Tue 18 Oct 2011
Old Time Radio’s ROCKY JORDAN (1945-1957), by Michael Shonk.
Posted by Steve under Old Time Radio , Reviews[13] Comments
by Michael Shonk
There is no simple credit line for Rocky Jordan. The radio series had many lives leaving it with a confusing history. This is an attempt to simplify that history and reveal a few surprises along the way. We begin where Rocky began:
A MAN NAMED JORDAN. Columbia Pacific Network (aka CPN or CBS West Coast). 15 minutes. Monday through Friday. January 8, 1945 through August 17, 1945. Written and directed by Ray Buffum. Jack Moyles as Rocky Jordan, Paul Frees as Ali, Jay Novello as Duke, Dorothy Lovett as Toni.
The story was told in the format of a radio serial complete with cliffhangers. With only two episodes surviving, it is difficult to judge the entire series, but one hopes the entire series was as fun and entertaining as the surviving episodes.
Set in Istanbul, the Cafe Tambourine’s owner Rocky Jordan is an adventurer who enjoys taking on bad guys in his search for profit. Rocky has little interest in the native culture and has a native Man-servant, Ali.
The two episodes feature a story of danger and adventure as Rocky seeks profit by busting a bad guy’s plan to smuggle Nazi war criminals and their loot out of Germany.
A MAN NAMED JORDAN. CPN. 30 minutes. Weekly. November 3, 1945 through September 27, 1947.
No episodes survive but it is assumed the same staff and cast returned.
ROCKY JORDAN. CPN. 30 minutes. October 31, 1948 through September 10, 1950. Produced and directed by Cliff Howard. Jack Moyles as Rocky, Jay Novello as Captain Sam Sabaaya.
Most of the episodes from this series survives.
Rocky and his Cafe Tambourine are now in Cairo. Trouble weary, Rocky tries to avoid adventure, but seems destine to always find himself stuck in the middle of trouble. Effort is put in using authentic music and locations, respect is paid to the different culture, and because of that Cairo comes alive to the listener.
The series mimics such films as Casablanca. There is a mystery to the characters. It is never revealed why Rocky can never return to America. Moyles is perfect as Rocky, while Novello as Captain Sabaaya is his equal. The relationship between the two characters was the backbone of the series’ appeal.
The next time Rocky resurfaced CBS was thinking television: “George Raft, movie actor, takes title role of CBS’s Rocky Jordan radio show tonight. It goes on TV this fall.” (Los Angeles Times, June 27, 1951)
Billboard (March 31, 1951) reports CBS plans to convert a number of their radio shows to television, including Rocky Jordan.
Broadcasting (September 10, 1951) mentions Rocky Jordan was “now in preparation” for TV.
Meanwhile, radio’s Rocky Jordan, with George Raft replacing Moyles, returned as a CBS summer series. It would be the only time Rocky would air over the entire country:
ROCKY JORDAN. CBS. June 27, 1951 through August 22 (*) 1951. Produced and directed by Cliff Howard. George Raft as Rocky Jordan, Jay Novello as Sabaaya, Four episode of the series’ eight plus the audition tape still survive.
(*) While radio logs from both the New York Times and Washington Post has Rocky‘s last episode August 22, the Los Angeles Times has an episode for August 29.
Raft plays Rocky as a tough guy with a heart of gold, making one miss the talents of Jack Moyles. Besides Raft, the only other real difference was having bartender Chris annoyingly talk directly to the listeners as he narrated the action.
There is no evidence that Raft continued to play Rocky beyond the CBS summer series. Using the Los Angeles Times logs (this post would not have been possible without JJ’s Radio Logs), I was unable to find any Rocky Jordan episode airing after August 29, 1951 and before October 13, 1952.
According to Broadcasting (October 6, 1952) Rainer Brewing signed to sponsor Rocky Jordan on CPN for fifty two weeks starting October 13, 1952.
ROCKY JORDAN. CPN. October 13, 1952 through June 26, 1953. Jack Moyles as Rocky Jordan.
None of these episodes survives. We know of Moyles’ return because Broadcasting twice (November 10, 1952 and March 30, 1953) referred to Moyles (using present tense) as starring in the title role of CPN’s Rocky Jordan.
There are surviving audition tapes from attempts to bring Rocky back in 1955 and 1957.
ROCKY JORDAN. August 25, 1955. Two fifteen minute episodes. Jack Moyles as Rocky, Jay Novello as Sabaaya.
Rocky is caught in the middle of a story of intrigue as his attempt to save a friend and Tribal leader backfires. The story is in the style of Rocky Jordan but uses the cliffhanger format of A Man Named Jordan.
ROCKY JORDAN. Armed Forces Radio Service. 1957. Jack Moyles as Rocky, Jay Novello as Sabaaya. Recreation of the episode “Nile Runs High” (September 18, 1949)
Rocky Jordan, with Jack Moyles, was a quality program with intelligence, wit, and style. This was radio at its best, telling a story with words and sounds so vivid it would awaken our imaginations and take us away to experience ancient cultures and exotic lands.
SOURCES:
JJ’s Logs: http://www.jjonz.us/RadioLogs
Thrilling Detective: https://www.thrillingdetective.com/jordan_r.html
Rand’s Esoteric OTR: http://randsesotericotr.podbean.com/category/rocky-jordan
Radio Archives: Volume 1.
Volume 2.
Volume 3.
Episodes are available to listen at archive.org and a variety of other places on the internet.
October 18th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
One of my favorite Old Time Radio shows. Living in upper lower Michigan when I was growing up, I didn’t know about this series. If anyone had asked me what my favorite radio program was back then, I’d have probably said THE SHADOW.
But when I started collecting old radio show on reel-to-reel tape in the early 1970s, I came across ROCKY JORDAN, and it was romance at first sight (or hearing).
Words can barely convey the enjoyment you can have by listening to the program, and by all means, check out the free episodes available on the Web.
Frankly I think ROCKY JORDAN would have been a big flop on TV, what with cheap sets and the other production values there wouldn’t have been.
I wish it weren’t such a cliche by now, but the sets you create in your own mind can can often surpass what even the best cinematographers or set designers can come up with.
October 18th, 2011 at 8:02 pm
And, you know, I was at first conflating it with that low-budget tv series, ROCKY JONES, INSIDE DETECTIVE. I’ll look for this, now that I’ve heard most of the good episodes (all?) of JOHNNY DOLLAR…
October 18th, 2011 at 9:59 pm
Well, I think all of the JOHNNY DOLLAR shows are good. He was the only licensed investigator to work out of Hartford CT, the next town over, which I think makes him unique.
But as for fellows named Rocky, there’s also ROCKY FORTUNE, a radio series from 1953-54 starring Frank Sinatra as a PI in the title role:
http://www.radiolovers.com/pages/rockyfortune.htm
October 18th, 2011 at 10:57 pm
JOHNNY DOLLAR was one of the last radio shows on the air in the 60s. It was another series that came in different formats and stars, but always made use of radio’s power to take the listener anywhere.
ROCKY FORTUNE had its moments but never really grabbed me enough to go out of my way to listen to it.
JORDAN was different from the rest because he tried so hard not to get involved. Not a PI or even a detective, his efforts usually were motivated by the need to save himself from a mess. A mess often caused by a pretty face.
October 19th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Although I’ve never heard of this show, there is an interesting counterpart on British TV. In the early 60s Patrick Allen appeared as Richard Crane in CRANE. This was very much in the spirit of the show that you’ve described, with a British businessman throwing up his old life in order to open a bar in Casablanca. Ostensibly operating as a straight businessman, he also involved himself in some lights smuggling (liquor rather than drugs),although his heart was in the right place and he often helped the local police chief to defeat the real bad guys. There were about 50 episodes made, although only two are known to exist now. The show was enormously popular at the time, so the fantasy of giving up your normal life in order to create another in some romantic locale was obviously as prevalent in this country as in the US.
October 19th, 2011 at 1:27 pm
Bradstreet
CRANE sounds like a must see, to me. If it were only possible … !
October 19th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
The joys of conflation:
That early TV detective show was ROCKY KING, INSIDE DETECTIVE, with Roscoe “Rocky” Karns, a staple of DuMont.
But there was also ROCKY JONES, SPACE RANGER, with Richard Crane, syndicated space opera.
A natural error, Todd.
Goodness knows we all make ’em.
That’s what happens when you older…
… your memory starts to get rocky.
October 19th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Mike D
That goes double for me…
October 19th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
When I was doing this review I kept typing ROCKY JONES instead of JORDAN and A MAN CALLED JORDAN (MAN CALLED X) instead of A MAN NAMED JORDAN.
October 24th, 2011 at 11:06 pm
Rocky from THE ROCKFORD FILES, and Rocket J. Squirrel don’t necessarily help matters.
Toward the end of the run, there was an unfortunate tendency in YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR, to be Very self-referential, to act as if Dollar could operate as an investigator if he was actually, in his world, also the star of a radio show. Happily, they dropped that conceit after a while.
September 8th, 2013 at 7:16 pm
I love Rocky Jordan, thanks for posting the extra info!
January 8th, 2021 at 12:41 am
Listening to Rocky Jordan tonight. It’s superb in the use of narrative to set the pace. It takes Rocky just 5-6 words to describe the action.
I don’t know how ‘long’ (or ‘frame count’) it takes for a film camera to capture a typical ‘establishing shot’. Such as when the hero arrives at hotel room.
Usually, “outside the hotel” or “downtown Vienna” or “the manor house” or whatever. Then the director follows the protagonist up to the door –then, inside the speakeasy or whatever. It’s the director’s choice; the length of the shot.
It’s true, imagery has a lot of speed and a lot of deftness. But images don’t necessarily equate to meaning.
I’m thinking now that the meaning needed to progress a story, is faster than the fastest camera.
It only takes a few words of audio to set a scene; and in serials like Rocky Jordan the words flow without lag or gap. Bam bam bam.
You jump from setting, to dialogue, to action at lightning pace.
I can’t help but feel this is ten times faster than even the fastest visual storytelling. The whole plot of a Rocky Jordan episode takes 23 minutes. As opposed to: all the lengthy camerawork that fills in narrative space around a detective in a movie. How long is too long to tell a story? Isn’t the fastest speed the best speed?
If a ‘fun guy at a party’ is telling a joke to the room, you detect immediately (and viscerally) when the joke falters. There’s nothing faster than logic or cognition. Visuals are never as fast as audio. That’s why Rocky Jordan zooms!
January 8th, 2021 at 12:21 pm
Indeed it does, Lazy. By the time that OTR was over, the people involved were very very good at what they were doing. The sad aspect of this is that when attempts to revive the form later on, all of the previous expertise was lost.