Introduction
Dragnet was perchance a best known police procedural of all period. Actor and producer Jack Webb's catchphrase, 'Just the facts, ma'am', has turn into the lasting a portion of Our contries culture. A series has been credited by owning dramatically improving a public image of the constabulary in the United States.

Webb’s aims around Dragnet were for realism & unostentatious acting. He achieved two goals, & Dragnet remains the key influence inside subsequent police force dramas in several media.

A indicate's ethnical impact is demonstrated per fact that possibly when 5 decades, elements of Dragnet come known to people world health organization've never seen or even heard a program. A ominous, 4-note introduction to the brass and tympani theme music (titled "Danger Ahead") is easily-known, its origins dating back to Miklos Rozsa's score for the 1946 film version of The Killers. A second Dragnet trademark is the indicate's opening narration: "Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent." ("Hear" was changed to "see" for the television version.) Variations on this announcement use been featured inside numerous subsequent crime dramas, & inside satires of these dramas.

In radio, Dragnet ran from either June 3, 1949 to February 26 1957 on. Dragnet appeared in television from either December 16 1951 to 1959, and from either 1967 to 1970. Tons one versions ran in NBC.

History
Creation
Dragnet was created & by Jack Webb, who starred when a curt Sgt. Friday. Webb experienced starred within two or three mostly short-fugacious radio computer program, however Dragnet would produce him one of a major media personalities of his era.

Dragnet got its origins around Webb’s little role as a constabulary forensic scientist in the 1948 film, He Walked by Night, inspired per actual slaying of an LAPD officer. A film was depicted around quasi-documentary style, and Marty Wynn (an LAPD sergeant) was the technical indicator consultant on the film. Webb & Wynn became friends, & two thought that a every day-to-day activities of policeman can be realistically depicted, & may wreak compelling drama while forgoing a forced feel of melodrama then so most most commin inside radio programming (& super common on moving-picture show & television now).

Webb ofttimes visited law force headquarters, drove using police patrols, & attended police academy courses to see authentic jargon and other details that can be featured within the radio program. Once he proposed Dragnet to NBC officials, it were non especially impressed; radio was aswarm using private investigators and crime dramas, such as Webb’s sooner Pat Novak For Hire. That program didn’t go yearn, however Webb experienced received high marks for his role when a nominal private investigator, and NBC in agreement to the limited run Dragnet.

Sustaining writer James E. Moser, Webb prepared an audition recording, then sought the LAPD’s endorsement; he wanted to use cases from official files in order to demonstrate the steps taken by police officers during investigations. A official response was at first lukewarm, however it offered Webb a endorsement he sought. Law wanted control across a program’s sponsor, & insisted that law non exist as depicted unflatteringly. This would lead to a bit of criticism, when LAPD racial segregation policies were never addressed, nor was there a guide of constabulary corruption.

Radio
Dragnet debuted unpropitiously. A number one many months were rocky, when Webb & company worked out a program’s format & yet became comfortable by owning their characters. Step by step, Friday’s expressionless, convenient-talking persona emerged, described by John Dunning as "a cop's cop, tough but not hard, conservative but caring." (Dunning, 210) Friday’s foremost partner was Sgt. Ben Romero, portrayed by Barton Yarborough, a longtime radio actor. Whenever Dragnet hit its stride, it became one of radio’s top-rated shows.

Webb insisted within realism in each aspect of the indicate. A dialogue was clipped, unpretentious & thin, influenced per hard boiled school of crime fiction. Scripts were convenient moving however didn’t seem rush. Each aspect of police investigation was chronicled, step by step: From either patrols & paperfunction, to crime scene investigation, research lab work & questioning witnesses or even suspects. A detectives’ family resides were mentioned, however seldom took center stage. "Underplaying is still acting," Webb told Time. "We try to make it as real as a guy pouring a cup of coffee.� (Dunning, 209) Los Angeles police chiefs C.B. Horrall and (later) William H. Parker were credited as consultants, and many police officers were fans.

Webb was a stickler for accurate details, and Dragnet used many authentic touches, such as the LAPD's actual radio call sign (KMA-367), and the names of many real department officials, such as Ray Pinker and Lee Jones of the crime lab or Chief of Detectives Thad Brown.

Specialized terminology was mentioned in every episode, but was rarely explained. Webb trusted the audience to determine the meanings of words or terms by their context, and furthermore, Dragnet tried to avoid the kinds of awkward, lengthy exposition that people wouldn’t actually use in daily speech. Several specialized terms (such as "The.P.B." for "All Points Bulletin" and "M.O." for "Modus Operandi") were rarely used in popular culture before Dragnet introduced them to everyday America.

While most radio shows used one or two sound effects experts, Dragnet needed five; a script clocking in at just under 30 minutes could require up to 300 separate effects. Accuracy was underlined: The exact number of footsteps from one room to another at Los Angeles police headquarters were imitated, and when a telephone rang at Friday’s desk, the listener heard the same ring as the telephones in Los Angeles police headquarters. A single minute of "A Gun For Christmas" is a representative example of the evocative sound effects featured on ‘’Dragnet’’. While Friday and others investigate bloodstains in a suburban backyard, the listener hears an overlapping aural display: a squeaking gate hinge, footsteps, a technician scraping blood into a paper envelope, the glassy chime of chemical vials, and bird calls and a dog barking in the distance.

Scripts tackled a number of topics, ranging from the thrilling (murders, missing persons and armed robbery) to the mundane (check fraud and shoplifting), yet ‘’Dragnet’’ made them all interesting due to fast-moving plots and behind-the-scenes realism.

Though rather tame by modern standards, Dragnet--especially on the radio--handled controversial subjects such as sex crimes and drug addiction with unprecedented and even startling realism. Dragnet broke one of the unspoken (and still rarely broached) taboos of popular entertainment when a young child was killed in ‘’A Gun For Christmas’’ (aired December 21, 1950). The episode followed the search for eight-year-old Stevie Morheim, only to discover he’d been accidentally killed by his best friend while they played with a rifle his friend had received as a Christmas gift. Thousands of letters were mailed to NBC in complaint, including a formal protest by the National Rifle Association. Webb forwarded many of the letters to police chief Parker who promised "decade other shows illustrating a folly of rendering rifles to youngsters." (Dunning, 211)

Dragnet also broke ground by sometimes ending episodes on a sad or disappointing note, at least in its radio incarnation. In 1950, Time quoted Webb: "We don’t potentially try to prove that crime doesn’t pay ... periodically it does" (Dunning, 210)

Due in part to Webb’s fondness for radio drama, Dragnet persisted on radio until 1957 as one of the last old time radio shows to give way to television’s increasing popularity.

Television
When television was interested in Dragnet, Webb bucked the prevailing wisdom which argued that radio staff couldn’t adapt to the new medium. He insisted on hiring radio staff (from actors to writers and production staff) as much as was feasible to work on the television version. This loyalty would endear Webb to many of his Dragnet colleagues for decades to come.

Dragnet first aired on television in January of 1952. Friday's original partner in the TV episodes (as on the radio) was Sgt. Ben Romero, played by Barton Yarborough, who died after only three episodes were filmed. The Romero character was soon replaced by Officer Frank Smith, played by Ben Alexander on both television and radio. Alexander continued in the role through the show's original run, which ended in 1959.

While Dragnet was still on the air, reruns began to air in syndication as Badge 714.

Two other hallmarks of the TV show came at the end of each episode: The arrested criminal stands uncomfortably, presumably for the mug shot and the fate of the perpetrators is stated, as a verdict of a court "around & for the City & County of Los Angeles" on an appropriate date.
A sweaty, glistening left hand appeared, holding what would turn out to be a stamp for indenting metal; a heavy hammer struck the top of the handle of the stamp, twice, loudly; the stamp was removed to reveal the result, "MK VII", referring to the production company, Mark Seven Productions. It would later be revealed that the two hands were in fact, those of Jack Webb.

In 1954, a theatrical movie of the same name aired, with Webb, Alexander, and Richard Boone.

In 1966, a TV movie, also called Dragnet, aired. Starring Jack Webb and Harry Morgan as his partner Bill Gannon, it spawned a new series, Dragnet 1967, which aired until 1970, the title year changing with each season.

In 1982, when Jack Webb died, the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department announced that badge number 714--Webb’s badge number on the television show--was retired, and Los Angeles city offices lowered their flags to half-mast.

Remakes
In 1987, a comedy movie version of Dragnet appeared, starring Dan Aykroyd as the stiff Joe Friday (the original Detective Friday's nephew), and Tom Hanks as his partner Pep Streebeck. The film contrasted the terse, clipped character of Friday, a hero from another age, with the 'real world' of Los Angeles in 1987. Beyond Aykroyd’s effective imitation of Webb’s Joe Friday (and Harry Morgan’s small role reprising his earlier role as Bill Gannon), this film version shares little with the previous incarnations.