Crime Marches On

Two years ago Idea Man Phillips Lord concocted a radio drama called Mr. District Attorney. In his early youth, under the sponsorship of Pepsodent, Mr. D. A. was a conventional racket buster on an NBC hookup. But early in 1940 the show was taken over by Bristol-Myers Co., and Mr. D. A., between plugs for a hair dressing called Vitalis, gradually widened the scope of his activities until he was investigating everything from the villainous carryings-on of a side-show midget to the despicable treachery of a football coach intent on throwing his team's big game. Written by drawly, dormousy Finis Farr, directed by Edward A. Byron, veteran radio showman, Mr. D. A. is now the most popular whodunit on the air.

Thinking up crimes for Mr. D. A. to solve has had its effect on Farr & Byron. Ordinarily kindhearted and soft-spoken men, they have become so immersed in criminalingo that in public they earnestly discuss "putting the heat" on one of their characters, "sticking a knife in that stoolie from Brooklyn," "blowing the top off the No. 1 guy." Author Farr relies on bartenders, waiters, cabbies and cops to give his script the proper cadences.

Few characters on the air have been in & out of as much trouble as Mr. D. A. A mad scientist once walled him up in a sarcophagus, a killer attempted to hang him while he was home asleep in bed, and another maniac tried to blow him apart with a bomb. Proud are Collaborators Farr & Byron of the horrifying physical assaults, the weird, unhappy noises, the gunplay and knifeplay that characterize each Mr. D. A. script. By the rules of radio, they prefer to kill men rather than women, but they are sometimes compelled to knock a lady off to keep their plot in order. Now serving as Mr. D. A. is Actor Jay Jostyn, who takes his work so seriously that he even offers legal advice to his pals.

When shaping up a Mr. D. A. script, Farr & Byron begin fully dressed, work down to their pelts before the program is finally set. Although Farr does most of the writing, Byron can spell him when necessary. Fortnight ago Farr turned out a script in which the villains operated a loan company. Fearful of offending customers, NBC complained that the script was too rough. Since Farr was out of town, Byron had to sit down and whip up another show. It sounded just as dreadful as any of Farr's.

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