The fictional Nick Carter was created by Ormond g.smith, the son of one of founders of Street & smith Publishing, well over a century ago and first appeared in the New York Weekly, September 18, 1886, in a 13-week episode, "The Old Detective's Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square." It was written by John R. Coryell under the pseudonym Nicholas Carter. Coryell would continue to write the private detective's adventures until 1890, when the reins were turned over to Frederick Van Renssellaer Day, who would go on to pen 1076 novels and stories about the character until 1920. Carter had his own magazine, Nick Carter Weekly, and those adventures were reprinted as stand-alone titles. When Nick Carter Weekly ceased publication in 1915 (by that time it was titled Nick Carter Stories), the character was continued as part of the lineup in Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine. With gthe success of such pulps as The Shadow and Doc Savage Magazine, the character was revived Nick Carter Magazine (later Nick Carter Detective Magazine), which ran from 1933 t0 1936; this character was reimagined to fit a new audience. Nick Carter novels continued to appear through the 1950s. The character was again reimagined as a "Spymaster," in a series of paperback novels which ran from 1964 until 1990.
Along the way, Nick Carter also appeared in films, television, and comic books.
Nick Carter first appeared on the radio in The Return of Nick Carter, then Nick Carter, Master Detective, with Lon Clark as Nick. The show ran from April 11, 1943 until September 25, 1955 on the Mutual Radio Network. Nick's assistant Patsy Bowen was portrayed by Helen choate until 1946, when the role was taken over by Charlotte Manson. Other cast members included John Kane as reporter Scubby Wilson and Ed Latimer as police Sergeant Mathieson.
In "The Case of the Devil's Left Eye," a wealthy gun collector has taken a room directly from an old Scottish castle and reassembled it on the 23rd floor of a skyscraper, where he is found shot to death by a flintlock rifle still in its display mount. there's an elaborate three-step process in arming and firing a flintlock -- just one of the puzzles to confront Nick.
This episode was directed by Sherman "Jock" MacGregor and was written by Jim Parsons. Bob Martin was the announcer.
Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD4cuDR91II&t=58s
And, of course, Bill Crider wrote some of the last Carter fiction (so far) in the NC, KILLMASTER series of novels.
ReplyDeleteAnd, IMHO, he did a better job than Mike Avallone!
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