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M Squad is an American crime drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. It was produced by Lee Marvin's Latimer Productions and Revue Studios. Its main sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during many episodes.[1][2] Alternate sponsors were General Electric (GE), Hazel Bishop and Bulova watches.
| M Squad | |
|---|---|
 Lee Marvin as Lt. Frank Ballinger, from NBC's M Squad in 1959. | |
| Genre | Crime drama |
| Starring | Lee Marvin Paul Newlan |
| Composers | Main theme by Count Basie Stanley Wilson Incidental music and arrangements by Sonny Burke Pete Carpenter Benny Carter John T. Williams Orchestra conducted by Stanley Wilson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 117 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | John Larkin Richard Lewis |
| Producers | Robert Bassler Maxwell Shane |
| Editors | Lee Huntington John B. Moss Stanley Rabjohn |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | Latimer Productions Revue Studios |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | September 20, 1957 – June 21, 1960 |
Set in Chicago, Illinois, the show starred Marvin as Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger, a member of "M Squad", a special unit of the Chicago Police, assisting other units in battling organized crime, corruption and violent crimes citywide. Paul Newlan co-starred as his boss, Captain Grey. Although Marvin had been appearing in feature films since 1951, it was this series that made him a star, and he later went on to an even bigger film career afterward. Nelson Case was the announcer.[3] The popularity of M Squad was proven in the ratings wars by the NBC network choosing a Friday night time slot opposite Frank Sinatra's ABC variety show in the fall of 1957 and Phil Silvers' long running CBS comedy, Sgt. Bilko, in 1958. Both series were eventually cancelled.
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The theme music for the first season was composed by Stanley Wilson,[4] who won the 1959 Grammy Award for the Best Soundtrack Album and Background Score from Motion Picture or Television.[citation needed] In the second and third seasons, the new theme was composed by Count Basie.[4]
A soundtrack album, Music from M Squad, with liner notes by Lee Marvin, was released by RCA Victor Records in 1959 during the last season of the show.[5][4]
Timeless Media Group released M Squad: The Complete Series on DVD in the Region 1 on November 11, 2008.[6] This release has been discontinued and is out of print.
On November 4, 2014, Timeless Media re-released the complete series on DVD in a new 16-disc special edition collection that contains an entire disc of bonus content.[7]
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- Roscoe Ates
- Joanna Barnes
- Charles Bronson
- Mike Connors
- Russ Conway
- Walter Coy
- Whitney Blake
- Paul Burke
- Terry Burnham (2 episodes)[8][9]
- James Coburn
- Francis De Sales
- Angie Dickinson
- Joe Flynn
- Alan Hale, Jr.
- Ron Hayes
- Werner Klemperer
- Robert Knapp
- Tom Laughlin
- Ruta Lee
- DeForest Kelley
- Nan Leslie
- Dayton Lummis
- Tyler McVey
- Walter Maslow
- Carole Mathews
- Joyce Meadows
- Sid Melton
- John Mitchum
- Ed Nelson
- Leonard Nimoy
- J. Pat O'Malley
- Michael Pataki
- Burt Reynolds
- Don Rickles
- Janice Rule
- Barbara Stuart
- Mary Treen
- H. M. Wynant
- Rose Marie
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In episode "The Jumper", an officer was depicted taking bribes. This prompted Richard J. Daley, the Mayor of Chicago at the time, to discourage motion picture and television location filming in Chicago for the rest of his administration (1955–1976). (He made an exception for the 1975 John Wayne film Brannigan, because of Daley's personal admiration for Wayne.) The Blues Brothers, released in 1980, marked the reversal of the policy under then-mayor Jane Byrne.[citation needed]
Lee Marvin as Lt. Frank Ballinger carried two Colt Cobra snub nosed revolvers, the lightweight variant of Colt's "Detective's Special" revolver, which was popular with detectives at the time. Lt. Ballinger was the first TV police detective, of any note, to carry a backup revolver. The second Cobra revolver was carried in a more concealed position than the other.[10][11]
A novel was published in 1962, M Squad: The Chicago Cop Killer, by David Saunders. It was published by Belmont Books, New York.
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