''M Squad'' is an American

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. It was produced by Lee Marvin's Latimer Productions and Revue Studios. Its main sponsor was the Pall Mall

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...

brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during many episodes. Alternate sponsors were

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

(GE), Hazel Bishop and Bulova watches.

Synopsis

Set in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, the show starred Marvin as Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger, a member of "M Squad", a special unit of the Chicago Police, assisting other units in battling organized crime, corruption and violent crimes citywide.

Paul Newlan Paul Emory "Tiny" Newlan (June 29, 1903 – November 23, 1973) was an American film and TV character actor from Plattsmouth, Nebraska. He was best known for his role as Captain Grey on the NBC police series '' M Squad'' and for his roles ...

co-starred as his boss, Captain Grey. Although Marvin had been appearing in feature films since 1951, it was this series that made him a star, and he later went on to an even bigger film career afterward.

Nelson Case Nelson Case (February 3, 1910 – March 24, 1976) was an American radio and television announcer. Case was the son of Walter and Ethel Case. His father was a newspaperman, and his mother was a driving force in the Long Beach Community Players. H ...

was the announcer. The popularity of ''M Squad'' was proven in the ratings wars by the NBC network choosing a Friday night time slot opposite

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

's ABC variety show in the fall of 1957 and

Phil Silvers Phil Silvers (born Phillip Silver; May 11, 1911 – November 1, 1985) was an American entertainer and comedic actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah". His career as a professional entertainer spanned nearly 60 years. He achieved major popularity w ...

' long running CBS comedy, '' Sgt. Bilko'', in 1958. Both series were eventually cancelled.

Music

The

theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for the first season was composed by Stanley Wilson, who was nominated for the 1959 Grammy Award for the Best Soundtrack Album and Background Score from Motion Picture or Television. In the second and third seasons, the new theme was composed by

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

. A

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

album, ''Music from M Squad'', with liner notes by Lee Marvin, was released by

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

Records in 1959 during the last season of the show.

Home media

Timeless Media Group released ''M Squad: The Complete Series'' on DVD in the Region 1 on November 11, 2008. This release has been discontinued and is out of print. On November 4, 2014, Timeless Media re-released the complete series on DVD in a new 16-disc special edition collection that contains an entire disc of bonus content.

Episodes

Guest stars

* Roscoe Ates * Joanna Barnes * Charles Bronson *

Mike Connors Krekor Ohanian (August 15, 1925 – January 26, 2017), known professionally as Mike Connors, was an American actor. He was best known for playing private detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series ''Mannix'' from 1967 to 1975. This role ...

* Russ Conway * Walter Coy * Whitney Blake * Paul Burke * Terry Burnham (2 episodes) *

James Coburn James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.AllmoviBi ...

Francis De Sales Francis de Sales, Congregation of the Oratory, C.O., Order of Minims, O.M. (; ; 21 August 156728 December 1622) was a Savoyard state, Savoyard Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Geneva and is a saint of the Catholic Church. He became n ...

Angie Dickinson Angie Dickinson (born Angeline Brown; September 30, 1931) is an American retired actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many Anthology series#Television, anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough rol ...

* Joe Flynn *

Alan Hale Jr. Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; March 8, 1921 – January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead ro ...

* Ron Hayes * Werner Klemperer * Robert Knapp * Tom Laughlin * Ruta Lee *

DeForest Kelley Jackson DeForest Kelley (January 20, 1920 – June 11, 1999) was an American actor, screenwriter, poet, and singer. He was known for his roles in film and television Western (genre), Westerns and achieved international fame as Dr. Leonard McCoy ...

* Nan Leslie * Dayton Lummis *

Tyler McVey William Tyler McVey (February 14, 1912 – July 4, 2003) was an American character actor of film and television. Early years McVey was born Bay City, Michigan, to William David McVey and his wife, the former Jessie Arvilla Tyler. His moth ...

* Walter Maslow * Carole Mathews * Joyce Meadows * Sid Melton * John Mitchum *

Ed Nelson Edwin Stafford Nelson (December 21, 1928 – August 9, 2014) was an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. Michael Rossi in the television series ''Peyton Place (TV series), Peyton Place''. Nelson appeared in episodes of many TV p ...

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy ( ; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor and director, famous for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes Development of Spock, originating Spock in Star Trek: T ...

* J. Pat O'Malley * Michael Pataki *

Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor most famous during the 1970s and 1980s. He became well known in television series such as ''Gunsmoke'' (1962–1965), '' Hawk'' (1966) and '' Dan Augus ...

Don Rickles Donald Jay Rickles (May 8, 1926 – April 6, 2017) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was known primarily for his insult comedy. His film roles include ''Run Silent, Run Deep (film), Run Silent, Run Deep'' (1958), ''Enter Laughing ...

* Janice Rule *

Barbara Stuart Barbara Stuart (born Barbara Ann McNeese; January 3, 1930 – May 15, 2011) was an American actress. She had a recurring role of Sgt. Carter's girlfriend Bunny on '' Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.'' Early years Born in Paris, Illinois, Stuart was ...

* Mary Treen * H. M. Wynant * Rose Marie

Notes

In episode "The Jumper", an officer was depicted taking bribes. This prompted Richard J. Daley, the

Mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the Chief executive officer, chief executive of city Government of Chicago, government in Chicago, Illinois, the List of United States cities by population, third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsib ...

at the time, to discourage motion picture and television location filming in Chicago for the rest of his administration (1955–1976). (He made an exception for the 1975

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

film '' Brannigan'', because of Daley's personal admiration for Wayne.) '' The Blues Brothers'', released in 1980, marked the reversal of the policy under then-mayor

Jane Byrne Jane Margaret Byrne (née Burke; May 24, 1933November 14, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 50th mayor of Chicago from April 16, 1979, until April 29, 1983. Prior to her tenure as mayor, Byrne served as Chicago's commissioner of ...

. Lee Marvin as Lt. Frank Ballinger carried two Colt Cobra snub nosed revolvers, the lightweight variant of Colt's "Detective's Special" revolver, which was popular with detectives at the time. Lt. Ballinger was the first TV police detective, of any note, to carry a backup revolver. The second Cobra revolver was carried in a more concealed position than the other. A novel was published in 1962, ''M Squad: The Chicago Cop Killer, '' by David Saunders. It was published by Belmont Books, New York. The 1982 TV series '' Police Squad!'', which spun off the movie '' The Naked Gun'' and its sequels, was a direct parody of ''M Squad''. The opening credits of ''Police Squad'' are a shot-for-shot parody of the ''M Squad'' opening, and the ''Police Squad'' pilot is an extended line-for-line, shot-for-shot send-up of the season 2 ''M Squad'' episode "More Deadly".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title 1957 American television series debuts 1960 American television series endings 1950s American crime drama television series 1960s American crime drama television series Black-and-white American television shows Fictional portrayals of the Chicago Police Department Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in Chicago NBC crime dramas