Let George Do It

Detective Drama (1946 - 54)

Personal notice: Danger's my stock in trade.
If the job's too tough for you to handle,
you've got a job for me. George Valentine.

Let George Do It is about a detective with one foot firmly planted in the tough-guy detective genre, and the other in the romance-denied working relationship romantic field. For George Valentine, detective work was job #1. To his secretary, Claire Brooks, it was a developing relationship.Radio's competing Adventures of Sam Spade featured banters between Spade and his stenographer Effie in a similar manner. The constant patter between George and "Brooksie" sounds a great deal like an old time radio version of much later TV series like "Hart to Hart," "Moonlighting" and "Remington Steele."

Bob Bailey played George Valentine as a detective handyman, who got his jobs from responses to a newspaper ad. Part-time detective and writer Dan Holiday in Box 13 also used the premise. It pays to advertise! The shows follow the usual formats of crime caper shows, with toughs, mysterious rendezvous and people who aren't who they say they are.

Francis Robinson first played Brooksie, then Virginia Gregg took the role through its best years. Both ladies played Brooksie smart and sassy. Brooksie took every occasion to make it clear to George that the case he was the most off base on was the "Case of the Missing Engagement Ring."

In the late '40s, an organist was used for the scene transitions, and sound effects were fairly minimal, as the show was loaded with snappy patter. In the 1950s, the music turns orchestral, and the production values are a little more thorough.

Let George Do It was an excellent show in its own right, but it just so happened that it was to be the warm-up act for Bob Bailey's most masterful radio role, that of "the man with the action-packed expense account." He joined Yours Truly Johnny Dollar in 1955 and made the show golden as a classic of the final years of old time radio. The role was also played by Wally Maher.

For more hard hitting detective action, don't forget to call on some of the most popular detectives: Phillip Marlowe, Richard Diamond, The Saint, Boston Blackie, and The Falcon.