DEFENSE ATTORNEY Jim Nelson 09-11-52
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defense.qxd:8 pg. Booklet 5/10/11 1:35 PM Page 1 CD 5 George Baughman 08-28-52 DEFENSE ATTORNEY Jim Nelson 09-11-52 CD 6 Program Guide by Jack French Thomas Kennedy and Jethro Lester 09-18-52 Defense Attorney was supposed to debut on NBC, but it premiered on Edith Larkin 10-09-52 ABC. The productions were planned for a New York City studio, but all of the programs were produced in Hollywood. The intent was for the radio version to evolve into a television series, but that never came to fruition. Nevertheless, in the year and a half that it was on the air, the series captivated listeners, attracted reputable sponsors, and garnered awards for itself and its star. Radio producer Don Sharpe was responsible for packaging this show (originally called The Defense Rests ). He produced an audition record in April of 1951, and obtained a tentative agreement from NBC to air the show that summer. But by May, NBC had begun a belt-tightening policy designed to get more work out of their New York berthed directors and production staff. NBC required that their summer replacement programs originate in Manhattan, not the West Coast, since the latter would necessitate hiring additional staffers. The two leads in Mercedes McCambridge the program, Mercedes McCambridge (as Marty Ellis Bryant) and Howard Jack French has been researching radio history for over 30 years. His book Culver (as Judson Barnes), “Private Eyelashes: Radio’s Lady Detectives” won the Agatha Award for were radio veterans, but Best Non-Fiction and is available through Radio Spirits. had seldom worked together before this series. Based in Los Angeles, as were the show’s writers, they were not eager to travel 3,000 miles to do a “summer show.” Sharpe quickly restructured the www.RadioSpirits.com production, renamed it PO Box 1315, Little Falls, NJ 07424 Defense Attorney , and sold it to ABC, which agreed to © RSPT LLC. All rights reserved. For home use only. produce it in Hollywood. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. An old friend of Culver’s, Dwight Hauser, was hired Program Guide © 2011 Jack French and RSPT LLC. All Rights Reserved. to direct and produce the series, which debuted as a 45092 sustainer on July 6, 1951. defense.qxd:8 pg. Booklet 5/10/11 1:35 PM Page 2 Although Mercedes Agnes McCambridge 1956, McCambridge was nominated for an Oscar for was born in Joliet, IL on March 16, 1916, her role in Giant . She had minor roles in Touch of she insisted throughout her entire career Evil , Suddenly Last Summer , Cimarron , and other that she was born March 17, 1918. This films. She returned to radio in the 1970’s, appearing deception was not uncovered until her in 25 episodes of CBS Mystery Theater , which death in 2004 when a trustee of her estate reunited her with old friend, Himan Brown. Her explained that McCambridge, in a nod to radio experience earned her the unusual job of her Irish Catholic heritage, moved her providing the voice of the demon in the 1973 birthday to St. Patrick’s Day…and blockbuster film The Exorcist , but it took the shaved two years off her age to appear intervention of the Screen Actor’s Guild to get her younger. While still attending name listed in the credits. Mundelein College, McCambridge Howard Culver found part-time microphone work on Her personal life was filled with Chicago’s soap operas. By the time she disappointment and tragedy. Both of her marriages ended in divorce, and her graduated in 1937, she had earned a son killed his wife and children before committing suicide. She spent her last contract with NBC radio. years in relative seclusion, helping to raise money for a San Diego homeless shelter, and talking about her struggles with alcoholism. McCambridge was 85 Her success on the soaps – when she died on March 2, 2004. including The Guiding Light and Big Sister - led to Broadway roles and, McCambridge’s 1981 autobiography, The Quality of Mercy , did not eventually, Hollywood. Her acting mention Defense Attorney , but it did make it clear that she loved her radio work prowess was confirmed when she won and the fame it brought her: She wrote, “People all over the country have the Oscar for Best Supporting Role in retained for so long and so vividly the visions they themselves created merely Mercedes McCambridge her first motion picture, All the King’s from sounds....They don’t remember what they saw on TV the night before last, Men (1949). Alcohol and drugs limited her for certain periods of her career, but they remember forever what they heard on radio. Radio was the best.” although she continued to achieve success on radio and the silver screen. At the time she was signed to play the lead in Defense Attorney , no less than three of her TRACK LISTING films - Inside Straight , Lightning Strikes Twice , and The Scarf - were in theaters across the country. CD 1 The Defense Rests : Joseph Moriano (Audition) 04-17-51 Howard Brasfield Culver, Jr. was born on June 2, 1919 on a ranch Defense Attorney : Marcus Moriano 08-10-51 outside of Ft. Collins, Colorado. The family later moved to southern California where, as a high school lad, he began getting bit parts on radio. Later, he found CD 2 work at KFI, reading poetry over a background of organ music. As his acting skills Peter Lynch 08-17-51 improved, so did his roles, and by the 1947-48 season, he was playing the title role Grady Daniels 08-24-51 in The Adventures of Ellery Queen . When Culver got his role on Defense Attorney , CD 3 he had just finished three years portraying Steve Adams on Mutual’s Straight Mike Tully 08-31-51 Arrow adventure program. Jimmy Leonard 09-14-51 The basic framework of the series was created by a woman, Cameron CD 4 Blake, who wrote the audition script and many of the series’ early episodes. Martha Thomas Richards 03-13-52 Ellis Bryant, known to her friends as “Marty,” was the main character. She was an Joshua Masters 04-10-52 experienced lawyer, and a former District Attorney, who now had a private practice. She had an office on the eighth floor of a high rise, but no staff. While it 2 7 defense.qxd:8 pg. Booklet 5/10/11 1:35 PM Page 3 Murcott was a close friend of them both. The studio was on Vine Street, just would be unusual for a prominent attorney like Bryant not to have a receptionist, below Hollywood Boulevard. Lois frequently came into Hollywood with a secretary, and a paralegal clerk, apparently a decision was made at the show’s Howard when he was working on Defense Attorney . She’d do some shopping inception not to add these characters to the show (perhaps so she would have to do while he was at the studio, and they’d meet at the break. McCambridge usually her own legal research). led her co-workers down the street to a nearby ice cream parlor. “Mercy” would hold forth on a variety of topics while Dwight, Howard, and Parley would try Her loving boy friend, Jud Barnes (who was named Jud Cramer in to get a word in now and then. The Defense Rests ) was a reporter for the “City Dispatch,” which gave him plenty of free time to be at Bryant’s beck-and-call. Neither Jud, nor his boss at Variety reported in their December 10, 1952 issue that Defense the newspaper office, seemed to mind the inordinate amount of his time spent Attorney had been canceled and would cease broadcasting later that month. running errands for Bryant. Their love for each other was obvious to all; they While it was the end of a very good radio series, many in the cast were hoping referred to each other as “darling,” “sweetie,” and “honey,” and made continual that it would soon evolve into a television show. references to their eventual marriage. Beginning in October of 1952, there were attempts to create a Defense Three key Defense Attorney contributors would become mainstays in Attorney television series using essentially the same cast. A pilot program was radio’s Gunsmoke when that classic series began in April of 1952. The shot at General Service Studios with Fletcher Markle as its director. The pilot composer and musical arranger for both series was Rex Koury. He was an was shopped around, but there were no immediate takers. Billboard reported in experienced radio musician, but Gunsmoke was the first western program that April of 1953 that Don Sharpe announced from his New York office that he had ever scored. And, two of the regular supporting actors on Defense Defense Attorney would begin shooting a television series very soon. Variety Attorney would become the backup team to Bill Conrad’s Matt Dillon on stated that Official Films had taken over production of Defense Attorney in June Gunsmoke : Parley Baer and Howard McNear. On Defense Attorney , Hauser of 1953 and that a pilot was being shown to various advertising agencies. Again, gave all of the judicial roles to Baer, so in these episodes whether it’s Judge there were no takers. Harris, Judge Elliott, or an unnamed presiding judge, it’s always Parley When the TV hopes evaporated, both of the Defense Attorney leads Baer. You’ll also hear Baer doubling in continued in their chosen profession. Howard Culver found television and lesser roles. McNear was frequently movie work in the ensuing years.