Dragnet-Joe Friday Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ben Romero

Ben Romero, played by Burton Yarborough, was Joe's partner for around a hundred shows, until Yarborough died suddenly of a heart attack. The next show was dedicated to Burton, and his character, Ben, died of a heart attack in that show, rather than be replaced by another actor. Joe was with Ed for a few shows, then put in a request for a new partner; Ben's nephew.

His nephew didn't stay for very many shows and Frank was introduced, and became Joe's longest-running partner.

Answer: Hearing one of the poems Frank Smith wrote as a boy

Smith and Friday went to the home of a lady Smith had known since he was a little boy in the episode aired July 26, 1955. She praised him over and over again for the verses he had written as a boy and insisted he should've continued doing that instead of joining the police force. She tried to get him to recite his poem about the rainbow to Joe, but he refused, insisting he had forgotten it, so she recited it herself, with Joe egging her on and making various comments to Frank throughout the recitation. It went like this:
"Rain bow, rain bow, up so high.
Blue and red and yellow and brown,
Like an arch across the sky,
Won't you ever tumble down?"
At the end of this, Joe actually lets out two choked laughs, and when she leaves the room, he quotes it back to Frank. I can only find three other instances where he almost laughs-when talking to the boy mentioned in question 6, and telling him he can't be 21, that's older than Joe is, and twice when talking to Frank.
The lady inviting him over seemed to irritate (or embarrass) him more than anything else, and Frank's brother-in-law's exploits seem to bore him. When his mother continually jabs at his police-woman date he brought home for dinner, he butts into the conversation repeatedly, sounding rather agitated, though his date sounded rather amused.

Answer: Two little girls being molested and murdered

All of these episodes were in the "Dragnet" run, but the one about the little girls (put out near the start of the program) was the only one (that I'm aware of) with a warning. Jack Webb comes on at the beginning of the show and tells the parents that this show is for them-not their children. Friday's soft heart shows through in this episode; when the bodies of the little girls are found, he sounds about to cry.

When the criminal confesses at the end, looking at the girl's bodies in the morgue, instead of sounding triumphant, Joe again sounds about to break into tears.

Answer: His mother

In several shows Joe gets home late and accidentally wakes his mother, or calls her from the police station explaining that he's going undercover for a few days. She is generally more concerned that he eat enough and get enough sleep than about the dangerous druggies he's capturing.

Answer: "Have I still got that old tux around?"

After doing a stake-out together where the lady insisted Joe could dance and that he would look very nice in a tuxedo (to Joe's protestations), when Joe got home for the night, the final line to the show was him asking his mother if he still had that tuxedo around anywhere.

Answer: A badge

Joe mentioned how when he was a boy, he had always wanted an electric train, and asked the 'youngster' if there was anything in particular he wanted. The kid immediately requested a real police badge, so Joe gave him his old one. Joe was always good with kids.

Answer: It changes from episode to episode

Friday and his partner seem to get bounced around the divisions often. This of course was to allow for a broad range of shows.

Answer: Year

A general narration goes like this: "It was Tuesday, July seventh, it was hot in Los Angeles. We were working the night watch out of homicide detail. My partner's Frank Smith. The boss is Thad Brown, chief of detectives, my name's Friday. I was on my way into work and it was 4:58 PM when I got to room 42." Door opens "Homicide."
Several variations of this were done throughout the history of the show, though the structure never varied. One of the more memorable ones was when the last thing he mentioned, instead of it being a room, was a coke machine.

Answer: "Just the facts ma'am."

The 'Just the facts ma'am' is a misquote-he never said it, though he did get rather close on several occasions. The hot-shot calls occurred in most of the shows and generally Joe was the one to grab them. The "I'm doing the best I can in here" line came from a show about a former concentration-camp inmate who had been sentenced to 90 days in prison in the US for check fraud.

He was threatening to kill himself and Joe went in to try to calm him down. At the end of the show, someone begins beating on the door as Joe is trying to get the man to hand over the gun, and Joe yells out at them in frustration. Friday only worked the business office once, but as in most of the shows, he answered the phone with the his name and division.

Answer: Hit him

The lady in this episode had had many too many and took a swing at the officers. Joe seemed to be the one she made contact with and a brief scuffle ensued, with Joe trying to make her cut it out. After she sobered up she apologized and Joe shrugged it off.