Small House of Everything

Small House of Everything

Thursday, September 17, 2020

BOSTON BLACKIE: MURDER IN THE PIANO ROOM (FEBRUARY 2, 1949)

 I don't know if the groundhog saw his shadow in 1949, but he may have listened to this program on .

Jewel thief and safecracker Boston Blackie was created in "The Price of Principle" (The American Magazine, July 1914), the first of twenty-three short stories by Jack Boyle (19228-1928) that were continued to 1920; the first four stories in the series were published as by "No. 6066."  While working as a newspaper reporter, Boyle became addicted to cocaine and began a slide into crime.  He was jailed for writing bad checks, then imprisoned for robbery at San Quentin, where he began writing his Boston Blackie stories.  Five years after his release, he cannibalized some of the stories to produce his lone novel about the character, Boston Blackie.

Boston Blackie became a detective for the movies, radio, and television.  From 1918 through 1949 there were twenty-five Boston Blackie movies released, the most popular being those starring Chester Morris, beginning in 1941.

Morris then took the character to radio in 1944 as a summer replacement for Amos 'n' Andy.  The show was revived in 1945 for syndication to the Mutual and other networks with Richard Lollmer in the title role.  More than 200 episodes were produced before the program ended in 1950.

From 1951 to 1953, Boston Blackie became a syndicated television show with Kent Taylor as Blackie.

In this episode, Mary Wesley (Jan Miner) asks Blackie to get her cousin's song published.  As you can glean from the title, things go wrong.

Enjoy.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JQvCNCzyTs

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