Pat Novak for Hire was a radio series with enough snappy dialogue to metaphor a whole podcast full of patter. This episode, “John Saint John,” features Jack Webb’s titular character trying to fulfill a stranger’s dying wish to see a letter delivered. But no good deed goes unpunished and soon Novak is the target of several sinister figures with plans of their own! Who is the mysterious John Saint John? What could the envelope contain that would drive men to murder? How many zingers can one script cram into a half hour? Listen for yourself and find out! Then vote and let us know what you think!
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I truly enjoy all of Jack Webb’s radio shows. Please include Pete Kelly’s Blues at some point in the future.
I found myself, much like Eric, getting lost in the plot and forgetting that the plot wasn’t why we were listening. My favorite line was “throbbed like a love story in a women’s magazine.” All in all, this was a fun episode, all the language was great, but in this vein, I prefer Candy Matson. I feel like her delivery is so wry, it is more enjoyable for me than is Jack Webb’s playing-it-straight (and no offense to Jack Webb, he’s great). But yeah, all throughout the listen I kept wishing Candy would show up and lighten the mood. “Oh… Read more »
Pat Novak is one of my all time favorites. There’s something about a character that will snap at anything and how can you not love lines like:
When she said ‘good luck’, you knew she was just being polite and didn’t mean it anymore than the hangmen when he tells you to watch your step. or
He was a tough, hard cop, with a heart big enough to hide behind a piece of birdseed.
I was listening to some Pat Novak today and remembered this episode and wondered if there was a collection of the show’s zingers somewhere. Turns out there is:
http://patnovak.50webs.com/quotes.html
Great episode, loved the dialogue. Favorite was how he ran into a janitor in the lady’s building, but luckily it was his wife’s birthday. It took me a moment to realize he had bribed the janitor to let him into the apartment.