I had originally kicked around the idea of examining a Thanksgiving-related OTR program episode for today’s blog entry, but for a myriad of reasons—the main one being I didn’t think about it until the last minute—I declined to do so. Rest assured, I will be a little more on the ball come December; I have already selected a number of Christmas-themed shows to look at.
I suppose I could connect the program I listened to last night in some small way to Thanksgiving, in as much as I thought it was a real “turkey.” Well, perhaps that’s a little harsh. Charlie Summers, moderator of The Old-Time Radio Digest, describes Boston Blackie like so: “Ok, I'll admit it, it's a guilty pleasure. Listen to too many in a row, and your brain might turn to mush; but a show or two at a time is just the thing.” I haven’t been able to ascertain whether I’m just a snob or if Charlie’s a lowbrow. (By the way, he has a log of the series—in .pdf form—of the series on his website.)
Boston Blackie, a fictional detective created by author Jack Boyle, is a modern day Robin Hood figure who was at one time a skilled thief but decided to travel the path of the straight-and-narrow, now solving crimes rather than committing them. Assisting him in his sleuthing activities are nurse Mary Wesley—Blackie’s love interest—and sidekick Shorty; hampering his efforts is the incredibly dimwitted Inspector Faraday of the New York Police Department, who isn’t completely convinced that Blackie has gone legit.
The Boston Blackie stories were prominently featured in magazines like Cosmopolitan and Redbook during the early 1900s, and the detective even managed to make a splash on the big screen during the silent era with Boston Blackie’s Little Pal (1918) and Boston Blackie (1923). The character furthered cemented his cinematic fame in a series of B-pictures cranked out by Columbia during the 1940s and starring Chester Morris. Eleven films were produced, starting in 1941 with Meet Boston Blackie and ending with Boston Blackie’s Chinese Venture in 1949. The Encore Mystery Channel showcased a few of these movies sometime back and they’re still enjoyable today—breezy, entertaining little films that move along at a rapid clip and feature a delightful mix of mystery and humor.
It was, in fact, Chester Morris who starred in the first Boston Blackie series to appear on radio, as a summer replacement for Amos ‘n’ Andy over NBC beginning June 23, 1944 . A year later, Ziv Productions continued what they had originally initiated by inking a deal with the Rubsam and Horman brewing company in New York for a “live” production on WOR. The series, which had runs on both Mutual and the Blue networks, starred actor Richard Kollmar (Morris was unable to do the show since the series originated from New York) as the famous sleuth; Kollmar would end up appearing in 220 recorded and syndicated episodes of the show over a roughly five-year period.
A critic of Blackie once described it as “high in corn content, but hardly one of radio’s schedule stoppers,” and I think that’s a pretty fair assessment. (Besides, when you crank out episodes like sausages, that sort of thing is bound to happen.) Last night I listened to two broadcasts, the first one dated April 16, 1946 and titled “The Baseball Player Murder.” During a ballgame, player Mike Allen is sliding into second base—but when he doesn’t get up, it is quickly discovered that he has been shot and murdered. Inspector Faraday is talking with two team members—Lefty Jones, the team captain, and manager Mac Donlin—and learns that Allen had phoned his nemesis Boston Blackie shortly before the game got underway. Blackie, the number-one suspect, is brought to Faraday for questioning:
ROLLINS: All right, you get in there, Blackie…come on inside…here he is, Inspector…Boston
FARADAY: Oh yeah? Okay, you guys, sit around on those benches over there and relax…well, Blackie…so Mike Allen made a phone call to you before the game, huh? What did he want?
BLACKIE: I don’t know…I wasn’t home before the game…
FARADAY: Where were you?
BLACKIE: Out…
FARADAY: You’re gonna be in a whole lot more out when I get through with you…where were you when Allen was shot?
BLACKIE: Still in the same place, Faraday…out…
FARADAY: Out where?
BLACKIE: No place in particular…just out…
FARADAY: Rollins, grab his arms…
ROLLINS: Yes, sir!
FARADAY: Now maybe we’ll get somewhere…
BLACKIE: Er, just a minute, Rollins…you haven’t got this arm very tight here…
ROLLINS: Oh?
BLACKIE: Try a better grip…
ROLLINS: How’s that?
BLACKIE: Oh, good and tight…okay, that’ll do it…what now, Inspector?
FARADAY: Now I search you, that’s what…let’s see your coat pockets…mmm hmm…change…paper clip…what’s that for, Blackie?
BLACKIE: To clip papers, Faraday…see, you learn something every day…
FARADAY: And this…what’s this, a hat check? No…it’s a rain check…for a ballgame! For this ballgame, too! Whaddya know about that? So you were in the stands watching the ballgame, huh?
BLACKIE: Guilty as charged…what’s the penalty for that?
FARADAY: I’ll penalty you…I’ll find a reason for you to kill Allen…I’ll prove you had the opportunity!
BLACKIE: Faraday…dear friend Faraday…in reply to your most recent and most ridiculous suspicions, may I say that…A, I did not kill Mike Allen…B, I came to the park to see a ballgame…and C, I am going to help you find Allen’s killer…
FARADAY: Oh yeah? Well, D, E, and F, you’re gonna keep outta my way and you’re not leaving town, you get that?!!
Blackie and Mary go to the ballpark later that night to investigate the scene of the crime, and Blackie determines from the method Allen used to slide into second that the direction of the gunshot must have come from behind the scoreboard. Climbing the steps and entering the scoreboard, the two of them discover the body of the scorekeeper, who apparently surprised the murderer—and so the killer knocked him out, accidentally killing him. Mary warns Blackie that if Faraday catches him with the dead body he’ll definitely be in Casa del Bow-Wow when—as if on cue—Faraday strolls in. He’s been tailing Blackie all this time, which comes as a relief to the detective, since Faraday surely knows he didn’t kill the scorekeeper.
Warned to stay off the case, Blackie and his sidekick Shorty decided to pay Lefty Jones a visit at his hotel—Lefty isn’t in, but Mrs. Jones is, and she gives the two of them a rather chilly reception. Leaving, Blackie asks her not to reveal to Faraday that he’s been by, but no sooner are he and Shorty out the door when she calls down to the desk clerk, Joe French, and begs him to call the police. French pulls a gun on the duo as they are starting to exit the hotel, but Blackie is able to get the gat away from him; knocking him out cold, Blackie and Shorty beat a hasty retreat.
Blackie begins to suspect that there may be something going on between Mrs. Jones and French (well, the half-hour is nearly up, he’s got to do something) and he also suspects that French might have tried to kill Lefty but wasn’t aware that the team’s manager changed the batting order at the last minute, and so he killed Allen instead. On a hunch—the kind that one would only see on Charles Laughton, I might add—he calls French and, pretending to be the hotel porter, tells the clerk that he saw him sneaking up the stairs to the scoreboard the day of the game and that the two of them need to discuss it. He borrows Shorty’s hotel room for the meeting, and when there’s a knock at the door he opens it, expecting French—but he’s in for a disappointment:
FARADAY: …it’s me, Faraday and I’m…Blackie! What are you doing here?
BLACKIE: I could ask you that question with better reason…believe me…
FARADAY: I get it, Blackie…now you’re adding blackmail to your other activities…you called French and gave him some story about seeing him behind the scoreboard yesterday, huh?
BLACKIE: And he called you, and…told you that, huh…
FARADAY: Of course…only he said the hotel porter called him…now what’s that all about?
BLACKIE: That was me playing hotel porter, Faraday…I think I’ve got something…
FARADAY: Yeah, and I’ve got you…which is nothing…
BLACKIE: Listen…I think French shot Mike Allen…
FARADAY: Yeah?
BLACKIE: …thinking he was killing Lefty Jones…and that he still thinks the porter did see him at the ballpark…look…he could never stop me from telling what I know if I were the porter and did see him, could he?
FARADAY: So?
BLACKIE: So, he told the story to you, knowing that if he did, no matter what I said from there on he’d be in the clear…Faraday, I hate to ask for favors, but…well, this time I’m gonna…
FARADAY: Oh, this time you gotta ask for favors…I got a gun in my pocket I’ll use in a minute if you get tough…
BLACKIE: Here’s your gun…I took that out of your pocket right after you came in here…
FARADAY: What???
BLACKIE: Here, take it, it’s heavy…now listen to me, Faraday…
Because Faraday is as confused as the rest of us as to how Blackie was able to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together with the slimmest of information, he allows Blackie to con him into setting up another meeting with French who, this time, spills the beans in front of Faraday and ends up being sent to the slammer.
I listened to a second Blackie broadcast (4/23/46), “The Stolen Car Ring,” afterwards and it was a little better written and better constructed—Mary’s car is stolen and the thieves (who run a repair garage as a front) replace the engine in order to cover up the theft, which also leads to a murder that Faraday accuses Blackie of committing. After the second episode, I decided enough was enough—and that maybe Charlie was right about Boston Blackie after all. Your mileage may vary, of course.
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