DAMERON
-------------
1972 - 1973
By: Stewart Wright
Initial Compilation: 08/01/2001
Last Update: 06/30/2004
Copyright 2003 by Stewart Wright
First Show: 09/26/1972
Last Show: 09/18/1973
Number of Shows: 049
Audition Show: See NOTE: Audition/Pilot Show in
SERIES BACKGROUND:
SERIES BACKGROUND & DESCRIPTION:
DAMERON was the second radio series created, written, and
produced by Jim French for radio station KVI in Seattle, WA.
The first series was the short-run TOWER PLAYHOUSE; the
third was CRISIS. At the time, KVI was part of the Golden
West Radio Network: KMPC - Los Angeles, KSFO - San
Francisco, KEX - Portland, and KVI - Seattle. The Golden
West Radio Network was owned by radio's singing cowboy, Gene
Autry.
Roy Dameron, played by Robert E. Lee Hardwick, was a high-
priced, globe-trotting troubleshooter. Emile St. Clair,
played by Douglas Young, was Dameron's partner. He was
variously described as a cook or chef, chemist, and general
factotum.
The basic opening tag line for the series was: "KVI and the
Golden West Radio Network present the new audio adventures
of DAMERON. Dameron: his home - the world; his profession
- the jobs nobody else can do. Dameron goes anywhere,
solves any problem - for a price."
Most DAMERON episodes follow typical detective show plots -
masquerading as someone else or solving or preventing a
crime. However, the plot lines usually have interesting and
unusual twists. In one episode, Dameron must stop the
bombing of the Vietnam War Peace Talks in Paris with the
help of several persons possessing exceptional Extra Sensory
Perception powers who are portraying their favorite movie
stars from the 1940's.
Dameron used his wits to solve his cases, he didn't carry or
even own a gun. He did carry something that was very
unusual for the early 1970's: a portable wireless telephone
in a briefcase.
Less than three years after the end of DAMERON, Jim French
went on to create another detective series: the
long-running THE ADVENTURES OF HARRY NILE.
NOTE:
Audition/Pilot Show
The initial appearance of the Dameron and Emile characters
was in the episode 002, "A Spark of the Sun," of the TOWER
PLAYHOUSE series. In that episode, which aired on
08/01/1972, Dameron was a sailor/soldier of fortune; Emile
was a cafe owner who was involved in espionage. Just a few
weeks later DAMERON became a series.
THE STARS:
Roy Dameron was played by Robert E. Lee Hardwick, a Seattle
radio personality from the late 1950's until the early-
1990's. He was perhaps best known to decades of Seattle
listeners for such stunts as riding a bronco at a rodeo,
climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, swimming across Puget
Sound, and riding a jet ski over 700 miles from southern
Alaska to Seattle. Hardwick was named Billboard Magazine's
Radio Personality of the Year in 1979. Robert E. Lee
Hardwick died on June 5, 1992.
Douglas Young is an actor who appeared on many series during
the Golden Age of Radio including AUNT MARY, CISCO KID, LUX
RADIO THEATRE, DR. CHRISTIAN, RED RYDER, SHERLOCK HOLMES,
STARS OVER HOLLYWOOD, and THE WHISTLER. He has had roles in
more than 130 Jim French productions. Doug has a great
facility for doing accents and dialects. In DAMERON, Doug
usually played other roles in addition to his co-starring
role as Emile.
Before moving to Seattle, Doug also did a lot of cartoon
voice work for Hanna-Barbera Studios. He modeled some of
his cartoon voices after his favorite character actors. His
voice for the character of Doggie Daddy in the Augie Doggie
cartoons was patterned after Jimmy Durante. In the Hokey
Wolf cartoons, Doug did a character called Ding-A-Ling whose
voice emulated Buddy Hackett's.
SPONSORS:
Mainly the defunct Seattle-based retail chains Ernst
(hardware) and Tradewell Stores (supermarkets.) At least
one episode (025) had multiple sponsors: Bank of
California, Isabel Rose Wine, and First Lease from First
Bank.
CREW:
Creator: Jim French
Director: Jim French
Writer: Jim French
Music: "City of Glass" by Robert Graettinger
Announcer: Jack Spencer? and Jim French
CAST:
Starring:
Robert E. Lee Hardwick as ROY DAMERON
Douglas Young as EMILE ST. CLAIR
and
Jane Aldren as LETICIA, Dameron's answering service in the
early episodes.
Guest Stars:
John Amendola, Greg Aust, Griff Cavenier, Pearl Castle, Ray
Court, Ted D'Arms, Roger Dowdy, Jim French, Pat French,
Cecilia Hardwick, John B. Hughes, Tony Karloff, Merrill
Mael, Ray McMackin, Terry McManus, Jack Morton, Joan Norton,
Lee Paasch, Colleen Patrick, Mike Reynolds, John Roeder,
Phil Royal, Leah Sluis, Rick Thomas, Mark Wayne, Veronica
Weikle, Irving Zimmer, and others.
LOG:
All dates are the date of original airing on Seattle radio.
The episode number (Num) indicates the order in which they
were aired.
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Alternate titles are shown in parentheses ( ) in a separate
line immediately following the primary show title entry.
Date Num Title
-------- --- ----------------------------------
09/26/1972 001 The Short Sweet Life of Lee Chow Soon
10/03/1972 002 Don't Point at Me, You're Loaded
10/10/1972 003 The Siamese Cat Affair
10/17/1972 004 The Sweet Job
10/24/1972 005 If You Eat Bananas You Gotta Expect
Spiders
10/31/1972 006 A Guy Could Die Of Thirst In The Middle
Of A Brewery
11/07/1972 007 The Girl With the Aquiline Nose
11/21/1972 008 Take Another Chorus, They're Small
11/28/1972 009 Uncle Albert
12/05/1972 010 Why Would Anyone Want To Kill A Nice Guy
Like Pete?
(Who Would Want to Kill a Nice Guy Like
Pete?)
12/12/1972 011 There's A Broken Broad For Every Light
On Hardway
12/19/1972 012 The Lady Says Die
12/26/1972 013 The Sweetheart Of Sydney Fry
01/02/1973 014 The Ground Glass Incident
01/09/1973 015 Guaranteed Not To Rip, Rust, Or Collect
Dust
(The Tapes of Bobby Dee)
01/16/1973 016 Some Days You Get The Bear
(Somedays You Get the Bear, Other Days
the Bear Gets You)
(Somedays You Get the Bear, Somedays the
Bear Gets You)
01/23/1973 017 The Private War Of Ambrose Cain
01/30/1973 018 The Rapture Of Mrs. Parrington
02/06/1973 019 The Outsider
02/13/1973 020 Pursuit Of A Ghost
02/20/1973 021 The Tin Ghost Of Kuala Lumpur
02/27/1973 022 The Crossword Puzzle
03/06/1973 023 Who Is Buried In Grant's Tomb?
03/13/1973 024 The Lemming Syndrome
03/27/1973 025 Flashback
04/03/1973 026 The Van Hoolen Curse
04/10/1973 027 Run, Tony, Run
04/17/1973 028 Come Home John Doe
04/24/1973 029 Ransom
05/01/1973 030 The Tunnel
05/08/1973 031 To Wake The Dead
05/22/1973 032 The Door That Wouldn't Close
05/29/1973 033 How Does Your Garden Grow?
06/05/1973 034 Find A Tall Stranger Part 1
06/12/1973 035 Find A Tall Stranger Part 2
06/19/1973 036 The Transpacific Misfortune
06/26/1973 037 The Berryman Chamber
07/03/1973 038 The Last Commando
07/10/1973 039 Pipedream
07/17/1973 040 Seeds Of Kathmandu
07/24/1973 041 Baked Alaska
07/31/1973 042 The Chinese Checkers Murders
08/07/1973 043 The Son I Never Had
08/14/1973 044 In His Own Image
08/21/1973 045 The Man Who Was Beside Himself
08/28/1973 046 The Mind Changes
09/04/1973 047 The World Series Caper
09/11/1973 048 Earth Is Ours!
09/18/1973 049 Roostertail
NEW PRODUCTIONS OF PREVIOUS SCRIPTS:
Several DAMERON scripts have provided the basis for episodes
of current Jim French series.
"The Short Sweet Life of Lee Chow Soon"
was extensively reworked for the first episode of the series
CALL SIMON WALKER, "You Should Live So Long," which
initially aired on IMAGINATION THEATRE 05/19/2002. The
script has some plot line similarities to the DAMERON
script, but had different characters.
"Why Would Anyone Want to Kill a Nice Guy Like Pete?"
was reworked for THE ADVENTURES OF HARRY NILE episode "The
Pete Lambert Case" which first aired on IMAGINATION THEATRE
01/20/2002.
"The Rapture of Mrs. Parrington"
served as the foundation for the second episode of the
series CALL SIMON WALKER, "Heaven Doesn't Take Plastic,"
which initially aired on IMAGINATION THEATRE 11/24/2002.
The script has some plot line similarities to the DAMERON
script, but had different characters.
"The Berryman Chamber"
was modified for the KINCAID, THE STRANGE-SEEKER episode
"Gravity" which first aired on IMAGINATION THEATRE
07/13/2003. The plot line is quite similar to the DAMERON
script, but had different characters and a modified plot
line.
AVAILABILITY:
THESE SHOWS ARE STILL PROTECTED UNDER COPYRIGHT LAW.
A few episodes (002, 003, 017, 034, 035, and 037) have been
aired on IMAGINATION THEATRE and are available from the
syndicator
TransMedia Inc.
719 Battery St.
San Francisco, CA 94111
1-800-BAY-RADIO
or
http://www.transmediasf.com/imag.html
The above address is provided for informational purposes
only and does not constitute an endorsement.
INFORMATION SOURCES:
Interviews with Jim French conducted by Stewart Wright in
1998.
1998 DAMERON article by Stewart Wright on
www.thrillingdetective.com
Conversations with Jim French 1999 - 2004.
Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound Doug Young interview,
February, 1992.
Conversation with Doug Young 1998.
Radio Historical Association of Colorado newsletter article
on Doug Young, February, 2003.
Correspondence with Larry Albert of Jim French Productions
2001 and 2002.
WSU Media Materials Services
http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu
Seattle Post-Intelligencer - Various Dates.
Jim French Productions can be reached at:
jrfproductions@yahoo.com