Daniel DanfieldDr. Daniel Danfield
Dr. DANIEL DANFIELD was an obnoxious unlicensed private investigator/criminal 
psychologist with an ego complex, and the title character of perhaps the worst 
radio detective series ever: Danger, Dr. Danfield. He gave the entire genre of 
the radio detective a bad name. If there's a worst one, I haven't heard it.
In what is probably the first episode (show dates of this series are unknown), 
"Hazel and the Count," Danfield manages to be insulting, obnoxious, conceited, 
and condescending to his host. All of this in a conversation of less than two 
minutes. This particular episode has my vote for the worst single episode of any 
radio detective series. The acting is bad, the writing worst, and the announcer 
manages to blow the show's title and starts laughing. Try saying it rapidly 
three times, and see how far you get!
This series consistently featured some of the worst acting and writing of any 
detective show to reach the airwaves. The show had a formula with the crime 
usually being committed in the first third of the program, the good doctor 
solving it in the second third, and then pedantically explaining the solution to 
someone (usually his "pretty, young" secretary, Rusty) in the conclusion. Why 
Rusty would put up with this guy is beyond me. In this case, love is not only 
blind, but also deaf and dumb. But then, Rusty was no prize package either. Too 
bad one of the bad guys wasn't able to rub both of them out; unfortunately these 
crooks were incredibly inept.
RADIO
  DANGER, DR. DANFIELD
  (1946-47 ABC; syndicated into the early 1950's)
  First Broadcast: August 18, 1946
  Last Broadcast: April 13, 1947
  Shows Available: 24
  Writers: Ralph Wilkinson
  Produced by Wally Ramsey
  Starring Michael (AKA Steve) Dunne as DR. DAN DANFIELD 
  with JoAnne Johnson as Rusty Fairfax, his secretary.
  Guest Stars: None mentioned on the tapes I have. They'd probably would prefer 
  to remain unknown.
  . 
    "Hazel and the Count" 
    "$100,000 Insurance Claim" 
    "Case of the Bird in the Gilded Cage" 
    "Case of the Whirling Mirrors" 
    "Deadly Bet" 
    "Eve Shelton Murder" 
    "Money in the Casket" 
    "Snowbound" 
Respectfully submitted by Stewart Wright (June 1999).