21 Beacon Street
{{Short description|American television series}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
|image=Dennis Morgan Joanna Barnes 21 Beacon Street 1959.JPG
|caption=Dennis Morgan and Joanna Barnes
|starring =Dennis Morgan, Joanna Barnes, Brian Kelly and James Maloney
|company=Filmways
|country=United States
|language=English
|runtime=25 minutes
|network=NBC
|first_aired={{Start date|1959|07|02}}
|last_aired={{End date|1959|09|24}}
}}
21 Beacon Street is an American detective television series that originally aired on NBC from July 2 to September 10, 1959.
Produced by Filmways,[https://books.google.com/books?id=iNrdDwAAQBAJ&dq=%2221+Beacon+Street%22&pg=PT208 Irvin, Richard The Forgotten Desi and Lucy TV Projects, Bear Manor Media, 2020] the summer replacement series for The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show{{r|gbtp|page1=146}} consisted of 11 black-and-white 30-minute episodes. The show starred Dennis Morgan as private investigator Dennis Chase. Other cast members included Joanna Barnes, Brian Kelly, and James Maloney.Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows 1946 – Present Ballantine Books, 1979, page 647
The series pilot was broadcast as an episode of Panic!.{{r|gbtp|page1=146}}
The show aired on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Reruns were broadcast on ABC-TV on Sundays at 10:30 p.m. from December 1959 to March 1960.
Leonard Heideman was the show's creator.{{cite book |last1=Irvin |first1=Richard |title=George Burns Television Productions: The Series and Pilots, 1950-1981 |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-1621-6 |page=147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CuTDAwAAQBAJ&q=%22rounded+out+the+cast.+McCadden+Productions+loaned%22&pg=PA147 |access-date=May 3, 2020 |language=en}} The series' first episode was "The Rub-Out".{{cite news |last1=Cain |first1=Ira |title=New Cop-Crook Series to Premiere |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50105849/fort-worth-star-telegram/ |access-date=May 3, 2020 |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |date=July 2, 1959 |location=Texas, Fort Worth |page=28|via = Newspapers.com}}
Premise
Dennis Chase was a private investigator with an office on 21 Beacon Street, in an unspecified city. Chase was aided by Joanna Barnes as Joanna, who was a combination of beauty and brains. She was able to glean information and then act as a decoy. Brian Kelly was Brian, a young law school graduate; and James Maloney played Jim, an expert on dialects, as well as a skilled craftsman.[https://www.newspapers.com/image/690271785/?terms=%2221%20Beacon%20Street%22&match=1 21 Beacon Street Is New Half Hour Crime Series, The Modesto Bee, June 28, 1959, page 41]
Chase and his assistants worked to discover who the criminals were, but then notified the police to come and apprehend the law breakers.
Forerunner to ''Mission Impossible''
The producers of Mission: Impossible were sued for plagiarism by the creators of 21 Beacon Street. The suit was settled out of court. Bruce Geller claimed never to have seen the earlier show; Beacon Street's story editor and pilot scripter, Laurence Heath, would later write several episodes of Mission: Impossible.{{Citation | first = Patrick J | last = White | title = The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier | place = New York | publisher = Avon Books | year = 1991 | isbn=978-0380758777 | oclc=24914321 |pages=8–9 }}
Episodes
{{Episode table |background=515151 |overall= |title= |director= |writer= |airdate= |episodes=
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=1
|Title=The Rub Out
|DirectedBy=Maurice Geraghty
|WrittenBy=Robert C. Dennis
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|7|2}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=2
|Title=Safety Deposit
|DirectedBy=Harold Schuster
|WrittenBy={{StoryTeleplay|s= John Meredyth Lucas |t= Leonard Heideman}}
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|7|9}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=3
|Title=The Payoff
|DirectedBy=Maurice Geraghty
|WrittenBy=Tom Gries
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|7|16}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=4
|Title=Double Vision
|DirectedBy=Jean Yarbrough
|WrittenBy={{StoryTeleplay|s=Jack Kelsey |t=Jack Kelsey and Leonard Heideman}}
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|7|23}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=5
|Title=The Swindle
|DirectedBy=Maurice Geraghty
|WrittenBy={{StoryTeleplay|s= Orville H. Hampton |t= Leonard Heideman}}
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|7|30}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=6
|Title=The Execution
|DirectedBy=Jean Yarbrough
|WrittenBy=John Meredyth Lucas
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|8|6}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=7
|Title=Break In
|DirectedBy=Maurice Geraghty
|WrittenBy=Leonard Heideman
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|8|13}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=8
|Title=The Trojan Horse
|DirectedBy=Maurice Geraghty
|WrittenBy=Betty Halsey
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|8|20}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=9
|Title=The Hostage
|DirectedBy=Jean Yarbrough
|WrittenBy={{StoryTeleplay|s=David Chandler |t=Jack Laird}}
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|8|27}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=10
|Title=The Trap
|DirectedBy=Val Raset
|WrittenBy={{StoryTeleplay|s=Fenton Earnshaw |t=Leonard Heideman and Fenton Earnshaw}}
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|9|3}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=11
|Title=Dilemma
|DirectedBy=Jean Yarbrough
|WrittenBy=Leonard Heideman
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|9|10}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=12
|Title=Nothing is Impossible
|DirectedBy=Val Raset
|WrittenBy={{StoryTeleplay|s= Clayton Rawson |t= Leonard Heideman}}
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|9|17}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=13
|Title=Close Call
|DirectedBy=Harold Schuster
|WrittenBy=Leonard Heideman
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1959|9|24}}
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor =
}}
}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0052439}}
- [https://cimaclub.online/video/ Cimaclub Online]
- [https://www.tvobscurities.com/2023/03/classicflix-bringing-21-beacon-street-nbc-1959-dvd-june-27/ 21 Beacon Street on DVD]
Category:1959 American television series debuts
Category:1959 American television series endings
Category:1950s American crime television series
Category:Black-and-white American television shows
Category:American English-language television shows
Category:Television shows set in Boston
Category:American detective television series
Category:Television series by MGM Television
Category:Television series by Filmways
Category:NBC television dramas
{{US-drama-tv-prog-stub}}