A couple of posts previously I touted what I considered the best comedy show of OTR, Fibber McGee & Molly.
This trip down the OTR highway, I'd like to take everyone to the best detective show.
OK, maybe not the best plot wise or longest running, but certainly the most unusual.
"Pat Novak For Hire."
This little gem starred Jack Webb. The Pat Novak series with Webb lasted only nineteen episodes. It ran from February through June of 1949.
The basic premise concerned Novak who owned a legitimate boat charter service in San Francisco trying to economically survive. Due to continued lack of business, Novak would hire out doing odd jobs. Most of the odd jobs, were shady & involved tough guys & dangerous dames & always led to murder, which of course, Novak would get the blame. It co-starred Raymond Burr as Police Inspector Hellman, a belligerent cop who really hated Novak & only wanted to either lock him up or send him to the electric chair, regardless as to what the evidence revealed. Burr was about 8 years from starring as Perry Mason on TV.
It is best known among its fans for being fast paced with plenty of action. The finest thing about Pat Novak For Hire was the rapid fire one liners amongst the characters, & the hard boiled narrative . Here are some examples of that dialog.
"Around here a set of morals won't cause any more stir than Mother's Day in an orphanage."
"She was at least 50, because you can't get that ugly without years of practice."
"I better have a drink first. There's an ugly taste in my mouth. I think it's saliva."
"She sauntered in, moving slowly from side to side like 118 pounds of warm smoke."
"You can't afford to have them start laughing at you. People will get the idea it's your face."
"She was kind of pretty, except you could see somebody had used her badly, like a dictionary in a stupid family."
"Somebody had gone duck hunting in the middle of his back."
"I began to think about the .32 caliber pistol. It's a woman's weapon--well, that doesn't prove anything, so's a bread knife if she's in a bad mood."
"You're always in trouble, Patsy. You're a child of adversity, a son of scorn. The fates spit in your eye, and you try to retaliate, but the wind's always blowing in the wrong direction."
"You'd like to fight for some strange fantastic cause, wouldn't you, Patsy? But you can't find anybody your size. Men are too small, and the gods are too big."
"Did your friend get his face at a fire sale too."
"The street was as deserted as a warm bottle of beer."
"I looked up the only honest guy I know, an ex-doctor and a boozer by the name of Jocko Madigan, a good guy, but to him a hangover is the price of being sober."
"When she opened the door, I found out what the right kind of breakfast food'll do. She was wearing a slack suit without much slack."
"My head must have looked like a jackpot--everyone in town was hitting it."
"She had nice hair, and the dress helped too. It was dark blue and had a v-neck, but the designer believed in big letters."
"She was a real pretty nurse, if you like pure mammal."
"She looked real good sitting there in a white crepe dress. It was one of those tight fitting babies that made a bathing suit look like a toga."
"She was in her 30s and pushing 40 hard enough to bruise it."
"I rent boats and do anything else that goes with a weak will and a strong stomach."
Of course Jack Webb went on to bigger things as director & star of Dragnet, both on radio & TV. He also was the creative force behind such TV shows like "Emergency" & "Adam 12". An interesting post script. When Webb died in 1982, he was interred in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, and was given a funeral with full police honors. On Webb's death Chief Daryl Gates announced that badge number 714 which was used by his Joe Friday character in Dragnet would be retired. Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles ordered all flags lowered to half-staff in Webb's honor for a day.
