Night Beat - May 19, 1949 - Ted Carter Murder Case - Audition No. 1

Here's another program that should be an upgrade in sound quality for many otr enthusiasts. It's the first audition program created for the series "Night Beat", transferred directly from an original NBC reference acetate. My apologies for the skip on side two, but I couldn't figure out a way to play through that one.

This was the first pilot for the series. Rather than Frank Lovejoy playing a character named Randy Stone, the audition features Edmond O'Brien as Hank Mitchell. Episodic logs for "Night Beat" I've seen date this audition to September 15, 1949, but the label is dated May 19, 1949. (Was it recorded in May and aired in September?) In the show, titled "The Ted Carter Murder Case", an old friend of Mitchell's who is mixed up with a gangster is killed and Mitchell, feeling responsible, goes after the killer. Many thanks to collector and otr fan Paul in Montreal who was kind enough to trade me this rare disc for another in my own collection. Fans of "Night Beat" that are curious about the origins of the show can also see a special 45 rpm set that NBC created for potential advertisers that contains the episode "Zero" from the series in this older post from my personal blog. The blog entry contains a sound clip of the opening of the show from the set that includes a commercial announcement, inviting advertisers to sponsor the program.