On This Day, August 28: Sam Spade and Rocky Jordan
Also featured: Superman.
August 28 Update
This report documents the historical provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, and pure narrative synopses for broadcasts transmitting on August 28 across American network radio and the BBC Radio 4, Craig McDonnell in Official Detective, Howard Duff as Sam Spade in The Prodigal Daughter Caper for Wildroot, Jack Moyles protecting an exotic refugee in Cairo on Rocky Jordan, ecclesiastical comedy on All Gas and Gaiters, Donn Reed's gritty verite audio recorder on Night Watch, and Bud Collyer as Superman rescuing an undersea bathysphere for Kellogg's Pep (1940–1972):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The Case of the Missing Heiress" | Mutual (WOR) 1951-08-28 8:30 PM EDT |
Sustaining Police Procedural |
Craig McDonnell (Lt. Cassidy) | Wynn Wright (Director) | ["Police Procedural", "Detective", "Hardboiled", "True Crime", "Mystery"] |
Detective Dan Cassidy tracks a vanished department store heiress whose abandoned convertible was restored beside a lonely highway quarry. |
| "The Prodigal Daughter Caper" | NBC (WNBC) 1949-08-28 8:00 PM EDT |
Wildroot Co. Wildroot Cream-Oil |
Howard Duff, Lurene Tuttle | William Spier (Director) | ["Detective", "Hardboiled", "Noir", "Mystery", "Comedy"] |
Sam Spade is hired by a wealthy father to locate a headstrong daughter who ran off with a charismatic racetrack grifter. |
| "The Lady from Istanbul" | CBS (WABC) 1949-08-28 8:30 PM EDT |
California Packing Del Monte Foods |
Jack Moyles, Jay Novello | Larry Roman & G.K. Thomas | ["Detective", "Hardboiled", "Noir", "Exotic", "Adventure"] |
Cafe owner Rocky Jordan protects an alluring Turkish refugee in Cairo hunted by international assassins seeking a stolen emerald necklace. |
| "The Affair at Cookham Lock" | BBC Radio 4 1972-08-28 7:30 PM |
Sustaining BBC Clerical Sitcom |
Robertson Hare, William Mervyn | Pauline Devaney & Edwin Apps | ["Sitcom", "Comedy", "British", "Clerical", "Farce"] |
The bumbling clerics of St. Ogg's Cathedral get stranded on a rented river launch at Cookham Lock during a farcical diocesan inspection. |
| "The Weeper" | CBS (WABC) 1954-08-28 8:30 PM EDT |
Sustaining Verite Police Audio |
Donn Reed (Host / Recorder) | Culver City Police Dept. | ["Police Procedural", "Docudrama", "True Crime", "Verite", "Audio Documentary"] |
Recorder Donn Reed accompanies Culver City patrol officers responding to a distressed woman weeping uncontrollably after being robbed at gunpoint in her driveway. |
| "Professor Thorpe's Bathysphere (Part 2)" | Mutual (WOR) 1940-08-28 5:15 PM EDST |
Kellogg Co. Kellogg's Pep Cereal |
Bud Collyer, Joan Alexander | Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster | ["Superhero", "Action", "Adventure", "Sci-Fi", "Serial"] |
Superman plunges into ocean depths to rescue an eccentric oceanographer trapped inside an experimental diving sphere sabotage attempt. |