Big Town

Big Town is a popular long-running radio drama series which was later adapted to both film and television and a comic book published by DC Comics.

This article is about the radio drama series. For other uses, see Big Town (disambiguation).
Big Town
Big Town #38 (March–April 1956)
GenreDrama
Written byEwald André Dupont
Lawrence Kimble
Directed byBusby Berkeley
Ewald André Dupont
Charles F. Haas
Mark Stevens
Gunther von Fritsch
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons6
No. of episodes169
Production
ProducersJack J. Gross
Philip N. Krasne
Mark Stevens
Running time25 mins.
Release
Original networkCBS (1950–1954)
NBC (1955–1956)
Picture formatBlack-and-white
Audio formatMonaural
Original releaseOctober 5, 1950 (1950-10-05) –
October 7, 1956 (1956-10-07)

Radio

The radio program aired from October 19, 1937, to June 25, 1952.[1] It was produced by William N. Robson[2] and Crane Wilbur,[3] and written by Jerry McGill. Theme music was by Fran Frey. Edward G. Robinson had the lead role of Steve Wilson, crusading editor of the Illustrated Press, from 1937 to 1942. Claire Trevor was Wilson's society editor sidekick with Ona Munson taking over that role in 1940. Edward J. Pawley portrayed Steve Wilson from 1943 until 1952 when Walter Greaza was heard as Wilson in the final episodes. Fran Carlon played Pawley's sidekick and "star reporter", Lorelei Kilbourne, from 1942 to 1952. During the period in which Pawley starred, Big Town was rated No. 1 among all of the reporter-type drama series on radio. It was also rated in the top 12 among all radio programs broadcast and had a listening audience rated between 10 and 20 million people.

Ken Niles was the announcer.[4]

Film

Four films based on the radio series were made by Paramount Pictures' Pine-Thomas Productions studio: I Cover Big Town (1947), Big Town (1947), Big Town After Dark (1947), and Big Town Scandal (1948). All four films starred Phillip Reed as Wilson and Hillary Brooke as Lorelei, all were based on radio- and/or screenplays by Maxwell Shane, and all were produced and directed by William C. Thomas.

Television
Mark Stevens as Steve Wilson and Trudy Wroe as Lorelei Kilbourne (1954)

When Big Town moved to television, the program was telecast live, but in 1952 the production switched to film after the move from New York City to Hollywood. The television series ran on CBS from 1950 through 1954, continuing on NBC from 1955 through 1956. Repeat episodes aired on the DuMont Network from 1952 to 1954 under the title City Assignment, while Big Town was still showing first-run episodes on CBS. Reruns were also shown under the titles Heart of the City, Headline, and Byline Steve Wilson.

The stories revolved around The Illustrated Press, the city's largest newspaper, and the people who worked for it, most particularly managing editor Steve Wilson (played by Patrick McVey from 1950 to 1954 and by Mark Stevens from 1954 to 1956). Five different actresses had the role of reporter Lorelei Kilbourne. In its sixth and final season, the series would adopt the documentary style made famous by Dragnet, right down to Stevens producing, writing, and directing most of the episodes.

Television ratings
  • 1950–1951: #21
  • 1951–1952: #15
  • 1952–1953: out of the top 30
  • 1953–1954: out of the top 30

Comic book

DC's Big Town comic book ran 50 issues, from January 1951 to March–April 1958. The comic book was edited by Whitney Ellsworth, and the contributing artists included Dan Barry, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, John Lehti, Manny Stallman and Alex Toth, with most of the later scripts written by John Broome.

See also

References
  1. Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 88–89. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved 2019-09-28. Big Town, crime drama.
  2. "Say Hello to ..." (PDF). Radio and Television Mirror. 13 (3): 44. January 1940. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  3. Abbott, Sam (January 3, 1942). "Hollywood" (PDF). Billboard. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  4. Abbott, Sam (March 21, 1942). "Hollywood". Billboard. p. 7.

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