''Steve Randall'' (also known as ''Hollywood Off-Beat'') is an American detective television series starring

Melvyn Douglas Melvyn Douglas (born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg, April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981) was an American actor. Douglas came to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man, perhaps best typified by his performance in the romantic comedy ''Ninotchk ...

that ran on the DuMont Television Network from November 7, 1952, to January 30, 1953, and on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from June 16, 1953, to August 11, 1953.

Background and premise

The series' concept originated from stories written by Louis Blatz, an attorney. The initial TV adaptation was ''A Hollywood Affair'', starring

Lee J. Cobb Lee J. Cobb (born Leo Jacoby; December 8, 1911February 11, 1976) was an American actor, known both for film roles and his work on the Broadway stage. He often played arrogant, intimidating and abrasive characters, but he also acted as respectabl ...

and Adele Jergens. The pilot for that series did not sell, but the producers tried the same concept again with ''Steve Randall''. Steve Randall is a disbarred attorney who became a private detective in an effort to be reinstated as a lawyer. He handled cases such as blackmail and murder before he was reinstated in the series's final episode.

Cast and production

In addition to Douglas, the program featured

Mary Beth Hughes Mary Elizabeth Hughes (November 13, 1919 Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. . P. 586. – August 27, 1995) was an American film, television, a ...

. Some episodes of the program were broadcast on local stations as ''Hollywood Off Beat'' before it began its network run. The episodes on DuMont were broadcast on Fridays from 8 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. United Television Programs distributed the show. Marion Parsonnet was the producer and director. Sponsors included Swank men's jewelry and Dixie Cups.

Episode status

"The Trial" (September 11, 1952) is available for viewing on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. Four episodes (June 12, July 3, August 14, and September 11, 1952) are in the J. Fred MacDonald collection at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Critical response

Critic

Jack Gould John Ludlow Gould (February 5, 1914 – May 24, 1993) was an American journalist and critic, who wrote commentary about television. Early life and education Gould was born in New York City into a socially prominent family and attended the Loomi ...

wrote in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' in 1953 that a repeat of an episode was "just as familiar and just as tired" as it had been previously, with "the usual quota of murders, an oomphy siren and tough guys talking out of the side of the mouth." A capsule review in the trade publication '' Billboard'' said that Douglas "is adept at lending importance where little or none is due." As a result, it added, the series "often rises above its material." Syndicated critic John Crosby wrote, "As adventure whodunits go, this is a pretty good one."

References

Bibliography

* David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia:

Temple University Press Temple University Press is a university press founded in 1969 that is part of Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach ...

, 2004) {{ISBN, 1-59213-245-6

External links

"The Trial" on the Internet Archive

''Steve Randall'' at IMDB

1952 American television series debuts 1953 American television series endings Black-and-white American television shows CBS original programming DuMont Television Network original programming