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Today’s Mystery:
A man murders his business partner in Africa to claim sole ownership of a cache of ivory. He’s then found dead in a locked room.
Original Radio Broadcast Date: March 28, 1950
Originated in: New York City
Starred: Jackson Beck as Philo Vance, George Petrie as District Attorney Markham
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HI, ADAM!
I ENJOY THE OLD-TIME RADIO PROGRAMS YOU SEND TO MY EMAIL. JUST WANTED TO SAY A FEW WORDS REGARDING YOUR ONLINE “PHILO VANCE” PROGRAMS. TV COMIC SOUPY SALES DERIVED HIS “PHILO KVETCH” FROM S.S. VAN DINE’S “PHILO VANCE”; HE NOT ONLY CONFIRMED THIS TO ME, BUT GAVE ME THE PHONE NUMBER AND ADDRESS OF JACKSON BECK, WHO ENACTED PHILO IN THE ZIZ RADIO SERIES OF THE LATE FORTIES AND EARLY FIFTIES (THE RESULTS OF MY PHONECALL TO HIM CAN BE SEEN IN MY EBAY LINER NOTES FOR THE SECOND CD BOX SET OF THESE OFFERED BY RADIO ARCHIVES). “THE IVORY MURDER CASE” (1950) CENTERS ON A “LOCKED ROOM” MURDER, THE EXPLANATION OF WHICH IS VERY ACCEPTABLE ALTHOUGH IT HAD ORIGINATED IN THE 1891/1892 NOVEL BY IRAEL ZANGWILL TITLED “THE BIG BOW MYSTERY”. IT WAS FILMED WITH VARIOUS TITLES IN 1928 (F.B.O.), 1934 (RKO) and 1946 (WARNER BROS.). THE LATTER IMPROVED SIGNIFICANTLY BY AVOIDING ZANGWILL’S LIGHTHEARTED NARRATIVE AND ADDING THE VICTORIAN BACKGROWN MISSING FROM THE TWO EARLIER VERSIONS.
THE BASIC GIMMICK OF KNIFING SOMEONE AFTER THE LOCKED-FROM-THE-INSIDE BEDROOM DOOR HAD BEEN BROKEN INTO WAS AN INNOVATION OF ZANGWILL’S ALTHOUGH IT HAS BEEN USED, OFTEN MODIFIED, A NUMBER OF TIMES IN BOTH FICTION AND FILM (THE 1948 MOVIE, “THE ARGYLE SECRETS”, FOR EXAMPLE, HAS THE KILLER CONCEALED BY A SCREEN WITHIN A HOSPITAL ROOM, SURREPTITIOUSLY JOINING THE REPORTERS ENTERING THE ROOM AFTER THE BEDRIDDEN VICTIM HAD BEEN KNIFED).
GRATEFULLY,
RAY