Harlem Detective (TV series)

This article is about the 1953-1954 WOR-TV series. For the Chester Himes novels, see Harlem Detective series

Harlem Detective is a short-lived TV series that aired on WOR in 1953 and 1954. It is the first television crime program with an interracial pair of detectives, and the first program with an interracial cast.^[2] The show was created by Lawrence Menkin^[1] and starred William Hairston and William Marshall, among others.^[3]

Harlem Detective
Genre	Police drama
Created by	Lawrence Menkin.[1]
Written by	William Attaway
Directed by	Bob Eberle
Starring	William Hairston, William Marshall
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	14
Production
Producer	Lawrence Menkin[1]
Original release
Release	October 14, 1953 (1953-10-14) – January 13, 1954 (1954-01-13)

Although debuting to high ratings^[4] despite a low budget,^[3] the show was quickly cancelled. The producers stated the cancellation was because Marshall was being released to "fulfill movie commitments," however Marshall claimed it was actually because of his political beliefs^[5] — he was accused of being a communist^[2] and placed on the Hollywood Blacklist.^[6][7]

Several episodes were written by African American script editor William Attaway^[8]