Rocky King, Detective (1950–1954)
"Inside Detective" (original title)

At the end of each show, Rocky King (Roscoe Karns) calls his wife, Mable, and says, "Case is closed Mable, I'm coming home".

Stars:

Roscoe Karns, Grace Carney, Earl Hammond

Cast

Series cast summary:
Roscoe Karns	...	Police Inspector Rocky King (9 episodes, 1951-1954)
Grace Carney	...	Mabel King (7 episodes, 1951-1954)
Earl Hammond	...	Sergeant Lane (5 episodes, 1951-1953)
Ken Roberts	...	Announcer (4 episodes, 1952-1953)

Storyline

One of DuMont's most popular and lasting programs, this live crime series was set in New York. It not only kept Roscoe Karns from retirement but cast him opposite his son Todd. The DuMont offices and corridors were used as sets. At the end of each program, Rocky King would exchange telephone small talk with his unseen wife Mabel and, after hanging up, say to no one in particular, "Great girl, that Mabel."

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Plot Keywords:

lost film | public domain | detective | early television | partially lost tv series | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Crime | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Rocky King, Detective

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

DuMont Television Network, Stark-Layton

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Co-star Todd Karns was Roscoe Karns' real-life son.

User Reviews

Of mild historical interest

I must have seen a different television series than the three previous reviewers. I have seen several early 50s t.v. shows and this one was the only real stinker in the bunch. I've seen a couple of episodes, most recently Murder Scores a Knockout. First of all, the music has to be the absolute worse ever heard on a show - melodramatic organ music that is so bad it's laughable. The sets are flimsy, the supporting actors give pathetic performances and production values are sub- standard in every way. I watched this because of Roscoe Karns and his performance was passable except that he kept flubbing his lines, at one point calling one of the characters by the name of another character (and then quickly correcting himself) and then when asking the coroner about the poison used says "Does it have any special smell or odor?" His actor partner tries to cover up the mistake and they just move on with the dialog. No retakes in this show. It is a nice touch hearing Inspector King's conversation with his unseen wife Mabel (wonderful girl, that Mabel) but this is hardly enough to save this abysmal production. Even though I enjoyed the story of the one reviewer who so fondly remembered the series from when he was a young boy, I doubt if I could suffer through any more of these episodes.