Part 2 of Burton Trent - Detective

Part 2 Preparation & Research

Having seen the photos of the condition of the discs, you will understand why it took many cleaning sessions over a number of weeks, before I could record the discs.  Once I removed the surface grime under the laundry tap, avoiding wetting the labels, I then used 'The Disc Doctor's Miracle Record Cleaner' system.  Over many sessions, using demineralised water to rinse afterwards.  I wore out a brush thanks to the ant cement sticking to the surface of the discs, but eventually I got them clean enough to record.  Several discs took 7 or 8 cleaning sessions.  After the discs were cleaned, I was surprised to find no cracking of the acetate and no peeling.  There was the odd chip on the outer edge, lots of grazes and scratches, even some gouges.  One disc had a pattern of damage like tyre treads running across it.  The dirt and the dry conditions under the house had served to protect the discs for probably 70 years or more.

While discs were drying, or whenever I had time, I started researching the series.  I have an extensive collection of Radio Magazines, Radio Newspapers and reference books.  I found very little information there.  I soon found that despite the glowing writeup of the 2SM Cases of Burton Trent in January 1938, I only found it broadcast twice in NSW.  The only state that I could find program guides showing Burton Trent, was in Queensland.

I discovered that the series was broadcast on 4BC commencing 15th May 1938 and fairly continuous through to early 1942.  Because there were no articles found or episode descriptions, I have no way of knowing if the series was repeated as was common.  It would be helpful if only to know how many episodes were produced.  The series was also broadcast on 4GR Toowoomba (the suspected source of these discs) from 18th September 1938 through to early 1941.  4RO Rockhampton 28th May 1938 through to mid 1941 with no episodes in 1940.  4IP Ipswich also broadcast it from August 1941 to August 1942 (if no repeats, possibly a standard run of 52 episodes).  The reason I mention these dates is to show that for all these stations to play the series at roughly the same time, they either played them in a different order and passed the discs from one station to another, or there were possibly up to 4 sets of discs.  There were other stations, like 4MB Maryborough & 4SB Kingaroy, showing up in the radio program guides.  To document every week on every station, will take a little longer but I have documented most of it.

As I continued researching, I found name changes for the series.  I don't know how 'official' the changes were or if the particular newspapers named the series but it varied between:  Burton Trent, Burton Trent - Detective, Cases of Burton Trent - Detective, Exploits of Burton Trent - Detective, Burton Trent - Master Detective, Career of Burton Trent - Detective, Burton Trent On Secret Service.

One of the early mysteries has been answered and that is the cast information.  Despite the article about 2SM Players producing Burton Trent, it is obvious that the series which only lasted 2 episodes in Sydney, did very well in Queensland for nearly 4 years.  The hundreds of program guides I looked at often listed 4BC Players on the same line, but I couldn't confirm that it was indeed 4BC Players that produced the series.  Often there was a full stop between 'Burton Trent' and 4BC Players and the time allowed might be 45 minutes for a 30 minute program so I wondered if 4BC Players followed Burton Trent.  I emailed 4BC, silly me.  They directed me to the National Film & Sound Archives.  The discs themselves gave no clue right up until the last disc I recorded this week.  I had earlier recorded one disc that was the only single sided disc in the group.  It had a blank label totally different from the other discs and it was a part 2 of a story.  Then I recorded the last disc, it was part 1 of the earlier story and its 2nd side was another part 1, only this part 1 had a false start and that false start said 4BC Players.  The part one was the last side I recorded because it wasn't identified as being part 1 and it solved the mystery.  The announcer stated that 4BC Players was presenting the first in the Burton Trent series.

The 4BC Players were a group of 4BC staff and actors who acted in plays produced by 4BC.  No real documentation survives that tells us who played what part.  The group changed constantly over the years as people left or joined.  We have photos of cast in particular plays, collectively identified as 4BC Players, and some who are individually identified.  At this stage we don't know the individual names of the cast of Burton Trent, particularly who played Burton Trent for the full series.  Nor do we know who wrote the episodes and how the series came about.  The 2SM link is interesting.

Burton Trent did well for himself.  He started as Burton Trent - Detective, then later Burton Trent - Master Detective, then due no doubt to the war, he became Burton Trent - On Secret Service.  In the early episodes he worked with a Scotland Yard Detective, MacDonald Creagh, then on his own as a private detective.  He would investigate, then in the fashion of the day, bring all the suspects together and reveal how clever he has been in working through the clues and unmasking the villain.

The early episodes are 'Inside Start' whereby the stylus starts from the inside of the disc and works to the outside.  The later episodes were the more modern 'Outside start'.  That in itself is a good clue of identifying the earlier episodes.

I have enjoyed listening to the series.  It is unusual to find a detective series from this early in Australian production and it has been a lot of fun working on it.  I will continue researching the series, every time I visit 1938 - 1942 I will be watching out for a mention of the series in newspapers or radio magazines.  I would certainly appreciate any information that readers or researchers can supply.