Classic TV Theme: Highway Patrol (Broderick Crawford)

David Gideon
12.5K subscribers

12,092 views Dec 27, 2020
One of tv's seminal cop shows, it premiered in 1955 and ran for over 150 episodes. The technical jargon, the cars, the location shooting, and the imposing presence of Broderick Crawford all played their parts in making this a iconic example of early television at its best. It's noteworthy that back in 1955 the show was using the technique of including scenes from the current episode as part of the opening title sequence, something that 'I Spy' and 'Mission Impossible' would do roughly a decade later.
Most baby boomers will recognize the Highway Patrol march in an instant, but its authorship is obscured by the use of a pseudonym. 'Ray Llewellyn' may have been an aka for David Rose (who wrote the 'Bonanza' theme) or possibly another composer who was under contract to a rival company. There's a fuller discussion of this controversy here:
https://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/mysteriesOfTVM.html

{snip}