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File:Mandell Kramer Don MacLaughlin Counterspy 1952.jpg
The radio program also found its way onto television. Pictured are Mandel Kramer as Peters (left) and Don McLaughlin as David Harding in 1952.

Counterspy was an espionage drama radio series that aired on the NBC Blue Network (later ABC) and Mutual from May 18, 1942, to November 29, 1957.<ref name="dunningota">Template:Cite book</ref>

David Harding (played by Don MacLaughlin) was the chief of the United States Counterspies, a unit engaged during World War II in counterintelligence against Japan's Black Dragon and Germany's Gestapo.<ref name="reinehratoz">Reinehr, Robert C. and Swartz, Jon D. (2008). The A to Z of Old-Time Radio. Scarecrow Press, Inc. Template:ISBN. pp. 69–70.</ref> United States Counterspies was a fictional government agency devised by the program's creator, Phillips H. Lord after Lord "had a certain amount of difficulty with J. Edgar Hoover over story content in Gang Busters."<ref name="erickson">Erickson, Hal (2014). From radio to the big screen: Hollywood films featuring broadcast personalities and programs. McFarland & Company, Inc. Template:ISBN. pp. 253–255.</ref> Mandel Kramer played Peters, Harding's assistant.<ref name="buxton">Buxton, Frank and Owen, Bill (1972). The Big Broadcast: 1920–1950. The Viking Press. SBN 670-16240-x. p. 62.</ref>

The program's plots progressed through three phases. During World War II they involved "threats from the Axis powers."<ref name="blottner">Blottner, Gene (2012). Columbia Pictures Movie Series, 1926–1955: The Harry Cohn Years. McFarland & Company, Inc. Template:ISBN. pp. 80–83.</ref> After the war ended, Cold War threats took precedence. In the third phase, "they addressed all manner of illegal activities.<ref name="blottner"/>

Scriptwriters for the series included Milton J. Kramer, Emile C. Tepperman and Stanley Niss.<ref name=dunningota/>

AdaptationsEdit

The radio drama was adapted to film twice, as David Harding, Counterspy (July 1950) and as Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard (November 1950). Both Columbia Pictures productions starred Howard St. John in the title role.<ref name=blottner/>

An unsuccessful pilot for a television version of Counterspy was produced in England in 1958, with Don Megowan as David Harding.<ref name=erickson/> The trade publication Broadcasting also reported on plans of Bernard L. Schubert Inc. to produce 39 episodes of David Harding, Counterspy with Reed Hadley in the title role<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Telestar Films' releasing of Counterspy for syndication.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A Spanish version of Counterspy was transmitted to South America via shortwave radio in 1942. An article in Broadcasting reported that commercial were deleted and that the effort was "in cooperation with the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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