Dragnet: The Big Overtime (EP4929)

Welcome to the

Great Detectives of Old Time Radio. From Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham.

In a moment, we're going to bring you this week's episode of Tregnet. But first, I want to

encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software.

Our listener support and appreciation campaign continues. You can become one of our ongoing

Patreon supporters for as little as $2 per month. Just go to patreon.greatdetectives.net.

And I want to thank our latest Patreon supporter. Thank you to Brad, coming on board at the

Thomas level of $4 more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Brad. And now from December 13th,

1951, here is the big overcome.

The story you were about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a homicide detail. A 22-year-old girl has been

abducted. Her family receives an anonymous message. The abducted demands $30,000 for the safe

return of the girl. Your job? Get him.

Tregnet. The documented drama of an actual crime. While the next 30 minutes into operation

with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on the side of the

law through an actual case transcribed from official police files. From beginning to end,

from crime to punishment, Dregnet is the story of your police force in action.

It was Tuesday, October 18th. It was cloudy in Los Angeles. We were working the early morning

watch out of homicide. My partner is Ben Romero. The boss is Thad Brown, chief of detectives.

My name is Friday. I was on the way back from the stats office and it was 326 AM when I got to room

42, homicide. Hi, Brian. Hi. Got those mug shots you wanted, Joe. Here you go. Oh, thank you.

The captain leave yet. Hey, wait and form any garage. You call Ben? I'm going to right now, yeah.

Okay. I guess I better hustle. Let's see you out there, huh? Right, Brian.

I'm sorry to wake you, Ben. This is Joe. How you feeling? Oh, hi, Joe. What time is it?

3.30 AM. How's the sore throat? It's not better. I want to be back to work tomorrow.

And we need you now, Ben. You want to be ready to buy 20 minutes? I'll pick you up.

20 minutes? Okay. What's the matter? Man, by the name of Martin Sullivan, official

down at the third national bank. It's got a 22-year-old daughter, her he had one. She's gone.

Less than 14 hours before at 1 o'clock the previous afternoon, Judith Sullivan was last seen

driving off in a car with a man who'd represented himself as a friend of her fathers. At 11 o'clock

that night, the Sullivan family received an anonymous letter demanding $30,000 for the safe return

of the girl. It had been the only contact made thus far by the abductor. As soon as we got

word of what had happened from the girl's father, a broadcast and an APB had been gotten out.

The entire force throughout the city had been alerted. 3.44 AM, I pulled up in front of Ben's house.

Good morning. Hi. You made good time. We were headed for Sullivan home out on Castro Boulevard

Thad Browns out there now with Brian. Any leads to go? No, not so far. The girl disappeared a little

before 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Note from the abductor came through last night. They're asking

$30,000. I know. Get it. Sullivan hasn't got that kind of money. I know that poor guy's almost out

of his mind. Mrs. Sullivan, too, they're all broken up. Bill me in. How did it happen?

Well, the girl was taken from a business school that she goes to. Man had her called out of class. He

told her a father was sick. Said he was a friend of the family. How about the teachers? What was

their story? Well, I said the girl didn't want to go with a man at first, but he finally talked

her into it, kept telling her her father was dying. Yeah, and how's the thing? Did he use the car?

Yeah, blew it in. That's all we know. Witnesses didn't get the make of the license number.

They're description on the man. Yeah, they say about five feet nine hundred and sixty brown

suit and dark hair. No, that's it. Here's a copy of the letter that the Sullivan's got you can read.

It's the usual. I have your daughter, Judy. Get $30,000 quick if you want her back alive. Don't call

police or I'll kill her. Contact you later. Sign the wolf. Who's he kidding? I don't know. I can

think of a better name. Well, here we are. Who's got the original note, Joe? The crime lab

they're checking it for prints and handwriting. Hi, Joe Romero. In living room. Thank you,

Joe. That's the way I see it, Mr. Sullivan. You understand exactly what you have to do now?

Yes, I'll do as you say. All right, sir. Here are the two men who will help you.

Sergeant, Friday in Romero, central homicide. All right, Mr. Brown, are you sure about all this?

I keep thinking he might get frightened. He might do something to it. Believe me, Mr. Sullivan,

it's the only way I know how you must feel, but we can't do anything else. All right. I want to see

Mrs. Sullivan first, or you'll excuse me. Be ready in a moment. All right, fine.

What is it, Chief? Any development? Back here, in the dining room.

Yeah, it's it on the table. Second note from the guy. When did it come? Half an hour ago.

The guy had a delivered by a special messenger used to plane envelope. Messenger kid didn't know

anything about it. Doesn't remember what the guy looked like. Let's take you. Yeah,

he says, meet me in a lesion park five o'clock this morning, near Balkan Drive. Come alone,

bring 30,000. We'll return, girl. Don't tell the cops. I'll kill her if you do. It's the same

signature, wolf. Not much time, Chief. It's four a.m. now. I know how to wait. I have to do as he

says. There's no other way. Sullivan's going out there alone, is he? You're going with him, you

in Romero. He'll be hidden in the trunk of his car. All right. Anything else? Any plan? You want us to

follow? Get him that, so.

War 15 a.m. Ben and I went out back to the garage where Mr. Sullivan's car was parked. We jammed

ourselves into the trunk compartment and Brian closed the door on us. The latch was rigged so that

we could push open the door from the inside. A few minutes later, Mr. Sullivan came out, got in the

car and we drove off. At three minutes to five, we pulled up at the designated meeting place

up in a lesion park. We waited. Nothing happened. Five minutes passed five a.m. still nothing.

Outside, it started the thunder.

Rain is starting, man. Winding.

Joe, are you here? Yeah. The car is coming up the road. Can we just stop?

Yeah, wait a minute.

Coming over this way. Yeah, sounds that way, doesn't it? Are you ready? All right, easy.

Coming back here, watch it now.

All right, ready? Come out. Chief, that's you? Yeah, come on out, please, off.

Come on, come on out. It's a break.

It's been a long day.

Mr. Sullivan, you want to drive back home? We will contact you there.

Yes, you're all right. Come on, let's get over the car. What's the story? Did he scare off?

The guy had no intention of following through with a meeting. How come?

He told us. He phoned a couple of minutes before five a.m. we tried to trace the call.

He wouldn't stay on the line long enough. What do you have to say? A couple of things. Number one,

he wants more money. Number two, he knows we're working the case. What was the reaction?

James, he doesn't care. We'll never get him anyway.

Well, how's the thing staying now? $50,000. You want it in the next 12 hours?

More than 16 hours had passed since word of Judy Sullivan's abduction had been phoned into homicide.

During that time, an APBE containing the descriptions of the suspect, his car and his victim had

been dispatched to law enforcement agencies throughout the entire area. The same descriptions were

being broadcast every hour. The Sullivan home had been placed under strict surveillance and Mr.

Sullivan instructed not to contact the suspect without the knowledge of the police.

The girl's father had raised almost $10,000 in cash to buy him off and the serial numbers on

each one of the bills had been copied by a police stenographer and rechecked by a homicide officer.

So far, the wolf, as he called himself, had made three separate contacts but he'd covered his

tracks well. We know he was somewhere in the city. 150 square miles of it. We know we had to find him.

618 AM. We'll check back into homicide. What's going, Brian? Here's copy of the letter, fellas.

Special delivery came in about 25 minutes ago. Let's see, Tom. You get the same handwriting it looks

like. Check the postmarks. You'll must have mail it right after he grabbed the girl. Let me see.

Stay away from Sullivan. If the girl's found dead, it's your fault. Stay away.

Can't seem to make up his mind, huh? They checking the original of this for Prince Tom.

Yeah, I know where it gets. How about that second note, anything on there? Uh-huh.

Stahl lifted a couple of Prince running him through R&I.

Who's watching Sullivan house now? Gomez and Thaxter chiefs out there too. He's still afraid the girl's

father will try to make a deal with the guy. He tried again? No, not yet. Well, you couldn't buy him if

he did. He's worried sick. I'm guy. I'm a side-room arrow. Yeah, I try.

Mm-hmm. How do you spell it? Okay, right. Yeah, thanks a lot.

Record Bureau. Those two Prince Stahl lifted from the letter. Run him through the single

Prince file. Any luck? They got to make.

The fingerprint that was lifted from the suspect's letter was identified as belonging to a

Donald Alfred keeper. WMA, age 29, 5 feet 8 inches, 170 pounds brown eyes, dark brown hair.

He had one previous arrest for forgery and Los Angeles 10 months before.

At the time of his arrest, keeper's occupation was listed as bank clerk at the third national bank.

Well, I went down the hall of the record bureau to pull the crime report.

Brian checked by Layton Prince to see if they'd gotten anything off the last note from the suspect.

Ben went to check with Don Meyer on handwriting. 7.23 a.m. Chief Thad Brown got back to the office.

I showed him keeper's crime report. All right, let's run down on it.

Well, at the time, keeper pulled the forgery job at the bank. Mr. Sullivan was one of the vice

presidents. He was the one that preferred charges against keeper and he saw that he was prosecuted.

Where's this keeper now? Oh, let me check that. It was placed on probation on May 16th this year.

He returned to his home in Normal, Harlem, Nebraska. That's 13A Mac and I have a name.

You call Omaha? I got the call in now. Ben took an exemplar of keeper's handwriting from the

package Don Meyer is going over it now. Chief. Hi. What about that last note? I got the report right here.

How's it look? Let's stall it. It's in Prince Off. It brought him out with the iodine fume gun.

They match with the first. There's something else. What's that? The examine the paper for watermarks

and texture. Both notes are written on the same paper. Impression show both pieces of paper from

the same tablet. Check the density of the carbon and the pencil he used. Both specimens match the same

pencil. Joe, I'll ask you. Hi. Did you catch up with Don Meyer? Yeah, he went over the handwriting.

Looks pretty good. What's the word? Just close as you can get here. They're too exemplar.

Slances crosses, double loops, a zel open aes, pressure on the down stroke. Donald Kiefer, the wolf,

same handwriting. By noon time, Donald Kiefer's description had been broadcast throughout the entire

area. Bulletin's were dispatched to all departments and a supplementary APB was gotten out. Special

details were stationed at every post office in the city to watch for notes from the suspect that

might come through the mail. The bus depots, railroad terminals, the airports and all main roads

leading out of the city were kept under strict surveillance. The entire Los Angeles area was broken

down into single square mile districts and a house to house canvas was started. A squad of

men were assigned to cover each square mile. Outlying towns and cities were requested to do the same.

By four o'clock that afternoon, one of the greatest dragnet operations in the history of the

city was underway. We were sure Donald Kiefer was somewhere inside. 5-12 pm. We got the call back

from the Omaha police. That's all. Again, please. What was that? 6x-ray 419 Nebraska plates. Right.

Fine Lieutenant, thank you. Right? They made the car. That and a lot more. The Omaha cops are looking

for Kiefer too. They want him for a robbery there two months ago. He used his stolen blue sedan in

the robbery in 1939. Model Nebraska plate 6x-ray 419. What about his family and friends that they've

been checked? Yeah. They said Kiefer left Omaha about six weeks ago. I don't know where he was

heading. We better get that car description if you mean occasions, huh? APB in a radiogram? Yeah, right.

Friday? Tomorrow? Yeah. What are you tied up with? Just got a call back from Omaha. Make

on Kiefer in the car. Give it to me. You two get out to Sullivan the house as fast as you can.

See Harris out there. Okay. What happened? Mr. Sullivan has disappeared.

You are listening to Dragnet, authentic stories of your police force in action.

When's the October 19th, 548 PM? Ben and I drove out to the Sullivan home where we checked with

Bert Harris, the man who'd been assigned to watch Mr. Sullivan. He told us that at about three

o'clock that afternoon the father of the missing girl had a phone call. He said he had to go down

to the bank and Harris went with him. While he weren't the bank, Mr. Sullivan succeeded in

decoying Harris with a fake telephone call. While Harris was answering the call, Sullivan disappeared.

Did Mr. Sullivan get any more money while he was at the bank, Bert? Yeah, $5,000. Did you get the

serial numbers off the bills? Uh-huh. I shouldn't have let him get out of my sight. Forget it. Right now,

we've got to find out where he's gone to meet Kiefer. Did you talk to Mrs. Sullivan about it, Bert?

Yeah, so she doesn't know anything about it. Where she now? Back in the sitting room lying down.

Now let's try her again, huh? She might be able to help. Okay, let's back this way.

What time you got, Jill? It's five minutes past six. I get it.

Hello. How's that? Yeah, where are you?

What? Oh, where are you? Where are you? All right, we'll be right out.

Yeah? Mr. Sullivan, he met with Kiefer out in Laurel Canyon. Did he get his daughter back?

Yeah, he did. Rapt in newspaper.

All units in the area were notified immediately that a contact had been made with the suspect Donald

Kiefer. We got in the car and we drove out to Laurel Canyon. The entire area had been blocked off.

We found Martin Sullivan standing in the middle of the road at the end of East Windingway.

500 feet down the hill was a private residence where Sullivan and Telephone was.

The only building in the immediate vicinity. A few yards beyond the point where East Windingway

ended, back in a clump of tall grass, we found the body of 22-year-old Judy Sullivan.

We notified the crime lab. Chief Thad Brown in the corner, despite the severe emotional shock Mr.

Sullivan told us the story. He said Judy was all right. I believed him. I wanted her back.

Judy, I tricked the officer, the one watching me. Kiefer said to come alone, no police. Did you see his

car, Mr. Sullivan? I wanted her back. I wanted Judy back. I did as he said. I drove out here at

6 o'clock. I waited. I put the money on the front seat like he said. Did he get the money, sir?

Then I got out. I left the parking lights on. I stood up there by the end of the road and I waited.

And then he drove up. He took the money. And then he came up to me. He had a gun. I wanted Judy back.

He had a gun. Did you see his car? He said she was up there. Beyond the road, she was tied to a tree,

he said. I wanted her back. I looked Mr. Sullivan. Did you see his car? I went to look for Judy.

He drove away. She wasn't there by the tree. I couldn't find her.

No way back. I just saw the money. On the way. Yes, sir. Lord, I let me find him.

Oh, Lord, let me kill him.

Before he collapsed completely, we showed the dead girl's father a picture of Donald Keifer and he

identified him, definitely. The information was immediately relayed back to central division and

re-broadcast over our entire radio system. Teletypes were dispatched to sheriff's offices and

communications sent to law enforcement agencies throughout the country. 9.52 p.m. The house-to-house

search was intensified. The dragnet operation in which we hope to trap the killer was drawing

slowly inward. A few minutes before midnight, Ben and I drove back downtown to the crime lab to

check with Lieutenant Lee Jones. Anything yet, Lee? Checking over these towels here. I'm wrapped

around the girl's body inside the paper. Only thing about it. What's that? All yesterday's paper.

Every story about the girl's disappearance has been clipped out. How about the towels? Any laundry

marks at all? Nothing so far, Joe. Every one of them clipped off. Mugged post the body yet.

You're doing it now. Nasty one. Sure is. Any footprints or tire marks out where they found the

body? No, last of them. Got two of them in checking them now. One thing. What is it, Lee?

I don't know. Under the seam here, this towel. Wait a minute. Give me that pair of slippers,

where did you own? Yeah. Here you go. Thanks. Press back under the seam here. There. That's one

taggy mist. Yeah, can you read the marking? Greenway Apartments Los Angeles.

12.34 a.m. We located the Greenway Apartments in the East Wilshire district and we checked with a

manager. He identified Kiefer's mugshot but he said he hadn't been home to the apartment since

the day before. We called the crime lab and we went up to check the suspects apartment.

One look was enough. Lieutenant Lee Jones found specimens of the Sullivan girls blood in the

wash basin and the bathtub drains. In an adjoining garage, we found the car which Kiefer had used.

A blue sedan, Nebraska plates, 6x-ray 419. A cancellation of the water order for the car was

issued in a stakeout placed at the apartment in the garage in case Kiefer decided to return.

All at night and into the next day, the citywide dragnet went on. There was no sign of the killer.

At 10 minutes past two that afternoon, the first piece of ransom money showed up. There was

that a used car lot on the corner of Beverly and Nailer Street. Two hours later, another piece of

the money turned up at a busy downtown department store. In both cases, the man who passed the stolen

money was finally identified as Donald Kiefer. Details were strengthened in both areas where the money

appeared. The search went on. 642 p.m. Ben and I got a call to meet Chief Thad Brown at the Hollywood

division station. Tommy Bryan from Central Homicide was with him. This is the way it stacks up now.

This pin map over here. This is where we're concentrating. This search is area here. How about the

lead we had on him downtown? Didn't it work out? No, the last 20 minutes we picked up three

possible leads on the man out in this neighborhood here. He's divine, south of Franklin,

Guest of Liberia, North of Santa Monica. More ransom money show up. You got it there, Brian.

Rated off. Yeah. 535 Sunset in Highland Newsboy, Thoughty Show Kiefer crossing the street.

20 minutes later, a sales girl on the dime store up on Hollywood Boulevard. I thought she saw

10 minutes after that, he was reported seen near the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and

Las Palmas. He figured the reports were reliable and they were all checked out. Didn't put too much

faith in him until a few minutes ago. How's that? 5 dollar bill was passed at a cigar store. Hollywood

Boulevard and Hawthorn ran some money. We've already doubled the number of men and cars in the area.

Men stationed at every intersection to keep an eye on pedestrian traffic. We're covering everything.

Street stores covering the whole neighborhood. I'll get it. I'm aside, Brian.

Yeah, just a minute. You, Chief. That, Brian. Yeah. Uh-huh. Where?

One was that. No stay there. We'll be right there. Goodbye. Another piece of ransom money.

Where did you turn up? A theater on Hollywood Boulevard between Fairview and Hawthorne.

Who passed the money? I think it was Kiefer. Positive. They say it's in the theater right now.

The information on Kiefer was phoned into communications immediately and within a few minutes,

men and cars converged on the neighborhood. The one-half mile area around the theater was

completely blockaded. Every exit and entrance to the theater was covered. 7.23 pm,

Ben and I along with Chief Thad Brown and Tom Bryan met in the theater manager's office. Brown

outlined our plan of operation. At 7.32 pm, a detail of 14 men walked down the side aisles on

the main floor of the theater and took up their posts on either side of the orchestra pit.

The picture was stopped and every light in the theater was turned on. Chief Brown, Brian,

Gomez, Thaxter, Ben and myself went down the aisle and up onto the stage. Chief Brown made the

announcement. Ladies and gentlemen, the only five for a minute please. We're going to interrupt the

picture because this is a very important matter. We're police officers and you'll write about it

in the evening. The girl with the name of Judy Sullivan was abducted and murdered day before

the other day. We think we can trace the man who murdered her to this theater. We believe

she's in this theater now. We've got a search for theater. Roll by roll. We'd like to ask your

cooperation. Don't need to be tacky or afraid. Those are the ways to leave now. They do so.

Leave by the main end. Each one of you will be checked as you go out of the door.

But the better, the better the man we're looking for. Don't try to escape. Every act of this cover.

The higher area is blockade. Don't place any more lives in general.

All right. All right there. There he goes. There. I'm saying it. Come on, Ben.

Backstage, Joe. We can make it from there. All right. Come on.

Through here. Down here. Right way.

In here. Come on over here.

Hair condition and unit for the theater. Yeah. I don't see him. Do you? You can't get out.

There's just two exits. We've got them both covered.

There he is. All right. Keep her hold it.

All right. Throw your gun over here. Come on. Throw it out.

Okay. I got it. You got it. Don't shoot. All right. Let's take him.

All right. Okay. You got my gun. I didn't mean to shoot after you.

You forced me to put the cups on him, Ben. Yeah, all right. Get your hands off of me.

What? All right. Keep her. Got the same for you two.

All right. Hold it. All right, Ben. You all right? Yeah.

All right. Try the cups on him now, huh? Yeah. Got him, huh? Yeah.

Yeah. It's rough. Hey, it's starting to rain again. It's really pouring out there.

Yeah. I guess you better get him out the car, huh? What's the hurry? How do you mean?

Why spoil a good rain?

The story you have just heard was true. The names were changed to protect the innocent.

On January 19th, trial was held in Superior Court,

Department 87, City and County of Los Angeles, state of California.

In a moment, the results of that trial.

Donald Alfred Kiefer was tried and convicted of murder in the first degree,

and on the recommendation of the jury, he received the death penalty.

He was executed in the lethal gas chamber at the state penitentiary, San Quentin, California.

You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.

Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police,

W.H. Partner, Los Angeles Police Department.

Barton Yarborough, Sergeant Ben Romero, also heard work with Connor and Vic Perrin,

scripted by Jim Moser, music by Walter Schumann.

Hellgiv me speaking.

Countersby fights international intrigue next on NBC.

Welcome back.

Now this episode sounded familiar to me, and not just in the sense that I've heard it a few

times already, but that it sounded like another episode.

And indeed it was, and you actually have to go back to 1939 and one of the very early episodes of

Dragnet, this was just when the Fatima sponsorship had started, back on September 10th, 1949,

in the Sullivan kidnapping.

Now this wasn't so much a script reuse, as you often hear on many detective programs,

but it took the same case, but there were some key changes that were made.

And a lot of these are minor, but they add up to quite a bad.

One thing is that when the ransom was paid, this was back when Raymond Burr was playing

Ed Backstrand, and it made the papers after she'd been killed.

And he said that he hoped that it would stick in people's minds as a reminder, we don't make

deals with killers. So essentially offering a bit of a condemnation of the victims'

father for making the payment.

In the 1949 episode, it's established that the killer had been sent to jail

for forgery on the basis of the actions of the father.

So this was a bit of revenge, and that's not in the 1951 version.

And there's also more of the killer being like I'm so much smarter than police.

That was referenced once, but it was a much bigger element in the 1949 case.

And there's a sense in which you get a lot less melodrama and a lot more, just straightforward,

documented case of how the crime was solved.

But this is kind of a testament to how Dragnet had refined itself since the beginning,

with these little adjustments in tone and style.

Obviously, the big statement about not paying killers could come off as pre-tients,

Dragnet had kind of, uh, and that was not the direction the show was going, particularly in

comparison to many other programs on the air in the same genre.

Now, of course, an important announcement about the launch of the Dragnet TV series,

they had two episodes that were already filmed and ready for air,

and Dragnet would end up on in every other week schedule for this first season,

alternating with the TV version of gangbusters, while still continuing the radio version.

Well, now we turn to listener comments and feedback,

and we have, uh, some comments we start on Spotify regarding the big affair.

Mechanics 66 writes, I disagree about how to deal with the police.

You're partly but firmly state, I want to cooperate with you, officer,

but first up, I will need to consult with my attorney and also have him or her present at all times.

That's certainly a valid approach, probably the safe approach.

And again, better than sitting there trying to just, uh,

snow the police with, uh, an obviously false story.

And of course, there are episodes of Dragnet where, with, uh, no lawyer present,

the guilty person keeps giving contradictory statements to the police,

which is not something that, uh, you would want brought up in court.

Uh, and then Harrison adds, uh, wow, partial, uh, cast credits is a welcome edition.

It's not when we get them.

And then, uh, we have another comment from Mechanics 66.

This one is regarding the big bungalow.

Friday should have given the informant speech to Romero when he complained about pain for red's launch.

I can understand the sentiment, but no, explaining it to the listener as the voice of the police

is one thing.

As he is informing us as people who are outside the police and have been exposed to various

media myths and portrayals, what the situation with informants is.

With Ben Romero, we already know.

And imagine, uh, if you're a police officer and you make a complaint to your partner,

he says, you ought not to complain about it.

The informants play this bottle role in the police department.

And we, after respect them, and we should be glad for the service they provide.

That is annoying.

That is not Joe Friday in the 1950s.

That's Joe Friday in the 1987 movie.

Plus, gripping about the job is practically Romero's favorite pastime.

Plus, as we'll learn later, Romero was actually the detective who helped bring Friday along on the force.

And really, is the only partner that had an equal rank with him.

You don't pull that on a mentor unless you want a very dirty look.

And of course, we should mention that this is Bortinger Burrow's last episode that will hear

him as Ben Romero.

And we'll talk more about that next week.

Regarding the big hands, James, uh, says in response to one of the comments that you read,

I distinctly remember an episode that took place after Miranda Rott's became a thing it made

for some interesting dialogue between Joe Friday and the chief.

Now, I thought of the dragon at 1966 TV movie, but I think James was referencing an episode

of the radio program, which wouldn't have been referencing Miranda versus Arizona since that was

decided in 1966.

There was another California case, uh, in regards to the admissibility of evidence that had a big

impact on Joe Friday, and it was one of the last radio episodes, the big ruling.

And then the butcher 5032 asked, you travel back in time to 1950.

You have to produce a detective radio program and you have an unlimited budget.

Give me five cast members, the theme song, the show writer, and it would be fact or fix it.

Did I leave anything out?

Well, no, it's tough to say because it's tough to come up with an original

Hans in terms of nonfiction.

I don't know if there's a particular thing that stands out as a story that must be told.

In terms of fiction, I think I would probably lean on a couple of adaptations.

I'm not going to try to create my own noir detective.

I would honestly want to make a second season of the new adventures of Nero Wolf

with Sydney Green Street, but I would want them to be closer to the book in terms of the tone

of the story and to actually adapt stories of rec style.

And as I said, I'd want Green Street back in the main role.

Honestly, I'd love Bob Bailey as Archie Goodwin.

I think he's got a great voice for it.

I love Tim Hutton in a Nero Wolf mystery, but the voice is very, very New York

and doesn't match with the profile of Archie Goodwin as someone who comes from the Midwest.

I think Bailey would evoke that better.

For Inspector Kramer, I'd want Ed Begley and for Fritz, I'd go with Hans Conrad.

And if you want one that is out of this world, I would produce a Martian manhunter radio program.

Now, if you're aware of the Martian manhunter at all,

you're aware of him as a justice like superhero from DC.

However, when he was introduced in comics, he was not only a Martian,

but he was a detective stranded on the planet who solved mysteries.

And I think a weekly series about a Martian in mid-1950s, America,

solving mysteries, that would be fascinating.

And I think I'd have the Martian manhunter played by Michael Renny.

Now, in terms of who would write, if you were talking about a Nero Wolf series,

I'd probably pair someone who had a lot of experience with adaptation,

like John C. Wilson or Ernest Canoy, with a talented mystery writer.

And I'd probably want to compare samples to get just the right person.

And then for Martian manhunter, it would probably be Robert Roth and Ernest Canoy.

Same song, I would have them write an original theme tune.

I would not even, yeah, I would not pick stock music or something already existing.

No, somewhere I'll find you or anything like that.

We would have something original, but I don't know what it would be.

Since I don't, it wouldn't be the one writing the music.

But thanks so much, appreciate the question.

Now, it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day.

Thank you so much to Richard, Patreon supporter.

Since October 2025, currently supporting the podcast,

at the shulman's level of $4 and more per month.

Thanks so much for your support, Richard.

And that will do it for today.

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We'll be back next Thursday with another episode of DragNet,

but join us back here tomorrow for your truly Johnny Doll or Wear.

Two years ago, you had Curly sent up to the pen, and that's right,

for the Melee's Department Store job he pulled,

then just a few days ago.

He swore that he'd get you for that, that he'd kill you, didn't he?

So what happened?

When he escaped and came here to hide for a few days ago,

I know all about that from reading your report.

Thanks to some quick thinking on your part,

the police nabbed him instead,

plus the loot from the department store robbery.

You know who deserves a real credit for that?

The girl I had a date with tonight,

until you spoil things with your phone call.

Johnny, as you know, either you or the police wounded Curly Waters,

which is why he was taken to the hospital and placed under guard

instead of being locked up.

So, well, well, I see you managed to locate him.

Yes, Lieutenant.

You okay, Dollar?

Any reason why I shouldn't be, Holly?

Has Mr. Wells told you what's happened?

No, but I think I can guess Curly Waters escaped from the hospital.

Yes.

I had three good men there watching over him,

but he managed to get by him.

How?

Would help one of his old cronies.

Gimpy Taylor?

Yes.

Gimpy created a disturbance out in the hall,

and when they went after him,

Curly crashed out through the window.

When they went back in after him, Gimpy took it on the land.

Three good men, did you say?

I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime,

send your comments to box 13 at greatdetectives.net.

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Check us out on Instagram, Instagram.com slash great detectives.

From Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.