By: Hank Sampson

Hank Sampson — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 16:12:41 +0000

Shout out to the great George Fenneman who is the host and voice artist for Chesterfield cigarettes. George also was the MC for You Bet Your Life, another fantastic radio series where he served as Groucho Marx’s straight man. Marx’s improv brilliance is on full display in this show and well worth a listen!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 19:49:42 +0000

I loved this episode so much, but, I just love Dragnet. I haven’t heard too many of them, but the style, the pacing, the realism, I love it all so much. That scene with the coffee thermos, so good. I was reminded, I’ve been meaning to tell you guys about a dragnet clip I heard on another podcast. I won’t name it because I’m going to say snarky things, but ANYWAY, that’s only because I’ve reached an age where I get annoyed with people under thirty, generally. Wait, I lost my train of thought as I stopped to yell at those teenagers to get off my lawn. But anyway, it’s a podcast where the hosts delve into careers that don’t exist anymore, such as gandy dancers or switchboard operators, this is subject matter right up my alley, I thought. And it all started strong, the switchboard operator saga began with an explanation of technology at the time and how complicated it was to place a long distance call, and then as an example the host says “let’s listen to this clip of the radio show dragnet, where the policeman in Los Angeles is trying to place a call to Nebraska,” and I’m like YES! So the clip starts, the the foley is just so freaking perfect, the dialing, the clicking, one operator talking to another, Friday kind of bored and distracted saying he doesn’t mind waiting, another operator, more clicking, silence, click, I mean, this goes on for like 3 minutes and I’m freaking entranced, and then the millennial hosting the podcast starts talking over it, complaining about how boring it is, and then I get irritated, and she’s whining about it all talking too long, and he finally gets through to Nebraska, and they stop the clip and now I’M mad and whining…and then I realized that I didn’t want to listen to a podcast with millennials talking about switchboard operators, I just wanted to listen to Dragnet. In any event, I don’t know what episode of Dragnet it was from, but it the clip was freaking beautiful, you guys woulda loved it, the foley and the acting was so perfect. That scene in the Hitchhiker with the coins falling into the pay phone reminded me of that Dragnet moment, I’m telling you, it was that good. (Me shaking fist at sky, darn you millennial podcaster for not telling us the episode of Dragnet you got the clip from!)

Comments on: Episode 175: The Big Ruling

By: Hank Sampson

By: Jessica