Pat Novak, for Hire, Vol. 1

These twelve exciting episodes take you to the San Francisco waterfront as you follow Pat Novak as he solves some shady crimes.

Pat Novak, for Hire is set on the San Francisco waterfront and depicts the city as a dark, tough-as-nails jungle where the main goal is survival. Not a detective by trade, Novak owns a boat shop on Pier 19 where he rents out boats and does odd jobs to earn money while dishing out sarcasm and colorful metaphors.

The set up begins with an unknown person asking Novak to perform an unusual or risky job. In need of money, Novak reluctantly accepts and soon finds himself in hot water, usually involving a dead body and a femme fatale. Then Police Inspector Hellman, played by Raymond Burr, is called to the case. Hellman hates Novak and badly wants to lock him up and throw away the key. While solving the crime, Novak usually relies on the help of his friend, drunken ex-doctor Jocko Madigan, played by Tudor Owen.

Pat Novak, for Hire began in 1946 as a regional radio show produced at KGO in San Francisco and starred Jack Webb in the title role, with scripts by Webb’s friend Richard L. Breen. When Webb moved to Los Angeles in 1947, Ben Morris replaced Webb as Novak. In a later network version, Jack Webb resumed the role, along with Breen as scriptwriter. Pat Novak, for Hire lasted until 1949, when Jack Webb turned his attention to the series that would make him a star, Dragnet.

The twelve episodes in this collection, with the actor in the role of Pat Novak and the date of its broadcast, are the following:

“John Brown Gambling Ring” with Ben Morris (3 August 1947), “The Mysterious Set of Books” with Ben Morris (10 August 1947), “Death in Herald Square” with Ben Morris (30 November 1947), “The Jack of Clubs” with Jack Webb (20 February 1949), “Marcia Halpern” with Jack Webb (27 February 1949), “Reuben Callaway’s Pictures” with Jack Webb (13 March 1949), “Rory Malone” with Jack Webb (20 March 1949), “Joe Candano” with Jack Webb (27 March 1949), “Shirt Mix-Up at the Laundry” with Jack Webb (9 April 1949), “Sam Tolliver” with Jack Webb (23 April 1949), “Rita Malloy” with Jack Webb (1 May 1949), “Geranium Plant” with Jack Webb (15 May 1949).