Pat Novak, for Hire

Old time radio detective drama series

Pat Novak, for Hire is an old time radio detective drama series which aired from 1946 to 1947 as a West Coast regional program (produced at KGO in San Francisco) and in 1949 as a nationwide program for ABC.

The regional version originally starred Jack Webb in the title role, with scripts by his roommate Richard L. Breen. When Webb and Breen moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles to work on an extremely similar nationwide series, Johnny Madero, Pier 23, for the Mutual network, Webb was replaced by Ben Morris and Breen by other writers. In the later 1949 network version, Jack Webb resumed the Novak role, and Breen his duties as scriptwriter. The series is popular among fans for its fast paced, hard boiled dialogue and action and witty one liners.

Pat Novak, for Hire is set on the San Francisco waterfront and depicts the city as a dark, rough place where the main goal is survival. Novak is not a detective by trade, but he owns a boat shop on Pier 19 where he rents out boats and does odd jobs to make money. Each episode of the program, particularly the Jack Webb episodes, follows the same basic formula; a foghorn sounds and Novak's footsteps are heard approaching. He then pauses and begins by wearily saying "Sure, I'm Pat Novak for hire" (in one episode, "Rory Malone", he opens with "Sure, I'm Pat Foghorn "). The foghorn repeats and leads to the intro theme, during which Novak gives a monologue about the waterfront and his job renting boats. Jack Webb narrates the story and plays the titular character. A downtrodden cynic, Novak throws off such lines as "Around here a set of morals won't cause any more stir than Mother's Day in an orphanage". He then relates a story about the trouble in which he found himself the past week. Typically, a person unknown to Pat asks him to do an unusual or risky job. Pat reluctantly accepts and finds himself in hot water in the form of an unexplained dead body. Sultry females are usually involved. Police Inspector Hellman (played by Raymond Burr, who sometimes served as the program announcer making the opening and closing remarks) arrives on the scene and pins the murder on Novak. With only circumstantial evidence to go on, Hellman promises to haul Novak in the next day for the crime. The rapid, staccato dialogue between Webb and Burr is typical of hardboiled fiction and is often humorous. Pat uses the time to try to solve the case. He usually employs the help of "the only honest guy I know", his friend Jocko Madigan (played by Tudor Owen) – a drunken ex doctor typically found at some disreputable tavern or bar – to help him solve the case. Each time Novak approaches him, Jocko launches into a long winded philosophical diatribe, full of witty and funny remarks, until Novak cuts him off and asks for his help, which Jocko reluctantly agrees to, always ending their initial conversation with "Good night, Lover". Jocko and Novak unravel the case and Hellman makes the arrest. Finally, we hear the foghorn and Novak's footsteps on the pier again before Novak spells out the outcome of the case for the listener. At the end, Novak informs us that "Hellman had only one question", which Pat answers with a clever retort. The dialogue is rife with similes found in pulp fiction. Example: 'The neighborhood was run down – the kind of place where the For Rent signs look like ransom notes.'

In the regional series of 1946 47, John Galbraith played the inspector, and Phyllis Skelton was frequently heard in female roles on the program. George Fenneman was the announcer. During the 1949 network run, supporting actors included William Conrad, Virginia Gregg, Stacy Harris, Parley Baer, and Paul Frees. Conrad also functioned occasionally as the announcer. Basil Adlam led the orchestra.

A Pat Novak for Hire graphic novel was published in 2005 by Moonstone Books. The plot involves a now retired Novak coming out of retirement to re open one of his old cases. Ohmart, Ben. It's That Time Again. (2002) (Albany: BearManor Media)