The Rocky Fortune Radio Program

Series Derivatives:

Notes on Provenances:

The above cited provenances are for the most part in agreement. The most helpful provenances were the logs of the radioGOLDINdex and newspaper listings.

You're welcome to compare our fully provenanced research with Rocky Fortune log from the '1,500 expert researchers' at the OTRR. We've provided a screen shot of their current log for comparison, HERE, to protect our own ongoing due diligence.

OTRisms:

• Episode #3, while ostensibly concerning an attempt to defraud an insurance company makes no mention whatsoever of the invocation of any double indemnity clause in the policy. It was a straight insurance fraud. The title promoted by NBC to the newspapers of the era, is clearly a play on the term double indemnity, intentionally and ambiguously titled, Double Identity.
• In Episode #7, the word 'Hepcat' is never uttered in the broadcast. Nor is the term 'Hepcat' a word. The term used by the 'hip set' of the era was Hep Cat, two words.
• 'Too Many Husbands' is an oft-cited apocryphal title for any number of circulating detective genre programs from the era. In this instance, NBC promoted the teaser, "blonde has a husband too many," an apt title as well, and more appropriate as "One Husband Too Many."

This was a transcribed production. The only clues to the episode title and program continuity arise from Rocky Fortune's narrative at the close of each production, wherein he describes the dilemma he faces in the following episode. The titles that have been attached to these episodes over the years are therefore completely anecdotal.

What is also anecdotal is the episode sequence between the November 3, 1953 broadcast and the December 15, 1953 broadcast.

Here are the 'known-knowns' and the 'known-unknowns' we uncovered in our attempt to log this program:

• The long-standing myth that an episode of Rocky Fortune never aired on November 3, 1953 remains just that--a myth. We've established via 9 different states' newspaper listings that Rocky Fortune was not scheduled for pre-emption that day. There was no especially remarkable nationwide event on November 3, 1953. In other words, there was no other rational reason for that one specific episode to not have aired. Short of Frank Sinatra himself having issued a contractual demand to halt the airing of that one specific episode there appears to be no basis in fact proving that a specific episode of Rocky Fortune didn't air as scheduled on November 3, 1953.
• Nor does a 'pre-empted for Election Reporting' myth hold water. With allowance for the possibility that some local dog-catcher election took place somewhere in the United States on November 3, 1953, it's clear that there were no National Elections taking place during that political off-year.
• The only possible source of the original cross-contamination for all the logs in error appears to have been a misinterpretation of the RadioGoldIndex log. However, David Goldin has never represented any of his logs as being complete works. Indeed, he goes out of his way to qualify--especially among transcribed and syndicated programs--the dates, episode numbers and sequencing he provides. The fact that the RadioGoldIndex shows no episode for November 3, 1953, should not be construed to either prove or disprove the actual airing of the 53-11-03 episode.

So where did the original estimate of whether 25 or 26 episodes/scripts aired come from? We know that it was often the practice of both syndicators and networks alike to market blocks of 26 weeks worth of programming to their affiliates or prospective buyers. There are literally hundreds of 26-week programs in circulation. Therefore it's more than likely that this program was recorded from 26 scripts--indeed that 26 distinct episodes/scripts were actually recorded--rather than 25.

And where is the 'missing' episode, if there is one? The only program of the run that doesn't contain an closing 'teaser' by Frank Sinatra is 'Murder on the Midway'. The theme music continues on, but Frank Sinatra's teaser was either overdubbed on the original transcription/tape or was never recorded onto the transcription/tape in the first place. A P.S.A. occupies most of the remainder of exemplar recordings. The Museum Murder has also had its outro teaser cut--in this case deliberately. It would appear that any deliberate attempt to keep this program incomplete was either by NBC design, or, more likely, due to some mischief by one of the earliest traders of the original set of transcriptions/tapes.

What remains--and can be documented--is a complete record of 26 weeks worth of episodes having been announced as airing in literally hundreds of newspapers throughout the U.S.. So whether there were 25 scripts/episodes or 26 scripts/episodes is academic. Twenty-six weeks of Rocky Fortune programming actually aired--somewhere--between October 6, 1953 and March 30, 1954. That much can be proven. When a network announces programming as transcribed, it means just that. Much as syndicated programming is distributed to any number of local radio stations, network-transcribed programming was, by 1953, being routinely distributed to affiliate network outlets--or regional network hubs--in the same fashion: via transcription disc or open reel tape.

In fact, upon researching and evaluating the newspaper listings of the era, the only episode that's neither described or titled in newspaper listings of the era is episode #2 from October 13, 1953. Every one of the remaining twenty-five episodes can now be both identified and sequenced.

The lone 'missing' episode in all likelihood resides in one or more 'Old-School' collectors' holdings--and probably always has. Old-School Golden Age Radio collectors have long established the practice of holding back one--or several--'completer' episodes from a program they've either sold, given, or traded to other collectors. Why? Because in many instances , one or more 'commercial otr' sellers has/have welched on a past transaction--by either distributing a program in advance of an agreed upon release date, or by distributing a program to a larger audience than was agreed upon.

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Rocky Fortune Program Log

Rocky Fortune [AFRTS END-530] Log

Rocky Fortune Biographies

After graduating from The Drake Business Institute, he spent years grinding through the New Jersey roadhouse circuit before finding work in the late 1930s as a studio singer for Radio in New York City. By 1939, while performing at a club in New Jersey, he was heard by Harry James, who signed him to appear with his new swing band. After touring with James for a year, Sinatra was offered a lead singer opportunity with Tommy Dorsey. Sinatra rose to prominence with Tommy Dorsey's orchestra between 1940 and 1942.

Finally making his break with Dorsey in 1943, 'Ole Blue Eyes' began working solo and serving as emcee on the popular radio program, Lucky Strike Hit Parade. His solo work and Radio exposure quickly propelled him to teen idol status across the U.S., eventually generating hysteria from his young ‘bobby-soxer’ fans. Indeed one of his appearances at the Paramount Theatre, New York, resulted in a full-fledged riot on Columbus Day, 1944.

He remained a popular Radio and Recording star throughout the 1940s, signing with Columbia Records from 1943 to 1952. But nine years with Columbia was enough for Sinatra. He'd matured as an artist and sought a chance to shake off his 'bobby soxer' following and begin a broader career with more fidelity to the music and new style he now felt confident to undertake as his own.

His move to Capitol Records between 1953 and 1962 gave him the freedom to express his own style, pace, and mood, and his legendary Capitol recording sessions created an entirely new popular American identity in Music. Sinatra's subtle tempo changes, moodier phrasing, and softened international jazz influences shaped American Music for the next 20 years. In 1960 he co-founded the equally legendary Reprise Records label, for which he recorded exclusively from 1963 on.

The 1940s also brought him a mildly successful career as a film actor, beginning as a straight actor in Higher and Higher (1943). But it wasn't until his real breakout performance in 1953's From Here To Eternity that Sinatra finally began to acheive the fame and respect he'd fought so hard to attain. His performance in From Here To Eternity brought him far more than an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor. It opened up a complete second career for him, completely shaking off the 'skinny teen idol' image for good. His work in all of the Performing Arts was finally being taken seriously by serious critics. It firmly established him as a serious and mature adult performer and conscientious dramatic actor. He wasn't 'Frankie' any longer. He was Frank Sinatra; grown up actor, grown up performer, grown up businessman.

But paralleling his Film, Radio, and Recording work, were his early appearances in Las Vegas. He was one of a handful of performers who can truly be recognized as the performers that built Las Vegas. But his work in Las Vegas came at a price. The 'Las Vegas Lifestyle' was entirely at odds with the serious inroads he'd made into the Recording Industry and Film. Frank Sinatra was proud of the serious critical acclaim he'd acheived in Radio, early Television, Film, and Popular Music. His extraordinary Las Vegas success and its attendant, inevitable entanglements with underworld influences were hard to shake for the remainder of his career.

In all likelihood, the almost mythological escapades attributed to him during his Las Vegas and 'Rat-Pack' years, were equal part myth and fact. But they tainted the serious side of Sinatra and the talent he was continually driven to reassert for the remainder of his career.

His premature retirement in 1971 wasn't long-lived, though he used the time very effectively, with both his philanthropic interests, his private hobbies, and long overdue time with the family and friends he loved so much. But even though 'retired' he continued to contribute even more to popular music for the next 20 years, recording some of his most influential songs, including 1980's New York, New York, and his re-recording of It Was A Very Good Year, and My Way, which carried even more meaning during the last twenty years of the super-star's amazing, roller-coaster career. Indeed, it was that hit recording of New York, New York that gained him the unique status of being the first singer in History to acheive a hit record in five consecutive decades.

Sinatra passed away on May 14, 1998, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after suffering a heart attack. His wife Barbara and daughter Nancy were at his side.