Gang Busters

Gang Busters was an American dramatic radio program heralded as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." It premiered as G-Men, sponsored by Chevrolet, on July 20, 1935. After the title was changed to Gang Busters on January 15, 1936, the show had a 21-year run through November 20, 1957.

So-called "true crime" magazines were highly popular in the 1930s and the movie G Men starring James Cagney, released in the spring of 1935, had proven to be a big hit. Producer-director Phillips H. Lord thought there was a place on radio for a show of the same type. To emphasize the authenticity of his dramatizations, Lord produced the initial radio show, G-Men, in close association with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover was not particularly favorable to the notion of such a program, but U. S. Attorney General Homer Stille Cummings gave it his full support.

That first series dramatized FBI cases, but Hoover insisted that only closed cases would be used. Hoover also demanded that he or a top-level aide review and approve every script. Hoover preferred that scripts downplay gunfights and car chases, and spend more time on systematic investigation and legwork. Agents should be shown as intelligent, hard-working and essentially faceless cogs in his technically savvy crime-fighting organization. Those restrictions hampered Lord, who saw his creation as a public service, but one that had to entertain as well as inform.

The first program dramatized the story of the notorious gangster John Dillinger, who was tracked down by FBI agents and shot to death outside the Biograph Theater on July 24, 1934. The second covered Lester Joseph Gillis, aka Baby Face Nelson. Although the shows were a hit with the general public, there were naysayers, some of whom deplored this sensational new style of radio show. Hyper-sensitive to any criticism, Hoover almost squelched the project and made life more and more difficult for Lord.

The last episode of G-Men ran in mid-November 1935. It was just that first series that used only FBI cases and was subject to Hoover's whims and restrictions. After that, the show began featuring interesting and dramatic crimes from the files of law enforcement organizations all over the country. The "sequel," renamed Gang Busters, debuted in mid-January, 1936. If anything, the opening sound effects became even more elaborate and aggressive. The show opened with a barrage of blaring sound effects – a shrill police whistle, convicts marching in formation, police siren wailing, machine guns firing, and tires squealing. Then an authoritative voice would announce the title of that night's program: "Tonight, Gang Busters presents the Case of the —." Finally, the opening would end with more blasts from a police whistle. This intrusive introduction led to the popular catchphrase "came on like Gangbusters."

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