Radio Recap: The Man Behind the Gun

The Man Behind the Gun was a CBS radio anthology series produced by William N. Robson that was heard from October 7, 1942 until March 4, 1944. It was a wartime propaganda series, but it was a very good wartime propaganda series.

Each episode of the Man Behind the Gun would focus on a different aspect of the war. One episode was set aboard a submarine in the Pacific; another featured pilots of the RAF; one was about a medical corpsman, another a K-9 handler. World War II certainly had no lack of dramatic situations or unusual jobs and the Man Behind the Gun excelled at living out its title - bringing into focus a single person as they did their part towards the war effort.

Many of the surviving episodes feature Frank Lovejoy. In my opinion, Lovejoy was one of radio's finest actors; there was a kind of sneer in his voice that enabled him to portray cynical characters, men who were a bit world-weary. On the Man Behind the Gun his voice was well-suited to portraying either the new guy who was dubious about the situation he was in (only to come around by the end of the drama) or the veteran struggling to keep coping with a prolonged period of tension.

I think the K-9 Corps episode is the most interesting because its an aspect of the war we all know about, yet there's surprisingly few dramas about the K-9 Corps. Who doesn't love a good "man and his dog" story?

Sadly, we're lacking most of the Man Behind the Gun - there were about 70 episodes but we only have 6 currently in circulation. You can hear those 6 at the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Library.