SYNOPSIS
The gimmick in this private-eye
series was ethnic. Banacek
was a cool, smooth, shrewd Polish-American. His game was collecting rewards from insurance companies
by solving crimes involving stolen property, and he was successful enough to live in the exclusive Beacon Hill
section of Boston.
Banacek's buddies were his chauffeur Jay and his good friend Felix, who ran a bookstore.
During the show's second season, Carlie, an insurance agent, was added
for romantic interest.
Polish
proverbs were liberally sprinkled throughout the series, and the positive image
of its hero made the show very popular with such groups as the Polish-American
Congress, which game the program an award for Polish-Americans in a positive
manner.
Banacek originally aired as one of the rotating segments of NBC's
Wednesday Mystery Movie.
