Radio Recap: Top Secret

Top Secret was a short-lived program on NBC in 1950. It was produced by Harry W. Junkin (who earlier produced Radio City Playhouse and later produced The Chase). The series starred Ilona Massey as Baroness Karen Geza, an Austrian noblewoman who worked as an undercover operative for the Allies during World War II.

Although Massey portrayed the Baroness as a femme fatale in the style of Marlene Dietrich, it's interesting to note she wasn't a 'Mata Hari' character - that is, she didn't (usually) obtain her intelligence by sleeping with the enemy. She usually took on menial jobs which placed her close to people of significance. Frequently there were friendly agents who swooned over her and a few villains as well, but she didn't really find romance on the program. A rare exception to the rule is the epsode "The Unknown Mission" in which she and an enemy male spy are pit against each other.

Top Secret does not hold up against the likes of Cloak and Dagger. It didn't adapt its heroine's adventures from real-life assignments. And yet, it is interesting to hear a World War II espionage series with a recurring lead and a little bit of continuity from week-to-week, which sets it apart from Cloak and Dagger.

But I guess Top Secret struggled in the ratings because late in its run, it suddenly got a revamp; it stopped being set in the European theater of World War II and became a post-war series which pit the Baroness against communists. Basically, the series transformed into The Man Called X but with a female lead and those later episodes are not very interesting to listen to.

The most bizarre discovery I made is that one of their scripts was performed twice - first as a World War II drama against Nazi agents in London, then as a Cold War drama against communists in the USA! The original version, "Disaster in London" is easily my favourite episode as the Baroness is pit against a British agent who has betrayed his country for the Axis. But the remake, titled merely "Disaster" is a bit odd - it isn't a full episode, it lacks all of the announcer's parts and musical bridges. Perhaps it was never broadcast and was only ever an experiment by the creators to see if they could refashion World War II spy dramas into Cold war spy dramas.

The Old Time Radio Researchers group have collected the show's episodes and you can hear them on this playlist at Youtube. Top Secret is not a phenomenal series but there aren't many decent old-time radio spy dramas and this is, to my knowledge, the only such series with a female lead. I think it's worth trying out.