On This Day, August 24: Dad's Army and The FBI in Peace and War
Also featured: Fu Manchu.
August 24 Exhaustive Update
This report documents the comprehensive provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, and story synopses for historical broadcasts transmitting on August 24 across American network, Australian commercial syndication, and British BBC Radio 4 comedy history (1939–1976):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story-First Plot Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Double Play (Starring Martin Blaine as Agent Jim Taylor — FBI)" | CBS / AFRTS 1955-08-24 8:30 PM EDT |
Sustaining CBS Crime Drama / AFRTS |
Martin Blaine (Agent Taylor), Ralph Bell, Mandel Kramer | Frederick L. Collins, Louis Vittes, Betty Mandeville | ["Police", "Procedural", "True Crime", "Detective", "Federal"] |
FBI special agents track an elusive interstate gambling ring that uses high-stakes baseball score rigging and coded Western Union telegraphs to fleece bookmakers across three state lines. |
| "The Muscle Man (Starring Martin Blaine as Agent Jim Taylor — FBI)" | CBS (WCBS) 1958-08-24 6:05 PM EDT |
Sustaining CBS Crime Drama |
Martin Blaine (Agent Taylor), Leon Janney, Robert Dryden | Louis Vittes (Writer), Betty Mandeville, Warren Sweeney | ["Police", "Procedural", "True Crime", "Detective", "Federal"] |
Federal agents stage an undercover sting to dismantle an extortion syndicate after a ruthless dockside muscle man begins terrorizing independent trucking companies along the Eastern Seaboard. |
| "Operation Monsoon (Host Herbert Marshall with John Beal — Frigidaire)" | CBS (WABC) 1946-08-24 8:00 PM EDT |
General Motors Frigidaire Home Appliances |
Herbert Marshall (Host), John Beal, Martha Scott | Robert L. Redd (Director), Carmen Dragon, Wendell Niles | ["Drama", "Aviation", "Adventure", "Romance", "Anthology"] |
Host Herbert Marshall presents John Beal and Martha Scott in an aviation adventure, following a valiant transport pilot who battles typhoon winds, failing hydraulics, and a tropical fever epidemic to fly penicillin to an isolated Pacific coral atoll. |
| "Fu Manchu Appears (Chapter 33 — Starring Harold Huber as Fu Manchu)" | Radio Attractions 1939-08-24 (Show #33) |
Regional Advertisers Beverage Sponsors |
Harold Huber (Fu Manchu), Hanley Stafford, Gale Gordon | Sax Rohmer (Author), Himan Brown (Director) | ["Mystery", "Adventure", "Thriller", "Exotic", "Pulp"] |
Master criminal mastermind Dr. Fu Manchu materializes in London to threaten the British Empire with a deadly venomous fungus, forcing Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie into a desperate trap beneath the Limehouse docks. |
| "Musical Chairs: The Age Corruption Probe (Ray Barrett — Grace Gibson Deadline)" | Grace Gibson Synd. 1954-08-24 (2UW Sydney) |
Australian Advertisers Commercial Sponsors |
Ray Barrett, Moray Powell, John Cazabon | John Saul (Director), Charles Tingwell (Announcer) | ["Drama", "Journalism", "True Crime", "Australian", "Docudrama"] |
Based on front-page reportage from Melbourne's The Age, a crusading Australian investigative journalist uncovers political bribery and corruption in municipal land rezoning tenders. |
| "The Two and a Half Feathers (Arthur Lowe & John Le Mesurier — Dad's Army)" | BBC Radio 4 1976-08-24 12:27 PM BST |
Sustaining BBC Radio 4 Comedy |
Arthur Lowe (Capt. Mainwaring), John Le Mesurier, Clive Dunn | Jimmy Perry & David Croft, Michael Knowles & Harold Snoad | ["Comedy", "Sitcom", "British", "Military", "Satire"] |
When a mysterious former comrade accuses Corporal Jones of cowardice during the 1898 Battle of Omdurman in the Sudan, Captain Mainwaring convenes an eccentric Home Guard court of inquiry in Walmington-on-Sea to clear Jones's decorated military honor. |