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Bad Dialogue of the Week

Filed under: Imported

Every girl go crazy for a sharp-dressed man: Jack Webb, hipster, clothes horse, and-- according to Mamie Van Doren-- rohypnol pioneer. "Yep, I woke up with Joe Friday humping me." (Click here and then do a browser search for his name.)

Once again, it's time for some great dialogue that pretends to be anything but, from the high-camp old radio classic, Pat Novak for Hire. With narration that rioted in ridiculous similes and metaphors and more fistfights than a Popeye cartoon, this series was consistently hilarious for those in on the joke, which in the late '40s weren't many. Today, however, the show routinely shows up on most old radio buffs' best-ever lists, at least when it comes to over-the-top action and the snappiest of patter.

This time we have a double helping of the latter: first, the opening set-up of an episode from 1948, where Pat once again takes it on the chin (of course, he's asking for it, with cracks like "Did your friend get his face at a fire sale, too?"), and then a typical blood-vessel-bustin' confrontation with Detective Hellman, played by Raymond Burr. (Note: Both clips are approximately 300K.)

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 16, 2004 11:43 PM

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