Small House of Everything

Small House of Everything

Wednesday, August 7, 2024

THAT HAMMER GUY: DEAD DAME IN CENTRAL PARK (APRIL 27, 1954)

 Oh Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike...Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get up in the morning.  Everybody's toughest PI meets a mysterious woman in Central Park and the next morning he wakes up next to her dead body.  Now mike has to try to avoid a murder rap.

1947's I, The Jury, which introduced private detective Mike Hammer, was a publishing phenomena, but it was the 1948 paperback reprint from Signet that really established the character in the public's mind; the provocative cover combined with the 25-cent price placed the book in the hands of returning GIs eager for escapist fiction.  More books soon followed and by 1956, it was estimated that six of the top ten best-selling books of all time were by Mickey Spillane.

1952 marked the publication of the sixth mike Hammer novel as well as the beginning of a popular radio series based on the character, That Hammer Guy, on the Mutual/Don Lee Network.  The show ran from December 1952 to October 1954, with the lead role being played by, first, Larry Haines, then George Petrie, and finally, by  Ted DeCorsia (who stars in this episode).  Throughout the series, the role of Hammer's secretary Velda was played by Jan miner, who also filled in on various female roles.  The program was produced and directed by Richard Lewis, with scripts that echoed the Spillane feel by Ed Adamson.  

Evidently only a little more than a dozen episodes of the series survive.  This is one of them.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4jqGsun--Q

No comments:

Post a Comment