I checked my notes and Mr. Webb ordered his 44 Magnum on Valentine's Day in 56. Since it was shipped two weeks later, S&W obviously wanted him to have one.

Bill

My Dad watched the show religously. I hated it. I thought it was boring. No fast action paced stuff. Just like kids today who find my western movies boring.

I later came to appreciate the show when I caught in re-runs.

Great work on finding the guns of Jack Webb. Again great information here on the Forum.

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Have guns...will shoot'em.

Why a 44 magnum? Did Mr Webb send payment and specify the serial number? My best guess is that someone at S&W contacted him, one of the most visible and popular tough guy stars of the day, and offered the special serial number to him. This had the potential of being good publicity for both S&W's newest magnum and "Dragnet" at the same time.

Bump....due to late interest in Mr Webb.

Mark VII

gkitch...The 44 Magnum had just been announced and I am sure S&W thought giving the new revolver to Jack Webb would be a good way to promote it. Jack Webb was also given a Model 39 with s/n 714.

Bill

It is my understanding that the Smith & Wesson snub carried by the Joe Friday character was actually a Military & Police Airweight (a Pre-Model 12), not a (Pre-)Model 10.

With an aluminum cylinder perhaps?

No, I think he means Richard Webb's brother .

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Non illegitimae carborundum

"I recall both Webb and Julie London, who was also a good singer, the sultry sort."

Didn't she sing "you gotta lot to like with a Marlboro" ..While lounging in front of a burning fireplace?????
JIM...................

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SWCA # L-1911

In those days, I was my pop's TV remote control He had me get up and change the channels for him so he could remain comfy on the couch.
I remember the early remotes had radial contacts and brushes in the dial and went "cachung" every time the dial moved to switch channels.

As far as TV went in the late 50s and early 60s the NYC market I lived in was a big deal. We had 6 TV stations when many areas only had 1-3.

My favorite TV night was Friday. First the Flintstones, then The Twilight Zone, and then 77 Sunset Strip.
I'd get up at 5:30 AM Saturday morning and watch some farming show and eat cookies, chips, and pretzels and hide them in the couch until everyone else got up for breakfast.

Yes, I remember Dragnet, too. I thought the LA PD had the neatest detective badges of any PD. I still think they are a neat looking badge.

Jack Webb strived for technical accuracy on Dragnet to the point that he wore the same suit in most episodes telling a reporter who asked him about this once that real working LAPD detectives can't afford very many suits on their pay.

cool info......

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Cheers, Charles
SWCA #2442

The most famous holster sniffer.

As I remember it in the early fiftys, dragnet was set in the streets of san francisco and ben alexzander was webbs partner. I well remember one episode where webb and ben were sitting at their desks and a package was delivered to webb. He wouldnt immediately open it as he knew it was a gun he had ordered. Ben was real curious and jack let him suffer for quite awhile. I am not real sure if the gun was a smith or colt now but it was a lightweight .38 special 4". Ben pulled out his 6" K38 and was whineing about how heavy and harder to pack his was and was wishing he had one like jacks! The early episodes I seen they drove about a 50 ford. It always started out with jack talking something like this is the streets of san francisco. I work here, I am a cop. I think it usualy showed them driving on the hilly streets with the bay below. Thats the way I recall it 60 years ago. Werent the later storys set in los angeles? I will google it.

I apologise for my faulty memory. Here is what wicipedia says.
Dragnet (series) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I was wrong saying it was san francisco. It was los angeles.

I watched The DI just prior to going to Marine bootcampin 1968. As the movie was progressing, my Motherlooked at me and said "Are you sure you really want to do this?" It really did not matter ai had already comitted myself and in my opinion there was no turning back. I am now a retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant.

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Retired Marine Gunny

Semper Fi!!

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

In the episode "The Big Kidnapping" from Dragnet 1967 there is a long close-up of Joe Friday's revolver.

It's a 2" Airweight M&P with a flat sided "fishhook" hammer, ramp front sight, flat latch and it has diamond stocks. It is carried in a Lewis holster.

P.S.

You'll love the way Joe flicks the cylinder closed on his revolver after he reloads it ... just don't curse him too much!

In the summer of 1980, our DIs marched us over to the base theater on the 4th of July. It was a double feature: "The Sands of iwo Jima" and "The DI". I realized there was no getting away from the Marine culture of Parris Island, even on a holiday.
That was the first time I saw either of these movies and I still go back and watch them both from time to time. Semper Fidelis.

How could you destroy an old man's faith like that? No more "Dragnet" reruns for me now...

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Oh well, what the hell.

Yup, me too.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

And neither guy took their ties off when off-duty and in the house ''relaxing!''

You have a point about Cho, but I think both the character and the actor are Korean, not Chinese. That's one of my favorite shows, although I think Patrick Jane is an elitist jerk much of the time.

The actor who plays him is Australian. So many of them are here, and they sound very American on most shows. He is also a/the producer of the show. It's one of the few good shows I can get on a Sunday night.

I think Merill was confusing Dragnet with The Streets of San Francisco, starring Michael Douglas (an ardent gun hater) and maybe Karl Malden. Do I have that show title right? Was Malden the co-star? I didn't like Douglas even then. I find him to be very abrasive and domineering. He tends to overact and usually be short tempered. The only thing I liked him in was, Basic Instinct, where his character was a macho jerk.

According to The American Rifleman Aug 2013,"Jacks" 44 mag is number 12 made Ser # S130714, presented to him 02/29/1956. Maybe one day I will check that out personally. Bob

I had learned, from good sources, that Jack Webb was gifted one of the first pre-39s. I cannot recall which number was his but IIRC somwhere between 1003 and 1010.

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ANTIQUESMITHS
LM1300 SWHF425

I sure remember Dragnet, however earlier in the series wasn't there a different partner for Jack Webb other that Harry Morgan? I think it was Ben Alexander. Am I right?

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RudyN
NRA Patron Life Member

It was #714. ( see post#2)

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Good shooting.

Every Sunday night at 7 PM on NPR they feature the old Dragnet radio series along w/Gunsmoke and Johnny Dollar, Private Eye. Great stuff.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

As long as trivia is part of this thread Bobby Troup wrote the song ROUTE 66.

I watched some old "Noir" movies on Amazon Prime streaming video this summer... That predates "Dragnet". In two of them, Jack Webb played really nasty characters, and in each, interestingly, he was partnered with Harry Morgan. They must have been buddies even before Dragnet. One of them was "Appointment With Danger", 1951. The other was "Dark City", 1950, which incidentally debuted Charlton Heston!! If you guys get Amazon Prime, these are free, and are really cool old time gangster/Noir films. I highly recommend them, and there is the Jack Webb element too...

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

Harry Morgan was Ozzie and Harriet's neighbor way back when.
Harry wore a lot of hats and roles he was in the bizz a longtime.

Julie London Hubba, hubba

His first partner was indeed Ben Alexander.

Not his 44 magnum and this is a little thread drift but once I recorded an episode of Dragnet so I could stop it on a frame to see what kind of gun & holster Jack Webb carried.
The gun looked like a Mod 10 (M&P) and the holster was a Lewis LA model.

I bought this set-up just because I'm a fan!





GF

GF:

Don't feel alone! I've done that same thing. I have a 2 1/2" Colt Diamondback with Detective Special stocks on it and a shoulder rig to match... If you remember that one?

Of course I also have a Walther PPK from the old days, in .32 acp, with "a delivery like a brick through a plate glass window" which I know that you will all remember...

Well, you get the idea. I probably have some others that just don't come to mind right now.

I love that rig of yours!!!

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

Some time in late 90s, I was at a gun auction in NE Ohio. They
had two of Jack Webbs handguns. A Browning Hi-Power and
the other was a 36. Both guns in fitted cases with the badge
also in the case. I remember they didn't bring much ( they could
have been buy backs). The documentation was with guns. I think
both of them also had presentation plates on inside of lids, where
they were given to Jack as gifts. He was also known to have a
collection of big game rifles. I saw a picture of him once with
Roy Rodgers & Roy Weatherby.

If I remember correctly there was an episode where he received his model 12 in the mail and took it out of the box,discussed it's features, loaded it and put it in his holster. I think he then put his model 10 in the box and placed it in his desk drawer.

I do...... but I am old. Great actor and fun to watch. I used to listen to him and Drag Net on the radio!
Don't know about his guns....

I lived in a little town in SE Az for many many yrs . As a kid we only had one channel to watch ( that is when we had a tv that worked) for quite a few yrs , channel 9 , KGUN out of Tucson . In about 1961 we got 2 more channels , 4 and 13 , both from Tucson . Of course , all black and white . I remember the first time I saw a color tv . A tv dealer in our town had gotten one in and had a showing one evening . Almost the whole town went down to his shop that sunday evening to see " color tv " for the first time . We take a lot for granted these days . Everything was more special back then .

KGUN I love it!!! I wonder if they still use the same call sign?? Today that would be a no-no!!!

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

As a matter of fact they still use it , " KGUN "

My career goal was to one day work " the day watch out of the bunco squad"..that line would drive some bosses nuts and leave others lost.

I dont know about a pre 39 but in the same case with his 44 mag is a model 59, I have never thought to check the serial number but will put it on my "to do" list. Spent many a night driving home listening to old
"Dragnet radio show, once I got sirius. That and Tales of the Texas Rangers,.....

I listen to a lot of Radio Classics on Sirius XM. Dragnet is top shelf, and the rest of Jack Webb's radio programs were also great. Pete Kelley's blues, Pat Novak-For Hire,....great stuff.

Wikipedia says that Webb was given full police honors at his funeral and Badge No. 714 was retired from the LAPD

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Buy American
Vote Responsibly

This case cannot be closed!

We haven't heard the line(s) yet: (Deep Announcer Voice) "The story you have just seen is true, only the names have been changed........"

and then..........we need to know what the perps (Bill & Roy) received as a judgment for their role in this "caper"

Only then can we switch channels.

"Ya gotta lot to like with a Marlboro...filter, flavor, flip-top box"... she was reclining in front of a fireplace..(clothes on!!!)..
JIM...................

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SWCA # L-1911

More Trivia - of course that is Joe Friday talking to a character played by..... Kent McCord - who's most famous role was playing a cop in L.A. also - in Adam-12 - produced by.... Jack Webb and directed by..... Harry Morgan (one episode).

Kent McCord's character also carried a S&W
http://www.imfdb.org/images/2/26/Ada...ant_log_74.JPG


And final trivia - Jack first saw Julie London singing in a Jazz Club when she was 15, and married her when she was 19 or 20...