Dick Tracy: The Lost Shows, Volume 1 (DVD)

Ralph Byrd, the actor who portrayed Dick Tracy in Republic serials of the 1930s and RKO features in the 1940s, again brought Chester Gould's comic strip hero to life in this rarely seen television program which ran on ABC from 1950 to 1952. Unlike previous adaptations, the TV series featured many of the colorful characters from Gould's strip, including Flattop, B.B. Eyes, Influence, B.O. Plenty and Gravel Gertie. Dick Tracy was a ratings hit, coming to an end only because of Byrd's death from a heart attack at age 43 in 1952.

B.O. Plenty's Folly: Tracy's friend B.O. Plenty inadvertently gets mixed up in an art forgery racket.

Dick Tracy And Flattop: A mob boss hires hitman Flattop to eliminate Tracy.

HI-JACK: Tracy and his partner Sam Catchem go on a manhunt for a gang of car thieves plaguing the city.

Dick Tracy Meets Heels Beals: Heels Beals, an old enemy of Tracy's, poses as a delivery man in order to rob wealthy citizens.

• television