Dragnet (1955) | Season 4 | Episode 29 | The Big Tar Baby | Jack Webb | Ben Alexander

[@DonaldBowen-td5ct]

My brother & I watched this every Thursday Night @9:30

[@duanetrivett750]

Dragnet is a killer show! Growing up in the 60s my Dad and myself watched it together. RIP Dad .

[@rosemaryedwards7239]

I have it on VHS SOMEWHERE!

[@RemoWilliams1227]

That's great I grew up watching the 1967-70 run in the 80s

[@glenw-xm5zf]

that one and Highway Patrol. Both very realistic

[@donhagerty5669]

In my opinion the thing that set this show apart from others, but tombstone territory was the fact that it included information on them being convicted and how much time they would be doing in prison 👍👍👍🤠

[@frankmoyer5822]

I was born in 1955, I remember watching it as a kid, but didn't appreciate how good it was.

[@marcchevalier3750]

Yes. You were born in 1955, a newborn with ZERO MEMORY OF THE 1950S. 0 YEARS OLD, doing nothing except in a crib and a house wearing BABY'S CLOTHING. YOU WERE NOT BORN IN THE GREATEST GENERATION 1900 TO 1924 AND DON'T REMEMBER A SINGLE THING ABOUT THE 1950S. You ONLY remember 1962 to 1980s because you WERE 7 years old NOT EVEN WEARING ADULT OR TEENAGE CLOTHING, ONLY A KIDDIE DOING CHILDISH THINGS NOT EVEN A FEDORA. HAHAHAHA.

[@RogerArthur-z2v]

I was born in 55too

[@winonamassingill7895]

The part where that woman is looking for Ethel’s picture is sooo hilarious that I think she should have won an academy award 🥇 for it. I nearly died when she stuck that recipe in her bra. 😂😂😂😂😂

[@randallloomis4756]

Didn't she say "now I always know where I can find it!" Lol

[@kurthoman242]

Brings whole new meaning to the term: "Talk to the hand."

[@clauderobotham6261]

This was filmed before I was born, and I was accustomed to seeing the more elaborate, color sets in the mid- to late-1960s Dragnet episodes. This B&W episode with minimal sets is really intriguing due to the intense acting and some pretty fast-moving dialogue. Really fine drama. Thanks for posting.

[@cejannuzi]

Yeah, shows film noir and hardboiled detective influences in a TV series.

[@ottodachat]

Jack Webb has the perfect delivery of dialog, quick, pertinent, & with a staccato delivery giving the effect of a semi automatic.

[@ChrisMaxfieldActs]

Webb essentially invented the teleprompter with a mechanical dialogue cue system, and he insisted that everyone just read their dialogue with as little emotion or "acting" as possible. He also loved to reuse the same actors, the ones who understood the rhythms of his dialogue, for new characters, over and over. If you acted on DRAGNET, it was one take, and you read it right off the prompter!

[@MrMenefrego1]

@@ChrisMaxfieldActs Thanks for the info. Webb was underrated, IMO.

[@jameshutchins8965]

I grew up with this show. I lived the episodes in my dreams.

[@Delatta1961]

Me too. Dragnet and Adam-12

[@warlord8954]

Jack Webb might have been the straightest square type ever, but he had style.

[@RayPointerChannel]

Maybe a bit "conservative," but he was "cool" with it.

[@thomasglynn2282]

watch the clapper capper with Johnny Carson

[@stubryant9145]

He was also a decent jazz musician.

[@jameswirth3117]

He was a WWII vet, too.

[@howardoller443]

@@RayPointerChannel What is wrong with being "conservative"?

[@intermauro1789]

I just recently stepped on this series. Never heard of Dragnet before. I got addicted.

[@harlankrissoff9966]

Search here for Dragnet second series called Dragnet 1967. It ran from 1967=1970

[@intermauro1789]

👍 thx for the information.

[@justiceforall6412]

@@harlankrissoff9966 Actually it ran from the 40's onward. You can find the old radio shows here, or you can even find the TV shows from the 50's on youtube

[@Cracktaculus]

Are you a government employee? Just curious.

[@impossibledrms]

Precursor to Emergency !, and Adam 12. Jack Webb produced the second two.

[@Bodi2000]

Love how the first scene is a car going up the "EXIT ONLY" ramp.

[@oklahomahank2378]

“No, I don’t pry into their personal lives.” 😂

[@lindsaydoke9308]

Jack Webb is a real gentleman when he interviews anyone. This was such a great show. The way they provide the insight on how they work. Today's detective shows are pale in comparison.

[@robertaa7143]

This morning on my walk I listened to the radio version of this episode. Excellent radio and television!

[@nancynancydrew8503]

did you return yet from the walk?

[@MrMenefrego1]

@@nancynancydrew8503 Not yet, and it's been 3 years now! 😲 I'm starting to get worried! Can't you find him, Miss Drew? 🤔

[@RobertTKlaus]

Makes you want to grab a Clipper Craft suit and bottle of Petri wine on the way home. Ha., ha... That's the ads I remember5 from the radio show recordings...

[@RobertTKlaus]

Funny, tar babies are what we called the chunks of tar the roofers threw in the melting furnace behind their trucks in the 60s in old L.A.

[@MrMenefrego1]

Not what I was thinking they were at all! I wasn't even close!

[@elishaminor2900]

I used to love watch these reruns of this show.

[@tonyarceneaux286]

Rest in ☮️ Jack Webb.

[@danpayne8675]

Jack Webb would have hated being associated with a peace sign!

[@lilajagears8317]

@@danpayne8675 The footprint of an American chicken.

[@larrydockery7201]

well i have to say i liked this show back in the 1970s but they sure cant make them like this no more sad we live in a stupid world now

[@Victor-vg4gw]

I 100% agree because everything has to be computer-generated with special instead of just simple facts as it was. You look at some of these other movies and they say the same thing with all these new technical words and you would know what the hell they was talking about. And they always tell you what penal code in California was broken 😮😂😅😊

[@YouTube.Algorithmic.Nonsense]

The guy that the husband is pounding on, Howard Culver, appeared in a lot of 60s Dragnet episodes. He also was Mike Brady's boss, Mr. Phillips, in the Brady Bunch. He wore glasses later on. I barely recognized him.

[@raymondhopwood9393]

Fun facts about Jack Webb: 1. That was his hand with the hammer at the end. 2. His production company was called Mark VII Productions because seven was his lucky number. 3. His badge number was 714 for the same reason. 4. The LAPD retired badge number 714 in Webb's honor and memory shortly after his death.

[@itsjohndell]

You can see it in the Los Angeles Police Museum.

[@barrywainwright3391]

Also Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs

[@Catquick1957]

The series was made to give the LAPD a humane image. They were bigger thugs than the crooks in the early part of the last century. In the 20's, the police commissioner told his men they'd be fired if they brought a felony suspect in alive. Not kidding. The movie with Angelina Jolie called "The Changeling" showed some of this. They forced a woman who's kid went missing to take a kid she never saw before, and when she griped, they had her thrown in a mental institution. Her real son was murdered by a serial killing homosexual pedophile. They changed the name of the town later when they started to build homes on the farm land where the killings occurred. I think it's called Loma Vista now, something like that.

[@whoknowsidont.5147]

Thank you

[@raymondhopwood9393]

@@Catquick1957 In the 1920s and 30s, the LAPD was called "The Best Cops Money Can Buy", because it was said that at least half of the entire force were on the take.

[@andrewsmactips]

Darn. Friday came this close to saying the famous line: Just the facts Ma’am.

[@jamesr1703]

Interesting how back then a friend, who was a boy, was simply a boyfriend. Nothing else to think about. Also, when the detective said the kid would eat standing up for a few days, speaks to the times.

[@PatrickStPaul-sw9op]

Yeah I mentioned that someone, a troublesome girl, needed her behind spanked and I was barred from Twitter and made to retract the comment!!

[@MrMenefrego1]

@@PatrickStPaul-sw9op If more of these bratty kids got their behinds spanked like we did when we were kids they would have more respect for their elders and peers!

[@chrisholcombe137]

The ending with the Hammer striking the roman numeral is I understand Jack Webb .

[@63bplumb]

"Wife has been gone for 1/2 hour" : "We'll be right down". THAT's a laugh! The first case was a young boy at his "Boyfriend's house". Times have changed. Polie would have probably not have raced out now.

[@GT-fi4sk]

Different times man.

[@63bplumb]

@@GT-fi4sk You did get my point that she had been gone for "1/2 hour"? Now days if she'd been gone a week they wouldn't have "Come Down'.

[@keithammleter3824]

Just another clue that Dragnet is not a "this story is true" - it's purely the result of the scriptwriter's tired imagination while working on a deadline of one episode a week. Along with the ham acting and the business with the matches to imply he's nervous. In reality if you go to a police station to tell them something, you don't get past the front desk until you have been thoroughly grilled by some pissed off uniform sergeant who has been given an easy job while he gets over a work injury, and thinks because you walked in you must be guilty of something. Bu the time you get past him, if you ever do, you are pretty pissed off too.

[@MrMenefrego1]

@@keithammleter3824 Speaking from experience or imagination?

[@keithammleter3824]

@@MrMenefrego1 Experience.

[@jamessmith7691]

Another great show I watched like clockwork around supper time every night back when I was a kid. I'll be watching them again.

[@peace-yv4qd]

1955? I was ten and living in Long Beach, Ca. Loved these types of shows.

[@dfirth224]

I was 5.

[@raymondhopwood9393]

I was born three years later.

[@Yowzoe]

I was -4.

[@craykanne]

These were before my time but I always liked the 70s ones. All the goofy side characters were so funny.

[@barriereid9244]

This was shown on Scottish TV when I was a kid in the 60's...True Crime magazine was popular too.

[@AndrewVelonis]

At the beginning when they said the boy had been found, I thought " This is the shortest episode of Dragnet ever"

[@nicholasgreenwalt7983]

Good one!

[@cameronduff884]

...that way, they gave us a happy ending, from the beginning...now you can send the kids to bed and watch the real ending, more of a reality check.

[@davidhull1481]

For the few people who don’t know, the picture is from the later, colorized version with Harry Morgan. This episode is from the earlier version, B&W, with Ben Alexander.

[@dfirth224]

Harry Morgan before he was on M*A*S*H in the 1970s. The first version was in 1950s. Those are 1956 Fords they are driving.

[@michellehull7720]

Àreyoukintojohnyhullofarizona,,,,,,wearekinsome,,howawesome

[@davidhull1481]

@@michellehull7720 Sorry to disappoint you but no, no family in Arizona.

[@Tommy-76]

The revival was not colorized. It was shot in color!

[@davidhull1481]

@@Tommy-76 Semantics. Colorized can just mean in color without referring to a process.

[@fromthesidelines]

Originally telecast on March 17, 1955; adapted from an October 12, 1954 radio episode.

[@johnfox9169]

Jack Webb was so square he was cool!!

[@jessiejames7492]

loved the series. watched it with the family years ago. good entertainment

[@Boldorion1958]

I liked seeing neon lights illuminating the tower atop the Richfield Building in the opening scene. That beautiful art deco high rise was scrapped in 1969, and the Arco Towers stands in its place.

[@MrMenefrego1]

THAT IS A CRIME!

[@ericgoodrich593]

The black and white film is true art.

[@plunkervillerr1529]

TAR BABY! Oh, are the PC crowed going to love that .

[@benniebarrow348]

Screw'um.....lol

[@jamesstuart3346]

Sharp writing, great "Noir" directing plus oddball characters. You sure got a lot for your 1/2 hour back then

[@Catquick1957]

That's because there was no formula in the new medium of television. Now everything is cookie cutter. Movies too. No chances taken.It's why indy films are so much better. The directors have license to do as they please without a studio bigwig looking over their shoulder.

[@MrMenefrego1]

@peacenow42 And Indie movies are horrible!

[@billnotice9957]

Could you imagine what police in 1955 would think of America today?

[@Mjp74]

My grandfather retired in 86 after 30 years of police work, and i often wish he was still around just to hear what he thought

[@dariowiter3078]

I can! The members of the LAPD of that time would say that America has turned into a country of q***** & dy***. 😒😒😒😒😒

[@davidmichael2594]

They would think they're in a Twilight Zone Movie.

[@anthonycongiano8890]

@12:00 most people don't know how common it was to throw things on the floor, when you were looking for a photo in the 1950s. Also, @20:30 when you spoke to the police, it was common to pull matches from a matchbook and throw the on the cop's desk. It was such a normal thing that the cops didn't even react.

[@Yowzoe]

historical truth, dat

[@dave23024]

That's wild. I didn't even know there was a Dragnet series in the 1950s. I thought it was just the 1967-70 show. Funny how it only played during wartime...

[@kathyflorcruz552]

It was on radio before TV too.

[@dr5117]

12:08: OMG That's my desk and filing system!

[@MrMenefrego1]

Seriously?

[@floydlooney6837]

Someone is a half-hour late, call the cops

[@misskim2058]

Someone who is normally consistently punctual to the minute for an extended period of time… Yes, call the cops.

[@Cracktaculus]

10 minutes later, blame some random nigga.

[@robertwhitey6621]

One of the best programs ever, wish people still had the same values today.

[@keithhyttinen8275]

"values". Uh huh.

[@lilajagears8317]

@@keithhyttinen8275 That's right values!

[@howardoller443]

@@keithhyttinen8275 That's right; values.

[@incorrba]

@Keith Hyttinen That's right values.

[@tomboston9669]

Which values are you talking about ? The kidnapping and pouring hot tar over an innocent person kind ? Or the shooting at the police kind ? The good old days weren't always good.

[@wandahall4435]

Thanks for posting these programs they are great 👍

[@wolcottwu756]

Try to say "Tar Baby" today, and you be in a heap of trouble, boy.

[@dunning234]

Got the radio drama on dvd. for it's time it was super hard hitting. Jack Webb always the same hard hitting detective.

[@michaelhewitt258]

Pretty intense for the 50's Great crime program

[@jamesviancourt3181]

I wonder if the neighbor ever made those frosted gingerbread cookies for Christmas 1955?

[@randquadrozzi1280]

watched newer episodes as kid and older episodes recently.shocked at the brutality of the old one's especially being from the 1950s.

[@dfirth224]

Newer series they had to read the suspects their "Miranda Rights".

[@gorymarty56]

Most crime shows of the 30s to the 50s were gritty and a noirish style. No PC back then.

[@randquadrozzi1280]

@@gorymarty56 yes and I like the hard edged attitude were there isn't always a happy ending.

[@TerrickTerran]

Fun to see a young Henry Corden aka the second voice of Fred Flintstone.

[@Jim-oo7dk]

My favorite episode was the high school kid had a grenade at a party and pulled the pin. Then he turned up the music real loud and gave everybody steely glares. You don't want a steely glare from a guy with a grenade I tell you what.

[@TheTheo58]

"The Grenade" stared off with Gerald Paulson pouring acid on another kid at the movies, getting into a fight with his step father running away with a live grenade showing up at the record party. Friday slowly inched towards the extension cord, kicking the plug out with his shoe stopping the record player. Then he and Gannon rush Gerald.

[@dankjankings7339]

I remember that one.

[@genefogarty5395]

@@TheTheo58 And the kid he poured the acid on was a teenaged Jan Michael Vincent!

[@ausbrum]

Webb used to read his lines from an "idiot board" (before they invented the teleprompter).The trombone music is a hang up from previous radio days where musicians were part of the studio casts

[@777dolf1]

Great show..."Just the facts...". Awesome Possum Puddin' and Pie!!! YAAAR...

[@dunning234]

Great show Jack Webb was great. May He be in Heaven.

[@Yowzoe]

He'd hate it there. No cases to solve.

[@rickhinojosa5455]

Unbelievable. Only charged with kidnapping. If they proved kidnapping, they can prove the assault.

[@randallloomis4756]

Exactly, but they figure most people aren't smart enough to realize the quality of content.

[@namenotavailable7365]

Wifey missing after 30 minutes lmao

[@wandahall4435]

Jack Webb is A Savage !!!

[@genefogarty5395]

Webb was great at rattling off his lines like a Tommy gun, but he had nothing on Broderick Crawford. How that guy could talk so fast and so clearly is incredible. Great shows, something TV today knows nothing about.

[@CycolacFan]

“What about Mr Cabot?” “George?” “No, one of the several hundred other Mr Cabot’s she’s married to…”

[@dubliners0999]

Thanks for uploading. I'm a bit surprised that in this case (which is based on a real case), the 2 perpetrators only got one to 25 years for kidnapping. What about assault? Even assault with intent to commit great bodily harm? They beat the woman, shaved her head and dragged her in hot tar. That's a second or third degree burn. And if it was over a large percentage of her body, she could have developed infection or even died.

[@thelionsshare6668]

California. Of course, recently, Texas prosecutors decided to NOT seek the death penalty in the case of the Wal-Mart killer. And he murdered 25 people in a rampage.

[@MarkDunn]

15:04 I want that sound played behind me every time I say something smart.

[@jobox8959]

I remember this show but never remember watching it It was before my time but my grandpa used to like it when I was young

[@McIntyreBible]

17:05, this is the way TV and movies were: they had the decency not to show severely beaten/damaged people!

[@misskim2058]

Agreed. After decades with crime lab, it didn’t get easier, it actually got more difficult over time... it gets old, and the public doesn’t need to see that.

[@robertdesantis6205]

That's what imagination is for

[@jamesstuart3346]

It's MUCH more dramatic when you only see her hand

[@653j521]

Censorship not to show it.

[@stevenfd123]

Surprising no one ever has a cigarette lighter!

[@oklahomahank2378]

Lots of people had them. But a police officer or anyone dealing with the public knew better than to carry one. You loaned it and never got it back. Matches = no problem.

[@joeadams1225]

".......just the facts, Ma'am....." ".......yes Ma'am..." I can't help thinking of Daffy Duck.....

[@andrea4246]

It was a big deal in 1956-7. My dad was a cop and we waited to see if he would be able to be in the show.

[@highplainsdrafter595]

This whole episode is over the top! Right down to the match sticks!

[@leonard3k]

You marked it TriCoast, looks better without marks, THUMBS DOWN!!!, but, thank you for posting the video!

[@bulkmailbullseye70]

The informant at 22:00 appeared in numerous episodes of the later Dragnet 67 series, including the ‘stagey’ furrier, and the violinist apartment dweller.

[@itsjohndell]

Jack Webb had a running cast of the "Dragnet Mafia". Many of them appeared in Dragnet from the beginning, sometimes in Highway Patrol which Webb was not involved in, and again Dragnet 1967-1970. Most went on to appear regularly in Adam-12 and even Emergency!. Virginia Gregg was the winner appearing in more Mk7 Productions than anyone else. Webb was a genius as a Producer.

[@kevinwachs5905]

That's Henry Corden. He replaced Alan Reed as the voice of Fred Flintstone upon Reed's death.

[@Toolaholic7]

Harry Morgan,my grandfather went to school with him.He was a Muskegon,MI native

[@GH-oi2jf]

They are driving a ‘54 Ford just like my first car.

[@AmericanIsraeliJew]

This is how it was. Today when we look at crime not only are we amazed at how much and the kinds of crime it has become two cultures; the ciminal culture that goes in and out of the jails like a revolving door and the regular population that works hard and abides by the law.

[@keithhyttinen8275]

Search youtube for "jack webb johnny carson copper clackers". You be glad you did!

[@delawareteacher1182]

Great memories!

[@klumog1]

I would like to sit and drink at George's bar!

[@thomashenebry8269]

It's not gonna be for free.

[@McIntyreBible]

10:10, "...there's more to life than being a good provider"

[@TimRobinson-hc7mt]

The show is Great Jack Webb and Dragnet was one of the best shows I still catch the reruns ('67-'70) But the title for this episode sounds all wrong just saying

[@Bigstooler0]

Much better than the color episodes

[@starguy2718]

"Just the facts, ma'am."

[@JohnW1711stock]

Not many Ethyl's nowadays. LOL!!

[@paultaylor914]

Why did all the Dragnet episode titals start with the word Big?

[@c.s.mcleod7383]

2:18 wife is late 1/2 hour. There sure she's been kidnapped.😂😂😂😂😂

[@gorymarty56]

Oh the days of gritty tv.

[@charletonzimmerman4205]

Good OLD DAYS, "NO MIRANDA" ACT. !

[@lilyd1010]

"I'll bet that kid'll eat standing up for a few days..." :-) "Crackpot." So interesting how every generation has their own weirdness to laff about! This was my Gramma's time n my Mom remembers the one cop used to scare her, he was so strict. :-D

[@barrywainwright3391]

The camera work is amazing. It flashes fast to the person speaking. How did the camera man know who was going to speak next?

[@richardrice40]

5:15 that's tellin' her.........

[@jameswirth3117]

It seems that Friday and Smith should have arrested Cabot, too.

[@paulefstathiou1819]

Good show !

[@lindamerchant123]

My favorite episodes involved robbery division of dragnet

[@ernestclements7398]

Kidnapping, Aggravated Assault, Heinous Battery, Extortion all of that should have gotten them a lot more than 25!

[@randyandtheretreads3144]

Ever since I can recall police won't have anything to do with a missing person report unless missing at least 24 hours.

[@alanstrong55]

Modern police forces need detectives like Friday and Williams to keep the citizens safe and to get the fiendish crooks off the streets.

[@gplunk]

They also need laws that allow them to do the job they're trained for; and not impede their efforts to apprehend the guilty suspects....

[@418cjpaul]

very intense for 1955-1956 !!

[@STho205]

The 50s Dragnets were much more about violence. When it returned in the late 60s after the movie with Harry Morgan, they were typically assigned to non violent divisions, and they rotated divisions every week to fit the story. There was a big push in 1968 to reduce violent content on TV. The westerns started to chill out and detective stories limited their serious assaults and horrific homicides to a few a season. Most gut wrenching episodes of the 60s/70s Dragnet was the old man killed with a claw hammer, the pot heads that accidentally drowned their baby/toddler daughter, the sweet Japanese woman that was murdered. All of that was spoken of...but not shown at all. The woman kidnapped and her employee forced to obtain ransom money, then kidnapped herself is one of the more violent arrests as Friday yanks him out of the car and knees him to the pavement to save the two women. It was always a clinical show for the most part. Last of the radio dramas turned TV.

[@billhinton9787]

They ALL smoked.

[@magistrumartium]

20:26 Aerosol shaving cream goes on thick, like the meringue on Mom's lemon meringue pie.

[@brianbower6519]

Friday For President 😊

[@harrietweber2520]

I would have thought the hospital would have sedated her.

[@richardmuntz3496]

Just the facts ma'am

[@tomlindsey2596]

Law & Order must have been watching!