Chuck Morgan( Glen Langan) is a news anchor at L.A.'s KOP radio who is often tipped off about hot crime news possibilities by his buddy, Lt. Bill Miggs of the LAPD. Morgan's gal Friday is Carol Curtis (Adele Jergens, Langan's real-life wife), and the repartee between the two is enjoyable. Each week the three meet various types of shady characters. The dialogue is good and the plots more often than not were serviceable.
Stand by for Crime was a West Coast show with the "true style" of delivery made popular by Dragnet, Gangbusters, and Mr. District Attorney. Unlike Dragnet, the show made no bones about being a fictional drama while still being awash with a veneer of reality.
The fear of the Red Menace during the Cold War was very real in Senator Joseph McCarthy's America of 1952, as is exemplified in this episode, "The Communist Menace." At the request of his station owner and the FBI, Morgan reads a pro-Communist script in his broadcast and is fired. This allows him to infiltrate the Communist party and discover who is leading the Party in Los Angeles. Hopefully, those days are behind us.
Not much is known about this show. "The Communist Menace" is recognized as the first episode in the series, although there appear to be two pilot episodes recorded previously. The political aspect of this episode appears to be an outlier; other episodes tackled more ordinary crimes.
Enjoy this little bit of 1950's paranoia and propaganda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VJPZgQBxKk&list=PLDFIOdWlnzL-B1S92cKfFjsbucChveCqG&index=2
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