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b a c k

Season 8 (1/2)

  The Adventures of Ellery Queen

  
NBC Anacin Sundays 6:30 - 7:00 pm 1947 (319-328)
   Producer/Director: Tom Victor
   Announcer: Don Hancock
   Scripts: Anthony Boucher, Manfred B. Lee, Tom Everitt
   Music: Chet Kingsbury, Organist
   Stars: Lawrence Dobkin (Ellery), Bill Smith (Inspector Queen),
              Ed Latimer and George Mathews (Velie), Charlotte Keane
              (Nikki Porter)


 
George Mathews played Sergeant Velie for two episodes. He took over from Ed Latimer who after two episodes reclaimed the role. (Nevins).
The next East Coast review does mention Ed as Sgt. Velie....George Mathews played Velie on the West Coast version..
 
319* "The Green Gorillas East Coast episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
06-01-47 :30:00* 
Repeat of 02-12-47 (Episode 309)
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Tom Everitt
Producer: Don Vietor (5)
Guest Armchair Detective
West: Nina Foch
East:  Dorothy Gordon  (radio producer, moderator of The NY Times Forum of the Air.) 
Part of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and local commercials. Airdate 07-08-55 (Episode 52)

A program about juvenile delinquents. Who is  behind the street gang "The Green Gorillas." Ellery uses a teen-ager "Bob Brown" to get the goods on the gang.

..."The play which followed was based on kid gangsterism, as practiced by a mob of young gunsels called the Green Gorilla's. The youthful mobsters made a racketeer names Johnny Rack their pin-up boy, and Rack lost no time in adopting the role of Fagin, disposing of hot cars picked up by the punks.
Enter
Ellery Queen and things took a turn for the better. Queen forced his way into a conclave of the Gorillas and faced Johnny Rack unarmed. The subsequent showdown, in which Ellery made the gangster yell for mercy, was the greatest evidence since Pilgrim's Progress that powers of right must win. Unfortunately, it was slightly less effective. The typical Queen comment was one made after he subdued the gangster. Turning to the changeable car heisters, who by now were on his side, Ellery proclaimed: "There's something about crime that makes a rat out of a man, and something about fighting crime that makes a man out of a rat." ...
                                          (1947 review by Sam Chase)

Ellery Queen's debut as a summer replacement for the Bob Burns show, indicates a new course for this standard detective yarn. Long one of the more cerebral of the sleuth series, and one which has attracted a more mature audience of fans who listen to this series as occasional relaxation instead of a steady diet, the Queen series can embark on its present course dealing with fictional treatment of sociological problems without alienating its regulars.
Initial stanza which preemed Sunday (1) dealt with the juvenile crime problem in a manner which indicated it was society's responsibility. Having gotten across that message, session proceeded on its regular business offering a story centering about a gang of young hoods under direction of an unknown higher-up. On the basis of several slim clues, Queen comes up with the head man. The usual Queen tricks of taking a break toward the end of the story to give the listener a chance to dope out the finish, is continued. Dorothy Gordon, moderator for the N. Y. Times forums, as guest sleuth was given a chance to put the finger on the guilty party. Following that Queen went into his deductions. Cast and production staff gave highly competent accounts.
Charlotte Keane, playing Queen's secretary, Bill Smith as the elder Inspector Queen and Ed Latimer as Sgt. Velie read their lines expertly. No cast credits are released for Queen in an effort to perpetuate the fiction that Ellery Queen is a real character. Consequently, no writer is listed in an effort to bolster the belief that Queen needs no one to talk for him. Plugs for Anacin aren't too obtrusive. - Jose.                                                                                  (Variety, Wednesday June 4, 1947)
320*

"The Sky Pirates" East Coast episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
06-08-47 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Tom Everitt
Guest Armchair Detective
West: Marion Bell (actress)
East: Cy Steinhauser (Radio Editor of The Pittsburgh Press.)

Two terrorists hold up a transatlantic airliner, shoot one of the passengers, rob the rest of the passengers and bail out over the ocean. Ellery has plan to trap the "sky-jackers."
It involves everyone becoming  unconscious after being deprived of oxygen for fifteen seconds. 

 

NBC's "Ellery Q" Vamps Till Ready
NEW YORK, June 7.--Unusual hiatus plan goes into effect after tomorrow for Ellery Queen, which is sponsored by Whitehall Pharmacal Company over National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Sundays at 6:30 p.m. Queen mystery series just started June 1, but after two broadcasts is skidded to take a seven-week layoff.
Filling in between June 15 and July 27 will be Varieties, a musical program featuring Joe Gallicchio's orchestra with vocalists Jack Haskell and Vivian Martin. Agency is Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell & Bayles.

(0
6-14-47 The Billboard)

Ed Latimer reprises the role of Sergeant Velie

 
321*

"The Atomic Murder" Epilogue to the radioshow beschikbaar op het internet... Episode on Reel donated by NBC Radio Collection preserved in the Library of Congress East Coast episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
08-03-47 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Tom Everitt
Guest Armchair Detective
West: Fay McKenzie (actress)
East: Eddie Dowling (Broadway producer)

An attempt is made on the life of Mikha Bela, a famous atomic scientist, possibly by the friends of Martin Borman and the Nazis! Dr. Bela's wife is murdered... for an astounding reason!

Ellery performs a delicate mission for the U. S. government. A famous scientist, who helped develop atomic energy during during the war, has, since then, refused to do any research on similar projects. It is Queen's task to make the genius change his mind.

ELLERY QUEEN
With Larry Dobkin, Charlotte Keane, Bill Smith, Ed Latimer, Stefan Schnabel,
Jimmy McCallion, Don Hancock, Chet Kingsbury
Writer: Manny Lee
Director: Tom Vietor
30 Mins.; Sun., 6:30 p. m.
WHITEHALL PHARMACAL WNBC-NBC, N. Y. (S., S.C. & B.)

After a short summer layoff, the veteran amateur gumshoe, Ellery Queen, returned to the air Sunday night (3) via WNBC-NBC for Whitehall Pharmacal.
In the near-decade since the series started as a 45-minute sustainer on CBS, the fictional Ellery and his conspiring confreres have grown pretty tired. The show is now just a routine whodunit, with only the somewhat frayed armchair detective gimmick as a bid for distinction. When the "Ellery
Queen" series was first launched as a sustainer it was written by the authors of the original books, Fred Dannay and Manny Lee. with producer George Zachary giving an assist on radio technique. At that time the characters had dimension and substance, and there was imagination, ingenuity and slight humor in the plotting. But Danny and Lee subsequently relinquished the week-to-week grind of turning out the radio series, and farmed out the assignment.
However, the show caught is stated to have been written by Lee. In the seasonal opener there was an attempt to capture topical importance by basing the episode on atomic armament research, "and the sign-off tease promised that
next week's stanza would deal with tolerance, but that's merely synthetic sugar coating. As a whodunit, the script seemed contrived, talky and relatively slow, and the principal characters lacked' clarity. There was little suspense or surprise, and the armchair detective task (legit actor-producer Eddie Dowling whiffed it) was to explain why the victim was bumped off, not who did it and how did he slipped up. The performances were, in general, as humdrum as the script, but there were effectively hokey German bits played by StefanSchnabel and Jimmy McCallion. Tom Vietor's direction seemed fair enough and Chet Kingsbury's organ bridges were conventional. The commercials included a straight plug for Anacin in the middle spot (in which the "use only as directed" statement was given the customary throwaway), a closing blurb about the alleged anti-halitosis qualities of Kolynos and a hitch-hike about how Anacin has not just one, but a- combination of three ingredients, whatever that's worth. Don Hancock gave them the traditional "sincere" reading.
                          (Variety, Wednesday, August 6, 1947)

322*

"The Foolish Girls"  Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
08-10-47 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Tom Everitt
Guest Armchair Detective
West: Eddie Dowling (Broadway producer)
East: Marion Bell (vocalist, singing star of Brigadoon
)

Ellery campaigns against dangerous juvenile folly in this modern problem play about girls who hang around bars. The master detective shows parents as well as bobby soxers the sort of trouble youngster can get into when they forget decency and disregard common sense advice.

A 17-year-old gets murdered after visiting a bar. Her friends ask Ellery to accompany them for a visit to the same bar.

323* "Murder for Americans East Coast episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
08-17-47 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
Don Hancock (announcer)
Guest Armchair Detective
West: Jeffrey Lynn (actor)
East: Patrice Munsel (opera singer)

Ellery is asked by young Sylvia to help find her friend Madeleine, who has disappeared. Madeleine's father is a policeman who dislikes Jews, and Sylvia is a Jew. The city is being flooded with hate pamphlets, which are behind the racist activities. 
324* "The Rats Who Walked Like Men"
08-24-47 :30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective
West: J.Franken
East: Jerry Gaghan (Columnist of Philadelphia Daily News)

A press agent gets hired by three gangster to get them good publicity. He also gets killed and Ellery is framed for his murder.

A press agent sinks so low that he becomes the tool of mobsters. Three gang chieftains decide they are getting bad press and nostalgic "hire" a broken-down flack to promote them as benefactors of mankind. Ellery charges after this murderous trio single single-handed and finds himself facing a murder trap.
325* "The King's Horse"  East Coast episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
08-31-47 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Tom Everitt
Guest Armchair Detective
West: John Emery (actor)
East: Pam Camp ("Miss Arkansas 1947")

The King of Euridea is killed by a bomb at the racetrack. Who planted the explosives? Watch the newsreel!
326* "Number Thirty-One" West Coast radioshow available on the internet...AFRS Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas CityEast Coast episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
09-07-47 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Tom Everitt
Guest Armchair Detective
West: Kent Smith (actor), 
East:  Sonya Stein (radio editor of The Washington Post)


George Arkaris, a mysterious international figure is  suspected of diamond smuggling. A negro butler is found dead in the river, shortly after playing "the numbers" ...a certain number! Ellery has to solve both cases and find out how they are connected.
327* "Tragedy in Blue"  East Coast episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
09-14-47 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Tom Everitt
with Mason Adams
Guest Armchair Detective
West: Danton Walker (columnist)
East: Jean Sablon (baritone)


Ellery meets the Blue sisters, singers who are being threatened by one of their dishonest husbands. Murder in a radio studio! Zona Blue collapses right after a singing commercial, but her evil husband's the one who gets his throat cut!
328* "Man Who Squared the Circle"
09-21-47 :30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective
West: George Frazier (columnist)
East: Warren Hull, Parks Johnson (co-hosts radio's Vox Pop)

A famous mathematician claims to have squared the circle. The proof  is stolen and the genius gets assaulted. A cryptic clue is all Ellery needs...
 

"Incognito" Larry Dobkin as Ellery Queen playing opposite Charlotte Keane (Nikki Porter) in front of the CBS microphone."Incognito" Larry Dobkin as Ellery Queen playing opposite Charlotte Keane (Nikki Porter) in front of the CBS microphone.
Above:  "Incognito" Larry Dobkin as Ellery Queen playing opposite Charlotte Keane (Nikki Porter) in front of the CBS microphone.

b a c k

 
Season 8 (2/2)

  The Adventures of Ellery Queen

   ABC Sustained Thursdays 7:30 - 8:00 pm 1947 - 1948 (329-338)
  
ABC Sustained Thursdays 8:30 - 9:00 pm 1948 (339-355)
   Producer/Director: Dick Woolen / Dwight Hauser
   Announcer: Paul Masterson
   Scripts: Anthony Boucher, Manfred B. Lee, Tom Everitt
   Music: Rex Koury, Organist
   Stars: Lawrence Dobkin replaced by Howard Culver (Ellery),
              Herb Butterfield (Inspector Queen), Alan Reed (Velie),
              Virginia Gregg replaced by Kay
e Brinker  (Nikki Porter)

 

Promotional photograph for Virginia Gregg in the 40s radio serie "Ellery Queen"
Above: Promotional photograph for Virginia Gregg in the 40s radio series Ellery Queen.

Series returned after two months to ABC with no sponsor.  Show moves to Hollywood. Dick Woolen took over as producer director.

The list of recently made available crime and whodunit shows, all of  previous sponsor servitude, includes the following, with their asking prices noted:

"Ellery Queen," $4,000.
"Suspense," $7,000.
"Crime Doctor," $5,000. .
"I Deal In Crime,"; $3.500.
"The Thin Man," $7,000.
"Gregory Hood," $3,000.
"Philip Marlowe," $4,000.
"Rogues Gallery," $2,500.

                                     (Variety, Wednesday, November 19, 1947)

 
329* "The Saga of Ruffy Rux" Radioshow available on the internet...
11-27-47 :30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective: McCullah St. Johns (magazine editor, ex-police report for the New York Mirror)

Ellery takes on a gangster who keeps jingling two silver "lucky" dollars...
330* "The Man in The Street" Radioshow available on the internet... Episode preserved at the Library and Archives Canada - 395 Wellington Street,  Ottawa, CANADA
12-04-47 :30:00*
Repeat ?
Written by Frederic Dannay & Manfred B.Lee
Director: Dick Willand
Music: Rex Koury
with: Ruth Perrot, Jack [Lewis], Charles Seal, Peter Leeds, Paul Frees, Jay Novello
Guest Armchair Detective: Gerald Mohr (actor)
Part of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and local commercials. Airdate 12-03-54 (Episode 21)

The two Marners brothers swindled several people out of their savings. Elias Marner is caught and police has a handful keeping him from an angry mob. Elias escapes and Ellery gets called in.  Joe sends a Morse message in a newspaper to his brother Elias: they are set to meet in the Universal hotel. Not only does Joe appear to be killed a few days ago but also Elias is killed from a room in a hotel right across the street...
331* "Nikki Porter, Bride Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
12-11-47 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
with Joseph Kearns, Maxine Marx, Edward Marr, Eleanor Audley, Myra Marsh
Guest Armchair Detective: Zuma Palmer (columnist Hollywood Citizens News.)


Nikki quits her job with Ellery in anger and plans to get married to Hobart Grimman, a known bigamist and a fraud. Grimman is shot at the altar, but by whom?
332* "The Melancholy DaneEpisode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
aka "The Great Dane"

aka "The Modern-Day Hamlet"
12-18-47 :30:00*
with Stacy Harris, Eleanor Audley, Paul Frees, Georgia Ellis, Earl Lee, Bill Bouchey
Guest Armchair Detective: Dick Williams (West coast editor Pic magazine.)

A Hamlet in modern dress is saved from murder. When Willis Dane's father owner of a large corporation suddenly dies, his mother immediately marries Willis' uncle Claude. Uncle Claude is murdered and young Willis is accused of the crime.
  Episode preserved at the Library and Archives Canada - 395 Wellington Street,  Ottawa, CANADA The Library and Archives Canada has an unnamed broadcast, production release date Dec 22. 1947.   Possibly 332 ...
333*

"Ellery Queen: Santa Claus"  Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City Script available at Thousand Oaks - American Radio Archives - Howard Hoffman collection (only scripts no audio)
12-25-47 :30:00*
Repeat of 12-25-46 (Episode 302)
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Tom Everitt
Guest Armchair Detective: Favius Friedman (West coast editor Radio Best magazine)

Ellery visits a man on death row to try to prove his  innocence. A $1000 diamond ring on the finger of a movie theatre box office clerk is the clue he needs to pull this off.  The trail leads to a department store and Santa Claus who is  knifed to death! 

They had your correspondent tapped for a visit to "Ellery Queen" not long ago, as guest armchair detective, and we must confess that it was an intriguing experience. Shepherded by ABC's Jerry Ross, we were deposited in an anteroom outside the studio until Dick Woolen, the program's producer, was ready to unlatch the door and admit this nervous "sleuth."
Despite Jerry's assurances that "it wouldn't hurt a bit," it was a little like going to the dentist. We didn't know exactly what was coming, but we were certain, that whatever occurred, we'd remember it for some time.
As it happened, the whole thing was extremely pleasant. The armchair detective doesn't enter the studio, but is immediately hustled upstairs to a small room equipped with a loud speaker and microphone. He gets no advance view of the script, and doesn't even see the actors. He sits with his back to the broadcast and just listens, honor-bound not to grab a peek over his shoulder.
The point is, as Woolen explained it, the guest most be kept hidden no that he or she will be unable to watch the broadcast. If this weren't done, the armchair detective might become confused watching the actors portraying different roles throughout the show. Or even, perhaps, guess the culprit!
You can believe no when we say that the guest detective is just as much in the dark as the listener sitting at home beside his radio. The clues the armchair sleuth gets sitting up in that tiny room are exactly what you would get and no more. Then, at the critical moment, the shaky guest is confronted by Ellery and his secretary, Nikki Porter, and told to start "guessing."
Well, luckily for us we managed to uphold the honor of RADIO BEST. We stabbed wildly and came up with the right answer. It was quite a bang to see Nikki Porter give us a silent "well- done" sign across the mike, then go downstairs into the studio after the broadcast and meet Ellery himself. As a "guest star" stint it had an entirely different twist and a very novel one. We liked it.
Anybody need a good, amateur "private eye ?"

                 (Radio Best, April 1948 WE GO SLEUTHING by Favius Friedman)

334* "The Unhappy New Year" Script available at Thousand Oaks - American Radio Archives - Howard Hoffman collection (only scripts no audio)
aka "The Silly Case"
01-01-48 :30:00*
Repeat of 01-01-47 (Episode 303)
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
             

When trying to commit suicide an unhappy advertising man gets  nearly shot. Inspector Queen solves the case.
 

PROGRAM PLAYER: An Ellery Queen whodunit is revived for Ford Theater, KGNC-NBC, when "The Adventures of the Bad Boy" is heard at 4 this afternoon. (01-04-48 Amarillo News-Globe)

 
After one of these re-runs Kaye Brinker took over Nikki's part.
 
335*

"The Head Hunter"  Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City Script available at Thousand Oaks - American Radio Archives - Howard Hoffman collection (only scripts no audio)
01-08-48 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
with William Conrad, Luis Van Rooten, Charles McGraw, Tony Barrett
Guest Armchair Detective: Alyce Canfield (magazine writer). 


A "head-hunter" has committed two murders in the underworld and is after more gamblers. The masked "Head Man" commits another murder and even shoots Sergeant Velie! Who is this guy?

  Episode preserved at the Library and Archives Canada - 395 Wellington Street,  Ottawa, CANADA The Library and Archives Canada has an unnamed broadcast, production date Jan 8. 1948, release date Jan 9. 1948.   Possibly 335 ...
336*

"The Terrified Man" Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
01-15-48 :30:00*
with John Brown, Kaye Brinker
Guest Armchair Detective: Jerry Devine (radio producer)
Repeat of 01-15-42 "The Invisible Clue"  (Episode 69)


A case that has only one character—and he is murdered!  Mr. Brown has received a "poisoned soap" letter, threatening his death. Brown is going to be killed by "someone he sees every day." After Brown is killed, Ellery takes a look at the contents of Brown's medicine chest.

The last laugh is on radio's Ellery Queen. Ellery had Jerry Devin, director of  This is Your FBI as the armchair detective on his program, and Jerry couldn't solve the Queen Mystery. Now Jerry is casting Ellery on his FBI show as a dumb cop who gets beat up by mobsters.
           (Hollywood, Plattsburgh Press-Republican, N.Y., Friday, February 20, 1948)

337* "The Private Eye"
aka "The Case of Groznian Ex-Premier"

01-22-48 :30:00*
with Herb Butterfield, Alan Reed, Kaye Brinker and Larry Dobkin. Produced by Dick Woolen
Guest Armchair Detective: Henry Morgan (comedian, quizmaster)
Part of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and local commercials. Airdate 07-30-54 (Episode 3)

Private eye Cam Clubb tries to unravel the murder of a statesman in exile. He comes across... Ellery Queen. The play was plotted around Ellery Queen and a rough an tough detective and "Churukas." The latter's intentions are strictly homicidal.
338* "Death House"  Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
01-29-48 :30:00*
Written by Frederic Dannay & Manfred B.Lee
with Jeff Chandler (billed as "Ira Grossel"), Lurene Tuttle, Earl Lee, Ralph Moody, Wilms Herbert
Guest Armchair Detective: Erskine Johnson (Hollywood columnist) 
Repeat of 05-27-43  "The Death Trap" (Episode 127)
Part of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and local commercials. Airdate 08-20-54 (Episode 6) as  "Other Side of The Grave" aka "The Dead House"

When the strange Mr. Lazarus dies and leaves his entire estate to Mrs. Madge Manus and the man she married, there are two conditions... and several attempts on her life. The house is very dangerous.
339* "Bubsy"  Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
02-05-48 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee
with Buddy Rogers, Paul Frees, Edwin Max, Eleanor Audley, Jack Petruzzi, Peter Leeds, Harold Dryanforth
Guest Armchair Detective: Charles "Buddy" Rogers
Part of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and local commercials. Airdate 12-24-54 (Episode 24)


Bubsy Chum is a 6' 6" stupid killer who's a one man crime wave. 
Who is behind Bubsy? After kidnapping  Ellery and Nikki, Bubsy's planning to kill them both  unless Ellery can name his boss.
340* "A Question of Color Incomplete episode(last half) preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
02-12-48 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
with Roy Candy, James Edwards, Bill Bouchey, Roy Glenn, Frankie Lynn, Edith Wilson, Earl Smith
Guest Armchair Detective: Edith Gwynn (Hollywood  columnist)
Part of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and local commercials. Airdate 01-21-55 (Episode 28)

Gamblers have set up a colored boxer into taking a fight beyond his abilities, so they can win big. The boxer's trainer has been made drunk, severely limiting the chances the boxer can win. Who gave Doc the whiskey?

Looking back at their radio days, they were especially proud of one show they wrote. Except for Ellery and Nikki, all the lead characters were Negroes, portrayed as ordinary people. One scene introduced Ellery, Nikki, and a Negro prizefighter stopping off at a tavern together and being refused service because a Negro was sitting down with white people. The network (NBC) blanched, but Dannay and Lee insisted the scene be kept in an the show ran, uncut.
341* "The Old Sinner Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
02-19-48 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
with Tom Collins, Fay Baker, Wilms Herbert, Stacy Harris, Ralph Moody
Guest Armchair Detective: Virginia McPherson (writer United Press)

Uncle Bert (Burt?) has returned and is promptly poisoned after a bit of blackmail.

Ellery's acquaintance Sylvia has a surprise unwelcome family visitor, and this visitor engages in blackmail just before he turns up shot. 
342* "The Blue Egg"  Incomplete episode(last half) preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
02-26-48 :30:00*
Repeat of 09-12-45 (Episode 241)
with Frank Lovejoy, Gene Leonard
Guest Armchair Detective: Seymour Nebenzal (movie producer)

An impossible crime has been committed. Where is that missing fabulous blue sapphire?

Above right: The Marr Sound Archives team completed the project Preserving 1940s Radio Broadcasts on Severely Damaged Lacquer Discs. Due to the damage of the discs they could not be played, and could not be digitized by conventional methods and standards, requiring the use of a specialized audio preservation technology. Each disc is one-of-a-kind. Pictured is the label for the 2-26-48 repeat of "The Blue Egg".
343* "The Human Weapon"  Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
aka "The Tragic Case of the Human Weapon"
03-04-48 :30:00* Repeat of 04-01-43
Adapted in an episode of the Dumont TV-series  the Adventures of Ellery Queen 11/23/50
Written by Frederic Dannay & Manfred B.Lee
with Luis Van Rooten, Lurene Tuttle, Anne Stone, Rye Billsbury
Guest Armchair Detectives
East: Joan Barton (actress)           
West: John Nelson ( m.c. of Bride and Groom). 

Mr. Sykes has been placed in an insane asylum by his wife. He must be released today so that he can kill his wife...and he asks Ellery for help! Abel Sykes escapes from the asylum and does in fact murder his wife...or does he? 
344* "The Lynching of Mr. Q"  Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
aka "The Lynching of Mr. Cue"
03-11-48 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
with William Conrad, Edwin Max, Bill Bouchey, Buddy Gray, Georgia Backus
Guest Armchair Detective: Kirk Douglas
Part of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and local commercials. Airdate 10-22-54 (Episode 15) "The Lynching of Mr. Cue"

Ellery is arrested for murder in a small town. They take him for "Scarface Ellery Cue," a notorious gangster and a lynch mob forms.
345*

"The Armchair Detective" Radioshow available on the internet... Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City Episode preserved at the Library and Archives Canada - 395 Wellington Street,  Ottawa, CANADA
03-18-48 :30:00*
Repeat of 3-27-46 (Episode 269)
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
with Joan Banks, William Johnstone, Charles Seel, Anne Morrison, Joseph Kearns
Guest Armchair Detective: Sheila Graham (columnist)
Part of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and local commercials. Airdate 05-13-55 (Episode 44)

Radio program presented in the interests of a safer American home, a happier American community, and a more secure United States. Dedicated to the fight against crime - not only against crimes of violence and crimes of dishonesty, but also crimes of intolerance, discrimination and bad citizenship - crimes against America. Doctor MacKing, the Armchair Detective guest, is poisoned during the program.  Concludes: "This is Ellery Queen saying goodnight until next week and enlisting all Americans every night and every day in the fight against bad citizenship, bigotry, and discrimination, the crimes which are weakening America".

The show dealt with the murder of "an armchair detective". Ellery assured audiences at the beginning of the program the adventure happened "a long time ago" to avoid an Orson Welles type of misunderstanding. Sheila Graham at the time quite powerful and feared confessed she was 'rather uneasy' in the chair.

346* "The Farmer's Daughter" Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City Script available at Thousand Oaks - American Radio Archives - Howard Hoffman collection (only scripts no audio)
03-25-48 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
with Anne Morrison, Jeff Chandler, Luis Van Rooten, Earl Keen
Guest Armchair Detective: Agnes Moorehead (actress)


Ellery and Nikki are visiting a farm. There's more to the  farmer's daughter than meets the eye. Cue ball Mingo has escaped from the state pen!
347* "The Vanishing Crook"  Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
aka "The Man Who Wasn't There"
04-01-48 :30:00*
Possibly repeat of 1-16-46 "The Green Eye" (Episode 259)
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher (see 259*)
with Jack Webb, Joan Banks, Eric Snowden, Paul Frees
Guest Armchair Detective: Arlyne Rogers (winner of the contest "America's Champion Movie Fan")

An English jewel thief is being held prisoner, beaten and tortured. By the time Inspector Queen and the cops break in, the thief Herbert Frink has disappeared.
348* "The K.I. CaseEpisode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
aka "The Sad Case of Joe Manx"
04-08-48 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
with Jay Novello, Luis Van Rooten, Rye Billsbury, Betty Lou Gerson, Frank Lovejoy
Guest Armchair Detective: Jimmy Starr (motion picture editor LA Herald Express and mystery author).
Part of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and local commercials. Airdate 10-29-54 (Episode 16)

Big Joe Manx is back in town with a Latin bodyguard. Nobody seems particularly afraid of him. A blank piece of  stationery with the letters "K. I." are the clues to  $50,000 and incriminating evidence when Manx is shot.
349* "The Slicer Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
04-15-48 :30:00*
Repeat of 08-01-45 "Nick the Knife" (Episode 237)
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
Guest Armchair Detective: Gene Handsaker (Hollywood columnist
, Associated Press Newsman)
Part of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and local commercials. Airdate 10-01-54 (Episode 12)

An unknown madman has murdered nineteen women by  attacking them at night while they are alone. The identity of "The Slicer" is quite a surprise. 19 corpses are counted before Ellery catches the right man.
  Episode preserved at the Library and Archives Canada - 395 Wellington Street,  Ottawa, CANADA The Library and Archives Canada has an unnamed broadcast, production date April 15. 1948.  Release date April 18. 1948. Possibly 349...
350* "Murder by Installments Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City
04-22-48 :30:00*
Repeat of 12-31-42 "The Man Who was Murdered by  Installments" (Episode 106)
Written by Frederic Dannay & Manfred B.Lee
with Paul Frees, Robert Griffin, Bob Lewis, Charles Seel, Frances Chaney.
Guest Armchair Detective: Mel Blanc
Dexter Prill, an elderly man who is murdered is played by Francis X.
 Bushman (the one-time matinee idol)

Dexter Prill a very wealthy old man has two nephews and a  niece. Two of his greedy relatives have been cut out of the will, leaving all of his thirty million dollars to one of the rest. Which relative's worries are over? Or have they just begun? The old man is shot twice, but only in the arm and leg.
 
Dwight Hauser directed the remaining episodes. This week or the next Howard Culver took over the part of the famed amateur detective... (Sound of Detection - Nevins)

Lawrence Dobkin "When I was replaced as the voice of Ellery Queen, nobody gave me any notice. They just told me not to come back next week. They never told me why. I had done it for two years. ..."
(Have Gun-Will Travel - Martin Grams)
 
351* "The Three Frogs" Radioshow available on the internet... Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City Episode preserved at the Library and Archives Canada - 395 Wellington Street,  Ottawa, CANADA
04-29-48 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
With: [Alan Reid], [Irwin Lee], Paul Frees, Ken Christy, [Don Morrison]
Guest Armchair Detective: Florabel Muir (columnist
for Daily Variety)

Ellery vs. "The Frog" leader of a youth gang of criminals. Nikki tries to reform a young delinquent.
 
By May 5, Lee received a cancellation notice, just 3 weeks before the last broadcast, ABC still had faith stating "we are going to make every effort to find another time for the program before the final broadcast"
 
352* "One Diamond Introclip to the radioshow Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City Script available at Thousand Oaks - American Radio Archives - Howard Hoffman collection (only scripts no audio)
05-06-48 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
with Joan Banks, Bill Bouchey, Wilms Herbert, Eric Snowden, Sidney Miller.
Guest Armchair Detective: Peggy Lee

Why couldn't the murderer of millionaire Mark Gallows read the "treasure- map" leading to the famous diamond?
353* "Nikki Porter, Starlet Script available at Thousand Oaks - American Radio Archives - Howard Hoffman collection (only scripts no audio)
05-13-48 :30:00*
Repeat of "The Doodle of Mr.O'Drew"11-28-45 (Episode 252)
Guest Armchair Detective: Harvey Fishman (former Quiz kid)
Part of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and local commercials. Airdate 01-14-55 (Episode 27) "The Doodling of Mr. O'Drew"

The mystery arises from the murder of a phony talent-scout, Timothy O'Drew, and the seven numbers he has doodled on a date pad. From these numbers Ellery deduces who killed O'Drew. (The ABC Weekly)
354* "Misery Mike Episode preserved at Marr Sound Archives - UMKC Miller Nichols Library Kansas City Script available at Thousand Oaks - American Radio Archives - Howard Hoffman collection (only scripts no audio)
05-20-48 :30:00*
Written by Manfred B.Lee & Anthony Boucher
Ernie Felice (accordionist)
with Barney Phillips, Sidney Miller, Anne Stone, Tony Barrett, Lou Merrill,
Guest Armchair Detective: Cliff Arquette (radio comedian)

Mike was a rat with a difference; he was a accordion playing racketeer, but only one tune from "Il Trovatore." Mike has a scheme to blackmail opera singers. But who killed "Misery Mike"? The accordion provides a clue. Ellery is forced to disguise Nikki, as a famous European opera singer.
355* "Mr. Gregory Snye
05-27-48 :30:00*
Repeat of "The Man Who Loved Murders" 12-26-45 (Episode 256)
Guest Armchair Detective: Sam Abbott
Part of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and local commercials. Airdate 03-04-55 (Episode 34) "The Man Who Loved Trouble"

Al that is known about this story is that it's about racial prejudice leading to crime. Ellery investigates.  The Ellery Queen mystery tonight is titled "Mr. Gregory Snye," an unpleasant kind of character who sows death wherever he goes. (Rockford Register Republic 05-27-48)
 

References
(5) Variety

 
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