''The FBI in Peace and War'' was a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

crime drama inspired by Frederick Lewis Collins' book of the same name. The idea for the show came from Louis Pelletier who wrote many of the scripts. Among the show's other writers were Jack Finke, Ed Adamson and Collins. It aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from November 25, 1944 to September 28, 1958, produced and directed by

Max Marcin Max Marcin (5 May 1879 – 30 March 1948) was a Polish-born American playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and film director. He wrote for 47 films between 1916 and 1949. He also directed six films between 1931 and 1936. His stage work inclu ...

and Betty Mandeville. The show had a variety of sponsors over the years, including Lava Soap,

Wildroot Cream-Oil Wildroot Cream-Oil is a men's hair tonic sold in the United States from the 1940s to the 1960s by the Wildroot Hair Tonic Company, based in Buffalo, New York. Background The company first started selling Wildroot Hair Tonic in 1911. In the 1920s, ...

Lucky Strike Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarettes owned by the British American Tobacco group. Individual cigarettes of the brand are often referred to colloquially as "Luckies." Throughout their 150 year history, Lucky Strike has had fluctuating ...

, Nescafe and

Wrigley's The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company, is an American multinational chewing gum (Wrigley's gum) company, based in the Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois. Wrigley's is wholly owned by Mars, In ...

. In 1955 it was the eighth most popular show on radio, as noted in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'': :The Nielsen ratings of the top ten radio shows seemed to indicate that not much has changed in radio: 1) ''Jack Benny Show'' (CBA), 2) ''

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' is an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show ...

'' (

), 3) ''

People are Funny ''People Are Funny'' is an American radio and television game show, created by John Guedel that ran from 1942 to 1960 in which contestants were asked to carry out stunts in order to prove that "People Are Funny." Many stunts lasted weeks, month ...

'' (

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

), 4) ''

Our Miss Brooks ''Our Miss Brooks'' is an American sitcom starring Eve Arden as a sardonic high-school English teacher. It began as a radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948 to 1957. When the show was adapted to television (1952–56), it became one of the medi ...

'' (

) 5) ''

Lux Radio Theater ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...

'' (

), 6) ''

My Little Margie ''My Little Margie'' is an American television situation comedy starring Gale Storm and Charles Farrell that alternated between CBS and NBC from 1952 to 1955. The series was created by Frank Fox and produced in Los Angeles, California, at Hal Ro ...

'' (

), 7) '' Dragnet'' (

), 8) ''FBI in Peace and War'' (

), 9) '' Bergen and McCarthy'' (

), 10) ''

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...

'' (

). Martin Blaine and

Donald Briggs Donald Briggs (January 28, 1911 – February 3, 1986) was an American actor, who appeared in over 75 films and television shows between the 1930s and 1970s. Early life Briggs was born in Chicago, Illinois and died in Woodland Hills, California ...

headed the cast. The theme was the March from Prokofiev's ''

The Love for Three Oranges ''The Love for Three Oranges'', Op. 33, also known by its French language title ' (russian: Любовь к трём апельсинам, links=no, ''Lyubov' k tryom apel'sinam''), is a satirical opera by Sergei Prokofiev. Its French libretto ...

'', arranged for small symphony orchestra by Amedeo De Filippi, with Vladimir Selinksy conducting. The music was accompanied by a chant of "L-A-V-A," in reference to the show's sponsor being Lava soap. Actress Lisa Loughlin also voiced for the show beginning in 1952.

References

Listen to

''The FBI in Peace and War''
radiolovers.com (archive.org)
Episodes of ''The FBI in Peace and War''
archive.org

External links

1952 Scripts: ''The FBI in Peace and War'' was a summer replacement series sponsored by Lucky Strike. Scripts from the tobacco litigation begin with “Brass Knuckles” (1952-06-12) and include “The False Step” (1952-06-19), “Trouble Shooter” (1952-06-26), “The Big Yarn” (1952-07-03), “The Psycho Case” (1952-07-17), “The Entry Fee” (1952-07-31), “The Fence” (1952-08-07), “The Super Salesman” (1952-08-14), “The Bait” (1952-08-21), “The Carlson Plan” (1952-08-28), “The Serpent Ring” (1952-09-04), “The 12th Man” (1952-09-11).
*Jerry Haendiges
Betty Mandeville production papers, 1947-58
nypl.org {{DEFAULTSORT:FBI in Peace and War, The American radio dramas 1940s American radio programs 1950s American radio programs CBS Radio programs