Famous Jury Trials (radio program)
| Genre | Dramatic anthology |
|---|---|
| Running time | 45 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | WLW |
| Syndicates |
Mutual NBC Blue/ABC |
| TV adaptations | Dumont |
| Starring | Maurice Franklin |
| Announcer | Peter Grant Roger Krupp Hugh James |
| Created by | Ed Byron |
| Written by | Don Becker Milton J. Kramer John Hunter Lay Jerry McGill Stedman Coles Bill Rafael Ameel Fisher Len Finger Martin H. Young Daisy Armoury Joseph L. Greene Lawrence Menkin Paul Monash |
| Directed by | Carl Andrews Carl Eastman Wylie Adams Robert H. Nolan John Hunter Lay Charles Powers |
| Produced by | Don Becker John Clark J. Ralph Corbett |
| Narrated by | Roger DeKoven Dewitt McBride |
| Air dates | January 5, 1936 to June 25, 1949 |
Famous Jury Trials is a radio court show/dramatic anthology series in the United States. It began on January 5, 1936, and ended June 25, 1949. It is considered a program that initiated the popular court show genre, which would later begin broadcasting from television.
Famous Jury Trials had the effect of taking a listener into an actual courtroom so that he or she could hear a trial as it proceeded. At the beginning of each episode, the judge was heard as he instructed the jury, "Be just and fear not, for the true administration of justice is the foundation of good government." The show's set was designed as a courtroom, including a jury box containing 12 jurors and a judge clad in a black robe. The judge sat on a high bench with the witness chair to his left and the clerk at a desk in front. Adding to the effect of realism for listeners, the program was "delivered flat, without music."
As the title implies, the program re-enacted trials from history. Although the scripts were described by radio historian John Dunning as "almost entirely fictionalized," they resulted from thorough research. A 1942 newspaper article noted, "The legal fireworks are checked for scriptural realism" by attorney and law historian Martin H. Young. Among the well-known trials featured were those of Captain Kidd, Benedict Arnold, and Aaron Burr. A 1937 review of the program said, "[I]t carries the morbid interest and suspense that is characteristic of such melodramas."
Famous Jury Trials introduced the device of having a reporter provide an account of an event from history, a technique that a review in Radio Mirror magazine called one of the program's "novel devices." The technique was used 15 years later in You Are There.
As an anthology series, Famous Jury Trials had few regular cast members. Maurice Franklin starred as the judge. Roger DeKoven and DeWitt McBride were reporter-narrators.
Famous Jury Trials originated at WLW in Cincinnati. It was created by Ed Byron, a staff writer at the station. As of September 27, 1937, it was also being carried by WOR in New York City and WGN in Chicago. The program was also heard on WFIL in Philadelphia and KWK in St. Louis, identified as "stations of the WLW line." By 1938, the program was being broadcast from New York City.
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