In 1914, pulp fiction writer, Louis Joseph Vance, published the first in a series of mystery detective books starring Michael Lanyard, aka The Lone Wolf. Though Vance died before he could see the industry his books created in the thirties and forties, the books left him a successful writer.
This week, a look at the radio serial, The Lone Wolf with the only available episode of the series which first starred Gerald Mohr, then later Walter Coy (seen in the photo).
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One of the lesser known detective radio series, The Cases of Mr. Ace appears to have been in very limited run mostly on WNEW in New York in the late forties. The series was one of only two in which George Raft starred. I personally never really felt Raft was much of a radio actor. His onscreen persona is mostly in his looks and not his voice and it just doesn’t translate well to the medium of radio. So listen in to the somewhat noirish Eddie Ace.
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One of the lesser known radio detective serials was The Amazing Mr. Malone also known as Murder and Mr. Malone. Yet this series had three separate runs, a television series and several movies all based upon the fictional detective mystery books by author Craig Rice, whose real name was Georgiana Ann Randolph Rice (right).
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Adventures of Frank Race was purely a radio series with no connection to other media. It’s first star was Tom Collins whose suave (but fake) British sounding accent provided some well crafted narrative to the series. The second star was Paul Dubov who was more hardboiled.
This week, a look at the international detective whose primary business was following insurance scams.
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While one might not think of Big Town as a detective series, it wasn’t as much in its first run with Edward G. Robinson. But by 1942, the cast had changed and so had the theme. Managing Editor Steve Wilson of the Illustrated Press (portrayed by this time by Edward Pawley [right]) spent more time on the street investigating crime than he did running a newspaper.
Music underneath is “Seven Eleven” by Chillerstadt available on the Podshow Music Network.
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A delightful but intentionally short-lived series starring Rex Harrison. This series was written by Ed Adamson, who I will talk about a bit and whose talent makes this the wonderful little series it was.
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A look at Mickey Spillane and his explosive private investigator – Mike Hammer. Hammer was a true pulp hero who was seen and heard in various media including film, radio, television and comic strips. Mickey Spillane was never respected by his peers, but laughed all the way to the bank as his hero was extremely popular with readers.
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This week, I am experimenting with a different format as I present William Gargan as investigator Barry Craig. The series from the early fifties was actually quite entertaining. A look at the actor himself as well as the series. Music included this week are from music.podshow.com and include:
Evan Stone performing KCAMS
Robin Stine performing “Shy Boy”
lastfuture performing “detective double bass”
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A return look at Raymond Chandler’s private detective, Phillip Marlowe. Last time I focused on Gerald Mohr’s protrayal, but this time, we look at the first radio Phillip Marlowe – Van Heflin.
I also look at other Phillip Marlowe’s from other media and how they interpreted him.
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Crime and Peter Chambers was a short term replacement for the featured podcast last week – Rocky Fortune. The series starred screen and television actor Dane Clark as a suave but tough private detective based upon the detective novels by long time mystery novelist Henry Kane.
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