Radio Drama · Old Time Radio Researchers · Mystery & crime · Drama

Rocky Fortune

Heard
1953–1954
Episodes
28

ROCKY FORTUNE

More about it

Created in 1953 by writer George Lefferts and starring Frank Sinatra in the lead, Rocky Fortune followed the exploits of a marginally employed jack-of-all-trades Rocko Fortunato, or Rocky Fortune. Considered a second-rate show even when it aired, the series found Sinatra at the nadir of popularity after his 1940s crooning heights and just before his career was rekindled with his role in From Here to Eternity. The scripts, mostly by George Lefferts and Ernest Kinoy, often stretched the limits of believability, taking Fortune from jobs as a social director at a Catskills resort to transporting a truck of nitroglycerine across the country. Sinatra's cool, somewhat flippant persona brought the audience along for a fun ride and made it easier to overlook sometimes absurd situations. There was little continuity over the series' run. Despite not being able to keep a job for more than a single episode, Fortune always had the license, certification, or union card necessary for the next job. The only other recurring character was the dim-witted police Sergeant Hamilton J. Finger, played by Barney Phillips, who always called his precinct headquarters "the Irish clubhouse". For reasons never fully explained, Fortune always had a direct line to the Sergeant and at times even barked orders to the beat cops under Finger's supervision. NBC never found a sponsor for the show but the writers frequently found a way to work the title of Sinatra's new movie, From Here to…

Episodes, in broadcast order

  1. Oyster Shucker at the Fifty Fathoms

    · No. 1 · 25 min

  2. Double Indemnity

    · No. 2 · 24 min

  3. The Shipboard Jewel Robbery

    · No. 3 · 24 min

  4. Pint-Sized Payroll Bandit

    · No. 4 · 25 min

  5. Messenger for Death

    · No. 5 · 25 min

  6. Some Cat's Killed the Canary

    · No. 6 · 24 min

  7. Murder on the Aisle

    · No. 7 · 25 min

  8. Murder Among the Statues

    · No. 8 · 24 min

  9. Murder on the Midway

    · No. 9 · 25 min

  10. Companion to a Chimp

    · No. 10 · 25 min

  11. The Plot to Murder Santa Claus

    · No. 11 · 25 min

  12. The Prize Fight Fix (AFRTS)

    · No. 12 · 31 min

  13. The Prize Fight Fix

    · No. 12 · 24 min

  14. On the Trail of a Killer

    · No. 13 · 24 min

  15. The Rodeo Murder Mystery

    · No. 14 · 25 min

  16. The Museum Murder

    · No. 15 · 25 min

  17. Hauling Nitro

    · 24 min

  18. Hollywood or Boom

    · No. 16 · 25 min

  19. The Football Fix (AFRTS)

    · No. 17 · 25 min

  20. The Football Fix

    · No. 17 · 25 min

  21. The Catskills Cover-Up

    · No. 18 · 24 min

  22. One Husband Too Many

    · No. 19 · 24 min

  23. A Sitting Duck for Death

    · No. 20 · 25 min

  24. Honor Among Thieves

    · No. 21 · 25 min

  25. The Twice-Murdered Man

    · No. 22 · 24 min

  26. Psychological Murder

    · No. 23 · 25 min

  27. Rocket Racket

    · No. 24 · 24 min

  28. Boarding House Doublecross

    · No. 25 · 25 min

Where it comes from 2

The archive items its episodes are played from, best first, with each one’s rights as its archive states them. An episode two sets both hold is played from the first.

  1. Rocky Fortune - Single Episodes

    Old Time Radio Researchers · Old Time Radio Researchers Group · 27 episodes here · archive.org (opens in a new tab)

    CC BY-NC-ND 2.5: CC BY-NC-ND 2.5, as its uploader states it at the Internet Archive.

  2. Rocky Fortune 54 01 26 Hauling Nitro

    Old Time Radio · 1 episode here · archive.org (opens in a new tab)

    the Internet Archive states no licence or rights for it.

5 more sets hold only episodes played here from a set above.

A set by the Old Time Radio Researchers Group (otrr.org), at the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio collection.

More Mystery & crime

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