Episode 9723: Case Dismissed - Criminal Liability (01-30-54)

Case Dismissed - Criminal Liability Aired January 30, 1954

As a local presentation, WMAQ's production of Case Dismissed acquitted itself very well indeed. With few exceptions, the enacted legal issues were realistically depicted, thoroughly explored, and informatively resolved. The exposition for and resolution of these programs was never preachy, overly complicated, nor left unresolved. Each story had an arc that was resolved for that particular combination of legal issues and choices. The listener was never left hanging. Mindful of the fact that Case Dismissed was being heard in many other states besides Illinois, the program regularly reminded its listeners that the problems presented and legal remedies offered were based only on then current Illinois Law. But it's also clear that because they were mindful of a larger audience, the producers and writers very helpfully selected a broad range of legal topics that were general enough in nature to present useful choices and information to residents in virtually any state that might be listening in. All told, a fascinating, useful, and well mounted series of legal dramas that accomplished precisely what they set out to do for thirteen weeks. So effectively, in fact that the basic legal tenets put forth within most of these thirteen episodes remain almost universally applicable today.

THIS EPISODE:

January 30, 1954. NBC network, WMAQ, Chicago origination. Sustaining. The program is produced in co-operation with the Chicago Bar Association. A man listens to bad advice and ignores a summons, which winds up costing him $25,000! The moral: see a lawyer. A program about criminal liability. Fern Persons, Patricia Crain, Jack Lester, John Galvaro, Betty Ross (producer), Herbert Latow (director), Phillip Lord, Tom Evans (sound), Harry Elders. 29:12.