What I've Learned

Stop me when you know which crime show I'm writing about.

The unit investigates murder. They can tell by looking if a body has been moved, and if it has, they want to know why.

Crime scene techs dust for fingerprints, vacuum for hair and fiber evidence, and take crime scene photos. The evidence collected is used not just to catch the killer, but to clear suspects.

The cause and time of death are roughly determined at the scene and are established more fully by autopsy.

Investigators use a "murder board" to collate information about suspects.

Financial records of the victim and suspects are checked.

The area around the murder scene is canvassed to locate possible witnesses.

Any guesses?

Probably not. The info so far could describe CSI, NCIS, Castle, The Closer, and probably a dozen other criminal investigation shows.

Maybe these two details will help. The lead investigator is single, but the number two investigator is married. It takes place in New York City.

Figured it out? Probably not.

The show I'm describing is a movie from 1948. It has many – heck, most – of the criminal investigation techniques that we see on modern television shows. The movie is called The Naked City, which, 10 years after its release, spawned a television show of the same name.

The movie concerns the murder of a model and was filmed, not on a sound stage, but on real locations in the Big Apple. Filming on location is not unusual these days, but in 1948, it was.

In many scenes on the streets, only the actors knew a film was being shot. The camera was either hidden or far enough away to not attract the gaze of pedestrians.

The film captures real people and locations circa 1948, so in addition to being a pretty good murder mystery and cop show, it gives an interesting glimpse of New York in the mid-1900s.

I told you all that so I could tell you this.

There is one scene that befuddles modern audiences who are viewing the movie for the first time. A fellow has been attacked in his apartment. When he looks in a suitcase to see if anything is missing, a policeman says, "What are you looking for, your BVDs?"

BVD, in case you're too young to know, was a brand of men's underwear. The company that manufactured them was established in 1876 and made men's and women's under and outer garments.

During the 1920s, they made – among other things – swim wear. Johnny Weissmuller, who won five Olympic gold medals and went on to portray Tarzan in a dozen movies, modeled BVD swimsuits in 1929.

Eventually, the company focused on selling men's underwear, and BVDs became a generic term for these, regardless of manufacturer. (As a kid, my tightie-whities were BVDs.)

Many people thought that BVD stood for Boy's Ventilated Drawers, but that's not true. The letters stand for Bradley, Voorhees and Day, the surnames of the three founders of the company.

Because the term BVDs has faded from popular use, many recent first-time viewers of The Naked City mis-hear the policeman's question. They think he said, "What are you looking for, your DVDs?" On more than one internet forum I've seem people ask in all seriousness, did they really have DVDs in the 1940s?

Pardon me while I LOL.