"Many things were changed during the war; the face of the Earth was altered and the people of the Earth changed. Before the war, Frank Race was an attorney, but he traded his law books for the cloak and dagger of the O.S.S., and when it was over, his former life was over too; adventure had become his business: The Adventures of Frank Race!"
The Adventures of Frank Race was a syndicated program that ran from May 1, 1950 to February 19, 1950. It starred Tom Collins as Frank Race and Tony Barrett as Mark Donovan, Frank's sidekick. It was written and director by Buckley Angel and Joel Murcott (writer on Suspense, Escape and Tales of the Texas Rangers). Ivan Ditmars (of Escape) supplied the music.
Post-World War II, there seemed to be a sub-genre of radio programs about men back from the service who were trying to assert their new position in society by taking on odd jobs and, inevitably, solving mysteries; Let George Do It, Box 13, I Fly Anything and the Adventures of Christopher London are all examples of this type.
In the case of Frank Race, he worked as an insurance investigator (Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar was already on the air). The sidekick, Donovan, was present to supply muscle when Frank needed, but otherwise he was written as a complete lunkhead (although he did supply Frank with someone to explain the plot to). The supporting roles were filled with familiar voices like Bill Johnstone, Jack Kruschen, Frank Lovejoy, William Conrad and Virginia Gregg.
The production quality of the Adventures of Frank Race was pretty high - they're professional and polished. Unfortunately, despite all the talent working on them, I don't find the stories memorable. It's an okay program, but given the premise and talent, it should have at least as good as, say, the Amazing Mr. Malone. So far as I'm concerned, it's just okay.
You can hear the Old Time Radio Researchers' collection of the Adventures of Frank Race episodes with the YouTube playlist below:
No comments:
Post a Comment