Radio Recap: Let George Do It

"Personal Notice: Danger's my stock-in-trade. If the job's too tough for you to handle, you've got a job for me, George Valentine. Write full details."

Let George Do It was a half-hour detective show that starred Bob Bailey as George Valentine, who obtained his clients from an ad in the newspaper that emphasized his status as an odd-job man. His sidekick was Claire Brooks ("Brooksie") portrayed by Frances Robinson (later Virginia Gregg). George's frenemy with the police was Lt. Riley (Wally Maher). Let George Do It aired on Mutual for an impressive eight years from October 18, 1946 until September 27, 1954. It's the work Bob Bailey was best-known for prior to assuming the lead on Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. When he left to take over that series, Olan Soule became George Valentine (we have only a few of his episodes).

In the early days Brooksie was accompanied by her kid brother Sonny (Eddie Firestone Jr.). The tone of the series in the first year was originally broadly comedic; it was only in the second year that Sonny took a hike and the series became more of a traditional detective series. The show's original opening was:

"George Valentine has been out of uniform only a few weeks. Blessed with an abundance of energy and adventuresome spirit and not too much money, he has sunk his last dime in an office, renting a few pieces of furniture and an ad in the classified section of the daily paper, an ad which reads: You have a crime that needs solving? You have a dog that needs walking? You have a wife that needs spanking? Let George do it!"

That "You have a wife that needs spanking?" line was in particular timed for comedic effect. Plots of the first season are very simple, quaint... like an Archie comic book. Listening to the first year, it's amazing that they were given enough rope to retool the series into something a bit more formulaic but also better able to hold up year after year.

Let George Do It featured plenty of familiar radio actors in the supporting roles, including Luis Van Rooten, Paul Frees, Barney Phillips, Betty Lou Gerson, Tony Barrett, Herb Butterfield, Howard McNear, Pedro De Cordoba, Georgia Ellis, Lurene Tuttle, Jeff Chandler and William Conrad.

I've given grief to some other radio detective shows for how they depicted the hero's gal Friday, so I should note Virginia Gregg's Brooksie was a cut above them; she had the typical unrequited love for the hero (George always seemed to be too busy to focus on his relationship with Brooksie) but she wasn't bitter or manipulative, nor was she a flaky airhead. She took part in George's investigations and accepted risky assignments.

I find Let George Do It to be a decent enough program. I can't say that any episodes really stand out to me, but Bob Bailey's performances hold up well. If you like Bailey on Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, you probably enjoy Let George Do It too.

The Old Time Radio Researchers have a YouTube playlist of 243 episodes of Let George Do It - the syndicated versions are at the end of the list, some are available in both network and syndicated versions; the syndicated versions have a somewhat irritating mumbling announcer: