in this old show. The characters just shot out their dialogue at the speed of lightning. There were no pauses at all between those verbal exchanges.
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The more I study it, the greater the puzzle becomes.
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
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He told the actor to "up the pace" right during the episode? Everybody listening heard him say it?
I know the fast dialogue is one of the show's trademarks, but I've always hated it. The characters have their answers ready to give as soon as a question is asked! No time to think of what to say! Irritating!
"Truth is its own evidence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
It makes me laugh when Friday's on the phone for about ten seconds, and once he hangs up, he proceeds to tell Gannon or his boss the information that he learned from the call...about 30 seconds' worth.
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Dragnet in particular, and Jack Webb shows generally, have those marks of clipped dialogue, deadpan closeups with raising eyebrows and head nodding, zingers, a running gag per episode, little or no makeup, and the use of Webb's "stock company" (using the same actors again and again).
I'm not quoting him verbatim, but Webb explained this by saying, "We've got 25 minutes to tell a story, and real life isn't lived between commercial breaks. So we've got to fit the story exactly into a time slot, and if we're going to do that there's no time for all this head-turning, stammering, and contemplating-- just spit out the dialogue from the teleprompter and get out." And he often told actors who got on his set and began acting as they had been trained, "Hold it-- just keep your head straight and say the lines and don't try to inflect too much. I'm not saying that's the right way to do it for everything, but it's the right way for this show."
He liked his stock company used his actors repeatedly because they knew him and were not incompatible with his working methods. There were many reports of actors, especially young, of being driven away quickly with his insults like "Who ever told you you could act?!" Some sources say if an actor had but one appearance in Dragnet, that probably meant that Webb didn't like him, or he would have used him again.
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Very entertaining.
shareJust watched the episode where the old vaudeville guy and "part-time wino" who finds all that money. He was speaking faster than Friday in his scenes.
"Walked five miles to school and back, uphill both ways. No, really, I have pictures." MC Escher
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Webb's dialog, and the way he had all of his actor's deliver them, has always been a source of derision (which I find flawed but I still enjoy as a guilty pleasure). I remember the episode where they catch an elderly cat burglar, and he goes on and on about what type of dinner he expects the police to serve him. I couldn't help but wonder how that old timer could remember all of it and deliver it with no apparent strain. Quite remarkable for a man of his age.
The other thing about this question is that as much as people criticize Webb for this style of writing, Aaron Sorkin, who produces essentially the same type of material, is routinely praised as the new Shakespeare. Why is that?
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Resolutely Analog In A Digital World!
Another aspect of the radio DRAGNET was the sound effects. Because the radio show was recorded, not done live, more care could be put into sounds like footsteps on gravel, or wood, or steel; car/truck engines; animal noises; gunshots (revolver? rifle? derringer?)
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"