From the Dorothy L. Sayers collection of short stories – Hangman’s Holiday – this adapted version of “The Fountain Plays” on the Suspense radio program from August 1943. Adapted by Robert L. Richards, well respected radio scripter of horror pieces such as “The House in Cypress Canyon,” comes this fair translation of the Sayers’ story starring Edmund Gwen as Mr. Spiller.
Music under is called “Old Folks” performed by Ron Helman.
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Finally getting back to posting a new podcast after nearly a 6 month hiatus. This one takes a look at the sub-genre of detective fiction – the “locked room” mystery, of which one writer (radio and fiction) – John Dickson Carr – was the master. However, there are many other that usually get categorized after the fact even if the writer hadn’t really intentionally created one.
This podcast will feature a later Sherlock Holmes which is in fact called the “Mystery of the Locked Room” and while not part of the canon, it does fit in well since it was written by Anthony Boucher and Denis Green.
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Another look at Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe, but this time with a Canadian bent. Just where did the name Nero Wolfe come from and how does this Canadian production compare? This version stars Mavor Moore and Don Francks (l-r).
Music under is Art Tatum’s “Prisoner of Love”
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A return look at the creator of the Boston Blackie character. Little is known about Jack Boyle, who at one time probably faced obscurity were it not for the publication of a collection of his stories in 1919. You’ll hear a rarer radio version starring Chester Morris and Richard Lane. Most radio collectors know Richard Kollmar as the radio Blackie.
Music under is Blue Moon played by Ben Webster.
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From the book by Nicholas Blake, aka Cecil Day-Lewis (father of actor Daniel Day-Lewis), The Beast Must Die is considered one of the author’s best works of fiction featuring his detective, Nigel Strangeways. This adaptation for Suspense excludes the detective, but adheres to some of the story as best it can within a one-half hour production. Starring Herbert Marshall as Frank Cairnes, aka Felix Lane, this suspense-filled play is a good one. I would highly recommend the book too, if you can find it.
Music under is Over the Rhine’s “Born”
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The final episode on the development of the American Detective as heard through radio and fiction. In the early 1920s, pulp writers Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Carroll John Daly, Erle Stanley Gardner and others were creating a new kind of detective: one who was of the streets. Their gritty street smart, tough talking detectives were the first real American detectives not spawned from the Holmesian model.
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In looking at the development of the American detective genre reflected through Radio Drama, we are now into the early 20th century. Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes has begun to affect many of these early fictional detectives in the rise of the “deductive” detective. American detective fiction writers including S.S. Van Dine are finding their own detectives are models of the great detective’s style. Most are detectives of the elite society who live by the “rule of law.” One of the best examples is Van Dine’s Philo Vance.
Music under is Dick Hyman’s “If I Had You.”
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Continuing with a look at the emergence of the American Detective Genre using radio, the element of misdirection is added as we move into the 20th century and an American style detective genre begins to emerge. One of the influential stories of the late 19th century was Israel Zangwill’s (Left) story The Big Bow Mystery. You can read it here.
Music under is In A Sentimental Mood performed by Monty Alexander.
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Continuing the look at the American Detective genre, a new element is injected into the early formation of what would become the American Detective genre – sensationalism. You’ll hear a story that once more is short on the detective aspect but large on titillation, where a crime is committed and the listener/reader experiences elements of excitement. The play is based upon Wilkie Collins’ short story The Traveller’s Story of a Very Strange Bed. The original story can be found here.
Music under is the Irish band Kila and their tune Baroki.
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Beginning with this podcast, I will be spending the next few understanding the history and development of the American detective genre. However, I will be referencing it to various radio episodes as examples of the history. Since many feel the American Detective genre began with Edgar Allan Poe, and since I have already presented his famous deductive detective, C. Auguste Dupin, I am using this episode of Poe’s The Gold Bug to illustrate how the reasoning process figured largely in many of Poe’s stories.
Music under is Isham Jones & “Shadows on the Swanee” and the Coon-Sanders Orchestra with “My Suppressed Desire.”
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