For the Shield or for the Cash: Trollheart Investigates TV Crime Drama

[Trollheart]

Title: The Vise
Year(s): 1955 - 1960
Nationality: American
Protagonist: Police Detective
Main character(s): Inspector Mark Saber
Seasons*: 5
Episodes (total)*: 156
Sample episode chosen: "The Penny Black"
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): London (originally America, no city stated)
Writer(s): Mark Grantham, Brian Clemens and others
Starring: Donald Gray
First episode: Unknown
Last episode: Unknown
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Saber has only one arm, and Gray is a real amputee. Take that, Ironside!
Spin-offs (if any): Saber of London

Weird one, this. Began life as a radio show (no surprise there) called ABC Mystery Theater, was copied basically by CBS, who didn't even bother to change the title. Both shows ran on the radio on the same day, and often in the same time slot. Oversaturation, and the determination by both to stick rigidly to murders and nothing else, bored audiences and both shows ended around 1953. ABC then rebooted the series for TV, and it ran for a year in 1954 before being again rebooted in 1955 and retitled The Vise, itself an incarnation of an earlier ABC anthology series. Whew!

Anyway, later on the series was again changed, moved to London and titled, you guessed it. Saber of London. You can't help wondering if this was in direct competition with BBC's Fabian of the Yard, which was running at this time, and if you look at the opening titles, they're so similar that I thought for a moment I was watching the latter show. Through all these changes the protagonist remained constant, though he was played by three different actors, between radio and TV. Mark Saber is the focus of the show, hence his name being eventually used for the title. Incidentally, if you want to know why the original title, apparently the show portrayed "people caught in the vise of fate due to their own misdeeds." Well, now you do.

Seems the role of Saber has changed by now, from a police inspector to a private detective. If this was the BBC I would say typical: they've managed to make a murder case out of one of the most boring subjects imaginable, stamp collecting. But it's ostensibly American, though played very much as a British series. Oh, and it looks like there are only two suspects in the murder, so I assume the butler did it. Sorry. But of course he did. Oh look: an early role for Gordon Jackson, known to UK viewers from the series Upstairs, Downstairs and later on The Professionals. Interesting to see him with hair.

[Trollheart]

Title: Highway Patrol
Year(s): 1955- 1959
Nationality: American
Protagonist: Police officer
Main character(s): Dan Matthews
Seasons*: 4
Episodes (total)*: 156
Sample episode chosen: "Lie Detector"
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): Unknown American city
Writer(s): Unsure; Frederick Ziv?
Starring: Broderick Crawford
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots: Leonard Nimoy, Clint Eastwood, Robert Conrad, Larry Hagman
First episode: "Prison Break"
Last episode:
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Looks like there were a lot of car/bike chases, plus the episodes were rewrites of actual crime reports.
Spin-offs (if any):

Òf course, I'm not American, but it kind of staggers me when the claim is made that this was, according to our friends Tim Marsh and Earle F. Marsh, "One of  the most syndicated shows in television history." I mean, I never heard of it, and even I have heard of Dragnet and other shows I've never seen. Apparently as above, this show used real-life crime reports across the country from which to draw its storylines (basically re-enacting the crimes; not sure you could call them storylines really) and though the state in which the Highway Patrol operated was never confirmed, it's pretty obviously California. The protagonist, and about the only recurring character bar the narrator, didn't even have a title, not even Chief. They knew him, perhaps in a tip forward of the hat to The Dukes of Hazzard, simply as boss, and he spent most of his time leaning, it says, on the door of his squad car barking orders and instructions into a bullhorn, many of which would include the code "ten-four!" something perhaps not that well known to the general TV audiences at that time, at least until the rise of CB radio, and also possibly the reason why the show was retitled Ten-Four in later reruns.

As you can see above, quite a few claims to later fame, including Leonard Nimoy and Clint Eastwood, and a further Star Trek link is that a struggling writer of westerns who would later be immortalised as the creator of that show wrote five episodes for this one. Whether Roddenberry and Nimoy ever met I don't know, but I'd say it's doubtful; in those days, writers wrote and sent in their scripts. They would hardly ever be present on the set. In terms of, to use a later popular phrase, keeping it real, Highway Patrol had two consultants on the staff, one a serving officer with the CHP (California Highway Patrol, as if you didn't know) and one a retired one, to make sure all the technical details were correct. I guess you have to admire that kind of attention to detail in a show that seems to have been mostly about, as above, car chases, but there are episodes to watch, so I'll confirm that shortly.

Highway Patrol seems to have had its dark side too. Broderick got so worn out with the filming schedule (two shows a week, would you believe?) that he turned to drinking and quit the show, snarling "We ran out of crimes" when asked for a reason for his departure and the end of the series. In America? Surely not. However this is where it turns dark. The creator, one Artie Ziff sorry Frederick Ziv forced Crawford to sign for one of his new shows, holding back his cut of Highway Patrol until he did so. That's some Hollywood hardball right there! Perhaps fittingly, the new show was axed after one season. What happened to Broderick Crawford? Sure let's check it out. Looks like he lasted another thirty years. But it always does to follow interesting links, and in an article about the man we find the lie, or partial truth, in the Wiki story: the hectic schedule didn't drive (sorry) him to drink, it perhaps exacerbated his already heavy problem with alcohol, which had resulted in him getting so many DUIs that he was in fact banned from driving, so despite his role as basically a police chief, he couldn't drive the car in the show, only for very short scenes, and someone else would have to take over if longer journeys were required.

In fact, it emerges that Crawford was so hard to deal with that Ziv was the only one willing to give him a job, and that Highway Patrol, despite its tough schedule, revitalised his career, which had hit a slump. Well, so it says, but the evidence isn't there for me; in fact, he had starring roles in movies both before and just after the series, so I don't know. It appears that in addition to being a hard drinker he was one of those Americans who eats three hamburgers for breakfast or something - ate a lot anyway - and put on a lot of weight, all of which no doubt contributed to the multiple strokes that ended his life in 1986.

So what's it like? Well, the usual stentorian voiceover about who the "Highway Patrol" are (without naming any state) and then it's pretty clear this isn't going to be light-hearted, as a thief (looking rather like someone who has strayed off the path to a western movie, with his long kerchief mask) pistol-whips an old lady. I mean, it's the 1950s, so you don't see it, but he raises the gun and she goes down, and it's pretty obvious what has happened. I must say, I find it rather amazing that the narrator tells us that she managed to identify the man. His face was almost completely covered, and she must be dazed from the attack. Maybe she recognised his voice? Oh no, I see: she recognised his hat and coat; he was a guest in the motel. Still a bit thin. What was so special about the hat and coat?

Good to see that they're not sensationalising the lie detector here as some shows did back then, as if it was some all-seeing oracle that could determine a man's guilt or innocence. Matthews tells him that the results are not admissible in court, which even back then they were not, and still are not. It's a useful tool, but it won't do a cop's job for him. The nephew, when they return to the motel to re-question the old lady, is very adversarial and defensive, almost throwing an alibi at them before they've even asked for one. Very suspicious. You'd have to wonder, though, why they're relying solely on her identification of the guy. If he had a gun, have they not dusted it for fingerprints? Where is the gun? Do they have it? I know DNA was not even discovered at this time, but fingerprinting was part of normal police SOP. Even when a witness comes forward with a book of matches the alleged attacker - or someone dressed like him anyway - gave him, nobody thinks to dust it to see whose fingerprints are on it?

Okay so the "witness" and the nephew are, to use the language of the time, in cahoots together. No wonder he stepped forward. It's not that often people go out of their way to involve themselves with the police. I wonder why there's the constant sound of an aircraft in the outdoors scenes? It's not as if they're doing any aerial shots. Maybe they're filming near an aerodrome? Hey! Why has Mister Witness got the mask on? He's coming at the aunt from behind (ooer!) and he clubs her before she even knows he's there. Then he removes the mask. Who was it for? Idiot. That's one tough old lady though! Pistol-whipped twice at her age and she's still alive!

Meh, from what I read I expected something more exciting. No real car chases - hardly see cars at all - and no shots of Crawford barking into anything or leaning on anything. In fact, if anything I found him very laid-back. Maybe I just picked a bad episode, but that seemed a little cerebral and boring to me, making me surprised it was such a popular show. Definitely seen better.

[Trollheart]

Title: Meet McGraw
Year(s): 1957 - 1958
Nationality: American
Protagonist: Ex-con possibly
Main character(s): McGaw ("Just McGraw")
Seasons*: 1
Episodes (total)*: 33
Sample episode chosen: Unknown
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): America somewhere
Writer(s): E. Jack Neuman
Starring: Frank Lovejoy
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots:
First episode: ?
Last episode: ?
Gimmick/Hook (if any): McGraw was not licenced as any sort of law enforcement official or even a private eye, and carried no gun
Spin-offs (if any): None

By all accounts, a case of an actor wasted on a poor show, Meet McGraw was nevertheless the first time, so far as I can see (authors and husband/wife teams aside) that someone outside of what we may call the sanctioned legal profession (cops, judges, lawyers, private eyes etc) features in one of these shows. Well, Boston Blackie, yes, and yer man the photographer, but two major differences: one, both of those were in some way linked to the police force, either liaising with them or working with them, whereas McGraw is entirely a law unto himself. Two: generally speaking, both of those other shows came across quite light-hearted, whereas this appears not to be. Like a one-man A-Team, it would appear, he offers help to those who need it and can't go through the regular channels, or who have not been helped by the police. He has no first name, saying at the beginning of every episode "This is McGraw. Just McGraw. It's enough of a name for a man like McGraw." Just don't call him Quick Draw, eh? Sorry.

The idea of the show being a waste of Lovejoy's talents was posed by The New York Times in 1957, who said he "deserved a better show". The Miami Herald agreed, saying that "Meet McGraw was weak in story lines but still a rewarding series thanks to Lovejoy's acting abilities and good dialogue." and describing Lovejoy as "a man of considerable talent and intelligence, completely devoid of pretension." The show itself did not suffer from bad ratings but from the caprices of sponsorship: Proctor and Gamble, who had attached their name to the show, simply dropped it when it no longer suited their needs. Lovejoy remarked about ratings in general that "I'd be a hero on Monday and a bum on Wednesday."

It's very melodramatic, more like something out of the forties than the tail-end of the fifties; I can almost hear yer wan sigh "You're saying this only to make me leave." Very jazzy, everyone smoking, woman wrapped in furs: talk about cliches. What isn't necessarily a cliche is that McGraw turns her down when he realises who she wants him to protect her from. Well, given that he doesn't carry a gun and the jealous ex-husband seems to be some sort of big wheel in the underworld, I guess I don't blame him. It's hardly the "nice guy" image the writeup painted for him though, is it? Also he's supposed to be tough, and even her barb that she thought he was, and therefore indicating she believes now that he is not, doesn't move him. Usually that kind of accusation of cowardice, especially from a woman to a man, and doubly especially from a beautiful woman, gets only one kind of response. But he lets her leave, refusing the job.

Okay, now he has his chance to be that nice guy, when a sweet old lady comes in looking confused, and he brings her to the desk to ask after her sister. But while there her handbag is robbed. She faints, he does not go after the thief - here, this is looking a bit like a setup isn't it? But then, it's not like it was his wallet that was robbed, so I don't understand yet. But yeah, when he turns around the lady has vanished. And then he finds his own wallet is in fact gone. Ah, you gotta love the parlance: "What kinda racket is this?" I see what they mean though about good writing in terms of the actual dialogue, and Lovejoy exhibits a certain Bob Hope character in the way he delivers his lines, almost, but not quite, breaking the fourth wall. Very little in the way of incidental/background music, and to be honest, it suffers for it; it's like there's something missing, which might be why Lovejoy has to fill the silences with quips and cracks.

I would however have to question his decisions. He's turned this woman down because of who her husband is, and now he's sitting in a car kissing her? I mean, is he not afraid of this Louis the Legbreaker or whatever the damn hell his name is? If he's not, then why didn't he take the commission? He's already mentioned he's not rich, so he could certainly do with the money. Bad writing? Possibly. Misogyny, certainly, as the pretty lady turns out to be the one trying to frame McGraw, a typical cardboard femme fatale. Oh dear. Yeah, pretty terrible. He was wasted in this show.