''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the '' Detroit Mirror'', and was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Gould wrote and drew the strip until 1977,webpage

notes villains and includes short bio of Chester Gould. and various artists and writers have continued it. Dick Tracy has also been the hero in a number of films, including Dick Tracy (1990 film), ''Dick Tracy'' (1990) in which

Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has received an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards. He also received the Irving G. Thalberg Memor ...

played the lead. Tom De Haven praised Gould's ''Dick Tracy'' as an "outrageously funny American Gothic", while Brian Walker described it as a "ghoulishly entertaining creation" which had "gripping stories filled with violence and pathos".Walker, Brian. ''The Comics: The Complete Collection''. New York: Abrams ComicArts, 2011. (pp. 189-191, 226-231, 259, 370)

Comic strip

Creation and early years

Basing the character on U.S. federal agent

Eliot Ness Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 – May 16, 1957) was an American Bureau of Prohibition, Prohibition agent known for his efforts to bring down Al Capone while enforcing Prohibition in the United States, Prohibition in Chicago. He was leader of a team ...

, Gould drafted an idea for a detective named "Plainclothes Tracy" and sent it to

Joseph Medill Patterson Joseph Medill Patterson (January 6, 1879 – May 26, 1946) was an American journalist, publisher and founder of the '' Daily News'' in New York. At the time of his death the ''Daily News'' maintained a Sunday circulation of 4.5 million copi ...

of the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Patterson suggested changing the hero's name to Dick Tracy, and he also put forward an opening storyline in which Tracy joined the police after his girlfriend's father was murdered by robbers. Gould agreed to these ideas, and ''Dick Tracy'' was first published on October 4, 1931. The strip was instantly popular and was soon appearing in newspapers across the United States. The strip's popularity also resulted in the creation of numerous ''Dick Tracy'' merchandise, including novelizations, toys, and games. In April 1937, a poll of adult comic strip readers in ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...

'' voted ''Dick Tracy'' their third favorite comic strip after ''

Little Orphan Annie ''Little Orphan Annie'' was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and print syndication#Comic strip syndication, syndicated by the Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James ...

'' and ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar. However, ''Dick Tracy'' was also attacked by some journalists as being too violent, a criticism that would dog Gould throughout his time on the strip.

Evolution of the strip

On January 13, 1946, the two-Way Wrist Radio was introduced; it would become one of the strip's most immediately recognizable icons. This radio wristwatch, worn by Tracy and members of the police force, inspired Al Gross ( Al Gross (engineer) ) invention of the hand held communications and may have inspired later

smartwatch A smartwatch is a portable wearable computer that resembles a wristwatch. Most modern smartwatches are operated via a touchscreen, and rely on mobile apps that run on a connected device (such as a smartphone) in order to provide core functions. ...

es. The two-Way Wrist Radio was upgraded to a two-Way Wrist TV in 1964. This development also led to the introduction of an important supporting character, Diet Smith, an eccentric industrialist who financed the development of this equipment. In late 1948, with the death of Joseph Patterson, the strip went through several revisions with the characters: a botched security detail personally overseen by Chief Brandon allowed the villain Big Frost (A caricature of Patterson) to murder the semi-regular character Brilliant, the blind inventor of the Two-Way Wrist Radio (among other devices) whereupon Chief Brandon, Dick Tracy's superior on the police force and a presence in the strip since 1931, resigned in shame and Pat Patton (the ''o'' in this surname has since been replaced by an ''e'') was promoted to police chief in Brandon's place on Tracy's recommendation after declining promotion himself, previously having been Tracy's buffoonish partner. A new character was introduced in December of 1948 named Sam Catchem to take Patton's place as Tracy's sidekick.

The 1950s

Gould introduced topical story lines about television,

juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior younger than the statutory age of majority. These acts would be considered crimes if the individuals committing them were older. The term ...

graft Graft or grafting may refer to: *Graft (politics), a form of political corruption *Graft, Netherlands, a village in the municipality of Graft-De Rijp Science and technology *Graft (surgery), a surgical procedure *Grafting, the joining of plant ti ...

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

, and other developments in American life during the 1950s; elements of

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

depicted Dick, Tess, and Junior (along with the Tracys' baby daughter Bonnie Braids) at home as a family. Depictions of family life alternated with the story's crime drama, as in the kidnapping of Bonnie Braids by fugitive Crewy Lou, or Junior's girlfriend Model being accidentally killed by her brother. Gould incurred some controversy when he had Tracy live in an unaccountably ostentatious manner on a police officer's salary, and he responded with a story wherein Tracy was accused of corruption and had to explain the origin of his possessions in detail. In his book-length examination of the strip, ''Dick Tracy – The Official Biography'', Jay Maeder suggested that Gould's critics were unsatisfied by his explanation. Nevertheless, the controversy eventually faded, and the cartoonist reduced exposure to Tracy's home life. Tracy's cases generally incriminated independent operators rather than organized crime—with a few exceptions, such as Big Boy, a fictionalized version of

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone ( ; ; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American organized crime, gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-foun ...

and the strip's first villain. Tracy contended with a series of big-time mobsters in the 1950s, such as the King, George "Mr. Crime" Alpha, Odds Zonn, and Willie "The Fifth" Millyun, after events like the Kefauver Hearings. As Tess faded into the background, Tracy took, as his assistant, the rookie policewoman Lizz Worthington, a photographer who becomes a highly capable police officer, which was a rare female character type for its time. From 1956 to 1964, the ''Dick Tracy'' Sunday page was accompanied by a topper humor strip called ''The Gravies'' and drawn by Gould and his assistants. The 1950s are often considered the strip's artistic and commercial prime, which is thought to come to an end with the 1959 story with the villains The Fifth and his colleague, Flyface. In that story, The Fifth was Gould's criticism of the constitutional right to silence with the gangster invoking that right for any question, which his cohort and legal representation, Flyface, was a caricature of lawyers as a repellent man constantly swarmed by flies as was most of his family as well. In that story, Gould's creative weaknesses began to become more obvious with his vitriolic overlong condemnation of the

rights of the accused Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail or ...

and any new restraint on police practices no matter how justified, while his grotesque style for his villain characters began to alienate contemporary readers enough to prompt newspapers to drop the strip.

Space period

As technology progressed, the methods that Tracy and the police used to track and capture criminals took the form of increasingly fanciful

atom Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a atomic nucleus, nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished fr ...

ic-powered gadgets developed by Diet Smith Industries. This eventually led to the 1960s advent of the Space Coupe, a spacecraft with a magnetic propulsion system. This marked the beginning of the strip's "Space Period," which saw Tracy and friends having adventures on the Moon and meeting Moon Maid, the daughter of the leader of a race of humanoid people living in "Moon Valley" in 1964. After an eventual sharing of technological information, Moon technology became standard issue on Tracy's police force, including air cars, flying cylindrical vehicles. The villains became even more exaggerated in power, resulting in an escalating series of stories that no longer resembled the urban crime drama roots of the strip. During this period, Tracy met famed cartoonist Chet Jade, creator of the comic strip ''Sawdust'', in which the only characters are talking dots. One of the new characters, Mr. Intro, was only manifested as a disembodied voice. His goal was world domination in the vein of a

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

villain. Tracy eventually used an atomic laser beam to annihilate Intro and his island base. Junior married Moon Maid in October 1964. Their daughter Honey Moon Tracy had antennae and magnetic hands. In the spring of 1969, Tracy was offered the post of Chief of Police in Moon Valley. However, he ended up back on Earth when the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

mission in 1969 showed that the moon was barren of all life. Many of the accoutrements of the space period stories remained for many years afterward, such as the Space Coupe and much of the high-tech gadgetry. Moon Maid receded from the storyline. The stories of this period took an increasingly condemnatory tone pertaining to contemporary court decisions concerning the

, which often involved Tracy being frustrated by legal technicalities. For example, having caught a gang of diamond thieves red-handed, Tracy was forced to let them walk because he could not ''prove'' beyond a reasonable doubt that the diamonds were stolen. As he saw the thieves get off without penalty, Tracy was heard to grumble, "Yes, under today's interpretation of the laws, it seems it's the police who are handcuffed!" The strip was criticized for advocating violence. For instance, Moon Maid, incensed at a woman being attacked by a criminal and no one helping her in an obvious reference of the Murder of Kitty Genovese, becomes a mysterious murderous vigilante to Dick Tracy's open approval in violation of his profession's ethics In 1968. On June 7 — the day after Senator Robert F. Kennedy was killed by an assassin — the strip's final panel announced, "Violence is golden, when it's used to put down evil." The strip was obviously prepared weeks before the assassination, but the timing of the strip's publication attracted negative attention. Some newspapers dropped the strip as a result. From 1960 to 1974, the strip's newspaper coverage dropped from 550 to roughly 375

1970s

In the 1970s, Gould modernized Tracy by giving him a longer hairstyle and a

mustache A moustache (; mustache, ) is a growth of facial hair grown above the upper lip and under the nose. Moustaches have been worn in various styles throughout history. Etymology The word "moustache" is French, and is derived from the Itali ...

and added a

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

sidekick A sidekick is a close companion or colleague who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to those whom they accompany. Origins The first recorded use of the term dates from 1896. It is believed to have originated in pickpocket slang of ...

, Groovy Grove, to appeal to young audiences. Groovy's first appearance in print, as it happened, occurred during the same week as the

Kent State shootings The Kent State shootings (also known as the Kent State massacre or May 4 massacre"These would be the first of many probes into what soon became known as the Kent State Massacre. Like the Boston Massacre almost exactly two hundred years before (Ma ...

. Groovy remained with the strip on and off until his death in 1984. Shortly before his retirement, Gould drew a strip in which Sam, Lizz, and Groovy held Tracy down to shave off his mustache. At this time, the standard publication size and space of newspaper comics was sharply reduced; for example, the ''Dick Tracy''

Sunday strip The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in some Western newspapers. Compared to weekday comics, Sunday comics tend to be full pages and are in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, t ...

, which had traditionally been a full-page episode containing 12 panels, was cut in size to a half-page format that offered, at most, eight panels—these new restrictions created challenges for all comic artists.

Plenty family

The Plenty family was a group of goofy

redneck ''Redneck'' is a derogatory term mainly applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, ''Dictionary of American ...

yokels headed by the former villain Bob Oscar ("B.O."), along with Gertrude ("Gravel Gertie") Plenty. Gravel Gertie was introduced as the unwitting dupe of the villain the Brow, who was on the run from Dick Tracy. The family provided a humorous counterpoint to Tracy's adventures. The Plenty sub-story was decades long and saw Sparkle Plenty grow from an infant to a young married lady, eventually becoming a beautiful fashion model. Sparkle Plenty's 30 May 1947 birth became a significant mainstream media event, with spinoff merchandising and magazine coverage. The Plenty family appeared with Tracy in a story that occurred in a bank, where "B.O." found a way to prevent thieves from snatching an envelope of money from a counter. In the 24 April 2011 strip, B.O. and Gertie had a second child, Attitude, a boy who is as ugly as Sparkle is beautiful. His face has yet to be shown.

Crimestoppers' Textbook

Beginning September 11, 1949, the Sunday strip included a frame devoted to a page from the "Crimestoppers' Textbook", a series of handy illustrated hints for the amateur crime-fighter. This was named after a short-lived youth group seen in the strip during the late 1940s, led by Junior Tracy, called "Dick Tracy's Crimestoppers." This feature ended when Gould retired from the strip in 1977, but Max Allan Collins reinstated it, and it is still part of the strip. After Gould's retirement, Collins initially replaced the Textbook with "Dick Tracy's Rogues Gallery," a salute to memorable ''Tracy'' villains of the past.

After Gould

Chester Gould retired from comics in 1977; his last ''Dick Tracy'' strip appeared in print on Sunday, December 25 (Christmas Day) of that same year. The following Monday, ''Dick Tracy'' was taken over by

Max Allan Collins Max Allan Collins (born March 3, 1948) is an American mystery writer, noted for his graphic literature. His work has been published in several formats, such as his '' Ms. Tree'' series and his '' Road to Perdition'' series was the basis for a fi ...

and longtime Gould assistant Rick Fletcher. Gould's name remained in the byline for a few years after his retirement as a story consultant. In one of Collins' first stories as the strip's writer, the gangster known as "Big Boy" learned that he was dying and had less than a year to live. Big Boy was still seeking revenge on Tracy, who had sent him up the river to prison, and he wanted to live just long enough to see Tracy's death. He put out an open $1 million contract on Tracy, knowing that every small-time hood in the city would take a crack at the famous cop for that amount of money. One of the would-be collectors rigged Tracy's car to explode, but inadvertently killed Moon Maid instead of Tracy in the explosion. A funeral strip for Moon Maid explicitly stated that this officially severed all ties between Earth and the Moon in the strip, thus eliminating the last remnants of the Space Period. Honeymoon received a new hairstyle that covered her antennae and she was ultimately phased out of the strip. Junior later married Sparkle Plenty (the daughter of B.O. and 'Gravel' Gertie Plenty), and they had a daughter named Sparkle Plenty Jr. Sparkle had been divorced by her cartoonist husband Vera Aldid, who was thus also removed from the cast. Collins felt that their original marriages were a mistake on Gould's part. In the 1990s, Tracy's son Joseph Flintheart Tracy took on a role similar to Junior's in the earlier strips. In addition, Collins removed other Gould creations of the 1960s and 1970s (including Groovy Grove, who was gravely wounded in the line of duty and later died in the hospital; Lizz married him before his death). On a more philosophical level, Collins took a generally less cynical view of the justice system than Gould; Tracy came to accept its limitations and requirements as a normal part of the process which he could manage. Extreme technology was phased out, such as the Space Coupe, in favor of more realistic advanced tools such as the Two-Way Wrist Computer in 1987. New semi-regular characters introduced by Collins and Fletcher included: Dr. Will Carver, a plastic surgeon with underworld ties who often worked on known felons; Wendy Wichel, a smarmy newspaper reporter/editorialist with a strong anti-Tracy bias in her articles; and Lee Ebony, an African-American female detective. Vitamin Flintheart reappeared occasionally as a comic-relief figure, the aged ham actor created by Gould in 1944 who had not been seen in the strip for almost three decades. The Plenty family (B.O., Gravel Gertie, and Sparkle) were also brought back as semi-regulars. Original villains seen during this period included Angeltop (the revenge-seeking, psychopathic daughter of the slain Flattop), Torcher (whose scheme was arson-for-profit), and Splitscreen (a video pirate). Collins brought back at least one "classic" Gould villain or revenge-seeking family member per year. The revived Gould villains were often provided with full names and marriages, as well as children, and other family connections were developed, bringing more humanity to many of the originally grotesque brutes. "Flattop", particularly, had a number of relatives, all with his characteristic head structure and facial attributes, who turned up one by one to avenge their ancestor on Tracy. Rick Fletcher died in 1983 and was succeeded by editorial cartoonist Dick Locher, who had assisted Gould on the strip in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Locher was assisted by his son John, who died in 1986. Max Allan Collins was fired from the strip in 1992, following a financial reorganization of their comic strip holdings, and ''Tribune'' staff writer and columnist Mike Kilian took over the writing. Kilian continued until his death on October 27, 2005.

2000s

Dick Locher was both author and artist for over three years, beginning on January 9, 2006. On March 16, 2009, Jim Brozman began collaborating with Locher, taking over the drawing duties while Locher continued to write the strip. In 2005, Tracy was a guest at Blondie and Dagwood's 75th anniversary party in the comic strip '' Blondie''. Later, Dick Tracy appeared in the comic strip '' Gasoline Alley''. On January 19, 2011,

Tribune Media Services Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media ...

announced that Locher was retiring from the strip and handing the reins to artist

Joe Staton Joe Staton ( born January 19, 1948) is an American comics artist and writer. He co-created the Bronze Age Huntress (Helena Wayne), as well as the third Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Kilowog and the Omega Men for DC Comics. He was the artist o ...

and writer Mike Curtis. The new creative team has previously worked together on ''

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Entertainment and created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears through their animated series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'', for Hanna-Barbera (which wa ...

'', '' Richie Rich'', and''

Casper the Friendly Ghost Casper the Friendly Ghost is a fictional character who serves as the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a translucent ghost who is pleasant and personable, but often criticized by his thr ...

''. Their first Dick Tracy strip was published March 14, 2011. Until Staton's retirement in October 2021, Staton and Curtis were assisted by Shelley Pleger, who inked and lettered Staton's drawings, along with Shane Fisher, who provides the coloring on the Sunday strips. After Staton's retirement, Pleger took over his artist duties, too, having previously substituted for him in 2017. Pleger was in turn succeeded by Charles Ettinger in February 2024. Chicago-area police sergeant Jim Doherty provided "Crimestopper" captions for the Sunday strips and acted as the feature's technical advisor. Doherty also introduced a new feature, "Tracy's Hall of Fame" (which replaces the "Crimestopper" panel approximately once each month), in which a real-life police officer is profiled and honored. Doherty was replaced in 2016 by police lieutenant Walter Reimer, who introduced the "First Responders Roll of Honor", which honors real-life police officers, firefighters, and paramedics who died on duty. Staton and Curtis reintroduced many of the characters of the ‘40s through the ‘60s, including a second Mr. Crime and a reformed Mole, while introducing more deformed and grotesque villains such as Abner Kadaver, Panda, and the Jumbler. They also brought back all the gadgets and plot elements of the 1960s space era, starting in early 2013, although the reintroduced Moon Maid is not the same as the original; rather, she is a human genetically modified to resemble the original Moon Maid and, thus, is christened Mysta Chimera and placed under Diet Smith's care. They have also done crossovers, with cameos from ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Brenda Starr, Reporter'', '' Funky Winkerbean'', '' Fearless Fosdick'', '' The Spirit'', ''

The Green Hornet The Green Hornet is a superhero created in 1936 by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, with input from radio director James Jewell (director), James Jewell. Since his 1930s radio debut, the character has appeared in numerous serialized dramas i ...

'', ''

For Better or For Worse ''For Better or For Worse'' is a Canadian comic strip by Lynn Johnston that ran originally from 1979 to 2008 chronicling the lives of the Patterson family and their friends, in the town of Milborough, a fictional suburb of Toronto, Ontario. Now ...

'', '' Friday Foster'', and several long sequences involving ''

''.

Awards and honors

Chester Gould won the Reuben Award for the strip in 1959 and 1977. The

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the E ...

honored Gould and his work with a Special

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

in 1980. This was the first time MWA ever honored a comic strip. In 1995, the strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative postage stamps and postcards. On May 2, 2011, the

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee , Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any ...

passed Resolution 30, congratulating Mike Curtis and Joe Staton on their professional accomplishments, including ''Dick Tracy''. On September 7, 2013, at the Baltimore Comics Convention, ''Dick Tracy'' was awarded the Harvey in the "Best Syndicated Strip or Panel" category. ''Tracy'' was simultaneously the oldest continually running strip and the first adventure strip ever to win the Harvey Award in this category. On September 6, 2014, ''Tracy'' was awarded a second Harvey Award in the newspaper strip category, becoming one of only three strips to win in this category in consecutive years. On September 26, 2015, ''Tracy'' won a third Harvey in the same category, becoming one of only three strips to win in three consecutive years. On November 6, 2016, at their panel at Akron Comicon, Mike Curtis and Joe Staton were each presented with an Akron Comicon Excellence Award. The inscription on the plaques reads: "2016 AKRON COMICON EXCELLENCE AWARD PRESENTED TO MIKE CURTIS AND JOE STATON FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO ONE OF THE LONGEST RUNNING NEWSPAPER STRIPS IN THE HISTORY OF NEWSPAPER COMICS!"

In other media

Radio

''Dick Tracy'' had a long run on radio, from 1934 weekdays on NBC's New England stations to the ABC network in 1948. Bob Burlen was the first radio Tracy in 1934, and others heard in the role during the 1930s and 1940s were Barry Thomson, Ned Wever and Matt Crowley. The early shows all had 15-minute episodes. On CBS, with Sterling Products as sponsor, the serial aired four times a week from February 4, 1935, to July 11, 1935, moving to Mutual from September 30, 1935, to March 24, 1937, with Bill McClintock doing the sound effects. NBC's weekday afternoon run from January 3, 1938, to April 28, 1939, had sound effects by Keene Crockett and was sponsored by Quaker Oats, which brought ''Dick Tracy'' into primetime (Saturdays at 7 pm and, briefly, Mondays at 8 pm) with 30-minute episodes from April 29, 1939, to September 30, 1939. The series returned to 15-minute episodes on the ABC Blue Network from March 15, 1943, to July 16, 1948, sponsored by Tootsie Roll, which used the music theme of "Toot Toot, Tootsie" for its 30-minute Saturday ABC series from October 6, 1945, to June 1, 1946. Sound effects on ABC were supplied by Walt McDonough and Al Finelli. On February 15, 1945, '' Command Performance'' broadcast the musical comedy ''Dick Tracy in B-Flat'' with

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

as Tracy,

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

as Flattop,

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, television personality, and the chart-topping female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the ...

as Tess Trueheart, among the cast. Dick Tracy's wedding is repeatedly interrupted as Tracy chases after one villain after another. In the strip, his marriage wasn't until 1950 and his honeymoon was disrupted by his going after Wormy.

Recordings

Jim Ameche portrayed Tracy in a two-record set recorded by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

in 1947. The record sleeves were illustrated with

s reprinted in black-and-white for children to color.

Comic books

Tracy made his first comic book appearance in 1936 as one of the features included in the first issue of Dell's ''Popular Comics''. These were reprints from the newspaper strip, reconfigured to fit the pages of a comic book, as was the case with most Tracy comic book appearances. Tracy remained a regular feature in ''Popular Comics'' through the publication's 21st issue. The first comic book to feature Tracy exclusively was the ''Dick Tracy Feature Book'', published in May 1937 by

David McKay Publications David McKay Publications (also known as David McKay Company) was an American book publisher which also published some of the first comic books, including the long-running titles ''Ace Comics'', ''King Comics'', and '' Magic Comics''; as well as ...

. McKay's Feature Books were magazines that rotated several popular characters from comics strips through 1938. Three more of McKay's Feature Books starred Tracy in the following months. In 1939, Dell started a comic magazine series called "Black and White Comics," essentially identical to McKay's "Feature Books." Six of the 15 issues featured Tracy. In 1941, Dell's "Black and White" series was replaced by the "Large Feature Books," the third issue of which featured Tracy. As with the McKay series, the Dell "Black and White" and "Large Feature" series were abridged reprints of the strip. In 1938, ''Tracy'' became one of several regular newspaper strips featured in Dell's regular monthly ''Super Comics'', remaining a regular part of that publication until 1948. In 1939, ''Tracy'' was the sole feature in the very first issue of Dell's '' Four-Color Comics'', which put out more than 1,300 issues starring hundreds of characters between 1939 and 1962. Tracy was featured in seven more ''Four-Color'' issues throughout the 1940s. Tracy was frequently featured in comic books used as promotional items by various companies. In 1947, for example, Sig Feuchtwanger produced a comic book that was a giveaway prize in boxes of

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

Puffed Wheat cereal, sponsor of the popular ''Dick Tracy'' radio series. In January 1948, Dell began the first regular ''Dick Tracy'' comic book series, ''Dick Tracy Monthly''. This series ultimately ran for 145 issues, the first 24 of which were published by Dell, after which it was picked up by

Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alf ...

. Continuing the same numbering, Harvey published the series until 1961. As with most previous Tracy comic book incarnations, these were, with the exception of the last few Dell issues which featured original material, slightly abridged and reconfigured reprints of the newspaper strips. ''Dick Tracy'' was revived in 1986 by

Blackthorne Publishing Blackthorne Publishing Inc. was an American comic book publisher that flourished from 1986 to 1989. They were notable for the ''Blackthorne 3-D Series'', their reprint titles of classic comic strips like Dick Tracy, and their licensed products. B ...

which began as a monthly series (also called ''Dick Tracy Monthly'') but became a weekly one (''Dick Tracy Weekly'') with issue 25 and lasted 99 issues.

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

produced a series of three issues as a tie-in for their 1990 film. This miniseries, ''True Hearts and Tommy Guns'', was drawn by

Kyle Baker Kyle John Baker (born 1965) is an American cartoonist, comic book writer-artist, and animator known for his graphic novels and for a 2000s revival of the series ''Plastic Man''. Baker has won numerous Eisner Awards and Harvey Awards for his wo ...

and edited by

Len Wein Leonard Norman Wein (; June 12, 1948 – September 10, 2017) was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine (character), Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel sup ...

. The third issue was a direct adaptation of the film. In 2018,

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW) and is recognized as the fifth-largest comic ...

announced a new ''Dick Tracy'' comic book by

Mike Allred Michael Dalton "Mike" Allred (born 1962) is an American Comics artist, comic book artist and writer. He is most well known for his Alternative comics, independent comics creation Madman (Mike Allred character), Madman and for co-creating and dra ...

(co-writer/cover artist/inker), Lee Allred (co-writer), Rich Tommaso (penciller) and

Laura Allred Laura Allred is an American comics artist who is best known for her work as a colorist with her husband, the writer/artist Mike Allred. Awards * 1995: Won "Favorite Colorist" Wizard Fan Award * 1998: Nominated for "Best Colorist" Eisner Awa ...

(colorist).

Books

Over the years, many reprints of ''Dick Tracy'' newspaper strips have been published. Beginning in 2006,

started the series '' The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy'', reprinting the complete strip in hardcover volumes, eventually being done under their

The Library of American Comics Library of American Comics (abbreviated as LoAC) is an American publisher of classic United States, American comic strips collections and comic history books, founded by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell in 2007. History Background Dean Mullaney ...

imprint. The series concluded with the 29th and final volume being released in December 2020. Other collections include:''Crime Fiction IV: A Comprehensive Bibliography 1749–2000'', by Allen J. Hubin, addenda to the revised edition with annotations by Steve Lewis, accessed September 10, 2009
/ref> * ''The Exploits of Dick Tracy, Detective: The Case of the Brow''. Rosdon, hardcover, 1946. * ''The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy: 1931–1951''. Chelsea House, hardcover, 1970. - Does not include the Sunday strips * ''Dick Tracy: His Greatest Cases No. 1 — Pruneface''. Gold Medal, paperback, 1975. * ''Dick Tracy: His Greatest Cases No. 2 — Snowflake and Shaky plus The Black Pearl''. Gold Medal, paperback, 1975. * ''Dick Tracy: His Greatest Cases No. 3 — Mrs. Pruneface plus Crime, Inc.''. Gold Medal, paperback, 1975. * ''Dick Tracy: The Thirties - Tommy Guns and Hard Times''. Chelsea House, hardcover, 1978. * ''U.S. Classics Series - Dick Tracy: Tracy's Wartime Memories''. Ken Pierce Books, paperback, 1986. * ''The Complete Max Collins/Rick Fletcher Dick Tracy''. Dragon Lady Press, paperback. ** #1: ''50th Anniversary Dick Tracy''. June 1986. ** #2: ''Who Shot Pat Patton?''. February 1987. ** #3: ''The Ghost of Itchy''. August 1987. * ''Dick Tracy: Meets Angeltop''. Berkeley, paperback, 1990. * ''Dick Tracy #2: Meets the Punks''. Berkeley, paperback, 1990. * ''The Dick Tracy Casebook: Favorite Adventures 1931-1990''. St. Martin's Press, paperback, 1990. * ''Dick Tracy's Fiendish Foes! A 60th Anniversary Celebration''. St. Martin's Press, paperback, 1991. * ''Dick Tracy: Colorful Cases of the 1930s'', Sunday Press Books, hardcover, 2016.

ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase or receive ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. A different ISBN is assigned to e ...

* ''Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles'', v1,2,3, Checker Books, 2003–2004. Other editions: * The first Big Little Book was a Dick Tracy title and many subsequent ones in the series followed. Some were reprintings of newspaper strips and some alternate between text and original black-and white drawings. * ''Dick Tracy and the Spider Gang'', a novelization of the Republic serial, Big Little Book #1446, the pages alternate between text and black-and-white photos from the movies. * ''Dick Tracy, Ace Detective''. Whitman, hardcover, 1943. * ''Dick Tracy Meets the Night Crawler''. Whitman, hardcover, 1945. * ''Dick Tracy and the Woo Woo Sisters'', Dell, unnumbered paperback with a pictorial back cover but not a

mapback Mapback is a term used by paperback collectors to refer to the earliest paperback books published by Dell Books, beginning in 1943. The books are known as mapbacks because the back cover of the book contains a map that illustrates the location ...

, 1947.

Film

Film serials

Dick Tracy made his film debut in ''

Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the '' Detroit Mirror'', and was distributed by the Chicago T ...

'' (1937), a 15-chapter

movie serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, ge ...

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

starring

Ralph Byrd Ralph Byrd (April 22, 1909 – August 18, 1952) was an American actor. He was most famous for playing the comic strip character Dick Tracy on screen, in serials, films and television. Early life and career The son of George and Edna May ...

. The Spider Gang was on the loose, tired of Dick Tracy's cunning skills. Through the 15-chapter serial, 15 different cases were solved, all plots by the Spider Gang. Dick Tracy was also in search of his missing brother, Gordon Tracy (

Carleton Young Captain Carleton Scott Young (October 21, 1905 – November 7, 1994) was an American character actor who was known for his deep voice. Early years Young wasborn in Fulton, Oswego County, New York, the second and only surviving child ...

). The Dick Tracy character proved very popular, and a second serial, '' Dick Tracy Returns'', appeared in 1938 (reissued in 1948). ''

Dick Tracy's G-Men ''Dick Tracy's G-Men'' (1939) is a 15-Chapter Republic movie serial based on the '' Dick Tracy'' comic strip by Chester Gould. It was directed by William Witney and John English. This serial was the fifteenth of the sixty-six produced by Re ...

'' was released in 1939 (reissued in 1955). The last was '' Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.'' in 1941 (reissued as ''Dick Tracy vs. the Phantom Empire'' in 1952). The sequels were produced under an interpretation of the contract for the first ''Dick Tracy'' serial, which gave license for "a series or serial". As a result, Chester Gould received no further money for the sequel serials. Dick Tracy is portrayed as an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

agent, or " G-Man", based in California rather than as a detective in the police force of a

Midwestern The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

city resembling Chicago, and, aside from himself and Junior, no characters from the strip appear in any of the four serials. However, comic relief sidekick "Mike McGurk" bears some resemblance to Tracy's partner from the strip, Pat Patton; Tracy's secretary, Gwen Andrews (played by several actresses in the course of the series, including

Jennifer Jones Jennifer Jones (born Phylis Lee Isley; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as Jennifer Jones Simon, was an American actress and mental-health advocate. Over the course of her career that spanned more than five decades, she was nomin ...

under a variation of her real name, Phyllis Isley), provides the same kind of feminine interest as Tess Trueheart; and FBI Director Clive Anderson ( Francis X. Bushman and others) is the same kind of avuncular superior as Chief Brandon. The first serial, ''Dick Tracy'', is now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

Early feature films

Four years after the release of the final Republic serial, Dick Tracy would headline the first of four feature films, produced by

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

. ''

'' (a.k.a. ''Dick Tracy, Detective'') (1945) was followed by '' Dick Tracy vs. Cueball'' in 1946, both with

Morgan Conway Morgan Conway (born Sydney Albert Conway, March 16, 1900 – November 16, 1981)https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/191339427/person/172487150866/facts was an American actor, best known for his portrayals of Dick Tracy. Early l ...

as Tracy. Ralph Byrd returned for the last two features, both released in 1947: ''

Dick Tracy's Dilemma ''Dick Tracy's Dilemma'', released in the United Kingdom as ''Mark of the Claw'', is a 1947 American action film based on the Dick Tracy, 1930s comic-strip character of the same name created by Chester Gould. Ralph Byrd stars as Dick Tracy, rep ...

'' and ''

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome ''Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome'' (also known as ''Dick Tracy Meets Karloff'' and ''Dick Tracy's Amazing Adventure'' (UK) ) is a 1947 American thriller film directed by John Rawlins and starring Boris Karloff, Ralph Byrd and Anne Gwynne. The film ...

''. ''Gruesome'' is probably the best known of the four, with the villain portrayed by

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was a British actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstei ...

. All four movies had many of the visual features associated with

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

: dramatic, shadowy photographic compositions, with many exterior scenes filmed at night (at the RKO Encino

movie ranch A movie ranch is a ranch that is at least partially dedicated for use as a set in the creation and production of motion pictures and television shows. These were developed in the United States in southern California, because of the climate. Movi ...

Lyle Latell Lyle Latell (born Lyle Zeiem; April 9, 1904 – October 24, 1967) was an American character actor. He was perhaps best known for playing Pat Patton in the ''Dick Tracy'' film series. Biography Latell was born Lyle Zeiem in April 1904 in ...

co-starred in all four films as Pat Patton. Anne Jeffreys played Tess Trueheart in the first two, succeeded by Kay Christopher and finally

Anne Gwynne Anne Gwynne (born Marguerite Gwynne Trice; December 10, 1918 – March 31, 2003) was an American actress who was known as one of the first scream queens because of her numerous appearances in horror films. Gwynne was also one of the most popular ...

;

Ian Keith Ian Keith (born Keith Ross; February 27, 1899 – March 26, 1960) was an American actor. Early years Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Keith grew up in Chicago. He was educated at the Francis Parker School there and played Hamlet in a school pr ...

joined the cast as the actor Vitamin Flintheart for two films; Joseph Crehan played Chief Brandon. RKO stocked the films with familiar faces, creating a veritable rogues' gallery of characters:

Mike Mazurki Mike Mazurki (December 25, 1907 – December 9, 1990, born Markiian Yulianovych Mazurkevych) was a Ukrainian-American actor and professional wrestler who appeared in more than 142 films. Although educated as an attorney, his hulking 6 ft 5 ...

as Splitface,

Dick Wessel Richard Michael Wessel (April 20, 1913 – April 20, 1965) was an American film actor who appeared in more than 270 films between 1935 and 1966. He is best remembered for his only leading role, a chilling portrayal of strangler Harry "Cue ...

as Cueball,

Esther Howard Esther Howard (April 4, 1892 – March 8, 1965) was an American stage and film character actress who played a wide range of supporting roles, from man-hungry spinsters to amoral criminals, appearing in 108 films in her 23-year screen care ...

as Filthy Flora, Jack Lambert as hook-handed villain the Claw; baldheaded, pop-eyed Milton Parsons, mild-mannered

Byron Foulger Byron Kay Foulger (August 27, 1898 – April 4, 1970) was an American character actor who over a 50-year career performed in hundreds of stage, film, and television productions. Early years Born in Ogden, Utah, Byron was the second of four ...

, dangerous

Trevor Bardette Trevor Bardette (born Terva Gaston Hubbard; November 19, 1902 – November 28, 1977) was an American film and television actor. Among many other roles in his long and prolific career, Bardette appeared in several episodes of ''Adventures of Su ...

and pockmarked, gently sinister

Skelton Knaggs Skelton Barnaby Knaggs (27 June 1911 – 30 April 1955) was an English stage actor who also appeared in films, especially in horror films. Biography Knaggs was born in the Hillsborough district of Sheffield, England. Knaggs moved to Lond ...

1990 feature film

produced, directed, co-wrote (uncredited), and starred in the 1990 film ''Dick Tracy'', whose supporting cast includes

Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino ( ; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Known for his intense performances on stage and screen, Pacino is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. His career spans more than five decades, duri ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

Glenne Headly Glenne Aimee Headly (March 13, 1955 – June 8, 2017) was an American actress. She was widely known for her roles in '' Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'', ''Dick Tracy'', and '' Mr. Holland's Opus''. Headly received a Theatre World Award and four Joseph ...

, and Charlie Korsmo. ''Dick Tracy'' depicts the detective's romantic relationships with Breathless Mahoney and

Tess Trueheart ''Tess Trueheart'' is the love interest character in the American comic strip ''Dick Tracy'', which was created by Chester Gould in 1931. The character eventually became the wife of Dick Tracy in the original comic strip. In the 1934-1948 ''Dic ...

, as well as his conflicts with crime boss

Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice Big Boy is a fictional gangster in the comic strip '' Dick Tracy'', created by Chester Gould, and was the first featured in a long line of colorful ''Dick Tracy'' villains. The character was featured in the 1990 film, paired with Breathless Mah ...

and his henchmen. Tracy also begins fostering a young street urchin named Kid. Development of the film began in the early 1980s with

Tom Mankiewicz Thomas Frank Mankiewicz (June 1, 1942 – July 31, 2010) was an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures and television whose credits included ''James Bond'' films and his contributions to ''Superman'' (1978) and the telev ...

assigned to write the script. The screenplay was written instead by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., both of ''

Top Gun ''Top Gun'' is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired ...

'' fame. The project also went through directors (

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

John Landis John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing comedy films such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''Animal House, National Lampoon's Animal House'' (1978), The Blues Brothers (f ...

Walter Hill Walter Hill (born January 10, 1942) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer known for his action films and revival of the Western (genre), Western genre. He has directed such films as ''The Driver'', ''The Warriors (film), The ...

, and

Richard Benjamin Richard Samuel Benjamin (born May 22, 1938) is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of well-known films, including '' Goodbye, Columbus'' (1969), '' Catch-22'' (1970), '' Portnoy's Complaint'' (1972), '' Westworld'', ...

) before the arrival of Beatty. It was filmed mainly at

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his ...

was hired to compose the score, and the film's music and songs were featured on three separate soundtrack albums.

Filmography

=Republic Pictures

= # ''

'' (1937, serial, 15 episodes, starring

) ## ''Dick Tracy'' (1937, feature version of the above serial, starring Ralph Byrd) # '' Dick Tracy Returns'' (1938 serial, 15 episodes starring

) # ''

'' (1939, serial, 15 episodes, starring Ralph Byrd) # '' Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc.''(1941, serial, 15 episodes, starring Ralph Byrd)

=RKO Radio Pictures

= # ''

'' (1945, film starring

) # '' Dick Tracy vs. Cueball'' (1946, film starring Morgan Conway) # ''

'' (1947, film starring Ralph Byrd) # ''

'' (1947, film starring Ralph Byrd)

=Touchstone Pictures

= * Dick Tracy (1990 film), ''Dick Tracy'' (1990, film starring

)

Television

(1950–1951) - live action television series starring Ralph Byrd * ''

The Dick Tracy Show ''The Dick Tracy Show'' is an American animated television series based on Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, comic strip crime fighter. The series was produced from 1961 to 1962 by United Productions of America, UPA. In the show, Chief of Detectives ...

'' (1961) - animated television series with various voices including

Everett Sloane Everett H. Sloane (October 1, 1909 – August 6, 1965) was an American character actor who worked in radio, theatre, films, and television. Early life Sloane was born in Manhattan on October 1, 1909, to Nathaniel I. Sloane and Rose (Gerst ...

and

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for come ...

* ''The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo'', "Dick Tracy and the Mob" (1965 animated half-hour TV episode with the voices of Everett Sloane and

Jim Backus James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom ''Gilligan's Island,'' the father of James Dean's character in '' Rebel Without a Cause, ...

* ''Dick Tracy'' (1967) - television pilot starring Ray MacDonnell * '' Archie's TV Funnies'' (1971) - features original Dick Tracy mini-episodes using the classic villains and cast from the strip, more faithful in tone than the earlier animated series * ''Dick Tracy Special'' (2010) - thirty-minute special featuring Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty) being interviewed by

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

* ''Dick Tracy Special - Tracy Zooms In'' (2023) - twenty-five-minute special featuring a Zoom (software), Zoom conversation between Tracy (Beatty), Maltin, Ben Mankiewicz and Beatty himself The strip has had limited exposure on television with one early live-action series, two animated series, one unsold pilot that was never picked up, and a proposed TV series currently held up in litigation.

First live action series

, who had played the square-jawed sleuth in all four Republic movie serials and two of the RKO feature-length films, reprised his role in a short-lived live action ''

'' series that ran on ABC from 1950 to 1951. Additional episodes intended for first-run Broadcast syndication, syndication continued to be produced into 1952. Produced by P. K. Palmer, who also wrote many of the scripts, the series often featured Gould-created villains such as Flattop Jones, Flattop, Shaky, the Mole, Breathless Mahoney, Heels Beals and Influence, all of whom appeared on film for the first time on this series. Other cast members included Joe Devlin as Sam Catchem, Angela Greene as Tess Tracy (née Trueheart), Martin Dean as Junior, and Pierre Watkin as Chief Patton. Criticized for its violence, the series remained popular. It ended, not in response to criticism, but because of Byrd's unexpected, premature death in 1952. The series was filmed on a low budget, with many long hours and a rushed shooting schedule. Many episodes of this series have been released on various public domain TV detective DVD sets.

Animated cartoons

The first cartoon series was produced from 1960 to 1961 by United Productions of America, UPA. Tracy employed a series of cartoon-like subordinate flatfoots to fight crime each week, contacting them on his two-way wrist radio.

voiced Tracy and supporting characters and villains were voiced by Jerry Hausner,

, Benny Rubin, Johnny Coons, Paul Frees and others. These subordinates included "Go-Go" Gomez, Joe Jitsu (Dick Tracy), Joe Jitsu, Hemlock Holmes and the Retouchables, and Officer Heap O'Calorie. 130 five-minute cartoons were designed and packaged for syndication, usually intended for local children's shows. UPA was also the production company behind the Mr. Magoo cartoons, so it was possible for them to arrange a meeting between Tracy and Magoo in a 1965 episode of the season-long TV series ''The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo''. In the episode "Dick Tracy and the Mob", Tracy persuades Magoo (a well-known actor in the context of the ''Famous Adventures'' series) to impersonate an international hit man named Squinty Eyes, who he resembles, and infiltrate a gang of criminals made up of Flattop, Pruneface, Itchy, Mumbles and others. Unlike the earlier animated Tracy shorts, this longer episode was played relatively straight, with Tracy getting much more screen time. Pitting Tracy against a coalition of several of his foes was adopted more than two decades later in the Dick Tracy (1990 film), 1990 film. A second cartoon series was produced in 1971 and was a feature in '' Archie's TV Funnies'', produced by Filmation. It adhered more closely to the comic strip, although it was hampered by cruder animation than the UPA shorts, typical of the studio's production standards.

Live action television pilot

William Dozier produced a pilot for a live action Dick Tracy series in 1967 starring Ray MacDonnell in the title role. (Dozier was the producer responsible for the 1966 ''Batman (TV series), Batman'' TV series.) The pilot was "The Plot to Kill NATO", featuring "Special Guest Villain" Victor Buono as 'Mr. Memory'. The series was not purchased by either American Broadcasting Company, ABC or NBC. Eve Plumb, who would later find fame as Jan Brady on ''The Brady Bunch'', is credited as Bonnie Braids, who does not appear in the pilot, nor does Davey Davison as Tess.

Licensed products

In the 1960s, Aurora Plastics Corporation, Aurora produced a plastic model kit of Dick Tracy sliding down a fire escape ladder into an alley, in hot pursuit with gun drawn. A Dick Tracy Space Coupe model came next. Both have been reissued by Polar Lights. Also in the market were Mattel's Dick Tracy range of toy guns. In 1990, Playmates Toys released a line of action figures called ''Dick Tracy: Coppers and Gangsters'' to coincide with the Dick Tracy movie. The figures were 5" tall, stylized with exaggerated comic looks and was accompanied by many accessories. Two figures in the line had limited availability; Steve the Tramp (called "The Tramp" on the package front) was pulled from the assortment after complaints of portrayal of a homeless person as a criminal. The figure of "The Blank" was added to the assortment well after the film's release to keep the secret of the identity of the character. As a result, only limited quantities of these two figures made it to store shelves. Various distinct video games tied in with the film were developed. Titus Software did versions many platforms including Amiga, Commodore and MS-DOS. ''Dick Tracy (video game), Dick Tracy'' is a side scrolling action shooting game. The player controls Dick Tracy through five stages. The Commodore 64 version is infamous for being released in an unfinished state (minimal animation for the main character, missing headlines in the linking screens, flick scrolling), and scored Commodore Format magazine's lowest ever review score of 11%. There were also games made for the Nintendo Entertainment System (1990), Master System (1990), Sega Genesis (1990), and Game Boy (1991)., and a graphic adventure for MS-DOS and the Amiga. In 2009, Shocker Toys released a monochromatic Dick Tracy action figure as an exclusive product for San Diego Comic-Con. The figure appears in a suit with two-way wrist radio. There was also a variant figure released of Dick Tracy in his signature trench coat and fedora with a tommy gun accessory.

Rights to adapt in other media

Media outlets reported a legal battle being waged over rights to the Dick Tracy character. Warren Beatty announced plans to make a sequel to his 1990 movie. At the same time, television producers announced plans for a new ''Dick Tracy'' TV series. Both sides claimed that they were the legal owners of the rights to Dick Tracy. In May 2005, Beatty sued the Tribune Company, claiming he has owned the rights to the Dick Tracy character since 1985. Pressure from Beatty led to the cancellation of a proposed collaboration between artist Mike Oeming and writer Brian Bendis on a new serialized Dick Tracy comic. The lawsuit was resolved in Beatty's favor, with a U.S. District judge ruling that Beatty did everything contractually required of him to keep the rights to the character. Beatty has maintained the rights to Tracy since then by producing two made-for-TV specials, which regarded as having minimal artistic value. While the first special is believed to have been part of the rights battle, the second special does not seem to have had a direct legal impetus, as Dick Tracy will enter the public domain in 2027.

In popular culture

* '' Fearless Fosdick'' is a long-running parody of Dick Tracy that appeared intermittently as a strip-within-a-strip in Al Capp's satirical hillbilly comic strip, ''Li'l Abner'' (1934–1977). * Gilbert Shelton parodied Dick Tracy as "Tricky Prickears" in his ''Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' comic strips. * The artist Jess Collins used an X-Acto knife and rubber cement to reassemble Gould's strip into ''Tricky Cad'' (an anagram of "Dick Tracy"). Gould threatened to sue if the ''Tricky Cad'' collages were published. * The United Productions of America, UPA version of Dick Tracy (though already having appeared in the Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, novel) was scheduled to appear as a cameo in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral" from the film ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''. However, in the final cut, Roger Rabbit impersonates him when he handcuffs himself to detective, Eddie Valiant. * Daffy Duck parodied Dick Tracy as "Duck Twacy" in the 1946 ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon ''The Great Piggy Bank Robbery''. * Dick Tracy was parodied by the adult animation, adult animated stop motion sketch comedy TV show ''Robot Chicken'' in the season 3 episode "Rabbits on a Roller Coaster". * Dick Tracy was parodied in 1990 in the Season 8 episode of ''Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983 TV series), Alvin and the Chipmunks'', as "Chip Tracy". * A statue of Dick Tracy can be found in Naperville, Illinois, on the city's riverwalk. It was erected in honor of longtime Naperville resident Dick Locher, who worked as an assistant to Chester Gould and later drew the comic strip and created the storyline for it.

References

Notes Bibliography *

External links

Dick Tracy at gocomics.com

Dick Tracy at Tribune Content Agency

The Chester Gould Dick Tracy Museum

at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on September 9, 2015.
Dick Tracy Depot

Grand Comics Database: ''Dick Tracy'' comic books

Dick Tracy at the Comic Book Database

Zoot Radio, free old time radio show downloads of Dick Tracy

''Dick Tracy, Detective'' (1945)

Boxcars711: ''Dick Tracy'': two 1938 episodes

Internet Archive: Dick Tracy films and radio episodes

The Comics Journal - ''The Gould Rush: The Mad Allure of Dick Tracy'' by Frank M. Young
{{Portal bar, Comics Dick Tracy, American comic strips 1931 comics debuts Crime comics Detective comic strips Edgar Award–winning works Comics adapted into radio series American comics adapted into films Comics adapted into video games Comics adapted into television series Comics adapted into animated series Mass media franchises Comic strips syndicated by Tribune Content Agency American film series Crime film series Film series introduced in 1937 Film serial characters