{Calling all Dick Tracy fans:
From Tokyo comes exciting news that a Dick Tracy type of wrist cellular
telephone may be available soon in stores. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
Corp. unveiled a 1.5 ounce wrist cellular telephone for use at the Nagano
Winter Olympic Games. A lighter voice-activated model is currently
being tested. No date has been set for commercial
release.}
In Dick Tracy's comic strip, an
arrow points to his wrist radio to get the reader's attention.
Warren Beatty almost went that far with such a gizmo in
the 1990 Tracy film for Disney. Tracy's wrist radio has always played
a big role in his battle against crime. Batman had his utility belt, Tracy
had his wrist radio. So why was it missing from all of Tracy's previous
films? Tracy's famous Rogue's Gallery of grotesque criminals never
made it to the screen, either. In fact, very little of
Chester
Gould's hero or his world reached the screen.
Adolescent boys were the target
audience and they wanted to see fist fights every five minutes. So
did the producers. Up there on the screen, mild-mannered
Ralph
Byrd seemed to be playing an equally mild-mannered Tracy. Articles
in fan magazines about Byrd being Mr. Nice Guy didn't help sell Tracy as
a kick-butt, no nonsense crime fighter. Nevertheless, Republic Studios had
a box-office hit with Tracy's first serial. A lot of parents complained
about excessive violence in the follow-up, "Dick Tracy Returns," but again
Republic Studios had a big hit. "Dick Tracy's G-Men" followed, then
Tracy moved up to the job of assistant FBI Chief in "Dick Tracy vs. Crime
Inc." Four RKO features put Tracy back on his old beat and restored
some of the comic strip style, but not much. Warren Beatty
restored the comic strip style in a big way in his Disney epic. Beatty
was the only filmmaker who turned to Tracy's creator
Chester Gould
for inspiration .