Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

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Episode 233 - Sleuthing in Spurs (Tales of the Texas Rangers) Jul 23, 2017

Show notes

Planning to break the law in Texas? You'd better make other plans, because Joel McCrea is fighting crime on foot and on horseback in Tales of the Texas Rangers. As Ranger Jayce Pearson, McCrea stars in dramatizations of actual Ranger cases, presenting a combination of old west manhunting and twentieth century forensic science to bring in the guilty. We'll hear Pearson patrol the Lone Star State in "Play for Keeps" (originally aired on NBC on September 2, 1950) and "Fugitive Trail" (originally aired on NBC on October 21, 1951).

Happy Birthday, William Gargan Jul 17, 2017

Show notes

William Gargan, who brought a wry cynicism to his characters on radio, was born today in 1905. Of all the actors to play private eyes and gumshoes during the Golden Age of Radio, Gargan may have been the most uniquely qualified. Ironically, while success as a detective seemed to elude him, he enjoyed a great deal of success by playing detectives on film, television, and radio.

His father was a bookie, and as a boy Gargan would accompany him when he made his collection and payment rounds. During Prohibition, he dropped out of school and became a salesman of bootleg liquor to speakeasies in New York; his sales partner during this time was Dave Chasen, who would later go on to open Hollywood's Brown Derby restaurant. The two would remain lifelong friends. For a time, Gargan worked as a collection agent for a department store. On one of his jobs, he was shot at by an irate customer. He lost another job as an operative for a detective agency when the subject he was assigned to follow eluded the tail.

Gargan found more success as an actor than he did as a detective. He turned to acting in the 1920s and appeared in dozens of films, including two turns as Ellery Queen in 1942. In 1946, Gargan had his first run at radio crimesolving, starring as private eye Ross Dolan in ABC's I Deal in Crime (launched alongside another ABC detective series, The Fat Man with J. Scott Smart). That series only ran for eleven months, but Gargan found more success a few years later on NBC radio and TV as Martin Kane, Private Eye. Gargan starred in the radio and TV series for two years before frustration over the quality of the scripts drove him out. As Gargan later recalled in his 1969 autobiography, "Very soon in the game, I realized our stories were nothing to rave about. How much well plotted story line and genuine character development can you accomplish in a half-hour? So I made the program a showcase for me. After all, that was what we were selling - Martin Kane. I developed a tongue-in-cheek style, a spoof of the hard-boiled detective, a way of silently saying, 'Don't blame me for the lousy stories, I didn't write them. And anyway, what's the difference? Relax.'"

Given his attitude towards the caliber of radio detective scripts, it may come as a surprise that Gargan came back for another run as a radio shamus. Maybe it was because he was past his leading man prime in 1951 when the offer was made to star in a new series on NBC. It might have been the money that was on the table; NBC brought him to their network with a $1 million contract for five years. The deal covered the new series and other radio and TV appearances.

The series was launched as part of NBC's silver anniversary celebration under the title The Adventures of Barrie Crane. Gargan used the spelling of his own son's name for the title character, and while the character's surname switched to "Craig," the characterization was intact from the beginning. Craig was a wry, sly operator in the mold of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade. He narrated his adventures with a tongue in cheek style that kept the hard boiled business in check. He was loyal to his clients and friendly with the police (in the person of Ralph Bell's Lt. Rogers). From 1951 until July 1954, Barrie Craig was broadcast from NBC in New York. For the last run of the series, production shifted to Hollywood. It left the air in September 1954 but returned for a 39 week run beginning in October before Barry Craig closed his last case.

Sadly, William Gargan's acting career came to an end only a few years after Barry Craig left the air. He returned as Martin Kane for 39 syndicated episodes in 1957, but throat cancer diagnosed in 1958 ended his work on the screen. Doctors removed his larynx in 1960 and he was outfitted with a voice box. He spent the remaining years of his life as a crusader and activist for the American Cancer Society, cautioning against the dangers of smoking. The Screen Actors Guild honored his career and his philanthropic work when it awarded Gargan with their lifetime achievement award in 1967. He passed away at age 73 in 1979. Cancer may have taken William Gargan's voice, but his talent and his performances will live forever in these wonderful mystery shows from the Golden Age of Radio.

Episode 232 – Gargan vs. the Guilty (I Deal in Crime & Barrie Craig) Jul 16, 2017

Show notes

Perhaps the only radio detective star to have actually worked as a real-life private eye, William Gargan played several gumshoes on the air, as well as the big and small screens. He was most famous on radio as Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator but he gave voice to other hard-boiled private eyes with wry senses of humor. Today, William Gargan stars as two of those old time radio crime-solvers. First, he's Ross Dolan, ex-sailor and shamus in I Deal in Crime. We'll hear him in the premiere episode of that series (originally aired on ABC on January 21, 1946). Then he's Barrie Craig in "The Sneak Assassin" (originally aired on NBC on November 21, 1954).

"License number 137596..." Jul 12, 2017

Show notes

"I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble." (Sam Spade, The Maltese Falcon

Dashiell Hammett wasn't just a writer of detective fiction; he was a real-life detective who also happened to pen some of the greatest mystery novels of the 20th century. His mind and pen brought readers the rough and tumble Continental Op; the urbane and refined Nick and Nora Charles; and arguably the most famous private eye of them all, Sam Spade. Hammett's tenure with the Pinkertons (including work on the infamous Fatty Arbuckle case) provided the DNA for Spade, a cynical shamus with his own moral code. He made his debut in 1929's The Maltese Falcon and while he would appear in another three short stories penned by Hammett, the Falcon and its hunt for a legendary statuette are why Spade is best remembered. Of course, the classic film adaptation by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart as Spade didn't hurt his reputation.

The success of Bogart's Maltese Falcon generated new interest in Hammett's work in the 1940s. As stories were reprinted in hardcover and paperback, Hammett's agent believed Spade's exploits would be perfect for radio. By 1946, the wheels were in motion to bring the detective to the airwaves.

The Adventures of Sam Spade was produced and directed by radio veteran William Spier, who also ran the show on CBS' "outstanding theater of thrills," Suspense. In fact, the audition program for Spade was a reworked Suspense script from two years earlier that originally starred Keenan Wynn. The scripts for that first season (including the audition) were written by an uncredited Jo Eisinger and Robert Tallman. The scriptwriters received no credit, as producers wanted to maintain the illusion that Hammett himself scripted the series. Hammett's name was all over the program, but he had no direct involvement in the series. As he said, "My sole duty in regard to these programs is to look in the mail for a check once a week. I don't even listen to them. If I did, I'd complain about how they were handled, and then I'd fall into the trap of being asked to come down and help."

ABC picked up The Adventures of Sam Spade for a thirteen-week summer run beginning on July 12, 1946. Actor Lloyd Nolan was set to star as Sam Spade, but a schedule conflict forced him to withdraw from the role at the last minute. (Nolan had just ended a run of B-movies for Fox as hard-boiled private eye Michael Shayne, and he would have made a fine Spade.) Former Armed Forces Radio Service announcer Howard Duff won the role of Spade with his audition, beating out radio veterans like Elliott Lewis. Spier was initially unimpressed with the actor, who was about as far from Bogart's iconic portrayal as one could get, but Duff had a champion in Spier's wife, Kay Thompson and she persuaded her husband to give Duff the role.

The series received rave notices in its first year, including an Edgar Award for best radio detective series. By September 1946, the show had moved to CBS, where it would remain until 1950. Robert Tallman continued as a writer, and Gil Doud stepped in to replace Jo Eisinger in 1947. With their scripts and Duff's performance, Sam Spade was one of radio's most popular shows. The sleuth even held his own against the powerhouse of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy across the airwaves on NBC.

Duff was ably supported each week by Lurene Tuttle in the role of Spade's scatterbrained (but always loyal) secretary Effie Perrine, along with some of the best actors working on radio on the West Coast, including William Conrad, Joseph Kearns, Wally Maher, Jeanette Nolan, and John McIntire. Each week, Spade would dictate his case report to Effie for his client's review. The fourth wall was often broken, with frequent references to the program itself. "Sam" and "Effie" often weighed in on the performances Duff and Tuttle gave in the dramatizations of "their" adventures.

The show kept a loyal following, but CBS grew wary of Hammett's Communist affiliations (he had joined the Communist Party in the 1930s at the height of the New Deal). After the names of Hammett and Duff turned up in a pamphlet identifying Communists and their sympathizers, the show lost its sponsor (Wildroot Cream Oil) and September 1950 saw Howard Duff's last performance as Spade.

The show was revived for a twenty four-week run on NBC on November 17, 1950 with Steven Dunne stepping in as Spade. Lurene Tuttle and William Spier returned from the original run, but there was conspicuously no mention of Dashiell Hammett to be found. Dunne was a fine Spade, but Howard Duff had made the role his own. As radio historian John Dunning noted, not even Humphrey Bogart could have succeeded Duff as Spade by 1950.

But before the Red Scare and timid sponsors did the show in, The Adventures of Sam Spade consistently delivered some of the best that radio had to offer. With Duff's wry performance and the colorful characters invented by Tallman, Eisinger, and Doud, the show still holds up today as exciting mystery drama.

X Marks the Spot Jul 10, 2017

Show notes

"Herbert Marshall as The Man Called X. Wherever there is mystery, intrigue, romance, in all the strange and dangerous places of the world, there you will find…The Man Called X!"

Philip Marlowe walked the neon-tinged streets of Los Angeles. Danny Clover's beat was Broadway. But some radio detectives patrolled more than a city, more than a state, sometimes even more than a country. One of those globe-trotting gumshoes, and radio's answer to James Bond, was Ken Thurston - the dashing, debonair secret agent known and feared through the international underworld as The Man Called X. Debuting just as World War II drew to a close and leaving the air as the Cold War was heating up, The Man Called X stands as one of radio's finest espionage mystery programs.

The series was created by Jay Richard Kennedy, a businessman and writer who would later become singer Harry Belafonte's business manager. It centered on Ken Thurston, agent for "the Bureau," and his dangerous missions that took him all around the world. The early introductions for the show introduced Thurston as "the man who crosses the ocean as readily as you and I cross down." Whether it was hunting down surviving Nazi plotters, assisting with defections, or thwarting sabotage, Thurston, aka Mr. X, could be counted on to get the job done "so that tomorrow's peace will make the world a neighborhood for all of us."

The series found its Mr. X in an actor who had already demonstrated his heroics on the battlefield. Herbert Marshall took a sniper's bullet in the knee during World War I where he served in the London Scottish Regiment. It may have been the war's most star-studded brigade, as it also included future stars Ronald Colman, Claude Rains, and Basil Rathbone. Doctors were forced to amputate his right leg at the hip, but Marshall hid his prosthetic leg from audiences as he embarked on his stage and film career. Marshall was a romantic leading man in his early years, but he matured into a character actor. One of his most famous performances came in Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent as Stephen Fisher, the traitorous leader of the Universal Peace Party on the eve of World War II. Marshall was polished and urbane, but he could tap into a ruthlessness appropriate for a spy with the fate of the world resting on his shoulders.

Marshall starred as Thurston for the series' entire run except for three episodes he had to sit out due to a pulmonary embolism. For those shows (aired in May and June 1951), Van Heflin, John Lund, and Joseph Cotten filled in as other Bureau agents. Heflin had starred as Philip Marlowe on radio in 1947, and Lund was about a year away from starring as Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. Joseph Cotten was a regular radio presence with his turns on Suspense and the Lux Radio Theatre, and he too was a year away from his own radio detective series, The Private Files of Matthew Bell.

Thurston was a lone wolf…or at least he wanted to be. Unfortunately for him, his track was dogged by international con man and small time crook Pegon Zellschmidt. Played by Leon Belasco, Pegon was always out for a quick buck and would offer his services to Thurston for a nominal fee. Pegon was a loyal sidekick, until the bullets started flying or the opposition came in with a more lucrative offer. The series traveled between networks as often as Ken Thurston circled the globe. The Man Called X premiered as a CBS summer series on July 10, 1944. In September, it moved to NBC, where it ran until March 1945 and then returned for summer runs in 1945 and 1946. From 1947 to 1948, it came back to CBS. Finally, it returned to NBC for a last run of 86 shows from 1950 to 1952. For nearly the entire run, the series was directed by Jack Johnstone. Johnstone was a radio veteran who helmed the Bob Bailey era of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, and he pulled talent from the very deep West Coast radio pool. Will Wright recurred as Thurston's boss at the Bureau, "the Chief," and supporting roles were filled by Harry Bartell, Gloria Blondell, Gerald Mohr, Peggy Webber, and more.

The Man Called X came to television in 1956 as a syndicated series starring Barry Sullivan, but his Thurston didn't log nearly as many frequent flier miles as Herbert Marshall. Unhindered by filming logistics and backed up by sharp scripts, Mr. X went everywhere from the Arctic to the Amazon and he kept audiences entertained every step of the way.

Trouble is My Travel Agent Jul 09, 2017

Show notes

"Yeah, danger is my assignment. I get sent to a lot of places I can't even pronounce. They all spell the same thing, though - trouble."

In the years during and after World War II, radio's gumshoes and beat cops were joined by international secret agents; these globe-trotting detectives worked at home and abroad to keep America and her interests safe from the enemy agents, saboteurs, and black marketers who threatened the stability of the post-war world. Previously, we heard the exploits of Ken Thurston, better known as The Man Called X, a debonair and urbane agent. Another member of the fraternity was Steve Mitchell, more two-fisted than Thurston but just as capable. As played by big screen star Brian Donlevy, Mitchell was dispatched all around the world from 1949 to 1953 in Dangerous Assignment. It was a terrific espionage adventure program anchored by Donlevy's lead performance.

Though it was never clearly explained which agency employed Steve Mitchell, it was clear he was operating on behalf of the U.S. Government. At the beginning of each episode, Mitchell received his assignment from "The Commissioner" (played by Herb Butterfield, who also doled out cases as Anthony J. Lyon on Jeff Regan, Investigator). Usually undercover as a foreign correspondent, Mitchell would catch a plane to a far-off locale to investigate a threat to America. But where the Man Called X was sophisticated and suave, Mitchell was a hard-boiled spy. Steve Mitchell was more likely to end up in the jungle or hiding in the sand dunes than he was to move in and out of high society parties. It's almost impossible to listen to Herbert Marshall as Ken Thurston and not imagine him in an immaculately tailored suit. It's equally difficult to hear Steve Mitchell and imagine him outside of dungarees and fatigues. The actor who gave voice to the man of action was one who had his own share of derring-do in real life, Brian Donlevy.

At age 14, Donlevy lied about his age to join the Army. In 1916, he served under General John J. Pershing in the Army's pursuit of Pancho Villa, and he served as a pilot with the French Air Force during World War I. Ultimately, he abandoned his military career for acting and broke into Hollywood in silent pictures in the 1920s. Donlevy earned an Oscar nomination for his role in Beau Geste in 1939, and the following year found some of his greatest success in the title role of Preston Sturges' The Great McGinty - a bum who ends up in the governor's mansion. Donlevy could play tough guys with the best of them, but he also managed to find the likable aspects of a character. His brutes were never wholly brutish, a quality that served him well in a number of 1940s film noir performances, including Kiss of Death in 1947.

Dangerous Assignment went on the air in the summer of 1949. NBC had recently lost The Man Called X, and the network was eager for another adventure series to fill the void. Brian Donlevy was heavily involved in the production of the series, and he approached NBC about getting the program on the air. After the summer run ended, NBC brough Dangerous Assignment back in February 1950. In late 1950, The Man Called X returned to NBC, and the programs aired back to back from 1950 to 1951. In 1952, Steve Mitchell's adventures came to television for 39 episodes. Donlevy not only reprised his role, but he produced the TV version as well. Also along for the TV series was Herb Butterfield as "The Commissioner."

The series was well produced, offering a variety of locations and adventures rounded out by the great Hollywood radio acting pool. In his tenure on the air, Steve Mitchell investigated deaths of fellow agents, pursued saboteurs, and tried to maintain America's sphere of influence. In one episode, the enemy spreads rumors that the United States is backing a coup in a South American country; Mitchell is dispatched to set the record straight and to stop the rumors. In the show we'll hear on the podcast this week, the theft of several barrels of oil jeopardizes the export of oil to the States. Scripts by Robert Ryf (a frequent contributor to Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar) and the driving score by Bruce Ashley helped to create a sense of atmosphere and foreign intrigue.

Episode 231 - Travel Spells Trouble (Dangerous Assignment) Jul 09, 2017

Show notes

Pack your bags - this week, we're joining Steve Mitchell on another Dangerous Assignment. Brian Donlevy stars as Mitchell, the two-fisted spy dispatched all around the world on thrilling adventures and top secret missions. In this pair of international mysteries, Steve Mitchell is on the trail of a pair of missing scientists (in an episode originally aired on NBC on April 24, 1950); and he heads down south to find a stolen Civil War map (in an episode originally aired on NBC on December 16, 1950).

Quick as a Flash Jul 07, 2017

Show notes

The Golden Age of Radio hosted a big club of newspaper reporters whose zeal for truth and justice led them to fight crime as they fought deadlines. Randy Stone of Night Beat; Dan Holiday of Box 13; and of course Clark Kent are just a few of the reporters who went above and beyond merely reporting the news and who took an active role in their stories. But it wasn't just the writers who played detective on the side in the world of radio journalists. One plucky photographer played gumshoe as he worked the police beat for his paper. He was Casey, Crime Photographer, and he enjoyed a long career on radio in the 1940s and early 1950s beginning with his first broadcast on July 7, 1943.

Casey was created by George Harmon Coxe and first appeared in Black Mask magazine in 1934. Coxe was inspired by the stories of heroic newspapermen, but he observed that "it was frequently the photographer accompanying such newsmen who frequently had to stick their neck out to get an acceptable picture." Coxe felt it was time to give the cameraman his due and introduced readers to Jack "Flashgun" Casey, a hard-drinking, two-fisted photographer who wielded a gun as effectively as he used a camera. Coxe featured the character in 24 short stories and six novels.

Following two B-movies in 1936 and 1937, Casey came to radio in June 1943 on CBS in Flashgun Casey, Press Photographer. Actor Matt Crowley, who played Batman, Dick Tracy, and Mark Trail on radio during his career, was the first actor heard as Casey. He was quickly succeeded by Jim Backus, later the voice of Mr. Magoo. By October, the role had been recast again, and this new Casey would stick with the character for the rest of his radio career. Actor Staats Cotsworth found his greatest radio success as Casey, but even with over 400 performances as the crime photographer he enjoyed a long career of diverse roles in radio and on television. Like J. Scott Smart of The Fat Man, he was a bit of a renaissance man. Cotsworth acted on the stage and only moved into acting early in his career to support his work as a painter. He continued to work in radio even while he was headlining Crime Photographer; Cotsworth could be heard on The Shadow, Dimension X, The Mysterious Traveler, and Rocky Fortune throughout his tenure on Casey.

The supporting cast for Cotsworth's run was rounded out by actress Jan Miner as reporter Ann Williams, whose stories ran alongside Casey's photos; Bernard Lenrow as Captain Logan of the police; and John Gibson as Ethelbert, the wry bartender at the Blue Note Cafe, where most Casey episodes wrapped up. Typical episodes (mostly written by Alonzo Dean Cole) involved Casey and Ann launching their own investigations into the crimes they covered, with Captain Logan often accepting their assistance, albeit reluctantly.

Though the series is best known today as Casey, Crime Photographer, it ran under several titles including Casey, Press Photographer and Crime Photographer. It aired on CBS in multiple incarnations from 1943 until 1954. For the final years, the radio version ran alongside a TV version. Actor Darren McGavin (perhaps best known as "The Old Man" in A Christmas Story) played Casey, with Jan Miner reprising her role as Ann for the single season TV run.

Radio historian John Dunning is less than kind to Casey, calling it "better than Mr. Keen [Tracer of Lost Persons], but lacking the polish and style of Sam Spade." That's a high bar to clear; few shows could measure up to Sam Spade when Howard Duff was at the microphone (today it would be akin to dismissing a series because it isn't as good as Homeland). Casey, Crime Photographer, thanks largely to Cotsworth's performance, is light and engaging mystery fare, well produced and written, and it presents a different type of character in a sea of hard-boiled private eyes.

"The innocent, the vagrant, the thief, the murderer..." Jul 06, 2017

Show notes

"We take you now behind the scenes of a police headquarters in a great American city…"

Cops rarely got their due in the Golden Age of Radio. On shows headlined by private detectives and amateur sleuths, the uniformed police officer was at best a harried man in over his head forced to turn to an outsider for help; at worst, he was a dullard who would trip over his own shoelaces without assistance from the main character. But some shows painted police officers with the right kind of brush. They weren't portrayed as geniuses or as dunces; rather, the hard work and determination that cracked cases was played up with elements of unique personalities and characters allowed to shine through. Dragnet is the best-known example of this type of police drama. Less known but just as strong is The Line-Up, a series that aired on CBS from 1949 to 1953, keeping pace with Jack Webb's program in its early years on radio.

The series was set in "a great American city" (unnamed at first, but later revealed to be San Francisco in the television version) and it followed the police as they tracked down killers, thieves, con men, and mob bosses. Each episode opened with a line-up of suspects, sometimes connected to the crime of the week, who were questioned by officers while anxious eyewitnesses watched and tried to recognize them. These scenes were wonderful displays of characterization, humor, and sound design as the hushed observations from the gallery mixed in and out of the loud defiant answers of the suspects being questioned.

The Line-Up was originally developed by Elliot Lewis, Morton Fine, and David Friedkin - the trio behind Broadway is My Beat. After the initial eight week run on CBS, the series was turned over to Blake Edwards and Jaime del Vallee, the creative team behind Richard Diamond, Private Detective. The new creative team shepherded a series that had the realism of Dragnet (especially in how it portrayed the frequent monotony of police work), but The Line-Up was more nuanced and allowed for richer characters to populate its precinct. Joe Friday and his partners were cops; the men on The Line-Up felt more like real people.

And to get that level of characterization, you need great actors in the roles. The Line-Up started strong at the top. In what may be his greatest radio role (and that's saying something given his two decades of work in the Golden Age of Radio), Bill Johnstone starred as Lt. Ben Guthrie. Johnstone first rose to prominence when he succeeded Orson Welles as The Shadow, a role he played from 1939 until 1943. That year, he moved to Hollywood and joined the incredible talent pool of west coast radio players. Johnstone was a fixture on Suspense, Escape, Sam Spade, and many more. He appeared in several episodes of The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe as Inspector Cramer and he played Lt. Ybarra opposite Van Heflin on The Adventures of Philip Marlowe. The prematurely gray-haired Johnstone had a rich voice that gave his characters an "older than their years" sound, and that technique was put to great use as Ben Guthrie. He was overworked (long hours and trips to the coffee pot were standards on the show) but Johnstone captured Guthrie's determination to close a case through the late nights.

Johnstone was supported for the first years of the program by actor Wally Maher (radio's Michael Shayne and Lt. Riley on Let George Do It) as Sgt. Matt Grebb. Grebb called the titular line-up that opened each episode and his wry dressing-down of suspects added some levity to the dramatic scripts. Grebb could also be counted on to rib Guthrie about the latter's bachelor lifestyle. Grebb played a role similar to that of Frank Smith on Dragnet, but Maher was given more opportunity to make Grebb a true character. Sadly, Maher passed away at age 43 in 1951, leaving a hole in not only The Line-Up, but the reperatory cast of Hollywood radio actors.

Actor Jack Moyles (who enjoyed a run as a radio detective in Rocky Jordan) played Sgt. Pete Carger, Guthrie's new partner, for the duration of the radio run following Maher's death. As a tribute to Maher (or perhaps because the late actor's style was so closely associated and identified with the program), Moyles used a similar delivery and cadence when calling the line-up at the start of each episode.

The Line-Up aired on CBS from July 6, 1950 to February 20, 1953. Like other shows of the era, it transitioned to television (albeit without its radio cast). The TV version starred Warner Anderson as Lt. Guthrie and Tom Tully as Inspector Grebb. Grebb received a promotion for TV because the San Francisco Police Department Bureau of Inspectors had no "Sergeant" rank. The series ran on CBS television from 1954 to 1960, and a feature film spin-off hit theaters in 1958. Ditected by Don Siegel (later he would direct Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry), the film co-starred Eli Wallach. Anderson returned as Guthrie for the film.

As more episodes of The Line-Up continue to enter circulation, it's a great time to discover this series. Fans of police drama and sharp writing would do well to sit in the gallery and watch as the suspects are paraded out and questioned. Just don't pay too much attention to their answers, as they often lie.

"Bring on the line."

Philo's Files Jul 05, 2017

Show notes

The gentleman amateur is as much an archetype of detective fiction as the dogged policeman and the hard-boiled private eye. Perhaps the most famous of this more refined school of crime-solver is Philo Vance. The debonair detective appeared in 12 novels written by Willard Huntington Wright (under the pen name S.S. Van Dine) and enjoyed a run as a film and radio star from the 1920s into the 1940s. Vance's tenure as a radio detective began with a broadcast on July 5, 1945.

Vance was an intellectual, a gourmand, a polyglot, and an expert on everything from psychology to Chinese pottery. He fenced, played polo and poker, and even bred show dogs. Described by Wright/Van Dine as "unusually good-looking," he was always dressed to the nines and usually wore a monocle. His creator inserted himself into the drama, with "S.S. Van Dine" acting as narrator and a Dr. Watson for Vance as he embarked on his mysteries. Also appearing alongside Vance in the books were District Attorney Markham, a no-nonsense prosecutor, and Sgt. Heath, who was as gruff and guttural as Vance was refined. Vance solved baffling cases in and around New York for twelve novels, including one where he partnered with comedienne Gracie Allen! The Vance novels were constructed as puzzle mysteries, with their intricate plots taking priority over the characters, and were well-received, especially the earliest novels in the series.

Not everyone was a fan, however; poet Ogden Nash famously observed "Philo Vance/Needs a kick in the pance." Raymond Chandler, creator of Philip Marlowe, derided Vance as "the most asinine character in detective fiction." Despite the chilly reception Vance received from these writers, Hollywood came calling to bring the character to the big screen.

In 1929, William Powell (five years away from The Thin Man) became the screen's first Philo Vance and starred in three films. Basil Rathbone, nine years from his run as Sherlock Holmes, stepped in as Vance for The Bishop Murder Case (1930) before Powell returned in 1933's The Kennel Murder Case. Directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood), The Kennel Murder Case is hailed as not only the best Philo Vance film, but one of the best film adaptations of a Golden Age mystery novel. Other actors who played Vance include Warren William (who also starred as Perry Mason in a series of Warner Brothers films), Paul Lukas, and William Wright. The final Vance films hit the screen in 1947, when the character was also solving crimes on the radio.

John Emery, the one-time husband of Tallulah Bankhead, was radio's first Philo Vance in 1943. Future Academy Award winner Jose Ferrer starred as Vance in a 1945 summer series. But the actor with the longest run as Philo Vance on radio was not a classic leading man, but rather a versatile radio actor.

Jackson Beck was the narrator of The Adventures of Superman on radio; it was his thunderous delivery of the introduction "Faster than a speeding bullet…" that became a hallmark of the program. Beck was one of radio's most versatile actors. Not only could he fill in as background characters on the Superman shows he narrated, but he could mimic world leaders on The March of Time and ride the radio range as The Cisco Kid. Beck was tapped to star as Philo Vance in a syndicated series from producer Frederick W. Ziv. Ziv also brought Richard Kollmar to radio as Boston Blackie.

The Ziv series toned down some of the character's less endearing characteristics; Vance was still a brilliant detective, but he was a more down-to-earth character. The preening fop of the novels (and even the early films) was gone. Jackson Beck's performance created a Vance who had a taste for the finer things but was no dandy. He wasn't a tough guy, but had no problem landing a punch when he needed to. The syndicated episodes also built a team around Vance. His secretary, Ellen Deering, was on hand for assistance and some playful office banter. Ellen was played by Beck's Superman co-star Joan (Lois Lane) Alexander. District Attorney Markham carried over from the Van Dine novels, and was played on the series by George Petrie. Usually, Vance would get entangled in a case because Markham sought out his assistance.

The Ziv series ran for 104 episodes, each following Van Dine's template of titling: "The [something] Murder Case." Like Ziv's Boston Blackie series, Philo Vance didn't have an introduction or opening credits. Instead, the first thing the listener hears is the organ followed by a teaser. Usually the crime is heard in this scene, or the criminals are overheard planning their next steps. Vance enters the story either at the behest of a client or by working alongside D.A. Markham. After dismissing the too-obvious solution to the crime at the scene, Vance makes his way through the suspects, interrogating but always with a gentleman's charm, before he solves the crime and reveals the murderer.

His adventures aren't hard-boiled, but Philo Vance provides entertainment for listeners (particularly when Jackson Beck is at the microphone). These puzzlers are cleverly plotted mysteries cast with an assortment of New York radio players. It's the type of quality programming the real Vance might enjoy in an easy chair with a cocktail at the ready.

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