While Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence and Dashiell Hammett’s Nick and Nora Charles (of The Thin Man novel and films) are better-known husband-and-wife sleuths today, Mr. and Mrs. North were characters who enjoyed a remarkable era of popularity for nearly a quarter of a century.

The Norths were not originally detectives. Publisher Jerry North and his wife Pam were created for a series of humorous vignettes by writer Richard Lockridge in 1930. These were published in a book entitled Mr. and Mrs. North in 1937. It was only when his wife Frances joined him as co-author that the Norths tipped their toes into the world of sleuthing with the 1940 novel The Norths Meet Murder. Twenty-five novels followed over the next twenty-three years, along with Broadway play and a film adaptation starring William Post and Gracie Allen. The characters were featured in various radio adaptations from 1942-1954.  In addition, there was a television series from 1952-54 starring Richard Denning and Barbara Britton.

Note: Due to the lower writing quality of the latter, the Mr. and Mrs. North television series starring Denning and Britton, we will only be featuring the Curtin/Frost episodes of the series.

About the stars:

Joseph Curtin (1910-79): Curtin began working in radio in the mid-1930s. He is best known for his role as Jerry North on Mr. and Mrs. North. However, he was also the last actor to play the role of Nick Charles in The Thin Man series. He was also a regular actor on many daytime soaps, including Rose of My Dreams, Backstage Wife, and Stella Dallas. When the Golden Age of Radio came to a close, Curtin retired from acting and joined his family’s insurance agency in Massachusetts.

Alice Frost (1910-94): Frost made her radio debut at age 16 and would become a mainstay of the New York radio acting community. She worked with Orson Welles, appearing in his stage adaptation of Julius Caesar, in 1937 radio mini-series of Les Miserables, and in the early season of The Mercury Theatre. Frost was known as “the girl of a hundred voices” for her complete versatility across all genres. Throughout the Golden Age of Radio, she had numerous roles in sitcoms and daytime soap operas and was frequently called on in anthology programs ranging from Suspense to Romance and The Columbia Workshop. Like many radio actresses, she made the transition to television and eventually Hollywood. She had recurring roles in the sitcoms Mama and Farmer’s Daughter while racking up numerous TV and film appearances over a 30-year period across a variety of genres. Her last television credit was a 1979 episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Episode log:

• Russian Restaurant Murder (Original Air Date: February 2, 1943)
• Murder by the Book (Original Air Date: March 2, 1943)
• The Contagious Confession (Original Air Date: September 22, 1943)
• The Norths Buy a Letter (Original Air Date: October 6, 1943)
• The Missing Sparkler (Original Air Date: 1943)
• The Literary Murder (Original Air Date: January 26, 1944)
• The Norths Go To The Dogs (Original Air Date: February 2, 1944)
• The Little Man Who Wasn’t There (Original Air Date: April 12, 1944)
• The Wilbur Wills Matter (Original Air Date: May 24, 1944)
• The Norths Get Wired for Sound (Original Air Date: July 19, 1944)
• Pam Goes it Alone (Original Air Date: August 2, 1944)
• Pam Keeps Out of Trouble (Original Air Date: August 9, 1944)
• The Norths Discover Christopher Columbus (Original Air Date: October 11, 1944)
• Frisbie Proves his Point (Original Air Date: January 17, 1945)
• The Mystery of the Triggerman (Original Air Date: May 30, 1945)
• The Milkman’s Ring (Original Air Date: July 15, 1947)
• Call me Choo Choo (Original Air Date: December 9, 1947)
• Accidents on the Ice Rink (Original Air Date: January 3, 1950)
• Dime a Dance (Original Air Date: March 7, 1950)
• Million Dollar Murder (Original Air Date: September 5, 1950)*
• Who Killed Mr. Stefano? (Original Air Date: December 6, 1950)
• Charles Wyatt Murdered (Original Air Date: January 30, 1951)
• The Premature Corpse (Original Air Date: February 12, 1952)
• Dead Giveaway (Original Air Date: February 19, 1952)
• Death Trap (Original Air Date: February 26, 1952)
• The Heavenly Body (Original Air Date: March 4, 1952)
• Don’t Cry Wolf (Original Air Date: March 11, 1952)
• Murder Mismanaged (Original Air Date: March 18, 1952)
• Death in the Dark (Original Air Date: March 25, 1952)
• The Last Escape (Original Air Date: April 1, 1952)
• Fool’s Gold (Original Air Date: October 14, 1952)
• The Wheel of Chance (Original Air Date: June 30, 1953)

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* episodes played out of order