Thursday, August 14, 2014

THE ADVENTURES OF LEONIDUS WITHERALL

Leonidus Witherall was a teacher at a New England boys' school and an amateur detective extraordinaire cum mystery novelist in a series of eight books written by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (1909-1976) under her "Alice Tilden" pseudonym.  Taylor is perhaps best known for her mysteries about Asey Mayo, the  Codfish Sherlock; Mayo's Yankee common sense throughout 24 books made him one of the most popular detectives of his time.  Witherall's adventures are more farcical than Mayo's, and readers got caught up with the madcap pace of the novels that eshewed plot for action.

The Adventures of Leonidus Witherall aired on the Mutual Broadcasting for a little under a year, from 1944 to 1945 with one of the mainstays of the American stage, Walter Hampden, in the title role.

The link takes you to seven episodes: "Square Nazi Jack Boot" (the first episode in the series), "Mrs. Mullet Disappears," "Murder at Dandy's Dream," "Murder at the State Fair," "Murder on the Train" (and, no, everybody on the train did not do it), "The Corpse Meets a Dealine," and "The Four Killers."

Enjoy.

http://www.radiolovers.com/pages/adventuresofleonidaswitherall.htm

No comments:

Post a Comment