Phillips H. Lord Collection

Phillips H. Lord
(1902 – 1975)

Like many of the crooks who would get their comeuppance in his radio shows, Phillips H. Lord's greatest strength was an overriding confidence in his own abilities

Lord was born a minister's son in a small New England town in 1902. Imbued with native New England ambition, he started several businesses while still in school After graduating from Bowdoin College he was hired as the high school principal in Plainville, CT, at 22 the youngest high school principal in the United States.

Quickly becoming bored with a small town school, Lord moved to New York and became involved in writing and publishing. One afternoon while visiting a friend's house, he listened to a radio play about life in a small town. Lord was so upset with the inaccuracies of the poorly written show that he went to the station and began to berate the station manager. Rather than become defensive, the station manager simply challenged Lord to write something better. Even though he knew nothing about the radio business, it was a challenge Lord could not let pass.

Lord created a character and program titled Seth Parker. Like Lord's own father and grandfather, Parker was a small town preacher and philosopher. In order to generate interest, Lord sent scripts to a number of stations across the country. The show was a hit, and came to NBC's attention. Lord packaged Seth Parker and sold the whole thing to the network in 1932, becoming the first successful independent radio producer.

Seth Parker was a sort of masculine Ma Perkins, always ready to help his neighbors with a wisdom that seemed to com from the very earth. Lord was sure to fill fill the program with hymns, and sold a number of Hymn Books inspired by the radio character. The program had a great deal of conservative appeal, but audiences and sponsors alike would soon realize how far apart Phillips Lord and Seth Parker really were.

In 1933 Lord came up with the idea of taking the program to sea, and purchased a 188 ft schooner which he renamed the Seth Parker. Expensive shortwave broadcasting equipment and underwater photographic gear were brought aboard, all paid for by sponsors. The sponsors failed to notice the cases of champagne and other libations brought on board for the "wholesome" crew. The schooner got into trouble off the coast of American Samoa and the Australian Navy was called for rescue.

The passengers were evacuated, but Lord stayed with his ship, which managed to reach port. This convinced the Australians that the distress call was a publicity stunt, although the ship was too damaged for the expedition to continue, and was abandoned. Broadcasts of the voyage proved quite popular, and sponsor Frigidaire salvaged some publicity value, but Lord's reputation took a beating.

When he returned to New York, it was with the idea of bringing a law enforcement story to the air. The folk-hero bandits of the mid-1930's had captured the public's imagination, and Lord wanted to take advantage. There were few law enforcement agencies with the respect of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, so Lord sought the cooperation of J. Edgar Hoover for what would become G-Men.

Hoover is well known for never missing an opportunity to show the Bureau in a positive light, but he had conditions for his cooperation. Only closed cases could be dramatized, which was fine with Lord. The conflict came over the vision for G-Men. Hoover saw it as a showcase for his methodical, sober, scientific and studious agents. Lord knew that the public and his sponsor wanted to hear action, tough guys, gun play, and more action.

Lord and the Bureau parted ways after 13 episodes. Hoover would later lend support to more "sober" programs like The FBI In Peace and War and This Is Your FBI. Lord would retool G-Men into Gangbusters.

Gangbusters opened with wailing sirens, machine gun fire, and the sounds of convicts marching to their cells. The opening was so intense that it brought the term "coming on like Gangbusters" into the vernacular. The intensity never let up. Lord realized that cops were cops, and that audiences would relate better to local law enforcement. Freed from the restrictions of working with Hoover, Lord made an interview with Police Chiefs from a different city each week part of the show, as well as a public appeal for listeners to be on the lookout for wanted criminals.