Mr District Attorney | Old Time Radio

Crime Drama (1939 - 1952)

"Mister District Attorney!
Champion of the people!
Defender of truth!
Guardian of our fundamental rights to life,
Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!"

Len Doyle as Harrington and Jay Jostyn and the District Attorney

Len Doyle as Harrington; and Jay Jostyn as the District Attorney.

At the time when Eliot Ness and Al Capone were having their legendary battles all over the streets of Shy-Town, there was another crime fighter on the scene. His moves were precise, his predictions uncannily accurate, and his knowledge of the scum of the underworld proved to be its undoing. No, I am not talking about Superman, even though this man's accomplishments could rival the man clad in red underwear over blue tights. I am talking about Mr. District Attorney.

Mr. District Attorney follows "Mr. D.A." on his adventures into the heart of the crime world and sending shockwaves of fear through all villains, fictional AND in reality. The shows concept came from an ex-lawyer Ed Byron who left his profession in order to pursue a career in radio. His professional background proved to be beneficial to the show. For ten years, Byron would don worker's garments and thrust himself into the roughest and sleaziest pubs in town in order to get the inside scoop on crime and in search for new material.

"All Veterans -- Each and every character heard on the new series, Mr. District Attorney, is selected with the greatest care in order that the programs may be as realistic as possible. This means, in the great majority of cases, that the people chosen for roles are all veteran broadcasters, used to microphone technique." Left to right, James Van Dyke, Luis Van Rueten, Jay Jostyn, (background) Al Scott, who supplies sound effects, Jerry Lesser and Stefan Schnabel. (1939)

Thugs, lackeys, mobsters, and off-duty cops were his best friends off the air. He even picked up the underworld drawl and slang, as he referred to "nice girls" as "Gladys'" and old-fashioned machine guns as "Warner Brothers" (I bet Warner Brothers studios did not know THAT little piece of information). All this hard work proved to be working. Due to Byron's immense perseverance to get a good story, Mr. District Attorney was in the top 10 in ratings, 28.3 which was unheard-of for a its type, every year, challenging Jack Benny and Bob Hope for their #1 spots, with its eerily precise comparison to real life events, i.e. major crime waves in the show were immediately followed by major crime waves in reality of the same magnitude. The show's foresight was so accurate that the FBI paid Byron a little "visit," in response to his character running stories that Nazi submarines were dropping spies along the Atlantic Coast, which coincided with the arrest of real life Nazi spies that same week by G-Men. But not even the FBI could stop Mr. DA from being continually contemporary with the crime world.

For more law enforcement excitements see Nightwatch, Police Headquarters, Dragnet, This is Your FBI, and Tales of the Texas Ranger.