Obviously the height of the “Noir” era was during the time of these 1930s-1950s radio dramas. They started in pulp fiction novels and magazines and easily transitioned to radio with their paragraphs of description. Today, spoofs might tease about the flowery language used to describe a setting or the sexy blonde coming into the office for help. But when there was no visual to show you that very specific world, the writers made up for it in near poetry. However, when it comes down to it, there certainly were very overt archetypes of these Noir detectives. Since Madison is on a journey to meet them all, I thought we’d discuss the types.
THE LAWMAN
The first Noir category is the active police detective. Madison started her adventures in “Dragnet” (episode 1) with Sergeant Joe Friday. Jack Webb, creator and voice of Friday, was a staple during the OTR era. He starred in “Pat Novak For Hire” as the hardboiled Novak, as well as the burdened leg man to The Lyon in “Jeff Regan, Investigator.” But his break out role was the straight-laced cop, Joe Friday. Friday has been spoofed in years since as too solid of a cop, but in the original series, he was the hard working, dedicated, over-worked police officer that would be reflected in many other shows of the era like, “Gunsmoke” with Marshall Dillon (episode 2), Danny Clover in “Broadway is my Beat,” as well as Ranger Jace Pearson from “Tales of the Texas Rangers.” (episode 22 coming in August!)
COP TURNED PRIVATE EYE
Many of the hard-nosed P.I.s got their start as police detectives. Our most recent, Dan Holiday of “Box 13,” (episode 21) was once a cop who has since retired to pursue crime writing. And in the similar premised show, “Let George Do It,” (episode 5) George Valentine was also a police officer who decided to take on private cases. We also did an episode of “The Adventures of the Thin Man” (episode 9) where Nick Charles (the role Madison actually stepped into) was a retired police detective, haplessly falling into adventures alongside his sharp-witted wife, Nora.
OTHER PROFESSION LEADS TO BEING A DETECTIVE
Then there are the adjacent careers that lead to solving crimes. “Night Beat” (episode 4) follows Chicago newspaper reporter, Randy Stone, who always ends up helping people as he looks for the big scoop. Or “Casey, Crime Photographer” (episode 11) who shows up to crime scenes to take pictures, but instead solves the case, or “Rocky Jordan” (episode 10) the nightclub owner who gets pulled into the underbelly of Cairo and helps the local police solve mysteries.
GIRL FRIDAYS AND OTHER COPS
There is also a basic formula for women in the OTR Noir programs. They are either the bubble-headed assistant like in our “Box 13” with Suzy, or Effie from “The Adventures of Sam Spade” (episode 6), or they are the smart, he-can’t-do-it-without-her, wanna-be love interest, which we see in “Casey, Crime Photographer” and “Let George Do It,” but also in shows like “Boston Blackie,” and “Richard Diamond.” Then there are the two kinds of cops our lead P.I. has dealings with. The cops who are partners and happy to have our Noir detective out there solving crimes like in “Rocky Jordan” with Sam Sabaaya, but also in “Candy Matson: YUkon 2-8209” (episode 14) with Inspector Ray Mallard who is not only the cop counter-part, but Candy’s will-they, won’t-they love interest. Then there are the cops who have a chip on their shoulder and only begrudgingly work alongside our Noir detectives. We see that in “Box 13” with Lieutenant Kling, but also in “The Shadow” (episode 8) and Commissioner Weston, and “Let George Do It” with Lieutenant Riley.
Regardless of the “formula” that these Noir detective shows follow, just like today where there are countless cop/detective shows of various forms all over television and movies, it’s about strong writing and amazing actors who bring these archetypes to life and make them beloved franchises that still entertain audiences all these decades later.
