Dragnet - The Big Thank You - Backstory

(4.5 stars; 11 reviews)

'Some People Never Get Too Much' Dragnet - The Big Thank You March 9, 1950 You're a detective sergeant.  You're assigned to homicide detail.  A confessed murderess is paroled from the state prison for women.  After seven months the parole office loses contact with her. Your job:  find her. This episode of Dragnet, from late in the first season, is a first-rate illustration of how an investigation may start with the smallest indication of wrongdoing, followed by the monotonous and too-often futile door-to-door work that is a staple of police procedure.  It may uncover something as simple as a misunderstanding, or it may uncover a story of extraordinary violence. In this case, the story is set in motion by something as small as a discrepancy in signatures on monthly parole reports.  Sergeants Joe Friday and Ben Romero visit the friends and neighbours of Annie Johnson, the subject of the reports.  As they do, they gather more and more conflicting stories about the parolee, and the fate of the couple in whose home she is living.  From there, the story builds to a spellbinding tale of greed, betrayal, and violence. Realism in this story is established in several ways.  Witnesses interviewed are busy with their own problems, from a nasty cough to a broken sewing machine, all of which they are more than willing to share.  Annie Johnson herself is as pleasant and helpful as anyone, but some of her explanations conflict with what Friday and Romero already know.  Information comes from many sources, and the detectives must compare what they learn to what they already know, to separate truth from fiction, and the significant from the irrelevant. The Big Thank You is an excellent example of Dragnet's matter-of-fact style, a style that enhances our ability to both identify with the detectives and understand their methods.  This unpretentious narrative allows the listener to easily collect and analyze information as it arises, increasing our engagement in the story.  The oft-parodied 'just the facts' style of the show mirrors the necessary style of police procedure, in order to gather the most information in the smallest amount of time.  This format also allows Dragnet to impart a deceptively large amount of story in a thirty minute program. Lest you infer that this episode is a dry exercise in logic, rest assured that this is a suspenseful tale with a powerhouse finale.  The tension is built through the aggressive unravelling of the suspect's alibis, the haunting music, ominous sound effects, and the eerie moment of silence that leads to a genuinely startling climax, one that may have you jumping off your seat. While this was just the thirty-ninth of almost four hundred episodes of Dragnet produced on radio, the cast and crew had already hit their stride.  Creator and star Jack Webb was a radio veteran who had already starred in several series, and was able to assemble a team of professionals that rivalled any in radio.  The building of suspense as this episode progresses is evidence of the high level of teamwork and talent that produced Dragnet.  The cornerstone of the episode is the tour-de-force performance of the actress playing Annie Johnson.  It is unfortunate that her name is lost to history, as the cast for this episode was not announced at the close. With Dragnet's unflagging commitment to realism and dedication to presenting the most accurate portrayal of police work, it is no surprise that this episode concludes with the announcement that 'Radio-Television Life' magazine had named Dragnet "The Outstanding New Program Of The Past Radio Season". The Backstory The Big Thank You is also a first-rate illustration of how Dragnet adapted the story of a true crime to their half-hour format.  As stated at the episode's opening, the story is true, and having the program begin at Sgt. Friday's involvement in the case helps to fit the story into the show.  Still, some elements must be left out in order to fit the story into a thirty minute episode. The true story adapted for this episode of Dragnet was a high-profile crime that had been front-page news just a few years before this broadcast.  It is still quite easy to research online, to see how the producers of Dragnet were able to craft an exciting story using 'just the facts' of a genuine police case. * Note:   The full story of the crime portrayed may be a daunting read, and may give away certain plot points; therefore, it might be best to listen to The Big Thank You first, then come back and read the story of paroled murderess Louise Peete. Louise Peete:  Lies & Larceny Following is the story of the true-life 'Annie Johnson', Louise Peete. Bear in mind that the research for this article was carried out on the internet, often from conflicting sources whose veracity may therefore be in doubt.  Wherever a date or method of suicide could not be verified, they have not been included.  Other discrepancies between sources are noted as they arise.  There is some variance on the cited date of birth of Louise Peete; to determine her age at certain events, I have used the earliest date, September 1880. "The story you are about to hear is true.  Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent."  So begins almost every episode of Dragnet.  In this case, the actual name of 'Annie Marie Johnson' was Louise Peete, and the victims in this tale, 'Laura and Joseph Muller', were in fact Margaret and Arthur C. Logan.  The high-profile story of their murder had come to a close just three years before this episode aired, and most listeners would have easily made the connection. The full story began decades earlier in Bienville, Louisiana, when a teenage girl set out to make her way in the world.  When Lofie Louise Preslar, better known to the world as Louise Peete, was just fifteen, she was expelled from a girl's finishing school after the theft of some jewellery from a schoolmate.*  Unwilling to remain with her family, she set out on a life of prostitution and petty thievery. * Note:   Some sources state that Louise was expelled due to sexual misconduct. From an early age, Louise Peete left a trail of death behind her, a passion for jewellery and a devious way with men shaping her early life.  Married in her teens in Louisiana, her first husband took his own life after finding her with another man, in flagrante delicto, in a Waco, Texas hotel room. After a year in Boston, continuing a life of crime and ruination while posing as an heiress, she returned to Texas and became the wife of Dallas hotel employee Harry Faurote.  Louise Peete soon held the key to his heart, and the combination to the hotel safe.  Although $20,000 worth of jewellery disappeared, the evidence couldn't be found, and Peete could not be convicted.  This did nothing to salvage the reputation of Faurote, who became the second of her husbands to kill himself, rather than endure the shame of having known Louise Peete.* * Note:   The story of Peete's involvement in the jewel theft may be in doubt, and some sources credit her flagrant sexual escapades as the cause of the Faurote's suicide; it could have been a combination of the two that drove him to his death. During her time in Texas, Louise Peete took up with a flamboyant oilman with a penchant for diamonds, wearing them on his rings, belt buckle, and buttons.  He would be found dead from a bullet wound, his diamonds missing.  Louise admitted that she had killed him, claiming that he had tried to rape her.  A jury ruled that it was self-defence, and Peete was set free.  The diamonds were never found. In her early thirties, Louise married for a third time, to Richard C. Peete, owner of a Denver, Colorado auto agency.  For several years she lived an honest life, until 1920, when business reverses threatened to force her husband into bankruptcy.  When Louise learned of the situation, she took her daughter from this marriage and left for Los Angeles.*  Four years later, in 1924, a destitute Richard Peete would take his own life in a seedy Arizona hotel room. * Note:   One source states that she left her daughter with her husband in Colorado; her daughter doesn't seem to figure in the story after this point. The First Murder: In Los Angeles, Louise Peete soon found employment as housekeeper for a wealthy middle-aged widower, Jacob Charles Denton.  A week after taking the position, Peete found Denton's bankbook and his diamonds.  Not long afterward, Denton disappeared, with Peete offering conflicting, and often fantastic, stories explaining his absence. For months, Louise Peete wove a tangled web of lies, in an attempt to stall the investigations into Denton's disappearance.  Her luck would finally run out when she returned to Denver, telling neighbours that she was attempting a reconciliation with husband Richard Peete.  In Louise's absence, an attorney hired by Denton's daughter, accompanied by a private detective, would search the Denton mansion.  Four months after his disappearance, the decomposing body of Jacob Denton was found buried in the basement of his fourteen-room home.  Louise Peete was soon charged with his murder. At her trial, the stories that Peete had told were exposed as lies, and her lack of remorse at the deaths that she had caused was laid bare.  Overwhelmed by the savage cross-examinations of D.A. Thomas Lee Woolwine, Peete's attorney chose not to let her take the stand, despite her claims throughout the trial that she would testify in her own defence. In January 1921, an all-male jury took four hours to find Louise Peete guilty.  On the first ballot, the vote had been eight to four for hanging; she was sentenced to life imprisonment.  For almost two decades, yearly applications for parole were denied.  Finally granted her freedom in the spring of 1939, Louise would walk out of the California Institution for Women at Tehachapi and resume a life of larceny and lies.  This is where the Dragnet episode 'The Big Thank You' begins. The Second Murder: While most of the details of this episode are close to the reality of the story, there are a few noteworthy changes.  Without giving too much away, when Louise Peete was paroled on April 11, 1939, she initially went to work for Jessie Marcy, whose death soon afterward was attributed to natural causes (an elderly co-worker also died, under suspicious circumstances). Upon Marcy's death, Peete went to work for a woman who had helped to secure her parole, Emily Dwight Latham.  In the summer of 1943, Mrs. Latham had become ill, and required the services of a housekeeper.  Two weeks after Louise moved into her apartment, Emily Latham died of a stroke.  There was no foul play suspected in her death, but when she left, Louise Peete stole a .32 Smith & Wesson that had belonged to Latham's husband. It was at this point, in November 1943, that Margaret Logan hired Louise Peete to care for her invalid husband, Arthur Logan, although Margaret had been familiar with Peete since the time of her original trial.  Mrs. Logan also took on the task of signing the monthly parole reports that figure so heavily in this story, their forged signatures being the first evidence of misdeeds at the Logan house.  Margaret and Arthur C. Logan are the 'Laura and Joseph Muller' of 'The Big Thank You'. In May 1944, while working for the Logans, Louise Peete married 66-year-old bank messenger Lee Borden Judson.  Soon afterward, Peete forged a $200 cheque in the name of Margaret Logan.  When Logan learned of this, she attempted to force Peete to pay the money to the bank to cover the cheque.  Unable to raise the funds, on May 29, 1944, Peete told her new husband to wait at the hotel where they had been living, while she went to discuss a business matter with Margaret Logan at her home in Pacific Palisades.  Logan was never seen alive again. On June 4th 1944, Louise Peete arranged for Arthur Logan, suffering from dementia and having been declared mentally incompetent, to be commited to Patton State Hospital.  Soon afterward, the couple moved out of their hotel room and into the Logan house.  While Peete's husband quickly began to suspect that something was wrong, he had no inkling of his wife's criminal past, or the terrible fate of Margaret Logan.  When the truth finally came out, Lee Borden Judson would become the fourth of Louise Peete's husbands to commit suicide. It was not until December 1944 that suspicions were raised, when California state parole officer Mrs. Weisbrod suspected forgery in the recent signatures on Louise Peete's monthly parole reports.  When she showed them to her superior, Walter Lentz, chief investigator for the D.A., it was the beginning of the end for Louise Peete.*  On December 20th, 1944, two carloads of detectives swooped down on the Logan house, led by a man often mentioned on Dragnet, LAPD Chief of Detectives Thad Brown.  There, they made the gruesome discovery that is the basis for the March 9th, 1950 Dragnet episode, 'The Big Thank You'. * Note:   Wikipedia states that it was Logan's bank that first discovered the forgeries, on cheques drawn on her account. Louise Peete stood trial for murder for the second time in her life, defended, for the second time, by the public defender.  Convicted by a jury of eleven women and one man, Peete was sentenced to death.  All of her appeals failed, and on April 11th, 1947, exactly eight years after receiving her parole from Tehachapi for the Denton murder, Louise Peete became one of only four women executed in California, all in the gas chamber at San Quentin. The Body Count: 1- First Husband, Henry Bosely:  Suicide 2- Second Husband, Hotel Manager Harry Faurote:  Suicide 3- Lover, Texas Oilman Joe Appel:  Shot, Ruled Self-Defence 4- Third Husband, Auto Dealer Richard C. Peete:  Suicide 5- Employer and Possible Lover,* Jacob Charles Denton:  Murder 6- Friend and Employer, Margaret Logan:  Murder 7- Fourth Husband, Bank Employee Lee Borden Judson:  Suicide * Note:   One story has Denton refusing to marry Louise Peete, another has Peete identifying Denton as her husband, but only after his disappearance. Her mentions of her "husband, Jacob" may have been a flight of fancy, or may have been for the purposes of claiming Denton's fortune; it's definite that she was originally hired by Denton as a housekeeper.  In The Big Thank You, her first murder victim is briefly mentioned as "her husband, John". The Big Adaptation In no way does it detract from Dragnet, or the writers of the program, that they were obliged to pare the story down somewhat.  It would be almost impossible to fit the entire tale, which took years to unfold, into a thirty minute episode.  Here are a few of the aspects of this story that were left out: In this episode, no reference is made to Louse Peete's employers between the time of her release from Tehachapi and her employment with the Logans.  In the Dragnet episode, 'Annie Johnson' goes to work for the 'Mullers' immediately upon being paroled.  Emily Latham, parole board member and Peete's second employer, was as responsible as anyone for securing parole for Louise Peete; in The Big Thank You, this is attributed to Annie Johnson's victim Laura Muller, based on Peete's third employer, Margaret Logan. Louise Peete's last husband, Lee Borden Judson, also goes unmentioned in this episode.  The couple moved into the Logan house in June 1944, and while he felt that something was amiss, he had no knowledge of the demise of Margaret Logan.  Judson was detained on a murder charge in the case, but on January 11th, 1945, he was cleared of any culpability.  The next day, January 12th, Judson rode the elevator to an upper floor of a downtown Los Angeles office building, where he jumped down a stairwell to his death.  During his seven months of marriage, he had never known that his wife was a paroled murderer.  Judson was the seventh person to die either by the hand of, or as a suicide caused by, Louise Peete. There are other small changes, none of which greatly affect the veracity of the story.  One is that in reality, the climactic discovery played out in the back yard; on Dragnet, this was changed to the basement, perhaps for simplicity of production, or perhaps to provide the wonderfully ominous sound of pick-axes on concrete.  The writers of Dragnet may have been inspired to make this change by the fact that Jacob Charles Denton, Louise Peete's earlier murder victim, was found buried in the basement of his own home. Another change is that the pistol found by police at the scene was, in fact, the .32 Smith & Wesson that Peete had taken from the Latham household.  When the story was retold on Dragnet, the murder weapon was changed to a 32-20 Colt.  (Could this be an early, deadly version of product placement?)  A third bit of untruth is that the character of Annie Johnson claimed to be thirty-eight, while Peete would have been sixty-four years old at the time of her arrest, but the vain Louise Peete / Annie Johnson always did have a penchant for falsehoods. Links: To visit the OTRR's Dragnet page, with almost four hundred episodes available, click here . To visit Introduction To Old-Time Radio's Dragnet page, click here . To view the entire ITOTR collection, click here . For a feature article on the crime profiled in 'The Big Thank You' (and wonderful example of early 1960s men's-mag reporting), Bill Walker's 'She Buried Them All' in the January 1962 'Saga: The Magazine For Men', click here . To visit the Wikipedia page, for another take on the life and crimes of Louise Peete, click here . (As of this writing, the Wiki page for Bienville, Louisiana makes no mention of Louise Peete in their 'Notable People' section; perhaps they're not too proud of their native daughter.) Text © 2016 W.H.Wilson

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.