Would you happen to have a list of Paul Drake's employees? I'm just sort of curious as to how many names we have, and how many were mentioned a second time.
I do! I'm currently doing a rewatch of the series with a specific focus on the Paul Drake Detective Agency. With each season, I'm creating a list of operatives, as well as noting further details on the workings of the agency (this could include: spy tech used, contacts, investigative methods, etc.).
The general overview of the Paul Drake Detective Agency is that Paul canonically employs operatives (including contracted operatives/contacts) all around the world-- including North America, South America, Australia, Guam, and Europe.
In the TV series, there's dozens of listed operatives that Paul employs. In the books, there's implications that the number is far greater, with Paul having enough operatives to work on other numerous cases while also being able to spare 20 operatives on one singular case.
My method for counting and tracking operatives in the television series is this: I only count operatives who are mentioned by name, make visual appearances (named or unnamed), or who are identified in some way beyond a name (i.e. an operative in Portland, Oregon).
I do not count instances where Perry might say, "Get one of your operatives on it now," or when Paul says, "I have two operatives working on it now."
With all that said, here is my list:
Operatives at the Paul Drake Detective Agency in S1 (Names with asterisks mean that they made appearances by name or in person in both S1 and S2)
Frank Faulkner* Ralph Faulkner* - Yes, there are two Faulkners! See here for details. See here for Ralph's S2 appearance Nora Kelly - see here for more information about Nora Don Gregory -a new agent Paul is helping to get his footing John O'Brien Harvey Julian (more here) Herb Mulligan - (operative based in Portland, Oregon. (Paul mentions specifically that he trained Herb. This is worthy to note because Paul directly trains the operatives who work for him, even if they’re in other states.) Pat Harvey Ron Jacks _____ Henderson _____ Jarret ____ Davis* (more here) _____ Ralston Unnamed Operative with Frank Faulkner during a tail job Unnamed Operative in Seattle, Washington Unnamed Operative in Portland, Oregon Unnamed Operative in Fairbanks, Alaska
Operatives at the Paul Drake Detective Agency in Season 2
____ Wallis ____ Harris ____ Burroughs ____ Walsh Blanche Atkins (more here) Harry Klein (more here) _____ Andrews (more here) _____ Storm (contracted, more here) Unnamed operative (onscreen appearance during a stakeout, see here) Unnamed operative (onscreen appearance sitting in passenger seat of Paul's Thunderbird during stakeout) Unnamed operative (served subpoenas)
Additional Employees at the Paul Drake Detective Agency (all from S1)
Margo - Secretary (more here, here, here, and here) Unnamed Secretary- In one of the reports on a case, the secretary at the agency who typed up the report initialed “kh” at the bottom of the page, suggesting that Paul employs a secretary with these initials. Unnamed Switchboard Operator for the Paul Drake Detective Agency Exchange
Total Employees listed in S1 and S2: 31 employees.
I also can share a few other links relating to the operatives at the Paul Drake Detective Agency that might be helpful.
For an in depth season by season breakdown of who is employed at the Paul Drake Detective Agency and what the Agency does, these links will be helpful to you:
I did finish my rewatch of S3 and am currently in the process of compiling the Season 3 Review. There were new operatives featured in S3, as well as reoccurring operatives from S1 and/or S2. That info will be forthcoming just as soon as I finish compiling everything!
You also might find my &. Paul Drake Detective Agency tag helpful, as I use this tag for posts exclusively related to the employees at the Paul Drake Detective Agency (this includes: operatives, contacts, phone operators, secretaries, etc.). In these posts, I do breakdowns of what the operatives are doing in the television series.
Other posts that might be interesting to you are posts that focus specifically on how Paul Drake runs his agency, which are here, here, here, here, here.
Another set of posts explores how Paul and his operatives establish connection and support to his clients here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Another relevant tag for more details on Paul's operatives include my posts highlighting the female private investigators Paul employs. I go in depth about the social implications of the time period (book and tv series-- so 1930s through 1960s) and commentary on Paul using his privilege to regularly employ and triumph women private investigators at a time where the job was male-dominated. Because of the Paul Drake Detective Agency's success and world-wide renown, there's also implications of the agency setting a precedent for other agencies to follow. That tag is &. Paul Drake Feminist Ally Meta. While there are many posts in that tag, the key summary review on this topic can be found here
Hope this helps! Paul, his operatives, and the Paul Drake Detective Agency in general is quite seriously my favorite aspect to the series, so I'm always happy to chat about this topic in greater detail!
Fantastic. Thanks so much.
