Rocky King Detective

Rocky King Detective
Roscoe Karns as Rocky King
Created by	DuMont
Starring	Roscoe Karns
Country of origin	United States
Original release
Network	DuMont
Release	January 15, 1950 – December 26, 1954

Rocky King, Inside Detective is an American television series broadcast on the DuMont Television Network on Sundays at 9pm ET from January 15, 1950 to December 26, 1954. This series was one of DuMont's most popular programs, and was a live crime series set in New York City.

The show not only kept Roscoe Karns from retirement, but cast him opposite his son, Todd Karns. The DuMont offices and corridors were used as sets. At the end of each program, 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".

Episode status

Some episodes still exist, including 37 at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Two episodes are held in the J. Fred MacDonald collection at the Library of Congress.

The kinescopes for the four episodes released to DVD originate courtesy of Satellite Media Production. These episodes have been screened at the non-profit Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention held annually in Aberdeen, Maryland. The same four episodes were released to DVD on November 21, 2006, altered with a company logo superimposed on the screen and sound effects added to the soundtrack. The Satellite Media Production release contained no alterations.

See also

• List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
• List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
• 1951-52 United States network television schedule (Sundays at 9pm ET)
• 1952-53 United States network television schedule (Sundays at 9pm ET)
• 1953-54 United States network television schedule (Sundays at 9pm ET)

Bibliography

• David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) ISBN 1-59213-245-6
• Alex McNeil, Total Television, Fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1980) ISBN 0-14-024916-8
• Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, Third edition (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964) ISBN 0-345-31864-1

External links

• Rocky King, Inside Detective at IMDb
• DuMont historical website
• Rocky King episode "Murder Scores a Knockout" (1952) legal download at the Internet Archive
• Rocky King episode "Murder PhD" (1953) at Internet Archive
• Rocky King episode "The Hermit's Cat" (1952) at TV4U.com