The Adventures of Dick Tracy
On September 30th 1935, Dick Tracy debuted on Mutual Radio Network.
An adventure serial based on the comic strip character created by Chester Gould had first been broadcast by NBC in New England around 1934.
It next went out over the airwaves courtesy of CBS and sponsored by Sterling Products for six months in 1935 who did four episodes a week.
Then it was the turn of Mutual to entertain the kids from Sept 1935 to March 1937 with the usual four or five episodes a week.
It was brought back on the air in January of 1938 by NBC and Quaker Oats, this time for five episodes a week at 5pm and this went on until April 1939. It must have been because of the summer months, or writers cramp or something, because the day after they took it off they brought it back but only once a week, on a Saturday.
After that it went off the air altogether for three and a half years before Tootsie Rolls decided to sponsor it in March of 1943 together with Blue Network / ABC right through to 1948.
In the detective series, Dick Tracy uses forensic science, advanced gadgetry and his wits - although the stories often ended in gunfights just the same. Each case typically followed a criminal committing a crime and Dick Tracy's relentless pursuit of the criminal.
The villains' small crimes led to bigger, out of control situations, and innocent witnesses were frequently killed, with Tracy's paramour Tess Trueheart often endangered by the villains.
As the story progressed, Tracy adopted an orphan under the name Dick Tracy Jr., or "Junior" for short, who appeared in investigations until becoming a police forensic artist in his father's precinct.
Dick Tracy was originally played by Bob Burlen when it was first broadcast from New England in 1934. Others taking the part after that included Ned Wever, Matt Crowley and Barry Thomson. Dick Tracy’s partner, Pat Patton was usually played by Walter Kinsella, whilst Junior Tracy was shared between Andy Donnelly and Jackie Kelk.
The stories usually began with the Announcer introducing Dick Tracy to the sound of the radio signals. Then Tracy would say something to the effect that "This is Dick Tracy on the case of ...whatever the story title was" followed by a police siren disappearing into the distance and the Announcer declaring "Yes, it’s Dick Tracy. Protector of Law and Order."
Up until now, we only had 15 episodes of Dick Tracy on RUSC, but Joy and I will be adding lots more over the coming weeks.
Happy listening my friends,
