Public Hero Number One (Aired July 28, 1950)


During the postwar years, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the Tiffany of movie studios, successfully made the leap into the production and distribution of transcribed syndicated radio series, often capitalizing on their many long-running film series as inspiration for program ideas. "The Story of Dr. Kildare", "The Adventures of Maisie", "The Hardy Family", and "Crime Does Not Pay" were just a few of the offerings syndicated to individual radio stations - after being first run on New York’s WMGM, owned by Loew’s Incorporated and known in the business as "The Call Letters of the Stars." MGM Radio Attractions also attempted to duplicate the success of many of the medium’s popular anthology series, particularly "The Lux Radio Theatre", in an effort to beef up falling attendance at movie theatres. Its own showcase, "MGM Theatre of the Air", dramatized popular films from the studio’s vaults, showcasing a big Tinsel Town guest star each week and, on rare occasions, even managing to secure the service of the original performer or performers who had appeared in the movie in the first place.

THIS EPISODE:

July 28, 1950. Program #40. MGM syndication. "Public Hero Number One". Commercials added locally. An undercover cop makes friends with a gangster in prison. He wants info about criminals, but falls in love with the gangster's sister. Howard Dietz (host), Marx B. Loeb (director), Raymond Katz (producer), Joel Herron (composer, conductor), Ed Stokes (announcer), Paul Stewart, Welborn Kelly (adaptor), William Eyth, Nina Foch. 56:24.