The Helen Corday Murder, Part I

 

 

 

Dragnet, the radio program, first aired on June 3, 1949. 

 

The Helen Corday Murder was the fifth episode to air on July 7, 1949.  The story revolves around the brutal murder of a young woman, found bludgeoned to death by a piece of steel pipe. With the help of forensic evidence and a lucky break, Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero (played by Barton Yarborough) apprehend the suspect after a short, but thrilling car chase.  Stacy Harris played the suspect, Frank Phillip Larson.

 

Dragnet, the tv series, made its debut on December 16, 1951.  The first episode was called The Human Bomb with Stacy Harris playing Vernon Carney, a mad bomber who holds City Hall hostage in an attempt to free his incarcerated brother, Elwood (played by Sam Edwards).  Raymond Burr plays the then Assistant LAPD Chief Thad Brown.

 
Shortly after the second episode was filmed, actor Barton Yarborough died of a heart attack on December 19, 1951.  Barney Phillips stepped in to play Ed Jacobs, who became Friday's partner for the rest of the season.  Beginning in the Fall of 1952, Friday's partner was Frank Smith, played by Ben Alexander for the rest of the black & white series.
 
Dragnet, the comic strip, made its debut on Friday, June 21, 1952.  Its first story was The Helen Corday Murder, adapted from the radio play.  Although Friday's partner is Ed Jacobs by this time on the tv show, the artist Joe Scheiber depicts him as Barton Yarborough and not Barney Phillips.  Stacy Harris is depicted as the suspect, albeit with a different name this time.

The Helen Corday Murder was adapted for television as The Big Barrette toward the end of the second season on June 18, 1953, one year after the comic strip version ran.  Olan Soule played Ray Pinker, who was the crime lab technician for the black & white, color, and both film versions of the series (with slightly different character names).  Once again, Stacy Harris gives a truly chilling performance as the psychotically deranged Larson.

A retrospective of Dragnet, the comic strip, can be found here. 

The radio broadcast of The Helen Corday Murder can be found here.

The television episode of The Big Barrette can be found here.

The Helen Corday Murder will be updated here every Monday over the next seven weeks.  The reproduction quality is what it is, but it's fun.  Stay tuned.