"Dum-de-dum-dum"...
No, that's not a comment on the ridiculous number of college bowl games numbing our brains at the moment. The first time we heard that familiar musical refrain we were paying 20 cents for a gallon of gas and tooling around in the Ford of our choice which we paid a pricey $2,384 for. And those are "just the facts ma'am" to paraphrase the star of the TV cop show that debuted on this date over 50 years ago...
"Dragnet' began as a radio show in 1949 but it was on this date in 1952 that the greatest of all "cop" shows debuted on TV. The show was the brainchild of actor-director Jack Webb who played Sgt. Joe Friday. Friday's sidekick in the squad car was Sgt. Ben Romero played by Barton Yarborough, a holdover from the radio series. Yarborough died of a heart attack shortly after the 1st telecast and was replaced by a series of actors playing Webb's sidekick, including Barney Phillips (no relation), Herb Ellis, Ben Alexander and Harry Morgan. "Dragnet" was so successful that it quickly challenged "I Love Lucy" for TV supremacy in the 50s...
The show that would morph into "Dragnet '67" and "Badge 714" would run until September 10, 1970. A new version of "Dragnet" had a short run in 1989 and more recently just a couple of years ago. To this day, re-runs can be seen on many local TV stations...
"Dragnet" left a legacy of catch phrases. Who can ever forget "my name's Friday - I'm a cop", "just the facts ma'am", "book him on a 358" or "it was 2:18 Monday, we were working the daybeat on Sunset" ? "Dragnet" also spawned 2 hit records. Do you remember them ? When you read my commentary you'll find out if you're right...
More January 3 Memories...
1777) General George Washington's army routs the British in the Battle of Princeton...
1847) The California town of Yerba Buena is renamed San Francisco ("I left my heart in Yerba Buena...")...
1929) 27-year old William S. Paley becomes CBS President (I guess so, he started the company)...
1938) The March of Dimes is established to fight polio...
1957) Fats Domino records "I'm Walkin'"...
1957) The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the 1st electric watch...
1959) Alaska becomes our 49th state...
1964) The Beatles make their 1st appearance on U.S. television in a film clip shown on "The Jack Paar Show" (a performance of "She Loves You")...
1967) Jack Ruby, the man who shot Lee Harvey Oswald, dies in a Dallas hospital...
1970) Davy Jones announces that he's leaving the Monkees...
1973) George Steinbrenner buys the Yankees from CBS for $10 million (only CBS could lose money on the Yankees. CBS bought the team for $13.2 million)...
1990) Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrenders to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Panama City...
1993) In the biggest comeback in NFL history, Buffalo QB Frank Reich, who replaced an injured Jim Kelly, overcomes a 32-point deficit and beats Houston 41-38 in OT in a wild card playoff game (the Bills make it to the Super Bowl but lose to Dallas)...
1997) Bryant Gumbel does his last "Today Show" as co-host...
To ensure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline...
Happy Birthday To...
1926) Beatle producer George Martin...
1930) Robert Loggia...
1932) Dabney Coleman...
1939) Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull...
1945) Stephen Stills...
1956) Mel Gibson...
Commentary...
The 1st hit record that was spawned by "Dragnet" was "The Theme from Dragnet" by Ray Anthony & his Orchestra. Brilliant comedian and satirist Stan Freberg followed with his takeoff of the popular TV series, "St. George and the Dragonet"...
Stop me if you've heard this before...2 cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?" - January 3, 2005...
