With the smash success of Dragnet, many networks and producers began to play follow the leader. On NBC, Dragnet was followed up with Tales of the Texas Rangers which dramatized real life tales from the Texas Rangers. CBS countered with The Line Up, later 21st Precinct followed by Nightwatch. These shows followed the actions of policeman in the field and were as realistic as it got in a show that was pre-cursor to modern police reality dramas like Cops.
The Line Up was a hard boiled drama of police action. Like Dragnet, it realistically showed police doing their jobs. Unlike Dragnet, it was not based on "cases taken from police files." Rather The Line Up made its fictional cases seem realistic, from kidnappings and murders to thefts and obscene phone calls. The Line Up radio show was not set in any particular city. However, when the series moved to television, it was set in San Francisco.
The Line Up, as the title indicates, centered on a police line up. The show always began with one. The Sergeant in charge of line would say, "May I have your attention please? You people on the other side of the wire in the audience room, may I have your attention please." He would then give his name and say, "I'll explain the line up to you. Each of the suspects you will see will be numbered. I'll call of their number, their name, and charge. If you have any questions or identifications, please remember the number assigned to the prisoner as I call his name. At the end of each line when I ask for questions or identifications, call out the number. If you're sure or not too sure of the suspect, have him held. The officers who took your name will assist you, they're seated among you. Please be prompt with your questions or identifications. When the prisoners leave here, they are sent to the washroom and dressed back into their jail clothes. It makes it quite difficult to bring them back after they leave here. The questions I ask these suspects are merely to get a natural tone of voice so do not pay too much attention to their answers as they often lie. Bring on the line."
While The Line Up was rarely the key to solving the case, it did give the show a rhythm and it also allowed for humor in the interrogation of the suspects by the sergeant. The series began as a Summer Replacement for The FBI in Peace and War in 1950, but quickly got its own time slot and would remain on radio until the Spring of 1953, led by Bill Johnstone as Lt. Ben Guthrie. The show would move to television from 1954-1960, and starred Warner Anderson as Guthrie. A film version of The Line Up was made in 1958 again starring Anderson.
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1 The Lineup Synopsis - 02:54
2 William Johnstone Bio - 00:34
3 Wally Maher Bio - 00:28
4 The Anita Cameron Case (audition) - 32:28
5 UNTITLED (aka-Eddie Gaynor Framed For Murder) - 29:43
6 UNTITLED (aka-Paradise Murder Case) - 29:58
7 UNTITLED (aka-Two Young Girls Killed by Hit and Run Driver) - 29:54
8 UNTITLED (aka-Man Dies of Poisoning) --- (from Goldin's log) - 29:59
9 UNTITLED (aka-Gas Station Robbery) - 22:27
10 The Candy Store Murder (aka-Candy Store Killing) --- SHOW MOVES TO THURSDAY - 29:33
11 The Topaz Earring Case (aka-Murder of Larry Zimmerman; Murdered for 25,000) - 29:55
12 The Cop Killer (aka-Narcotics Agent Killer) - 29:29
13 The Jersey Parallel (aka-Seven People Killed By Same Man) - 29:45
14 The Holsteder Case (aka-Hilston Brothers Robbery, No Bank Robbed in Six Years) - 29:25
15 The Elsner Case (aka-Unidentified Woman Strangled; 60 Year Old Woman Strangled) - 29:41
16 The Case of Frankie and Joyce (aka-Joyce Ronson; Wife Killer) - 29:40
17 The Mad Bomber (aka-George Hunter And The Time Bomb, Lewis Black) --- [title repeated on 51/06/26] - 29:44
18 Yudo in Ypsilanti (aka-The Goldberg Murder Case) --- [title repeated on 52/05/13] - 29:52
19 The Grocery Store Matter (aka-Supermarket Murders) - 29:50
20 The Senile Slugging Case (aka-Four Street Assaults; Carl Young; Bowling Alley Stakeout; The Mugger)... - 29:33
21 The Cigar Box Boys Case (aka-The Cigar Box Bandit) - 29:19
22 The Silver Swan Case --- (policewoman dons disguise to trap killer of dancehall hostess) --- (from... - 29:56
23 The Molly About Seven Case --- SHOW MOVES TO TUESDAY (New York & Wash DC) - 29:57
24 The Check Killer Case (aka-Murdered And Rolled Down A Hill) --- [title repeated on 52/05/07] - 25:51
25 The Lapinish Lighter-Upper Case - 29:43
26 The Bromell and Bellows Bloody Bullet Case --- (wire-tapping prevents murder ordered by jailed... - 25:05
27 The Hiccupping Hamster Hemostatic Case - 25:00
28 The Red Shirt Case - 24:39
29 The Harrowing Handball Haggada Case (aka-Culley Price And The Spartan Payroll) - 24:44
30 The Malingering Martinelli Madcap Case (aka-Lieutenant Guthrie Kidnapped) - 24:46
31 The Mad Bomber (aka-Politcians Home Bombed; George Hunter And The Time Bomb; Lewis Black) -... - 24:54
32 The Syncopic Sweazy Sweat-Out Case (aka-Doctor Simpson Killed) - 29:42
33 The Flightly Fulvous Finch Case - 24:46
34 The Pointless Pierson Polemic Palarity Case (aka-Michael Hunter Murder Case) - 29:36
35 The Senile Slugging Case (aka-Murder Of Old Folks) [repeat title of 51/02/08 - different cast] - 29:39
36 The Fur Flaunting Floozie (aka-Lorraine Oberhauser Murder) - 29:44
37 The Wild, Wild Woman Case (aka-Irene Oldham-Kingston - Jewelry Store Robbery and Murder) - 29:44
38 The Frivolous Forger Fracas (aka-Ed Fisher - Bad Checks) - 29:42
39 The Nicely Nixed Nixon Case (aka-Loan Office Robbery and Murder - 29:44
40 The Jolted Justice Job Case (aka-Fay Sealey - Larry Frankley Stabbed) - 29:53
41 The Pixie Picker Pickle (aka - Ice Pick Stabbings) - 29:48
42 The Keenly Clipped Kenovak Case (aka-Missing Fiance) - 28:23
43 The Railroad Roundhouse Roundup (aka-Mrs Green Found Dead In A Trunk) - 29:22
44 The Potting Peter Case (aka-Lady Killer) - 27:07
45 Murdering Mercer's Malingering Case (aka-Child Deserters) - 27:06
46 The Mirthless Moonshiner's Methyl Murders (aka-Bad Booze Bootleggers) - 27:29
47 The Bakery Bandit's Bad Blooper (aka-Bakery Hold-ups; Silk Stocking Bandit) - 29:35
48 Kastro's Kop Killing Karnage Kase - 24:37
49 The Cornered Cop Killer Case - 24:42
50 Nancy's Nauseating Naivete Case - 22:29
51 The Corny Complainant's Case - 22:11
52 The Big Boy's Brutish Back-Bending Case - 22:52
53 Babs the Baggy Bungling Brunette Bombshell - 22:11
54 Yudo in Ypsilanti --- [repeat title of 51/01/18] - 21:41
55 Wacky Williams' Wooftop Wrangle - 25:00
56 The Aching Arthritics Anxious Antic --- [Wrigley sponsorship begins] - 29:48
57 Lobdell's Poodle-Cut Tomato Case (aka-Hit & Run Accident) - 29:20
58 The Pitiful Patricide Case (aka-Unexplainable Murder; Shooting In Park Hill) [rebroadcast] - 29:24
59 The Cutie-Calling Culprit Case (aka-Obscene Phone Calls) - 29:27
60 The Guided Gang Case (aka-Newstand Dealer Beaten) - 29:22
61 The Lugar Lugging Laddie Case (aka-Drug Store Robberies) - 29:20
62 The Twitching Twist'sTwenty-Two Tweaking Case (aka-Missing Girl Kidnapping) - 29:27
63 The Drinkler Kidnapping Case - 29:06
64 The Charles Crocked Clobbering Case (aka-The Stanley Farmer Murder; Dead Man Found In Alley) - 29:01
65 The Karger Kops a Klinker Case (aka-Phantom Burglar; Home Robberies) --- [off the air until 9/10] - 29:13
66 The Jane Doe Case (aka-Ludlow Park Jane Doe) - 29:14
67 The Fresno Break Case (aka-George Forbes) - 29:26
68 The Poker Party Killings (aka-Card Party); Murder In A Card Game [note: script is autographed by E... - 29:23
69 The Teacher's Pet (aka-One Dead Husband; Narcotics ) - 29:26
70 Bentley's Boo Boo Case (aka-Liquor Store Robbery; Bad Boy) - 24:21
71 The Green Cap Case (aka-Gas Station Attendant Killed) - 28:51
72 The Sobbing Singer Saga (aka-Singer's Husband Killed) - 25:57
73 The Be-Bop Bandits Bungling Bang-Bang (aka-Bank Robbery) - 24:29
74 The Buggered Bunco Boys (aka-Grieving Families Cheated) - 29:31
75 The Modern Sounds Case (aka-Jean Bellamy Murdered; Young Woman Murdered) - 29:24
76 The Matthews-Murray Mish Mosh Case - 29:15
77 The Gasoline Bandit Case (aka-Gas Station Holdups) - 29:19
78 The Two Tough Thugs Thing (aka-Mrs Conway's Death) - 29:06
79 Cowardly Castro (aka-Castro, Manelli, & The Younger HoldUp) - 29:48
80 Once Upon a Snow-Plow (aka-Dorothy Shelton) - 26:50
81 Good Enough to Eat (aka-Food Poisoning; Botulism) - 29:53
82 That Takes Care of Everything (aka-Boots Kracov Killing) - 29:13
