No One Would Have Defunded The 'Naked City' Cops

October 12 marks the 60th anniversary of “Naked City”, the critically-acclaimed police series on ABC-TV, becoming an hour-long program seen every Wednesday night.

These days, the thought-provoking series is enjoying a phenomenal revival among a new generation of fans.  Thanks to DVD sales of all 138 episodes and its easy availability on “YouTube” and other outlets, “Naked City” lives and thrives 57 years after its last program.

Just as incredibly, the gritty, New York-based series that ran from 1958-63 foresaw many of the problems that big-city police departments face today — from the brutality of cops who should not have been on the beat, to racial tensions, to lines police should not cross with the public.

Put another way, fans universally agree, there would be no outcry to “defund the police” nor a public debate over the “blue line” if there were more police like those in the 65^th Precinct: Detective Frank Arcaro (Harry Belavar), a confirmed bachelor who lived with his immigrant “Mama” and spoke fluent Italian; Detective Adam Flint (Paul Burke), cerebral, sensitive, and holder of a degree in psychology; and Lieutenant Mike Parker (Horace McMahon) gruff, increasingly short-tempered, and a lawman who did it all “by the book.”

The series sprang from the eponymous novel and hit 1948 movie that was the work of famed crime reporter Mark Hellinger.  A decade later, “Naked City” came to television in its half-hour incarnation. While drawing critical praise, the series’ ratings were so-so.

After 24 episodes, John McIntire, who starred as veteran Police Lt. Dan Muldoon, decided he preferred his ranch on the West Coast to New York.  So producer Herbert B. Leonard did something unprecedented in television drama: he had Muldoon killed off in a brutal opening scene in which a gangland hitman known as “The Bumper” causes a car crash that kills the lieutenant and a mob informer.

That led to Lt. Parker taking over the 65^th Precinct.  The show was actually canceled in 1959, but revived in October of ’60 as an hour series in which Burke made his debut as the sensitive Detective Flint.

The “Naked City” cops had their share of rogue cops, “cowboy” cops, and even fake cops.  The premiere of the hour-long version begins with veteran character actor Eli Wallach as Bain, a decorated detective who actually delivers his own brand of justice by shooting a petty crook who tries to surrender (played by future “Columbo” Peter Falk) and reciting Shakespeare upon completing the execution.  Flint would uncover a pattern of similar behavior by Bain and deal with him.

In “A Man With No Skin,” a young George Segal plays a reckless police detective whose insistence on charging in without backup to arrest a murderous gangster leads to the death of his partner.  Again, Parker, Flint, and Arcaro handled the situation by the book.

“Golden Lads and Girls” explored the then-little mentioned subject of domestic violence, and did so through an affluent and not-so-affluent family. 

Before anyone heard of sexual harassment, Detective Flint admitted on the witness stand in “The Rydecker Case," to escorting a woman home after failing to cite her for a moving violation: “I’m guilty of having been human enough to be aware she was an attractive young lady…I enjoyed being in her company enough to go back several times”— stated as his actress-fiancé Libby Kingston (Nancy Malone) sits stone faced in the courtroom.

Producer Leonard and writer Stirling Silliphant (who wrote or oversaw many episodes) appeared to have a sixth sense about the growing multicultural nature of New York and new challenges the police would face. 

Different shows focused on such diverse communities as the Hungarians, Romanians, Poles, Puerto Ricans, Jews who survived concentration camps (and who are now in pursuit of Nazi war criminals), and, in several episodes, Italians (with whom Arcaro’s mastery of the language helps immensely).

In “Bringing Far Places Together,” a barrio (Hispanic neighborhood) explodes and police are stoned from the rooftops by angry residents. Realizing that many of the residents speak only Spanish, Lt. Parker calls for “any Spanish-speaking cops.”  (Several scenes in this episode were done exclusively in Spanish, with English subtitles).

In the early 1960’s, “Naked City” was featuring black women in major roles before most other programs.  Diahann Carroll was nominated for an Emmy for her performance as a dedicated teacher of the handicapped in “A Horse Has A Big Head — Let Him Worry.” Cicely Tyson made one of her first TV appearances on “Naked City,” portraying a witness to a fight on a construction site in “Howard Running Bear Is A Turtle.”

In a never-expected development that remains unexplained to this day, the network canceled “Naked City” in May 1963 after four seasons — in spite of the facts that ratings were high, the praise from critics remained, and the sponsors were happy.

But “Naked City” enjoys a revival that few other series do after sixty years.  Its theme and its stories are as timeless as its signature closing line: “There are eight million stories in the naked city.  This has been one of them.”