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Dragnet 1967
"The Subscription Racket"
Originally aired April 20, 1967
Tuesday, January 17 (1967 again!): Friday and Gannon are working the day watch out of Frauds Division, Bunco Section. Friday is substituting for another detective who's busy on another case in taping an appearance on a nighttime talk show. He's nervous about going on camera, but does fine, using props--a rubber snake and a bogus money-printing machine--to demonstrate some typical bunco scams. This appears to be a purely expository scene, but serves a purpose in setting up the story: after the taping, a film cutter in the studio tells Friday about how his wife has been buying a lot of magazine subscriptions, and asks Friday if it's a racket. From his description, Friday thinks it is, and goes to the man's home to question his wife.
At the Tate home, Gannon finds some code written on the picket fence to tip off other confidence men. At the door, Mrs. Tate (whom Friday calls Miss Tate for some reason) misidentifies Friday as Sgt. Sunday. She conveys how she's been buying subscriptions for herself and supposedly for servicemen, from a young man claiming to be a Congressional Medal of Honor-winning Marine and a lovely young nursing student.
Over the next few days, the detectives identify the male seller as Glenn Procustan (Brian Avery), a dishonorably discharged Marine with an arrest record whose father had won the medal posthumously. They also discover that he made out a check from Mrs. Tate that was supposed to be for $50, but was cashed for $500.
Friday and Gannon track down Procustan's former employer, Benson (Larry D. Mann), who'd pressed charges against Procustan. He's clearly a shady operator himself, but is willing to lead them to Procustan and his girlfriend, Norma Bryant (Marianne Gordon), the one who's been posing as a nursing student. When they find Procustan, he insists that Benson was framing him when he pressed the charges, and admits to stretching the truth in his sales, but not to raising the check; it turns out that Norma, now his wife, was the one who did that, so that they could get out of the racket that much sooner.
"The Big Gun"
Originally aired April 27, 1967
Tuesday, August 16 (1966): Friday and Gannon are working the day watch out of Homicide Division when they're assigned to investigate the murder of a 26-year-old woman named Reiko Hashimoto, who was shot in the head and heart. A neighbor wearing a nurse's uniform tells them that Reiko's Japanese-American husband was killed in Vietnam, and that Reiko has a 5-year-old daughter who's staying with Reiko's mother. As the investigation of the scene continues, Friday starts getting short with one of the investigators and Gannon accuses him of letting it get personal. Outside, Friday has a smoke while engaging in a reflective voiceover, but that's as far as the angle goes.
The detectives have been working the case for nearly two weeks when they spot a pickup truck at a neighboring home that matches the description of one whose driver had been reported as having raped a woman at gunpoint nearby on the day of the murder. They arrest the man but have nothing to connect him to the murder, so they search the home where he was living, whose owner is an outspokenly devout church-goer who supports her tenant as a repentant sinner, seems less concerned about the victims, and accuses the detectives of being the devil's disciples for searching her house. After several searches involving multiple pairs of detectives, Gannon finds a .45 caliber revolver that's been fired recently, hidden in a drawer with a false bottom.
The detectives return to the Hashimoto home to meet the victim's mother and daughter, who've just come back after learning of Reiko's death. Little Miko offers Friday her favorite doll, but Friday has to refuse it, saying that just the thought is enough.
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Dragnet 1967
"The Subscription Racket"
Originally aired April 20, 1967
Xfinity said:
Sgt. Joe Friday said:
Tuesday, January 17 (1967 again!): Friday and Gannon are working the day watch out of Frauds Division, Bunco Section. Friday is substituting for another detective who's busy on another case in taping an appearance on a nighttime talk show. He's nervous about going on camera, but does fine, using props--a rubber snake and a bogus money-printing machine--to demonstrate some typical bunco scams. This appears to be a purely expository scene, but serves a purpose in setting up the story: after the taping, a film cutter in the studio tells Friday about how his wife has been buying a lot of magazine subscriptions, and asks Friday if it's a racket. From his description, Friday thinks it is, and goes to the man's home to question his wife.
At the Tate home, Gannon finds some code written on the picket fence to tip off other confidence men. At the door, Mrs. Tate (whom Friday calls Miss Tate for some reason) misidentifies Friday as Sgt. Sunday. She conveys how she's been buying subscriptions for herself and supposedly for servicemen, from a young man claiming to be a Congressional Medal of Honor-winning Marine and a lovely young nursing student.
Over the next few days, the detectives identify the male seller as Glenn Procustan (Brian Avery), a dishonorably discharged Marine with an arrest record whose father had won the medal posthumously. They also discover that he made out a check from Mrs. Tate that was supposed to be for $50, but was cashed for $500.
Friday and Gannon track down Procustan's former employer, Benson (Larry D. Mann), who'd pressed charges against Procustan. He's clearly a shady operator himself, but is willing to lead them to Procustan and his girlfriend, Norma Bryant (Marianne Gordon), the one who's been posing as a nursing student. When they find Procustan, he insists that Benson was framing him when he pressed the charges, and admits to stretching the truth in his sales, but not to raising the check; it turns out that Norma, now his wife, was the one who did that, so that they could get out of the racket that much sooner.
The Announcer said:
"The Big Gun"
Originally aired April 27, 1967
Xfinity said:
Sgt. Joe Friday said:
Tuesday, August 16 (1966): Friday and Gannon are working the day watch out of Homicide Division when they're assigned to investigate the murder of a 26-year-old woman named Reiko Hashimoto, who was shot in the head and heart. A neighbor wearing a nurse's uniform tells them that Reiko's Japanese-American husband was killed in Vietnam, and that Reiko has a 5-year-old daughter who's staying with Reiko's mother. As the investigation of the scene continues, Friday starts getting short with one of the investigators and Gannon accuses him of letting it get personal. Outside, Friday has a smoke while engaging in a reflective voiceover, but that's as far as the angle goes.
The detectives have been working the case for nearly two weeks when they spot a pickup truck at a neighboring home that matches the description of one whose driver had been reported as having raped a woman at gunpoint nearby on the day of the murder. They arrest the man but have nothing to connect him to the murder, so they search the home where he was living, whose owner is an outspokenly devout church-goer who supports her tenant as a repentant sinner, seems less concerned about the victims, and accuses the detectives of being the devil's disciples for searching her house. After several searches involving multiple pairs of detectives, Gannon finds a .45 caliber revolver that's been fired recently, hidden in a drawer with a false bottom.
Back at HQ, the forensics man verifies that the gun matches a slug found at the crime scene.Friday said:
The detectives return to the Hashimoto home to meet the victim's mother and daughter, who've just come back after learning of Reiko's death. Little Miko offers Friday her favorite doll, but Friday has to refuse it, saying that just the thought is enough.
The Announcer said:
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Was just listening to those on the Essentials collection I bought...I can hear why "M'Lady" didn't do better...sounds a bit too much like a knockoff of "Dance to the Music".
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)-- you'd think that con men, unlike hobos, would see each other as competition.
