In 2009, Kevin James came to the silver screen as Paul Blart, Mall Cop. In this action Comedy, Paul Blart is an overweight bumbling mall security guard who dreams of a job with the State Police but continually falls short on the physical. When his mall is being taken over by a gang of desperate criminals, Blart jumps into action to thwart the bad guys and defeat the criminal mastermind.
In a nation where an ever-increasing number of us are overweight, Blart was a huge success. It had the 6th best January opening weekend ever at the box office and was the 19th highest grossing film of the year.

Paul Blart was not the first pudgy protagonist to take on the bad guys in a role often reserved for much more streamlined men.

In 1945, NBC created a sensation with its summer series, Rogue’s Gallery starring Dick Powell which moved to Mutual for the Fall. ABC wanted to cash in on the rising tide of the Hard Boiled Private Eye which became so associated with radio. So January 21, 1946 saw the former Blue Network offer not one but two hard boiled private eyes. The first was I Deal in Crime starring B-movie Star William Gargan as Ross Dolan and then there was The Fat Man which starred Fred Allen Alumni J Scott Smart as Brad Runyon. I Deal In Crime lasted a respectable two seasons, but it was The Fat Man who was the keeper.

The Fat Man was introduced as Dashiell Hammett’s most exciting character. Truth be told Hammett had little to do with the show. Hammett himself stated, “”My sole duty in regard to these programs, is to look in the mail for a check once a week.” The character Brad Runyon had the most in common with was Hammett’s Continental Op. The name the Fat Man evoked two images from Hammett’s work. First was a contrast between The Fat Man and the Thin Man, a Hammett book that had launched movie and radio franchises. The other was with the villain of the Maltese Falcon who Spade called The Fat Man, Kasper Gutman.

Brad Runyon had little in common with Gutman because not only wasn’t he a villain, but unlike Gutman,  Runyon was a man of action. This also separated him from Nero Wolfe, who relied on others to do his legwork.  Runyon, however was solidly in the hard-boiled school of private detection, taking and giving his own lumps. Runyon was tough, intelligent, and attractive to the ladies despite his girth, but also was a little sensitive about the subject. At the end of an episode he bemoaned, “Nobody loves a Fat Man.” Radio audiences begged to differ.

With its iconic opening, the Fat Man became a radio hit: 

There he goes, into that drugstore. 
He’s stepping on the scales. 
Weight: 239 pounds. 
Fortune: Danger. 
Who is it? 
THE FAT MAN 

Because of only ten episodes in circulation, it can be hard for the modern listener to grasp how popular the Fat Man was. Smart played the Fatman from January 1946 to September of 1951: 5 years and 9 months. That was longer than Bob Bailey played Johnny Dollar and longer than Sam Spade was on the air. The popularity of the Fat Man spawned a motion picture.

The Fat Man (1951) featured Runyon (still played by Smart) trying to solve the murder of a dentist. The style of the film was somewhat reminiscent of the Killer where the detective has to share the limelight with a rising young star (In this case Rock Hudson) through flashbacks. However, the film also gave Smart an opportunity to shine in some ways that even radio couldn’t portray. Film audiences for example found that the Fat Man could dance. 

Unfortunately, four months after the movie was released, The Fat Man danced right off the radio. Despite Hammett’s lack of any real involvement in the show, due to his problems with the House Un-American Activities Committee, the Fat Man struggled to maintain sponsors. The show’s producers were hoisted with their own petard. They’d work to build the association with Hammett and were stuck with it. Even leaving Hammett’s name off the movie credit did no good. The show was cancelled after the 1950-51 season.

Television would be a far harder nut to crack for overweight detective. TV was a more superficial medium than radio or classic films. As a true professional actor, Gargan was frustrated on the Martin Kane program with the decision to employee hapless yet beautiful actresses who would spoil lines on live TV. As a devout Catholic, he was also bothered by what he perceived as the show’s attempt to push more skin in the audience. As he result, he left Martin Kane in 1951 and returned to radio.

For overweight actors, this superficiality meant less access to man roles. Oscar Winner Edmond O’Brien was informed that he couldn’t star as Broadway Detective Johnny Midnight unless he lost weight. Sebastian Cabot did get a role in a crime drama on Checkmate in 1960-62, but it was as a mastermind and mentor to two young trim and handsome private eyes.