My Favorite 1960s Dragnet #13: The Trial Board
Joe Friday for the defense? This intriguing scenario was brought about by Dragnet’s efforts to dramatize how the LAPD police themselves. In this case, a young police officer accused of accepting bribes from a bookie faces an internal LAPD trial board, and given the chance to choose his own defense, he chooses Joe Friday.
Jack Webb won’t make anyone forget Perry Mason, but this is a nice look inside the LAPD, with a good mystery to boot.
I didn’t understand the reference to Clarence Darrow so I looked it up on wikipedia. I thought there might be others who would not recognize the name.
Clarence Seward Darrow (April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Bobby Franks (1924) and defending John T. Scopes in the Scopes Trial (1925), in which he opposed William Jennings Bryan (statesman, noted orator, and three time presidential candidate for the Democratic Party). Called a “sophisticated country lawyer”,[1] he remains notable for his wit and agnosticism, which marked him as one of the most famous American lawyers and civil libertarians.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Darrow
[…] is another episode that broke new ground. As interesting as it was to see Joe Friday acting as defense counsel for an accused police officer, “The Shooting Board” is even more fascinating as Friday […]
I’m not familiar with this one but I want to try it. Where do I start knowing the show? Could you give me some links to be able to follow their development? But I think I heard or rather read about Joe Friday. He’s a lawyer, right? Where did I read about him? Hmmm..