• .22 Rifle for Christmas

  • By: Dragnet
  • Length: 29 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (37 ratings)

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.22 Rifle for Christmas  By  cover art

.22 Rifle for Christmas

By: Dragnet
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Publisher's summary

This Dragnet episode originally aired on December 22, 1949. At the time, it caused a great deal of controversy, because it revolved around the death of a child killed while playing with a friend's Christmas present: a rifle. Despite the outcry, the episode was re-broadcast a number of times, always around Christmas.

From 1949 to 1957, Dragnet pioneered new levels of realism on radio. Every crime investigated by Sergeant Joe Friday was taken from the actual case files of the Los Angeles Police Department, with only "the names changed to protect the innocent". There were multi-layered sound effects; the actors used accurate police lingo, abbreviations, and penal codes; and the show didn't shy away from stories about heinous crimes or stories that had unhappy endings. Created and produced by Jack Webb, Dragnet was much more than "just the facts".

Fact: you can download more episodes of Dragnet, or pick them up in collected volumes.
©2006 Radio Spirits Inc. (P)2006 Radio Spirits Inc.

Critic reviews

"By far the most popular police/crime program of all time. It enjoyed enormous success on radio." (Jon David Swartz and Robert C. Reinehr, Handbook of Old-Time Radio)

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    5 out of 5 stars

True stories are sometimes weirder than fiction

A sad story. Good narration. The sound quality is good. I can see why so many people tuned in each episode.

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