Breaking Walls

By April 1954, Himan Brown had been involved in radio for more than two decades. He’d directed, produced, or created shows like Inner Sanctum Mysteries, The Adventures of the Thin Man, Grand Central Station, Bulldog Drummond, Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, and Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator.

William Gargan was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 17th, 1905. His father was a detective, and his mother a teacher. Gargan became a bootleg whiskey salesman, and later a private eye. His brother Edward was an actor. One day while visiting him at rehearsal, Gargan was offered a stage job. He began his career in Aloma of the South Seas.

Gargan's first film was Rain. Later, he played in Misleading Lady and starred in three Ellery Queens. In 1940, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Joe in They Knew What They Wanted. And in 1945, he starred with Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary's.

He was perhaps most famous for his role as Martin Kane, Private Eye. It was conceived as one of TV’s earliest detective shows, and ran concurrently on radio.

Gargan played the lead on both mediums, until the TV show became—as he alleged in his autobiography, “a vehicle for the flesh parade.” He balked when actresses were hired more for cleavage than ability. Gargan’s last performance as Kane occured in June of 1951.

That October 3rd, he began playing Barrie Craig in a similar sounding series. Craig worked alone from a Madison Avenue office, and had good relationships with the cops. NBC produced the show in New York until the Summer of 1954. Himan Brown directed. Production of Barrie Craig moved to Hollywood in the summer. It ran until June 30th, 1955.

Gargan's acting career came to an end in 1958 when he developed throat cancer. Doctors were forced to remove his larynx. Speaking through an artificial voice box, he became an activist and spokesman for the American Cancer Society. No longer able to act, he formed William Gargan Productions, making film and tv shows in Hollywood.

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In April 1954 Bill Froug was supervisor for a new CBS series called Night Watch. The show attempted to take Dragnet’s realism to the next level. It placed reporter Donn Reid in Culver City Officer Ron Perkins’ car. Reid rode the 6PM to 2AM shift, wearing a hidden wire to capture the high drama of the job.

Before the premiere broadcast, Reid accumulated one-hundred reels of tape. It included criminals caught in the act, a homicide confession, and the statement of a drug addict.

The show was produced by Sterling Tracy and announced by Dan Cubberly. Vernon McKenny was the engineer, and Ray Gerhardt the editor, removing all traces of real names and locales. Night Watch premiered on Monday April 5th at 10PM with an episode called “Nude Prowler.”

Traveling in an unmarked car, Reed used a reel-to-reel tape recorder, with a microphone hidden in a flashlight. These were authentic, unscripted, and unrehearsed. In one case, Reid was nearly shot; in another, he was stabbed but was saved by a leather jacket.

At the end of each show, Police Chief W. N. Hildebrand gave listeners updates on what happened to the people in each incident.

Night Watch aired until April 21st, 1955. Donn Reed went on to be one of the first traffic helicopter reporters, and Ron Perkins eventually was elected Mayor of Culver City.

In October 1944, in conjunction with the Jewish Theological Seminary, NBC began one of the longest-running religious programs in radio history. It was called The Eternal Light.

Then in its tenth year, The Eternal Light dramatized stories from ancient Judaea, along with contemporary works like The Diary of Anne Frank. It was produced by Milton Krents. Many top New York radio actors appeared. NBC donated the air time and the Seminary paid for the show's production.

On April 4th at 12:30PM eastern time over NBC’s WRCA in New York, The Eternal Light took to the air with a story entitled “Children of Liberty.” Although many radio programs were being canceled, The Eternal Light would air on radio and then television until 1989.

As the United States entered April 1954 with the cold war at its height, Congress and The President authorized the founding of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. Walt Disney was signing a contract with ABC—TV for a Disneyland series, with plans to build a new theme park in Southern California. Legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini was retiring, as Elvis Presley was recording his debut single, “That’s All Right.” The hydrogen bomb now existed. Brown vs. The Board of Education was being decided. A certain senator from Wisconsin was claiming the armed forces were rife with communist spies. And there was worry about involvement in present-day Vietnam.

On April 4th, Dwight Eisenhower gave this speech on fear. Three days later, he unveiled his “Domino Theory,” portending that for every country who fell under Communism’s grip, more were likely to follow. It was no secret that Eisenhower didn’t see eye-to-eye with Senator McCarthy, and the former Supreme Commander of World War II’s Allied Forces understood how internal division could make a country vulnerable.

That was the same for the radio industry, where those who could find work in TV were doing so with rapidity. Of the top fifteen TV shows, at least nine had begun on radio in some form. This included Dragnet, Arthur Godfrey, The Life of Riley, Our Miss Brooks, This Is Your Life, and The Jack Benny Show.

But, American forefather Alexander Hamilton once said that, “in times of great chaos, people can make their name.” That was never truer than in the spring of 1954. Of course, as Joseph McCarthy would find out, people who create great chaos, can at times, lose theirs.

Tonight, we’ll find out more.

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In April 1954 Lum and Abner was airing as a weekday, fifteen minute serial. The show was syndicated out of KABC in Los Angeles. That year, The American Broadcasting Company’s flagship L.A. station had changed its call letters from KECA.

Chester Lauck was Lum Edwards. Norris Goff was Abner Peabody. Although the comedy was reaching the end of the line, it was still one of the most beloved, folksy radio shows of all-time. On this day, Lum found out he needed famous ancestors if he wanted to marry Miss Priddle, while Abner set up a prank.

Lum and Abner would sign off the air for the final time on May 7th. However the duo would star in one more film: Lum and Abner Abroad, in 1956.

The 1954 Academy Awards were held on March 25th. That same day, RCA announced the first color television set. It was a twelve-inch screen, priced at one-thousand dollars, or roughly ten grand today.

On the Sundays bookending those awards, Frank Sinatra was a guest on Bing Crosby’s General Electric radio program. Frank would win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Maggio in From Here to Eternity. On this latter program from March 28th, Frank talks and jokes about his experience. The two are in rare form, especially with a trio of songs.

The April 2nd. 1955 episode of Gunsmoke was incredibly unique to the rest of the radio series. Matt Dillon has had enough death and destruction for his lifetime and quits as Marshall. Unfortunately, he's the only one who can stop the trouble coming Dodge City's way, proving that whether he likes it or not, there's only one man the killers and spoilers look for and don't want to meet.

This John Meston script was, in many ways, well ahead of its time. Although it wasn't expressed as such, Matt is suffering from PTSD.

In Breaking Walls episode 125 we continue our mini-series in March of 1954.

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Highlights:

• Edward R. Murrow Sees It Now

• Perry Mason Busts The Syndicate

• The 1954 DNC in Florida

• Cathy and Elliott Lewis Can’t Fight City Hall

• Groucho Marx Bets His Life

• Phil Harris and Alice Faye: Happy Couple In Cancellation

• The End of the Expense Account For Johnny Dollar?

• Escape’s Violent Night

• Bing and Frank Swap Oscar Stories and Sing Songs

• The 1954 Tony Awards from NBC with Audrey Hepburn

• Looking Ahead to April with The Army/McCarthy Hearings

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The reading material used in today’s episode was:

• On the Air — By John Dunning

• Network Radio Ratings — by Jim Ramsburg

• The Complete Escape Log — By Keith Scott

As well as articles from

• Broadcasting Magazine

• LIFE Magazine

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On the interview front:

• Alice Faye and John Guedel spoke to Chuck Schaden. Hear their full chats at SpeakingOfRadio.com.

• Mandel Kramer and William N. Robson spoke to Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran for WTIC’s The Golden Age of Radio. Hear these full interviews at Goldenage-WTIC.org.

• Harry Bartell, Mary Jane Croft, Don Diamond, Jack Johnstone and Byron Kane spoke to SPERDVAC. For more info, go to SPERDVAC.com.

• Dick Joy, Elliott Lewis, and E. Jack Neuman spoke with John Dunning for his 71KNUS program from Denver.

• Norman Macdonnell was with John Hickman for his Gunsmoke documentary.

• William Conrad spoke to collector Chris Lambesis in 1969.

• And Bing Crosby spoke with Barbara Walters in 1977.

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Selected music featured in today’s episode was:

• Fever — By Peggy Lee

• Sleep Walk — By Henri René

• Exotique Bossa Nova — By Martin Denny

• The Venice Dreamer Parts 1 & 2 — By George Winston

• Danse Macabre — By Camille Saint-Saëns

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A special thank you to Ted Davenport, Jerry Haendiges, and Gordon Skene.

For Ted go to RadioMemories.com, for Jerry, visit OTRSite.com, and for Gordon, please go to PastDaily.com.

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Thank you to:

Tony Adams

Steven Allmon

Orson Orsen Chandler

Phil Erickson

Jessica Hanna

Briana Isaac

Thomas M. Joyce

Ryan Kramer

Gary Mollica

Barry Nadler

Christian Neuhaus

Aimee Pavy

Ray Shaw

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WallBreakers Links:

Patreon - patreon.com/thewallbreakers

Social Media - @TheWallBreakers

As March drew to a close, Mutual Broadcasting’s Frank Hemingway took to the air on March 30th with the evening news from KHJ in Los Angeles.

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With the hydrogen bomb in development, Russia wanted to join NATO. In Washington, President Eisenhower was making changes to the Taft-Hartley Labor Law. And in present-day Vietnam, a massive battle was taking place at the French military base at Dien Bien Phu. The March 30th news broadcast hinted at things to come.

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Next time on Breaking Walls, April ushers in the Army-McCarthy Hearings, Presidential Speeches, Schemers, Slanderers, Nude Prowlers, and even a Benny Seance.

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