Friday - The Dragnet Podcast

The Big Love

Originally Aired: July 5, 1951 Dragnet #108, "The Big Love," begins when Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero investigate the mysterious disappearance of Barbara Gorman and her two-year-old daughter Nancy. The woman and child vanished from their Westlake district home five days earlier without explanation, leaving behind only a few missing clothes and no note. When her husband Philip Gorman filed the missing report, he claimed to know no reason for their departure and denied any marital problems. The case goes cold until a neighborhood watchdog named John Pearson calls in with troubling information: Mrs. Gorman had been carrying on a six-month affair with a man named Ralph Kane who lives in Pearson's neighborhood. The investigation takes a darker turn when Friday and Romero discover that Kane disappeared the night after Mrs. Gorman vanished, seen loading suitcases into his car late Friday evening. Kane hasn't been seen since and failed to show up for his job as a printer with no explanation. As the detectives dig deeper, they begin to suspect that Philip Gorman may have known more about his wife's affair than he initially let on, raising questions about what really happened to the missing mother and child.

The Big Cliff

Originally Aired: June 28, 1951 Dragnet #107, "The Big Cliff," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero investigate the mysterious death of Gertrude Turner, an elderly woman found dead on the floor of her shabby hotel room. Her husband, Mr. Turner, discovered her body when he woke up one morning and reached across the bed to find her gone. He found her lying on the floor beside the bed, ice cold, with a slight bruise on her forehead. With no apparent cause of death and no doctor in attendance, Friday and Romero must wait for the coroner's autopsy results while they question the grieving widower. As Friday gently interviews the devastated Mr. Turner, a portrait emerges of a seemingly happy couple who had only been married less than a year. The elderly newlyweds had moved to Los Angeles from Indiana just months earlier and were looking forward to celebrating Gertrude's upcoming name day. Turner insists his wife had no enemies, no health problems beyond occasional headaches, and no reason to take her own life. The investigation hinges on discovering what really happened in that hotel room during the night.

The Big Run

Originally Aired: June 21, 1951 Dragnet #106, "The Big Run," Friday and his partner Ben Romero are called away from a quiet Saturday evening to investigate a brutal hit-and-run accident at Los Feliz Boulevard and Commonwealth Avenue. Two elderly women have been struck down in a well-lit crosswalk by a driver traveling at high speed. The victims are thrown dozens of feet from the point of impact and rushed to Georgia Street Hospital in critical condition. When Friday and Romero arrive at the scene, uniformed officers have already begun collecting evidence—fragments of headlight glass and chrome—but there are no skid marks, indicating the driver never even attempted to stop. The detectives interview witness Richard Mortigan, who operates a nearby nursery and saw the entire incident unfold. Mortigan describes a dark-colored Ford sedan, possibly driven by a young blonde man around eighteen or nineteen years old, racing through the intersection without slowing down. With only these meager clues and the physical evidence from the scene, Friday and Romero must track down the callous driver who left two women fighting for their lives on a Los Angeles street.

The Big Building

Originally Aired: June 14, 1951 Dragnet #105, "The Big Building," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero investigate the puzzling disappearance of Louise Marston, a wealthy society woman who vanished over two months ago. Her husband, Dr. Marston, a dentist, filed the missing person report only after her regular letters from New York suddenly stopped arriving. As Friday and Romero interview the doctor in his office while he works on a dental crown, they learn that Louise left following an argument at their country club. Dr. Marston explains he wasn't initially concerned since she sent letters twice weekly to both him and their son Stanley at military school, but now those letters have ceased entirely. The case takes a darker turn when Dr. Marston reveals that Louise inherited a fortune from her aunt and that he had recently signed over eighty thousand dollars in bonds to her just before her disappearance. He hints at possible involvement by Louise's stepfather, who has always coveted her money. As Friday and Romero dig deeper into the circumstances surrounding the missing woman and those valuable bonds, they must determine whether this is simply a domestic dispute or something far more sinister.

The Big Imposter

Originally Aired: June 7, 1951 Dragnet #104, "The Big Imposter," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero are assigned to missing persons detail when 10-year-old Jimmy Sherman vanishes from his home in a remote section of Los Angeles. The boy was last seen Monday evening hiking up the hill behind his house by neighbor Mrs. Keller, and now two days and two nights have passed without a trace. Jimmy lives with his 68-year-old grandfather Oscar Sherman, a wheelchair-bound man suffering from arthritis who is Jimmy's only living relative after the boy's parents were killed in an auto wreck years earlier. As Friday and Romero interview the desperate grandfather in his backyard, Oscar insists something terrible has happened to his grandson. Jimmy had no reason to run away - he just bought two collie puppies with his savings and was devoted to his grandfather. The case takes an ominous turn when the search party discovers a pair of blue jeans near the upper reservoir in Allegian Park, exactly where Jimmy was known to hike. With dragging equipment being prepared to search the water for a body, Friday must determine whether this is a tragic accident or something more sinister.