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3. 07/14/1949 - Red Light Bandit
4. 07/21/1949 - City Hall Bombing
Dragnet
Jack Webb started his career in broadcasting as an announcer in 1945. Starting in 1946, Jack starred in Pat Novak for Hire, a private-eye drama that featured "hard-boiled" terminology and phrases that put it somewhere between comedy, camp, and drama. For example, ""That's what the sign out in front of my office says -- Pat Novak, for hire. That's the only way to make a living down on the waterfront, because around here a set of morals won't cause any more stir than Mother's Day at an orphanage." Or "“That’s what the sign out in front of my office says. Pat Novak for hire. Oh, there are a lot of ways to put it, but it’s easier if you let your slip show right from the beginning.”
He had lead roles in Jeff Regan, Investigator, and Johnny Modero, Pier 23, also private-eye dramas.
In 1948, Webb had a role in a movie "He Walked by Night", a police drama inspired by the murder of a Los Angeles policeman. He took this idea and adapted it to a radio show in which a no-nonsense, unglorified, true story would be told. would allow people to understand the life of a policeman a little better. Webb was finatic about making it realistic. He attended a police academy to learn the jargon, rode with officers, conducted police interviews, etc
Webb was the star, producer and directory of the show. His efforts to achieve realizim was shown in the sound effects. Most shows needed only two sound effects experts. Dragnet needed five. Jack made sure the exact number of footsteps from room-to-room in LAPD's headquarters was used. He made sure the sound of the phone ringing was exactly the same as the ones in police HQs.
Despite his reputation, he wasn't above bending the rules, according to one "Dragnet" technical advisor who pointed out that several circumstances in one episode were extremely unlikely. "You know that, and now I know that. But that little old lady in Kansas will never know the difference," Webb said.
