Cruising about in the wilds of this here internet,  I was recently assaulted by  a negative review of the FANTASTIC Sherlock Holmes pastiche, SECOND HOLMES.  I felt compelled to write a note in defense of this amazingly funny and extraordinarily well-written take on the Holmes legend.  I love new discoveries,  and so rarely do I enjoy a modern production this much, so a few positive words seem compulsory.

Peter Egan,  best known to Phantom Empires from his recent spot on the worldwide hit DOWNTON ABBEY,   plays Stamford Holmes, the grandson of the great consulting detective, but Stamford, while having every bit of the Herculean intellect and breadth of curiosity of Grand-dad, has no interest in the vocation which made his last name famous.  On the other hand, the Grandson of Dr. Watson, also a Dr. Watson,  played with amusing exasperation by Jeremy Nicholas, is entirely preoccupied by the perpetuation of their shared  familial mythos.

The mysteries are fun and generally quite solid,  in spite of the generally humourous tone of the writing.  Egan's Holmes is amazingly arrogant,  but in the most charming way,  and in the reflection of his Watson's incessant attempts to turn everything into a mystery (to add more meat to his newspaper scribblings detailing Stamford's 'adventures'),   it seems reasonable!

Honestly,  I consider these equal to anything Holmes related thus far produced, and that includes the immaculate Jeremy Brett versions.  Sadly, there were only six episodes produced in 1983,  and what a great pity that is. 

I recommend them all!

All six episodes can be heard HERE on Youtube. 

A great many wonderful words come to mind when one thinks of the name Ronald Colman.  "Gentleman" is one that pops up first,  then perhaps "handsome",  then either "dashing", "debonaire" (try to think of a single man in 2016 that fits that one),  "suave", "talented", "cool",  "sophisticated",  or "charming".  

Usually all of the above.  

Then, of course, one thinks about the films.  THE PRISONER OF ZENDA comes to mind pretty quickly,  then LOST HORIZON,  then maybe A TALE OF TWO CITIES, or his amazing turns as RAFFLES and BULLDOG DRUMMOND, or even something as relatively obscure as IF I WERE KING (which is a cinematic delectation, to be sure).  But do we associate Ronald Colman with radio?

If not,  we certainly should.

Over his career Ronald Colman appeared on a legion of programmes,  either as host,  as guest,  or as the central lead in many a wonderful drama.  He acted parts on legendary shows like LUX RADIO THEATER,  COMMAND PERFORMANCE,  THEATER GUILD ON THE AIR,  ROMANCE, REQUEST PERFORMANCE, HALLMARK PLAYHOUSE,  and even had the dual role as host and lead actor in the wartime show, EVERYTHING FOR THE BOYS.  I should probably include his entries on the iconic horror show SUSPENSE while I'm at it,  as he was on some of the best episodes of it's brilliant run,  including a rare radio dramatisation of the pulp horror master H. P. LOVECRAFT, in the chilling 1945 production of THE DUNWICH HORROR.  In contrast, to prove that he's not all smoldering gazes and a  butter-smoother voice,  Colman tore up the comedic veldt with his side-busting turns on the Jack Benny show, dueling with Jack on several handfuls of episodes,  countering Benny's manic quips with rakish hilarity.  

I seem to recall an episode of FIBBER MCGEE AND MOLLY out there somewhere, as well.

It's entirely worth the effort to collect Ronald Colman's radio stuff.  I've been at it for a while,  and even in it's incomplete state, the "Colman Radio" folder is pretty packed.  Whether it's LUX RADIO THEATER with TALK OF THE TOWN,  or the HALLMARK PLAYHOUSE rendition of GOODBYE MR. CHIPS,  Colman gives us every bit of the high level of acting and charisma that we've come to expect of him from his films.  

A class act on the big screen and our radio dial.

Download and enjoy the Ronald Colman SUSPENSE episode THE DUNWICH HORROR (HERE)

Having grown up in the post-broadcast period of radio and well before the advent of the access miracle that we call the internet,  I know what it is to fiercely crave and hunt for OTR.  Back in those days, one had to literally stumble upon them on the radio,  periodically inching over the notches on the dial,  usually coming up with nothing but fuzz,  classic rock,  and snoozy things like the news and/or farm reports.  The situation was pretty barren on the product front,  as well.  For every one thousand or so LPs that one dug through at junk shops,  one might stumble upon one OTR disc,  only to find it scratched,  or,  shudder,  an empty sleeve.  How about cassettes?  Forget about it.  Well into my twenties I tried to find them,  and when I finally did get a few at a nerd-stuff collectibles shop,  they were those awful thirty-minute tapes with half an episode on each bloody side!  I learned to despise the phrase,  "to hear the remainder of this episode,  please turn the cassette to side two". If there is anything such as OTR blue balls,  I had them every time I had to get up and flip a tape.

Those were not halcyon days for me.

Nowdays things are quite, and I must say, excellently, different.  There are oceans of shows available;  more, truly, than any single person can ever hear.  Here we can observe and identify the stages of radio discovery in it's purest form.  First,  it's the genesis phase.  Maybe one listens to them with mom on the road trips to visit grandma,  or maybe while cruising the racks at the comic book shop,  being entranced by the Green Hornet while sneaking free reads of Richie Rich stories. That step is followed by the entry phase,  in which one attempts to define the overall experience;  who is what,  what is best,  and where does one get these amazing things? After that it's the beginning acquisition stage.  This is the phase in which one discovers THE SHADOW,  THE GREEN HORNET,  probably JACK BENNY,  SUSPENSE,  and if one is lucky,  and I mean very lucky,  one is scared silly for the first time by any of many heart-stopping episodes of LIGHTS OUT.  This is a great period of one's development;  discovery is the magic word, when the world feels fresh and new.

That was a great part of my journey...great memories.

The last phase (well,  not the last, actually,  but the last one before one goes off into the abyss and starts buying transcription discs) is when one has become a seasoned listener,  having stepped beyond the more famous shows and into the real meat of the art. It's the most fulfilling,  and often the most satisfying. This is when one discovers stuff like HEARTHSTONE OF THE DEATH SQUAD,  THE ADVENTURES OF CHARLIE LUNG, TALES OF FATIMA (one of a jillion great Basil Rathbone radio gems), THE MOLLE MYSTERY THEATRE, BATTLE FOR INSPECTOR WEST,  FRANK WATANABE AND THE HONOURABLE ARCHIE, and the show that this extremely long introduction was concocted for,  the AMAZING locked-room mystery,  CABIN B-13.

CABIN B-13, penned by the virtuoso mystery scribbler John Dickson Carr,  was initially a one-off 1943 episode of SUSPENSE.  It was re-aired at a later date,  which apparently gave CBS the proper sense of buzz to commission a full series from Carr.  Carr had already done some incredible work for CBS on a number of SUSPENSE episodes,  so it apparently seemed worth the investment.  Sadly,  only three shows exist of the twenty-five produced by CBS,  and if the quality of these three are any indication,  it must have been a slam-bang of a fun run.  The writing is as tight and as full of flair as only someone like Carr could produce (though not as tight as the show that I consider the best in this area,  NIGHT BEAT),  and the acting really brings the scripts to life.  I'm a big fan of Carr's Gideon Fell novels,  as well as his Sir Henry Merrivale stories,  so this show is a real treat for me.

They're certainly worth hunting down,  and honestly,  the desire to hear the remaining twenty-two shows almost makes me want to go off the deep end into the transcriptions phase...on the off-chance that I might stumble upon just one...more...episode...

Download and enjoy the CABIN B-13 episode THE SLEEP OF DEATH  (HERE)

Download Basil Rathone in Dinosaurs HERE

For the film celebration of Basil Rathbone's birthday (a Friday the 13th special!), click HERE.  For more of his radio drama action, click HERE,  or scroll further down this page!  For Arthur Conan Doyle's B-day post, click HERE

The above words are representative of the intros of the captivating radio drama Night Beat; terse, worldly, and more than a little bit cynical. They're spoken by Randy Stone, reporter for the fictional Chicago Star...brought to life in over a hundred crisp and atmospheric radio episodes.  Stone was played by the spartan noir veteran Frank Lovejoy,  most famous for his role in the film version of I was a Communist for the FBI.  Lovejoy was perfect as a hard boiled reporter;  even in casual conversation, Lovejoy sounds as if he's in an interrogation room with a bright white light behind him. He can be brutally sharp sometimes...there's something in his voice that digs into one's guts.

Randy Stone covered the titular night beat on the rough streets of 1940's/50's Chicago.  He seemed, though cast in the role of an observer,  very much a part of the dark and seedy environment he roamed;  he was dry and jaded, and he comes across as if there isn't any kind of human degradation the he hasn't witnessed.  In spite of that,  Stone also has a deep humanity,  which is the thing that divides him from the savagery of the people he encounters in every show.  Frank Lovejoy pulls that balance off very well;  he was the kind of guy who seemed to have a little of both in him, which showed throughout his acting life.

Beside a solid film career, with roles as varied as Humphrey Bogart's suspenseful classic, In a Lonely Place,  war films,  such as the fantastic  Retreat, Hell!, Force of Arms, and Beachhead,  to westerns,  like Cole Younger, Gunfighter, and Charge at Feather River,  Lovejoy also had a varied presence on television.  He put his acting skills to work on a number of great shows, from the central role on the very good Night beat-style program Meet McGraw, and a recurring part on the series Man Against Crime (also known as Follow That Man).  Anthology shows were also a hefty chunk of his paycheck;  he showed up on dozens of them,  from The Zane Grey Theater, to Climax!, and such varied spots as The Loretta Young Show and Playhouse 90.

To me,  Frank Lovejoy did his best work on radio; the force he lent to Night Beat and his other legendary show, Gangbusters, made them two of the best dramas ever broadcast.   Nigh Beat is amazing;  If you've never listened to it, you're in for a treat!


Download Night Beat - The Night is a Weapon  HERE

I faced a conundrum when I decided to write about mega-talented character actor Gerald Mohr: Where to put him?  In the film section?  The TV blog?  Radio?  He was everywhere in his career, from relatively high-profile films like Humphrey Bogart's Sirocco, to smaller action movies, like Guns, Girls & Gangsters (in which he co-starred with Mamie Van Doren's epic bosoms), played the L. J. Vance character Michael Lanyard, a.k.a. The Lone Wolf in three features,  dozens of memorable supporting parts on television, at least one cliffhanger serial (Jungle Girl), voice-overs for cartoons, and he produced some of the taughtest radio work of any actor of his day.  His bit parts on western TV shows is encyclopedic by itself;  he livened up such shows as Bonanza, The Rifleman, Death Valley Days, Laredo, Outlaws, The Big Valley, Stagecoach West, Bat Masterson, Cheyenne, Lawman, The Deputy, along with many others.

In the end,  the radio blog got the vote,  because to me,  Gerald Mohr was a top radio man through and through.  I know him best as CBS radio's version of Phillip Marlowe;  his deep, crisp voice popped out hardboiled wisecracks as well as Dick Powell or Bogart ever did, and consistently, over 113 episodes. 

In the last decade or so, I discovered his huge body of radio work.  Mohr was all over the place on the radio dial, from hardass Detective stuff to ripping funny comedy. Most recently I've been enjoying his run as the excellently snide Archie,  backing up the amazing Sidney Greenstreet in The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe.  Mohr is so entirely amusing,  but with a hard edge,  giving legs to Wolfe's prodigious brain for the detective legwork,  and, of course,  fists with which to crack the occasional jaw.  I'm not sure how this amazing show eluded me for so long. 

Recently I've been tracking down some of the hundreds of episodes of various shows that he took part in;  the list is mind-boggling:  Our Miss Brooks, in which he played the french tutor Jaques Monet, utilising Mohr's fluency in the language (he was also fluent on both German and Swedish), Suspense, Night Beat, Burns & Allen, The Inner Sanctum mysteries, My Favourite Husband, Escape, Mandrake the Magician, The Man Called X, Damon Runyan Theater, Command Performance, Box 13, Let George Do it, I Was a Communist for the FBI,  Shorty Bell, The Six Shooter, The Jack Benny Show, Gunsmoke ...the list goes on and on.

Mohr himself, honestly, is a part of a long tradition of stellar actors that didn't quite explode into popular legend, in spite of being exceptional. For every Dick Powell there are legions of Gerald Mohrs, John Saxons and Sam Buffingtons; guys with amazing craft and presence, waiting for the right people to eventually recognise their talents.

Well,  if you don't know Gerald Mohr,  here are two of his best roles, represented by two whip-cracking episodes.   I think you'll see what I mean when I call him a radio phenomenon!

Download Phillip Marlowe - The Hairpin Turn  HERE
Download The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe - Calculated Risk  HERE

Well,  I guess we have a Basil Rathbone trio of shows on our hands! In previous posts, I started with the amusing Tales of Fatima,  then shared the exciting intrigue of Europe Confidential , and now to complete the three,  I present a bit of educational fun,  called   Basil Rathbone, Word Detective.

Sponsored by the Underwood Typewriter Company,  this was an informal three-minute journey into etymology.  Rathbone begins each installment with a colourful anecdote,  a historical story which is the origin of the word of the day, designed to intrigue and tantalise (in fact, "tantalise' is one of the word detailed in an episode).  He then says,  "I'll type out that phrase for you on my Underwood typewriter", after which he reveals the mystery word that occaisioned the story.  I found them very entertaining and informative,  and,  as usual,  Rathbone's voice is wonderful to listen to.  I'm always amazed by the clarity of his diction.  

I've supplied five installments below,  and have listed the word around which each episode is based.  This is a rare and wonderful bit of radio history,  and a must-hear for fans of the legendary Basil Rathbone.

Click each word below to download a different installment of
Basil Rathbone,  Word Detective

I'm noticing a tendency,  when I do a review post,  that often the subject matter reminds me of another show.  I had so much fun doing the write-up of the butler comedy It's Higgins, Sir,  That I decided to share a similarly themed show, the hilarious comedy, The Smiths of Hollywood. 

As the title implies,  the show is set in Hollywood,  and it revolves around the daily life of the Smith family,  with Harry Von Zell as Attorney Bill Smith,  Brenda Marshall as his wife Nancy, and Jan Ford, who plays their precocious daughter, nicknamed "Bumps".   The thrust of the story comes when Mr. Smith's stuffy British uncle Cecil Smythe,  played by the charismatic Arthur Treacher, comes to live with them.  Uncle Cecil is a hilariously stereotypical English snob,  and like Higgins,  the clash of cultures between him and the family provides the comedic spark.  Treacher fans especially will find Cecil's condescending attitude a pleasant change from his other, more personable roles. 

As a side-effect of the show's setting, a number of Hollywood stars appear as themselves, including Ann Sheridan, Marsha Hunt, Lucille Ball, and William Holden.  You can tell that the producers were really trying to sell the show to audiences.  There were twenty-seven episodes in it's run,  and every one of them is thoroughly entertaining. Unlike some shows that are basically cast-supported personality pieces, everyone in this cast holds up very well against Treacher's fireball perfomance.
Arthur Treacher is one of my personal favourite figures on the movie landscape.  He lights up everything he's in, and livens up roles that otherwise would fall completely flat.  He's in some movies I'm very fond of, including the Shirley Temple classics The Little Princess and Heidi, and apropos of my previous It's Higgins, Sir post,  he played the amazing butler Jeeves in Thank You, Jeeves (1936), and Step Lively, Jeeves (1937) opposite David Niven as Bertie Wooster.

Harry Von Zell had a colourful career in the movies,  radio, and on television, with a longtime announcer's spot on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.  Brenda Marshall, as well as being a capable and interesting actress, was a very beautiful woman.  She showed up in quite a few movies that I like, including Whispering Smith (1948),  Captains of the Clouds (1942), and best of all,  The Sea Hawk (1940), alongside Errol Flynn.  Jan Ford later became a Howard Hughes protege-lover-et cetera.   Renamed Terry Moore, she would become known to sci fi fans as the female lead in Mighty Joe Young.  She was quite attractive, and in her 50s she even posed for Playboy,  giving a new meaning to her Smiths of Hollywood character's name.

This is a great companion piece to It's Higgins, Sir!, and they go well together as a double feature.  I hope you enjoy the show!

Download The Smiths of Hollywood episode,  "Cecil's Auto Accident"
HERE

The butler,  as a character,  has been popular in fiction for a very long time.  Everyone is familiar with at least one.  If you were around in the 1980's, it would have been the snide Mr. Belvedere (writer Gwen Davenport's creation from the 1947 book Belvedere), or perhaps John Gielgud's fiercely aloof Hobson in the 1981 comedy film,  Arthur.   Earlier on, it might have been the capable Crichton in J.M. Barrie's much-produced 1901 stage play,  "The Admirable Crichton", or the earnestly noble Marmaduke Ruggles in the classic tale Ruggles of Red Gap,  or William Powell's bemused Godfrey in My Man Godfrey (1936),  or,  most likely of all, P.G. Wodehouse's  near-superhuman valet,  the inimitable Jeeves.  

There is another butler that also had a certain small claim to fame;   if one turned on the radio in 1951,  that butler was called Higgins.  Higgins was played by the charming British character actor and comedian Harry Mcnaughton.  Mcnaughton had a career in films spanning from the 1920's to the mid-50's,  and was apparently quite successful on the stage.  His more permanent claim to (relative) fame, though, was the radio game show spoof, "It Pays to Be Ignorant", which ran from 1942 to 1951 on both CBS and NBC.  Immediately after the run of that programme,  he moved over into the role of Higgins.  He was perfect for the part;  he had a crisp received pronunciation accent, a weapon that he used to deliver a never-ending barrage of caustic one-liners to great effect.

The basic premise of It's Higgin's, Sir  was a simple one;  a typical 1950's American family inherits a highly-mannered butler from a distant relative, and hilarity ensues.  It's Mcnaughton that drives the programme with his fantastic comedic timing,  and the rest of the cast does an amazing job in helping him to shine.  It's a truly fantastic listening experience for any OTR comedy fan,  and, I dare say, for fans of 1950's television shows like Father Knows Best.

It's worth mentioning here that there was a television version of the show called Our Man Higgins (1962–1963),  in which Higgins is portrayed by veteran stage and film actor,  Stanley Holloway.  Holloway was in a number of movies that I enjoy, including Ten Little Indians (1965),  The Lavender Hill Mob (in 1951, during Mcnaughton's stretch as Higgins),  My Fair Lady (1964), and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970).


Download It's Higgins, Sir,  episode #1,  "Higgins Arrives"    HERE

Like most people,  I associate Rex Harrison with two main roles;  that of Professor Henry Higgins in the 1964 feature My Fair Lady, and the melodious, critter-conversant doctor in the colourful 1967 musical,  Doctor Doolittle.  To be honest,  to my taste,  those don't appeal much.  He's very charismatic,  but for other than a very few nice supporting parts,  he's mostly off my radar.

The Private Files of Rex Saunders is really the Harrison role that I've been looking for;  he's his usual dapper British self,  with that relaxed style and incredibly smooth diction, but here he's also a fearless man of action. I'm a sucker for 'gentleman detective'-type stuff, so it really hits the spot.  Rex Saunders has very much of the Ronald Colman Bulldog Drummond in him, which is a very good thing, in my book.  

As a general description of The Private Files of Rex Saunders,  I would say that if you imagined a hard-edged  crime thriller like   Broadway is my Beat,    but with  E.W. Hornung's  gentleman thief Raffles as the main character,  this would be that show.  Saunders is very similar,  but without the high-class burglary or (sadly enough)  Cricket.  He has an air of indestructibility about him, and in the most serious situations he's as calm as if he's at a cocktail party.  I find that entirely amusing.  His earnest American sidekick, Alec (played by former 1930's child star Leon Janney),  is a mildly more inept version of Raffles' bumbling associate Bunny Manders,  and I can see why some listeners (according to web chatter) don't care for him. 

There were only fourteen episodes in the entire series,  clocking in at half an hour each.  It was produced by radio legend Himan Brown, who was responsible for thousands of programmes, including such classics as (the aforementioned) Bulldog Drummond, Dick Tracy, The Adventures of the Thin Man, CBS Radio Mystery Theater, and Flash Gordon, among many others.  It was also fun to learn that he directed one of my radio favourites, Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator,  as well as occasional episodes of his other productions.  It really is an excellent show,  with great scripts and lots of murder and mayhem.  In the  world of incredible 1950's radio shows, The Private Files of Rex Saunders stands out as exceptional.  I look forward to listening to the entire run again, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.


Download The Private Files of Rex Saunders - Shallow Graves   HERE

In those early days of radio, well before the profound effects of the civil rights movement, there was an interesting transition point for the media exposure of immigrants and minorities in American culture.  The popular media of the time was peppered with ethnic stereotypes, and some were quite well known, even beloved. Most people, even now,  are familiar with Amos & Andy,  Charlie Chan,  Mr. Moto, and even milder portrayals, such as Luigi Bosco in the well-known series Life With Luigi,  and Mrs. Goldberg in the charming Jewish-oriented soap The Goldbergs.  It was rare to have a non-white-identified person play their own race at that time,  and if so,  they were usually not allowed the full spectrum of human expression.
As much as people may be offended by these things now,  back on the 1930's and 40's these characters were a regular part of the lives of most Americans.  Warner Oland's Charlie Chan was popular,  as well as was Peter Lorre's fantastic Mr. Moto, and along with Boris Karloff's Mr. Wong, they were always the smartest men in the room;  the Caucasian characters (the good guys, anyway) always deferred to their skill.  Of course this wasn't always the case (Amos & Andy is a less flattering example), and in any discussion of the subject the more negative aspects must be fully acknowledged.  That said,  I don't let those very real issues detract from the artistic contributions of the period.  The aforementioned characters have provided some of my fondest watching and listening experiences, whether I'm expected to shun them or not.

Now that the proper caveats have been made, I feel prepared to present the wonderfully amusing but socially eye-burning character Frank Watanabe.  Frank is the valet (he's called a 'houseboy', but his duties are primarily that of a valet) of the well-to-do English fop Archie,  amusingly played by the well-spoken film actor Reginald Sharland.  Watanabe seems to enjoy his employer,  and is always playing the raconteur,  telling jokes and stories that the honourable Archie never seems to understand.  There's a good reason for that.  Frank was played by voice actor Eddie Holden,  and when it came to stereotyped dialect,  he really pulled out all the stops.  The character is supposedly  Japanese,  from Tokyo,  and the dialogue is so convoluted that at times it comes across as a racially intense tongue-twister.  In spite of that,  I find myself enjoying their antics;  it's a sort of inverted Jeeves and Wooster,  yet one isn't quite sure who is the genius and who is the twit.  The comparison goes further in that they're always in some sort of sticky situation,  and Archie always involves Frank in the solution.  They're simple stories, usually only fifteen minutes in length,  and at times verge on being standup routines.  Still,  Holden and Sharland keep the fun going in a light and peppy way,  showing glimpses of the deeper talents hidden behind the shtick.

From a historial point of view,  the timeline of the show's run is telling.  Frank Watanabe and the Honourable Archie ran up until 1939, and then,  mysteriously (or perhaps not so), there was a failed spinoff in 1940, titled merely The Honourable Archie...without his Japanese Houseboy.  One year later,  the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the United States was in a full-on war with Japan.  At that point, the idea of a sympathetic Japanese character on the American airwaves would have been surreal (yep, in spite of the stereotype,  Frank Watanabe was very much so, especially relative to the propaganda that would follow);  even Mr. Moto's film run ended in 1939,  returning a distant twenty-six years later.   In spite of it's eye-burning cultural aspects,  I hope that you'll listen and enjoy the show.  I'm pretty certain you'll have fun...just keep the eye drops handy.

Download the episode "Frank & Archie try to pass a cop in disguise"  HERE