Peter Pan Records’ “Power Records” put out a series of book and records that were actually comic books. In past articles on this site we looked at Superman: City Under Siege and Star Trek: Crier In The Emptiness. These and a Bugs Bunny large LP and 3 comic special are part of my collection, and I heard of more DC, Marvel, and Star Trek comics, essentially audio dramas with a comic book adaptation you can read along with. However, I didn’t know Kojak was among the listings.
Theo Kojak, or as my dad calls him the “bald-headed lollypop-sucker”, was played by Telly Savalas for a series and a few TV movies. A remake with Ving Rhames came out in 2006, and he also had a bald head and sucked lollipops, but Rhames version probably wasn’t Greek. The series followed the tough as nails New York cop as he went up against organized crime and other criminals, and aired from 1973-1978. It’s not exactly what I’d call a show for the family, so making a book and record, typically made for kids, is kind of strange to me.
Tonight I bring you two stories from that set. Like with Star Trek, none of the original cast reprise their roles. Come to think of it, the only book and record that had any cast, comic or other wise, from the show was a Scooby-Doo one as far as my collection went. This is a bit out of the norm for Saturday Night Showcase, but it’s a bit out of the norm for 1970s book and records, given that this one has a body count above zero. Enjoy.
First up is “Five Star Final”. Someone is robbing newspaper sellers who double as bookies, but when their boy decides to bump off one of the targets it sets up a chain of events as Kojak and his team track the killer…and the killer’s killer.
Is it strange that Kojak is helping bookmakers? Well, what they’re doing is illegal and he’d probably bust them if he could, but murder is the more serious crime and I guess if the bookmakers aren’t scamming their clients or doing that “sending a message for not paying up part”, he’ll put the priorities on the crime with victims that aren’t a result of the gambler’s own stupidity.
In our second and last story, “A Question Of Honor”, a lady beat cop comes across a double cross and murder, but who else is getting double crossed?
Again, these were considered things for kids, and yet this is the first time I’ve seen people shot, stabbed, betrayed, and everything else that you’d expect in a Kojak show or comic, but not in a book and record. Interesting.
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