Continuing our series from last week where we began with radio detectives who crossed networks, we turn to radio detective actors whose performance stuck to one network. Examining the four networks that were prominent during the Golden Age, we’ll begin with ABC.

Of course, finding a great detective show on ABC was a challenge. ABC was originally the Blue Network of NBC and was formed as a result of an FCC ruling. It was slow starting out. Many of its programs were really bad including the obnoxious Danger, Dr. Danfield and the low-budget Deadline Mystery with a seemingly non-existent sound-effects budget. In addition, with less stations and less listeners, this also means that even of the good programs, there are less available transcriptions.

Some of the biggest shows to air on ABC were revivals of other networks cast offs such as Richard Diamond, Michael Shayne, Rogue’s Gallery, and The Casebook of Gregory Hood. With the exception of Diamond, all of these shows had zero or one episode in circulation and starred a different actor than the one most commonly associated with the role.

How bad were the available ABC shows and the selection of potential shows? Abbott and Costello regularly did a detective parody for the last half season on the air called, “Sam Shovel.” It almost made the list.

Like last week, we ran a poll on Facebook.  This week, 68 listeners voted for their favorites. One listener Sue commented on the poll, “Never heard of any of them.” Sue’s not alone. While there’s a show or two that wouldn’t be considered if they’d aired on CBS or the Mutual Broadcasting System, there were some unheralded gems on ABC. With that, here are the top 5 Old Time Radio detectives from ABC:

5) William Gargan as Bob Dolan in,  “I Deal in Crime”

Aired: 1946-47

This is a show that wouldn’t have made my list had it aired on any other network.  Academy Award Nominated Actor William Gargan on screen had been invited time and time again to play police officers and detectives, even playing Ellery Queen in three movies.There was good reason for that Gargan had been a real life private investigator spending a year of his life as a store investigator, and then as a private detective.  At six foot tall and more than 200 pounds, Gargan also looked the part. He was a natural to become one of radio’s first hard boiled private eyes and give the fledgling ABC network a leg up on the rush to the hard boiled detective shows.

However, the role of hard-boiled private eye was relatively new over the new radio. Dick Powell had just brought Richard Rogue to the  radio in a portrayal that featured a tongue in cheek treatment of the private detective genre. In I Deal in Crime, Gargan went way over the top with his initial portrayal of Bob Dolan.  However, the show did get better. The three transcriptions that survive, one from January, one from April, and one from September showed steady improve.  The September one showed Dolan as a more laid back private detective that had much more in common with Gargan’s Martin Kane and Barrie Craig. In fact,  I Deal in Crime was probably  vital in Gargan’s career in helping him develop the type of detective character that would keep him in demand for years to come.

While the show may not be a great, it was a pretty good for an ABC show.

Fan Vote: 1%

4) Tom Conway as  Sherlock Holmes

Aired: 1946-47

With Basil Rathbone’s decision to leave the Sherlock Holmes franchise and strike out with another (ultimately unsuccessful) radio series, “Scotland Yard,” Sherlock Holmes faced change. Both the show’s sponsor and its network opted to continue the Summer Series, The Casebook of Gregory Hood. This led to a coup for ABC picking up the series and retaining Nigel Bruce as Watson, with Tom Conway from the Falcon pictures taking over as Sherlock Holmes.

There are certainly ways that the ABC’s Holmes could be seen to be a downgrade from the Rathbone episodes, including the decline in commercials from Petri Wine to Kremel Hair Tonic, the drop in chemistry from amazing  to only good, and that Rathbone was more charismatic and a better actor.

That said, given that the previous series was one of radio’s finest, being a notch or two below that isn’t too shabby, particularly for ABC.  The show maintained remarkable quality thanks in part to the continuity in writing and Conway did a decent Holmes voice that seemed almost a Rathbone imitation at times. Basil Rathbone left huge shoes to fill and Conway did as well as anyone could in filling them, and the world got 39 more episodes with Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, with 38 surviving to this day. Definitely worth a spot on the top 5.

Fan Vote: 44%

Fans who voted for Sherlock Holmes tended to be huge fans of literature’s greatest detective, and think if Holmes is done well, it just can’t be beat.

Tim said, “As much as I love the Pat Novak banter, Sherlock is always top dog in the detective’s pack.”  Walter said, “Like ’em all but Sherlock and Dr. Watson reign supreme.”

3) Mercedes McCambridge as Marsha Ellis Bryant in  Defense Attorney

Aired: 1951-52

Orson Welles called Mercedes McCambridge the world’s greatest living radio actress.  High praise indeed. It was no wonder that she was one of the few women to serve as a lead in a detective series.

In 1951, NBC prepared a pilot for The Defense Rests with a plot similar to the Jimmy Stewart movie, Call Northside 777. The show didn’t make the cut at NBC and was not aired.  One advantage of being ABC was that the network had little to risk by giving an unusual show a shot, so in the fall of 1951, Defense Attorney came to ABC. The show featured McCambridge as Marsha Ellis Bryant.  The show shared some similarities with Murder and Mr. Malone in that Bryant was rarely in the courtroom, and solved her cases usually on the street with the aid of her reporter-boyfriend (played by Howard Culver.) The three episodes of Defense Attorney that survive in circulation are well-done mysteries, with McCambridge’s solid acting carrying the show. From the last episode, we know that the show did better than many other ABC shows in that it garnered a sponsor. Not only that, but McCambridge was named best dramatic access by the Radio Television Mirror magazine. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save the show which was canceled after one season. Truly this one show where I’d love to see more episodes come into circulation.

Fan Vote: 1%

2) J. Scott Smart as Brad Runyon in the Fat Man

Aired: 1946-51

The Fat Man was by far ABC’s longest running and most successful series. The character was created by Dashiell Hammett, although Hammett had nothing to do with writing the show.

The Fat Man was unique for the time. Unlike Nero Wolfe, Brad Runyon was active and hard boiled. He was as tough as other any hard boiled eye and as popular with the ladies. He also possessed a great mix of toughness and compassion, mixed with only a little bit of sensitivity to his weight.

“Nobody loves a fat man.” he lamented.

Audiences disagreed as the Fat Man was a hit for five seasons. The show’s signature opening with our hero stepping on a scale, and his pronunciation of “murderrrr” became famous.

The show was so popular that Smart got to bring Brad Runyon to the silver screen. The Fat Man was the first radio detective show to be made into a motion picture with the original star. The movie was well-received and even modern viewers who see it would like to see a sequel. Unfortunately, a combination of radio’s decline and the Communist ties of the show’s absentee creator Hammett brought the show to an end.

It’s influence did not end, however as the idea of a chubby PI kept resurfacing. In the 1970s, William Conrad starred as tough gourmet private detective Frank Cannon.  Cannon and every rough and tumble pudgy action hero owes a debt to the Fat Man for showing how it was done.

In the mid-1950s, Fat Man reached a new audience overseas when Grace Gibson purchased the rights to re-perform 52 scripts with an all-Australian cast. There are more of these Australian episodes in circulation than there are the American canon.

Fan vote: 9%

Speaking of the American Canon,  Tamara comments, “I wish more shows had been made of the Fat Man.”

Tamara raises a good point. There are only 13 U.S. episodes of the Fat Man in circulation, which, while better than Defense Attorney and I Deal In Crime is still very low. Of course, the problem is not so much that not many shows were made, but that most didn’t survive.  One log suggests that 289 episodes of “The Fat Man” aired over radio, which suggests that nearly 96% of them were lost.

1)  Pat Novak for Hire starring Jack Webb

Aired: 1949

Pat Novak for Hire is a show that was all in the execution and delivery of the show’s star, Jack Webb. The plots were very similar and can be boiled down to a simple formula as we do on the Pat Novak for Hire page.

The show followed Pat Novak, the owner of a boat rental store who also took on other’s trouble as a profitable sideline, routinely taking jobs he knew better than to accept that put him on the wrong side of San Francisco Homicide Inspector Hellman. Every episode he’d beat a murder rap with some last second deduction and some help from ex-boozer and doctor Jocko Madigan.

The plots were formulaic, but Pat Novak for Hire wasn’t popular for its highly original plots but for its rich dialogue, and Noirish poetry.  As Novak, Jack Webb spins similies faster than a politicians press secretary during a scandal. These There’s Novak’s descriptions:

The street was as deserted as a warm bottle of beer.

There were his encounters with John Law (in the form of radio’s worst cop not on the take, Inspector Hellman):

Your men couldn’t follow a moose through a revolving door.

And then there were his descriptions of San Francisco (definitely not approved by the Chamber of Commerce) that made it one of radio noir’s darkest settings:

You can dress it up to look honest, but that doesn’t do any good; because down on the waterfront in San Francisco, if you had to eat morals, you’d have bone rattle in three days.

In voting for Novak, Tim shared two of his favorite quotes, “She was at least 50, because you can’t get that ugly without years of practice.” and “She sauntered in, moving slowly from side to side like 118 pounds of warm smoke.”

In addition to this, there’s the wonderful monologues of Jocko Madigan. More Pat Novak quotes are here.

While the show ran for two years down in San Francisco (with Actor Ben Morris playing Novak after Webb left in 1947 for Hollywood), it’s national run over ABC lasted only 20 weeks, ended not by lack of popularity but by ABC’s decision to put the show on Summer hiatus and Webb beginning a Summer replacement for NBC radio called, Dragnet.

The 18 episodes of Pat Novak that have survived are dynamite. (Indeed, given all the problems that all the shows on our listen other than Conway’s Holmes had with having episodes in circulation. That 90% of the Novak episodes survive says something about the show.

I have to admit I debated myself on this one. The Fat Man had huge influence with the power of Cannon all the way to Paul Blart, Mall Cop. They all owe something to the original Fat Man.

However, I give the nod to Novak as it really continues to fascinate equally new listeners and OTR superfans, and has inspired both a Graphic Novel and a recent stage production in Seattle, which is a sign of a show that’s got staying power.

Fan vote: 46%

Next week…Mutual Detective shows

Become a friend on Facebook to participate in this week’s poll at http://www.facebook.com/radiodetectives

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I had the great idea of doing a series of articles, ranking the top five radio detectives by Network (i.e. ABC, NBC, CBS, Mutual, and the syndicated shows.)

There was only one problem with the plan. Many radio programs didn’t just stay on one network. In some cases radio actors regularly jumped from network-to-network.

If actor’s change, it’s easy to differentiate between (for example) the 1947 NBC Summer replacement series, “The Adventures of Philip Marlowe” with Van Heflin and the 1948-50 and 1951 CBS Series, “The Adventures of Philip Marlowe” with Gerald Mohr. However, the problem was that several shows jumped networks with the exact same actors, and many of the shows where the star and show changed networks are among the absolute favorites that I’m sure to be asked about.

Thus our first top 5 list will look at Detective Series that played across multiple networks. In addition, I ran a poll on our Facebook page to see who listeners to the program thought was the best. 75 people took part in the survey. The fan results including the percentage of the vote that went for each Detective follow my thoughts on the series:

5) Herbert Marshall as Ken Thurston in, “The Man Called X”

Series Run: 1944-48, 1950-52

Networks: CBS (Summer 1944, 1947-48), The Blue Network (1944-45), NBC (Summer 1946, Summer 1947, 1950-52)

Marshall starred in this iconic role, as an international troubleshooter who faces danger, mystery, and adventures the world over. The British-born Marshall’s debonair performance gave the show class and style.

Unlike Dangerous Assignment, The Man Called X dealt more directly with America’s actual enemies. This gave Ken Thurston’s adventures the highest stakes in radio. While other mystery series were worrying about a plot to steal a $10,000 diamond necklace, Thurston was trying to stop someone from blowing up NATO.

The Man Called X came to television in a 1957 ZIV TV series with Barry Sullivan in the lead. The title also inspired the creators of the feature length Flintstones film, The Man Called Flintstones.

Fan Results: 3%

Fan Comments: Amanda who actually voted for the Saint shared, “I like a Man Called X, too. I suspect it’s not getting a lot of votes because not many people have heard of it..”

My response: This is true enough. Many of the spy dramas from the Cold War are considered “dated.” In addition, there were some poorly produced espionage shows, particularly those that appeared on television that gave some of the truly good programs a bad name. Hopefully, we’ll get to share some of the good ones in coming years.

4) The Saint with Vincent Price

Series Run: 1947-51

Networks: CBS (1947-48), Mutual (1949-50), NBC (1950-51)

Vincent Price played many villains in his career, most famously horror movies and on the 1960s Batman TV series as Egghead. He also did several roles in inspirational television shows and movies.

The Saint presented Price in a different role: that of detective hero. Price was not the first actor to play the Saint over the radio (there had been two 13-episode series aired in 1945 starring Edgar Barrier and Brian Aherne respectively). However, Price made the role of the Saint his own.   While, the Saint was hardly a hard boiled private eye, the Saint’s quick wit and smart mouth were the equal of any detective on the radio.

Price’s style was a perfect mix of witty banter, charm, intelligence and toughness that makes each episode of the Saint with Vincent Price a pleasure to listen to.

During the Summer of 1951, Tom Conway took over the role until the series ended in the Fall. In the 1960s, future James Bond Roger Moore brought the Saint to British TV. In more recent years, a movie with Val Kilmer and a BBC radio adaptation have been made

Fan Vote: 5%

3) Howard Duff as Sam Spade

Series Run: 1946-50
Networks: ABC (1946), CBS (1946-49), NBC (1949-50)

Duff’s Spade is one of radio’s most memorable characters. Spade was tough, sarcastic, a ladies man, and definitely not a boy scout.

Stories were often tongue in cheek with plenty of humor throughout, as Spade would even occasionally mix in a reference to another detective, most notably the San Francisco-based Pat Novak and Johnny Madero. The highlight of each show was when he explained the case to his neurotic secretary Effie (played to perfection by Lurene Tuttle in her most memorable role.)

Two months after Duff’s last episode, Spade was brought back with Steve Dunne in the lead. The series folded after 24 episodes.

Fan Vote: 15%
Fan Comments: Dorothy who voted for Sam said, “It’s really a tie between Sam Spade and Richard Diamond for me but Spade’s taken my heart.” Score one for Howard Duff.
2) Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes

Series Run: 1939-42, 1943-46

Networks: Blue Network (1939-42), Mutual (1943-46)

By far, Rathbone did more radio work as Holmes than any other actor: 217 episodes spread out over six seasons. The Rathbone-Bruce episodes are so sought after as the duo were Hollywood’s definitive Holmes and Watson, partially as a result of the radio programs. Without the radio programs, it’s doubtful that Universal would have revived the pairing.
The series featured the personal chemistry between Rathbone and Bruce which had made the series such a winner on screen. The series included fine writing by Edith Meiser and later the Dennis Green and Anthony Boucher. The Green and Boucher episodes were noted for serious research and educational value, whether it was Guy Fawkes or the Blarney Stone, you’d most often learn something along the way. The episodes often included moments of culture with more than an average share of violins and beautiful singing voices popping up. In addition, they also worked into the plot scenes where Rathbone would be able to show his incredible talent for dialect or  read from a famous play.

During the three seasons on the Blue Network, 74 episodes were done. Over Mutual, the production pace was more frentic, with the show broadcast 107 weeks in a row before taking a Summer break before coming back for a 39 episode season. Despite continuing sponsor interest and chance to continue pull in lots of money, Rathbone had had enough and went back to Broadway.
Of course, Sherlock Holmes went on, but most actors since then have been stuck in Bruce’s shadow. In particular, the next two actors to take the role tried to follow Rathbone’s lead and sound like him to an extent. After all, that was what Sherlock Holmes was supposed to sound like.

Fan Vote: 56%

Fan Comments: While the Rathbone Sherlock Holmes show won by a landslide, not everyone is a fan. Dorothy, who voted for Spade, complained of the disrespect for Dr. Watson, “I know they had their reasons for doing that but really, it lessens the impact of Holme’s brilliance to be placed next to an albeit lovable but blustering fool.”

1) Dick Powell as Richard Diamond
Series Run: 1949-52, 1953 (Reruns)

Networks: NBC (1949-50) ABC (1951-52), CBS (1953 Reruns)

Up until 1949, Dick Powell could be divided into periods. Prior to his 1944 break-out performance as Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet, Powell had played in romantic comedies, often of the musical variety, as the light-leading man. After Murder My Sweet, Powell played a series of hard-boiled Noirish Characters in films such as Johnny O’Clock. Now, if only these two halves could be combined…

And they were in Richard Diamond. The first half of the show, Diamond would be on the trail of desperate figures, there would be gun play, violence, and then lots of hardboiled smarting off. Then, after the bodies were carried away, he’d steal a few moments with his girl and sing her a song.

Houston, we have synergy.

It’s a fun show, with a great mix of action, comedy, and romance, the direction and writing talents of a young Blake Edwards, and the charisma of Dick Powell at the center of it all.
Richard Diamond ended as Powell focused more on television. In 1957, Richard Diamond came to television with David Janssen in the lead as Powell thought it was time for someone new. The series ran until 1960. Also, series creator Blake Edwards adapted an episode of Richard Diamond for his Peter Gunn series, “Let’s Kill Timothy.”
Fan vote: 21%

Honorable Mentions: Dick Powell in Rogue’s Gallery, Alice Curtain and Joseph Frost in Mr. and Mrs. North, and Claudia Morgan in The Thin Man.

Next week: ABC shows. Become a friend on Facebook to participate in this week’s poll at http://www.facebook.com/radiodetectives

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