Radio-TV mirror (July-Dec 1953)

was The Girl. So they were married. Because Julie was getting a start in motion pictures, she had to remain in the south;' Jack had to report for work each weekday morning in the north. The result was commuter housekeeping: The newly-weds would spend one weekend in Los Angeles, the next in San Francisco. With what cash was left over at the end of each month of hummingbird love, the Webbs began to furnish a Hollywood nest in sharp modern style. "Someday," they assured one another, "we'll both live in Los Angeles. Miss Julie London will be a topflight movie star, and Mr. Jack Webb will have a national sponsor and a thirtyminute Sunday show. . . ." The kids had just bought their fourth chair and were preparing to invite another couple over for dinner, when Jack lost his radio shows because of collapsed sponsor budgets. He hastened to Los Angeles to comfort Julie, whose picture contract option had been dropped. For a while, the Webbs got by on spaghetti, macaroni, beans and mayonnaise sandwiches supplied by the forty dollars fortnightly Jack was able to eke out of a minor radio show. One luxury was allowed: they spent as many evenings as possible in fifteen-cent movies — the only dramatic school Jack ever attended. He was a "natural" to begin with, but these sessions, no matter how bad the picture, instructed him in timing, adroit methods of building suspense, means of establishing an air of authenticity, and provided him with a library of voice tricks which was to prove priceless. As a direct result, he began to pick up more and more radio and motion picture jobs (he worked in twenty or so) and was regarded as a highly promising newcomer when he was cast in a police department documentary. True to type. Jack spent his spare time talking to the police officers who were serving as technical advisers on the picture. He was impressed by their complaints about the standard motion picture or radio mystery drama, in which the police work was so sloppy that an authentic plainclothes man or uniformed officer would have been kicked off the force for conunitting even one of fifty errors commonly permitted to occur in a dreamedup script. Furthermore, Jack admired the matterof-fact manner in which officers discussed their experiences; many of them had the dignity and comprehensive knowledge of a college professor, the carefully disguised courage of a Marine sergeant, and the unsentimental compassion of an aging bartender. On one of those days spent in shooting the poUce department documentary, Sergeant Joe Friday was born — and Friday proved to be pay day. Jack and three bona fide police officers worked up the first Dragnet show, recorded it, and submitted it to the Los Angeles chief of police for an opinion. He gave it a clean bill of health. Next, Jack tried it on the NBC hierarchy and met with less enthusiasm. Not enough blood or blondes, they said. The public was accustomed to hearing the effervescence of champagne between screams and the thud of falling bodies. However, when not selling suits. Jack Webb is a hard man to discourage. He talked the network into giving him a four-week contract, which is probably where you came in. The years since that first Dragnet broadcast in 1949 have been financially good to Jack. But the very fact of success has not brought the same amount of compatibility between Jack and Julie. JuUe has filed for divorce after she and Jack tried innumerable reconciliations. But nothing has ever come easy to Jack Webb — even love. GIVE YOUR EYES 'Ary^olMJ From out of the "ordinary". . . into radiant new loveliness. That's what Maybelline does for your eyes— Mascara for longer, darker appearing lashes . . . Eyebrow Pencil for expressive brows . . . and Eye Shadow for a subtle touch of color. It's so easy with Maybelline — just try it and see the difference ! PREFERRED BY SMART WOMEN THE WORLD OVER MASCARA EYE SHADOW EYEBROW PENCIL NYTONE RADIO works. NEW PRESET CRYSTAI.. eliminates TUBES. BATTERIES OR ELECTRIC" PLUG-INS" FOREVER' Reoutitul Red pl»stic ca»c. GUARANTEED TO WORK on local stations — use most anvwherc.SENDONLY$1.00(biU,clt..mo.)aid pav postman .?3.99 COD or send $4.99 for P.P.deliverv.COMPI ETEWITHEXTRA LONG DISTANCE AERIAL KIT AND PHONE. LIMITED SUPPLY. ORDER NOW. Miilwaf Co., Dtpt.BMW-12. Kearney, Webr. High School Course at Home Finish in 2 Years lO as rapidly as yonr time and abilities permit. GqaivaleDt to rosilent school work— prepares for college entrance exa-ns. Stan<kird 3.. S. texts sapplied. Diploma awarded. Credit for H. S. snbjecU completed. Smglo subjects if desired. Ask for Free Bolletin ^American School, Dept. H -953, Drexel at 58th, Chicago 37 PU»«4 Make money with yoiir brush and pen! Take the famous Talent Test. It's already helped thousands toward art careers. No fee. No obligation. Mail this coupon TODAY! 5i5SSaoS,mc.-tr 500 S. Ath ^_' „,^Talen*^^^ ^ R M 91