Word: webbe
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...pitch which must be shattered in the play's denouement. James Hanley's portrayal of the lover, steeped in social mores and incapable of matching his mistress' passion, alternates effectively between flippancy and noble resignment. Perhaps the one flaw in character analysis--whether through script or through Alan Webb's portrayal--is that of the jilted husband; one can never believe that he is as acquisitive and as heartless as Rattigan implies...
Star of the show, as well as its director, is Jack Webb, 32, who plays Police Sergeant Joe Friday with a minimum of fake heroics. His cases range from simple theft to multiple murder, but the program is more concerned with the painstaking solving of crimes than with showing their gory execution. Once the entire half-hour was devoted to a verbal third degree, as Webb and his fellow detective, Ed Jacobs, broke down a coolly stubborn jewel thief...
...Webb got his idea for Dragnet while he was playing a typical private eye on radio. A Los Angeles police sergeant named Marty Wynn said disgustedly: "Why don't you do a show about real cops?" and arranged for Webb to use the Los Angeles police files. Webb began building a show based on authentic police methods and backgrounds. After three years on radio (this week, the radio Dragnet was rated No.1 by Nielsen researchers), Webb decided to apply his successful formula ("realism plus entertainment...
...show has paid off to the extent of five-year contract with sponsor Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. This summer, 34 U.S newspapers began running a new comic strip, using Dragnet's characters and atmosphere (but not its plots). By the firs of the year, Webb hopes to have a new show called Pete Kelly's Blues ready for TV. After his long life of crime, Jack Webb will star as a trumpet-blowing musician of the 1920s...
Dreamboat (20th Century-Fox) is a tart, tweedy college professor (Clifton Webb), who was once a silent screen ham, rated second in popularity only to "some stupid police dog." When his old movies suddenly become popular on television, embarrassed Professor Webb sues to keep them from being shown. "It's like exhuming a man from his grave," he argues. But the ending is a happy one: Webb winds up in Hollywood with a talking picture contract that bars police dogs from the casts of his movies...