Studio City Walk of Fame Highlights: 'M Squad'

M Squad
Tile #174 on the Studio City Walk of Fame

Revue Studios Productions Television

1957-1960 broadcast on NBC

Cast:  Lee Marvin and Paul Newlan

Original Music by Stanley Wilson (1st Season) and Count Basie (2nd and 3rd Seasons)

The late '50s saw the emergence of the television police drama, with Dragnet, Arrest & Trial, and Checkmate competing for viewership. M-Squad stood apart from the other series with its gritty, film noir look, unique story lines and first rate music score. The half hour series debuted in 1957 and ran for three seasons on NBC.

Filmed in Chicago, the high-contrast cinematography brought the city to life - from the easily recognizable landmarks and swanky lake-front penthouses, to the seedy, darker side of the city. M-Squad (M stands for Murder), was inspired by actual Chicago crime-fighter Joseph Morris, and the series retained a sense of realism and intensity lost among the other dramas. As a credit to its realism, after an episode of M-Squad depicted a Chicago police officer accepting a bribe, Mayor Richard Daley banned television and film production in the city of Chicago. (The ban was eventually lifted with the filming of The Blues Brothers in 1980.)

M-Squad stars Lee Marvin, a decorated WWII United States Marine, as Detective Lt. Frank Ballinger, a no-nonsense plainclothes cop working in the elite crime fighting M-Squad division of the Chicago Police Department. M Squad's goal was to root out organized crime and corruption in Chicago. "My name is Detective Lt. Frank Ballinger of M Squad, a special detail of the Chicago police department."  Marvin's distinctive voice narrated the series which was sponsored by Pall Mall Cigarettes. He also appeared in the Pall Mall commercials that aired during the episodes.

33 year old Marvin's portrayal of the cool tough-guy character with a big heart gave him instant name recognition, and launched his career. He went on to star in over 70 films including The Dirty Dozen, Paint Your Wagon and The Iceman Cometh, winning both the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for his performance opposite Jane Fonda in Cat Ballou. In Marvin's final role as Col. Nick Alexander, he starred opposite Chuck Norris in The Delta Force (1986) just a year before his death at age 63.

Long time character actor Paul Newlan played Ballinger's boss, Captain Grey. The guest actors included: Mike Connors, Jeanne Cooper, Angie Dickinson, Charles Bronson, Alan Hale Jr., DeForest Kelley, Werner Klemperor, Ruta Lee, Jimmy Lydon, Ed Nelson, Leonard Nimoy,Marion Ross, Madlyn Rhue and  a very young Burt Reynolds.

Also playing a starring "role" in M-Squad is the extraordinary musical score. For the first season, the producers enlisted long-time conductor and music supervisor Stanley Wilson to lead the orchestra in moody arrangements by legendary jazz man Benny Carter and a new composer on the scene, 25-year old jazz pianist John Williams. Williams went on to earn 47 Oscar nominations for Original Score, winning 5 Academy Awards. Wilson earned a Grammy nomination for Best Soundtrack Album for The Music from M Squad in 1957. For the second season, jazz great Count Basie wrote the enduring "M Squad Theme." It was a perfect marriage of image and sound.

Lee Marvin, who wrote the liner notes for the RCA Victor release of The Music From M Squad album in 1959, said, "I am ... constantly amazed at the manner in which our characterizations and situations are supported, highlighted and intensified by the fine musical score ... I love the great beat, the exciting solos and the clean, crisp section work of the trumpets and trombones. As I listen, my imagination paints thumbnail sketches of the Loop, Bayshore Drive, the South Side, and the other localities which set Chicago apart from other cities. It's sort of like an armchair tour of America's second largest city."

Fans of M Squad can see all 117 episodes of the crime drama on DVD in a definitive 15-disc collectors' set. For M Squad: The Complete Series, Timeless Media in association with NBC Universal has painstakingly compiled over 47 hours of the captivating series. As a bonus, the set also includes the original TV soundtrack The Music From M Squad, a CD collection of jazz-inspired musical score from the series performed by legendary musicians Count Basie, Benny Carter, and composer/jazz pianist John Williams.

M Squad was filmed on location in Chicago, Illinois and Republic Studios, 4024 Radford Avenue in Studio City, CA (currently home to ).

For more information, please visit the SCIA website Walk of Fame pages.