MovieChat Forums > Dragnet (1951) Discussion > Is it true the prints are gone?

Is it true the prints are gone?

posted 15 years ago by transcendbrokerage
5 replies | jump to latest

So from my Internet research it seems about 57 or so of the 276 Dragnet episodes from 1951 to 1959 are available on DVD or online sites, etc. This is a pathetic 20% or so of the shows total run. Apparently the black & white 1950s shows were mothballed in a cave/mine in Pennsylvania where they still reside?

Are the rest of these episodes just "gone"- e.g, prints/negatives lost or damaged? Seems like every year a few more episodes leak out from someone with old syndication prints from their attic or whatever. Why not just dig 'em all out and post the whole catalouge on a site like Hulu or Fancast? Obviously there isn't the demand for a full DVD release, but why not try for a few bucks by posting them online instead of letting them rot? The 1955 to 1959 episodes are esp. rare, with only a tiny handful in circulation.

I read that in the year before his death Webb often watched the old 1950s eps in his apartment, so any chance the Webb family has these prints? It just seems sad that so many of these classics are rotting away somewhere while garbage like Full House is on Nick at Nite 500X a day.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jbwphoto1 13 years ago

The episodes from the 1950's are available through Netflix. Some of the eps are from the radio show and later showed up in the color series.

[–] eljefe320 12 years ago

They are all safely tucked away in Universal's vaults.

[–] actionsub 8 years ago

That's just the color episodes from the 60s. Universal/Revue/MCA had no stake in the original series in the 50s, so the Webb estate may have owned them outright. As it is, what remains of the original series is in public domain; they're not under copyright.

[–] corgitoy 8 years ago

From what I've read, Universal let the copyrights lapse to the 1950's Dragnet in the late 70's. From several Dragnet groups I've learned that Universal does have prints of the '50's show in a storage facility in Western Pennsylvania that was a limestone mine that was owned by US Steel, as limestone was used in the manufacturing of steel.

Long story short, that while the prints still exist, Universal decided that the B/W series has "No commercial value." In another sad note, I read on the old movie site "Nitrateville" that at one point, Jack Webb had pristine copies of every film and television show that he produced. While he didn't have the filming elements, he had perfect 16MM and 35MM copies, including all of "Noah's Ark" which was the first color televsion show that NBC aired, and only one copy of which exists, in the National Archives, as well as TV pilots, such as "The Black Cat."

According to the poster, his first job out of film school was to catalog and inventory Webb's collection, so it could be sold for scrap, and obtain the silver nitrate from the film for sale, as Webb was tired of paying the storage fee for the films. It sickened the archivist, as Webb's collection was in perfect condition until 1979, and was gone, just like that.