarborough’s sudden death.

Rather than searching for an actor to attempt replacing his deceased friend in the role of “Romero,” Webb decided to create an entirely new lead character; the final selection was actor Ben Alexander in the role of “Detective Frank Smith” a likeable character, loyal and courageous under fire, but with the added humanity of being a perpetual worrywart. Audiences connected well with the “Frank Smith” character, who became such an integral part of the show that when “Smith” was wounded in a special two-part radio episode, fans responded by sending in thousands of letters -more testament, perhaps, to the program's realistic feel (or a statement about its fans). Alexander continued to play the role of “Detective Smith” on both radio and television from 1952 until the close of both programs (radio in 1957 and TV in 1959).

The Dragnet radio program had several features (aside from its main concept) which were quite innovative and unique. The acting style was carefully understated, almost deadpan, in an attempt at capturing as realistic a feel as possible. Towards these ends Webb often had his actors perform their lines unrehearsed. In addition to the authentic police-jargon written into the scripts, to capture the right “sound” as many as 300 different effects were performed (by five technicians) for just one 30-minute episode. Great pains were taken towards the finest of sound details –from the exact number of footfalls for each step in the actual stairwell at Los Angeles police headquarters, to the sound of a page turning before a suspect’s description was read, true to the real police reports, which contained such information on the second page. New ground was also entered along the lines of the program’s subject matter. True to life, not all Dragnet episodes ended happily. Characters, including child-characters, were sometimes portrayed as injured or killed. It was also one of the first programs on the air to broach the subject of sex crimes. The production techniques used and authenticity achieved on the program represent a highpoint in radio drama.

In 1967 the television version of Dragnet was revived with Jack Webb playing his familiar role of “Joe Friday” and actor Harry Morgan in the role of his partner "Officer Bill Gannon." The series was fairly successful (especially in syndication!) and ran for three years on prime-time. Webb’s portrayal of “Friday” marked the peak of his professional career, a role for which he would be recognized (and loved) for the rest of his days. Webb died of a heart attack on December 23rd 1982; to mark the actor’s passing the Los Angeles Police Department flew its flags at half-staff, an honor usually reserved for one of its own.

In the spirit of the Dragnet tradition, a third version of the venerated TV series premiered on ABC in February of 2003. It's directed by Dick Wolf of the long-running series Law and Order. The indespensable "Sergeant Joe Friday" is now played by the former comedy-actor Ed O'Neal. "Friday's" old partner "Frank Smith" has also been revived (having shed several pounds and years in the process) played by the young actor Ethan Embry. –Chris Plunkett

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COPYRIGHT 2006

"God will make you fit for what he's called you to be... he'll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy! This way it all amounts to something of worth.

If your life honors the name of Jesus, he will honor you. Grace is behind and through all of this; our God is giving himself freely. The Master, Jesus Christ, is giving himself freely.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 The Message Bible ~ Nav Press, Glen Eyrie Castle, Colorado Springs, CO

And do you know what? We don't have to be stressed when we know God has an assignment for us. If you are allowing yourself to be stressed you can make a simple move that will remove all that tension.

He will take what we are able to offer him and do -- then fill our life -- and energize it -- with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

What is that power? Simple. It's the Holy Spirit, who lives within you and me when we believe in Christ and accept his forgiveness. When we are "within him" he will be "within us."

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This is a History Exam for those who don't mind seeing how much they really remember about what went on in their life. Get paper and pencil and number from 1 to 20. Write the letter of each answer and score your test again the answers at the end of the article.

1. In the 1940s, where were automobile headlight dimmer switches located?
a. On the floor shift knob
b. On the floor board, to the left of the clutch
c. Next to the horn

2. The old bottle top of a Royal Crown Cola bottle had holes in it. What were those holes used for?

a. Capture lightning bugs
b. To sprinkle clothes before ironing
c. To make a salt shaker

3. Why was having milk delivered a problem in northern winters?
a. Cows got cold and wouldn't produce milk
b. Ice on highways forced delivery by dog or horse sled
c. Milkmen left deliveries outside of front doors and milk would freeze, expanding and pushing up the cardboard bottle top.

4. What was the popular chewing gum named for a game of chance?
a. Blackjack
b. Gin
c. Craps!

5. What method did women use to look as if they were wearing stockings when none were available due to rationing during W.W.II?
a. Suntan
b. Leg painting
c. Wearing slacks

6. What postwar car turned automotive design on its ear when you couldn't tell whether it was coming or going?
a. Studebaker
b. Nash Metro
c. Tucker

7. Which was a popular candy when you were a kid?
a. Strips of dried peanut butter
b. Chocolate licorice bars
c. Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside

8. How was Butch wax used?
a. To stiffen a flat-top haircut so it stood up
b. To make floors shiny and prevent scuffing
c. On the wheels of roller skates to prevent rust

9. Before inline skates, how did you keep your roller skates attached to your shoes?
a. With clamps, tightened by a skate key
b. Woven straps that crossed the foot
c. Long pieces of twine

10. As a kid, what was considered the best way to reach a decision?
a. Consider all the facts
b. Ask Mom
c. Eeny-meeny-miney-mo

11. What was the most dreaded disease in the 1940's?
a. Smallpox
b. AIDS
c. Polio

12. "I'll be down to get you in a __, Honey"
a. SUV
b. Taxi
c. Streetcar

13. What was the name of Caroline Kennedy's pet pony?
a. Old Blue
b. Paint
c. Macaroni

14. What was a Duck-and-Cover Drill?
a. Part of the game of hide and seek
b. What you did when your Mom called you in to do chores
c. Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an Atom-bomb drill.

15. What was the name of the Indian Princess on the Howdy Doody show?
a. Princess Summerfallwinterspring
b. Princess Sacajewea
c. Princess Moonshadow

16. What did all the really savvy students do when "Ditto" duplicated tests
were handed out in school?
a. Immediately sniffed the purple ink, as this was believed to get you high
b. Made paper airplanes to see who could sail theirs out the window
c. Wrote another pupil's name on the top, to avoid their failure

17. Why did your Mom shop in stores that gave Green Stamps with purchases?
a. To keep you out of mischief by licking the backs, which tasted like bubble gum
b. They could be put in special books and redeemed for various household items
c. They were given to the kids to be used as stick-on tattoos

18. Praise the Lord, and pass the _________?
a. Meatballs
b. Dames
c. Ammunition

19. What was the name of the singing group that made the song "Cabdriver, Drive By Mary's Block" a hit?
a. The Ink Spots
b. The Supremes
c. The Esquires

20. Who left his heart in San Francisco?
a. Tony Bennett
b. Xavier Cugat
c. George Gershwin

----------------------------------------------
HERE ARE THE ANSWERS

1. b) On the floor, to the left of the clutch. Hand controls, popular in Europe, took till the late '60s to catch on.

2. b) To sprinkle clothes before ironing. Who had a steam iron?

3. c) Cold weather caused the milk to freeze and expand, popping the bottle top.

4. a) Blackjack Gum.

5. b) Special makeup was applied, followed by drawing a seam down the back of the leg with eyebrow pencil.

6. a) 1946 Studebaker.

7. c) Wax coke bottles containing super-sweet colored water.

8. a) Wax for your flat top (butch) haircut.

9. a) With clamps, tightened by a skate key, which you wore on a shoestring around your neck.

10. c) Eeny-meeny-miney-mo.

11. c) Polio. In beginning of August, swimming pools were closed, movies and other public gathering places were closed to try to prevent spread of the disease. Some schools were closed and children were quarentined to their homes in Milwaukee

12.. b) Taxi. Better be ready by half-past eight!

13. c) Macaroni.

14. c) Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an Atom-bomb drill.

15. a) Princess Summerfallwinterspring. She was another puppet.

16. a) Immediately sniffed the purple ink to get a high.P>

17. b) Put in a special stamp book, they could be traded for household items at the Green Stamp store.

18. c) Ammunition, and we'll all be free.

19. a) The widely famous 50's group: The Inkspots.

20. a) Tony Bennett, and he sounds just as good today..

SCORING

17- 20 correct: You are older than dirt, and obviously gifted with mental abilities. Now if you could only find your glasses, keys and wallet. Definitely someone who should share their wisdom!

12 -16 correct: Not quite old as dirt yet, but your mind is getting keen.

0 -11 correct: You are not old enough to share the wisdom of your experiences.

Click for poster information - I don't make nuttin on it.



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