Front Page Detective
Front Page Detective | |
---|---|
Genre | Crime drama |
Directed by | Arnold Wester |
Starring | Edmund Lowe Paula Drew Frank Jenks |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 46 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Jerry Fairbanks Riley Jackson |
Cinematography | Lester Shore |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company | Jerry Fairbanks Productions |
Release | |
Original network | DuMont |
Picture format | Black-and-white |
Audio format | Monaural |
Original release | July 6, 1951 November 13, 1953 | –
Front Page Detective is an American crime drama series which aired on the DuMont Television Network on Fridays at 9:30 p.m. ET from July 6, 1951, to September 19, 1952, and in October and November 1953. The program was then in broadcast syndication for several years thereafter.[1]
Synopsis[]
Front Page Detective stars Edmund Lowe as David Chase, a newspaper columnist who helps police solve especially difficult mysteries. The title derived from a popular true-crime magazine of the same name, and stories were based on material from the magazine.[2]
Other cast members were Frank Jenks as Lieutenant Rodney, Paula Drew as Sharon Richards, and George Pembroke as Lieutenant Andrews.[2]
Personnel[]
Jerry Fairbanks was the producer and distributor, and Arnold Wester was the director. Gene Levitt and Robert Mitcher were the writers.[3]
Reception[]
A review in The New York Times of the series's initial episode found that its drama paled in comparison to that of the Kefauver Commission hearings that were then being televised. The reviewer suggested that the killer was fairly obvious and described the episode as "too cut and dried ...".[4] A review in the trade publication Variety panned the June 27, 1952, episode, describing it as "a dull affair which the actors seemed to realize and refuse to help".[3] The review also noted "slipshod and oftimes embarrassing" off-camera operations.[3]
Episode status[]
UCLA Film and Television Archive has 17 episodes of this series.[5] Internet Archive and TV4U also have one episode each.
Unlike many other programs which aired on DuMont, the series was produced on film by an outside production company. A few episodes are available on DVD and online, usually as part of early TV compilations.
See also[]
- List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
- List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
- 1951-52 United States network television schedule
Bibliography[]
- David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) ISBN 1-59213-245-6
- Alex McNeil, Total Television, Fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1980) ISBN 0-14-024916-8
- Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, Third edition (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964) ISBN 0-345-31864-1
References[]
- ^ Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1979). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows: 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-25525-9. P. 213.
- ^ a b Terrace, Vincent (2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010, 2d ed. McFarland. pp. 369–370. ISBN 978-0-7864-8641-0. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
- ^ a b c "Front Page Detective". Variety. July 2, 1952. p. 24. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
- ^ "Television in Review: 'Front Page Detective,' a New Channel 5 Serial With Edmund Low, Takes Back Seat to Kefauver". The New York Times. March 17, 1951. p. 27. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
- ^ "UCLA Film and Television Archive entry". Archived from the original on 2013-01-06. Retrieved 2012-12-28.
External links[]
- DuMont Television Network original programming
- Black-and-white American television shows
- 1950s American drama television series
- 1951 American television series debuts
- 1953 American television series endings
- American crime drama television series
- English-language television shows
- Television series about journalism
- United States drama television series stubs