Small House of Everything

Small House of Everything

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

THE FALCON: THE CASE OF THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE (SEPTEMBER 14, 1952)

 The Falcon was a popular film and radio detective with a confusing heritage.  The not-quite-original Falcon was created by Michael Arlen in his 1940 short story "Gay Falcon" and his name was (somewhat embarassingly) Gay Falcon.  This was mae into the 1941 film The Gay Falcon, changing the character's name from Gay Stanhipe Falcon to Gay Lawrence, the 'Falcon."  The film was designed to replace RKO's The Saint film series and starred George Sanders (who had previously played The Saint).  When Sanders stepped down after three films, his brother Tom Conway stepped in in The Falcon's Brother (1942), playing Gay Lawrence's brother Tom.  Conway went on to make additional nine Falcon films from 1943

Before all this, there was an earlier Falcon, Michael Waring, a free-lance investigator and troubleshooter created by "Dexel Drake" (Tomm Huff) in the 1936 novel The Falcon's Prey.  Michael Waring appeared in two more novels by "Drake."  When the Falcon film franchise was revived in 1948, it was with the Michael Waring character.  It was also the Michael Waring character who was the Falcon in the radio and television series 

"The Case of the Strawberry Blonde" was the final program in the NBC radio series before it moved onto the Mutual network and the Falcon became involved in battling espionage.  Les Damon, better known for his role as radio's Nick Charles, plays Michael Waring.

Enjoy.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai787jT0iQc&t=1s

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