Community Relations - DR-17 or Lake Arrowhead!

Let's go for a trip to Lake Arrowhead with some of our favorite Dragnet actors this week. The locations are pretty, the cars are nostalgia trips, and we get an animated .gif of a driving sequence. FINALLY.

But that's the last of the action we'll see. No spoilers, but, two officers realize that they were secret racists. Here's writer Alf Harris' kicker - one of the men was black and the other one was white.

Can a television show help people cope with their own inner bigotries? Dragnet says, 'yeah, kinda.'

Let's do this!

"This is the city-- Los Angeles, California.

Twenty-five miles front he heart of the civic center lies the Port of Los Angeles.

It's the largest man-made harbor in the world.

With a fleet of over seven hundred fishing boats, it's become the most important commercial fishing center in the nation.

It's a bustling port which handles goods coming into the country from all over the world.

There are agencies set up to handle most of the harbor's problems.

Occasionally things out of hand in the city.

When they do, I go to work. I carry a badge."

Cops on a boat? I don't remember that episode of Dragnet. 

Actually, I don't remember this one, either! Ouch!

First, Art Gilmore is boss (yay!) and he is first to confirm that we will not be chasing any baddies in the harbor.

Bill pops in to concur.

DAMMIT

Hey! Don Ross from latent prints! Who is that other guy? The suit.

DON'T WORRY YOU GUYS

LAKE ARROWHEAD IS A CLOSE SECOND

TO FIGHTING CRIME ON BOATS

They do the "shoot all the same footage for the same location at the same day" in this episode.

Here are our establishing and then closing shots of The U.C. Conference Center:

I will have to redo the above because I missed what's on the other side of the Fairlane.

It seems like Art Director John E. Chilberg, II flexed his budget to make this one look a lot more cosy than our minimalist road trip to Big Bear.

Let's get our time on the red carpet completed so we can mosey over to the cabin set. It has a fireplace!

The red floral patterned sofas are definitely something we have seen before:

Those conference chairs actually look somewhat comfortable.

How about some Cabin exteriors? It's right next door!

It's called "Gate House Cottage."

Brace yourself for sparseness that rivals some of our season one sets.

And that's IT.

There's a floral chair, but just barely:

But that's ok. The set design is made for close ups and two-shots, which seems a bit like most of the episode.

Leonard Stone:

Jack Webb:

Morris Erby?

I THINK SO

And then these two and their gold drum lampshades.

I was just thinking - I really need a big red jacket to close out today's entry.

There you have it!

S3e13

Starred
Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday
Harry Morgan as Officer Bill Gannon
Leonard Stone as Sergeant Keith Barrett
Morris Erby as Sergeant Tom Benson
William Boyett as Sergeant Sam Hunter
Walter Brooke as Captain Carl Fuller
Art Gilmore as Captain Larry Walton
Ray Montgomery as Lieutenant John Rule
John Hudson Sergeant Tom Wallen
Sid McCoy as Sergeant Ron Nelson
Marshall Reed as Lieutenant Phil Johnson
Don Ross as Sergeant Scott
Robert Cleaves as Lieutenant Jurgens

Art Direction - John E. Chilberg, II
Set Decor - John McCarthy & John Sturtevant
Costumes - Vincent Dee

Written by Alf Harris

(I'll name all of the actors later.)

Is that a bear rug on your soundstage or are you just happy to see me?
Suzy Dragnet


P.S.
Caption contest? Meme?

"The Starlet" or "To whom it may concern"

Stitched the pan together again:

(I really like stitching the pans together. Eventually I'll get them all done.)

This week's episode is a "Top Ten" because I remember it vividly from when I was a kid.

Long before the restoration of the Hollywood sign!

Soundstage 31 at Universal Studios:

(It doesn't match because the door slides closed in the sequence.)

Dig these glossies:

In the show, you see Jack Webb's hand laying each photo down.

I believe that this one was a stock image used for a makeup advert:

Not 100% sure, though.

Back at the Georgia Street Juvenile set. 

JOE! THIS EPISODE HAS HIPPIES.

YEAH I ALREADY FIGURED IT OUT.

Peeling out of Georgia Street Juvy sequence. Again. 

Arriving at The Flower Pot, one of those "psychopathic" places - 

A psychedelic espresso shop.

Jo-ann, Jo-elle, whatever. I can't stop eyeballing those Thonet chairs:

These details are crazy! The whole frame; not just her necklaces, not just the big sun flower back there, but the guitar, the op-art paintings, painted chairs, it's great, no?

YES THEY REALLY OUTDID THEMSELVES ON THE SET THIS WEEK

I CAN'T HELP BUT AGREE

The phone booth is outside of a liquor store because OF COURSE.

How many liquor stores does L.A. have per capita?

Going by Dragnet, it's two liquor stores per one citizen, or 6,000,000.

Yay! I like this soundstage set:

Blue & orange are back in that seasonal-color-arc kind of way; nice array of chairs and table lamps.

Nice tchotchkes and wall art, and of course Susan Seaforth is great as an actress playing an actress!

WHY YES I AM

I loved this apartment! I wanted a lit niche to stand my books up on and a daybed where I could read them. 

More crazy season two wall art:

THIS DAYBED SURE IS COMFY

Susan Seaforth has a great serious face, too:

Bye, soundstage. See you again in a few. Susan needs a costume change.

Off to the smut department at Parker Center:

Yeah, the smut department!

The graduation photo doesn't make sense, our missing girl is 16. Usually you cap & gown it two years later.

*shrug*

The "leading lady" - according to the Pornographic Unit gets $75; about $500 in today's terms.

I guess porno is made the same way these days except digitally.

Camera car:

We remember going this route with Blue Boy:

Home Sweet Parker Center:

How much establishing footage of 150 Los Angeles do you need? Sheesh!

"You name it, we've got it. Books, magazines, Tijuana bibles, films, stills, devices.

Pornography's a big business."

Porno grosses two billion dollars a year in 1968; I can't even imagine how much it rakes in almost fifty years later.

"According to the U.S. Supreme Court, to be obscene, the material has to be patently offensive, appeal to prurient interest, and be utterly without redeeming social importance."

Queen of the apple festival.

Hey, hey, it's the City National Bank footage from last week!

It's the bowling/Chevon neon reverse projection driver we found a few weeks ago:

Okay! Off to the Trendle Film Library.

I CALL TO ORDER THIS INFORMAL MEETING OF MEN IN SUITS

Joe gets the "least flashy tie" award.

This elevator is reminiscent of fifties Dragnet. It's cute how the wall scrolls behind the grated window:

Oh, so spare:

WHATEVER. I'M GOING TO STAND AROUND LOOKING SURLY

Another instance of "Bad Guys Cool Ties"!

Driving past the Cluny Scotch billboard sequence:

Back to Susan Seaforth's darling apartment:

She's got a nifty smocked nightgown, too, blue, of course.

Dig this low angle with that C R A Z Y table lamp that fell to Earth!

That thing is so outta sight!

OH NO THE LAMP IS EATING BILL GANNON

I guess not. I suppose it transported him to another coveted night driving sequence:

"In the early days of hollywood, it might have been a mansion. Now it was a rooming house, and the rates were low."

Another weird-ass hippy!

OH SHIT SHE DIED

Another of those rare times on Dragnet in which see see the corpse.

Listening to The Jazz. Eating all of the reds. Having a dirt nap.

A place so low-budget that they didn't even put a colored bulb in - now that's sketchy.

"That just about covers it."

William Joseph Cornelius

Now on 5 year probation.

S2e20

Starred
Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday
Harry Morgan as Officer Bill Gannon
Susan Seaforth as Eva Graham
Robert Patten as Sergeant Lester Zabel
Leonard Stone as Officer Don Shaidell
Amzie Strickland as Thelma Wade
Lyle Talbot as William Joseph Cornelius
Jo Ann Harris as Jo-Elle Murphy
______ as Patty Lee Bundy / Pat / P.L.

Art Direction - Russell Kimball
Set Decor - John McCarthy & John Sturtevant
Costumes - Vincent Dee

Aired 1 February 1968

Written by Robert C. Dennis

To whom it may concern,
Suzy Dragnet