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The Adventures of Ellery Queen                            b a c k
                   
("A Kaiser-Frazer Adventure in Mystery")

Click on left and/or right sideDumont, 14 Oct 1950-1951
ABC, 1951- Dec,1952

The show appeared on the Dumont Network beginning in 1950 and each episode took 25 minutes.Producers: Norman and Irving Pincus
Directors: Donald Richardson, William Hart, Alex Cohen.
Scriptwriters: Helene Hanff, Reginald Denham, Mary Orr,
Eugene Burr, ...
Story editor: Jerry Sackheim
Composer "Ellery Queen Theme" (the same theme that was used on the last 2 Radio series): Chester ("Chet") Kingsbury.  Music Arranged by Ray Carter
Set designer: John Robert Lloyd
Ellery QueenLee Bowman
Inspector Queen: Florenz Ames

Sergeant Velie: Elliott Sullivan
Police Sergeant: Charles F. McClelland  (9)

Scriptwriter Helene Hanff became what she described as "Ellery Queen's special write of arty murders", and wrote plots about a murder at an art gallery, one at the opera, two at the ballet and one at a Shakespeare festival. "We were just getting round to murder at a rare book shop when they took the show off the air."

First Season... 

After an eight week summer vacation Ellery returned for 13 episodes

Second Season
39*

"The Twilight Zone"  (2) (6)  (9) (10)
"The adventure of the twilight zone"  (7)
9/13/51
Script: Henry Misrock   (7) (10)
appeared as Photo Mystery in TV Show edition  of January 1952 where no title was given...   Full photo mystery of this episode
With: Guy Spaull (Marsden), Eva Gabor (Ilsa), Edgar Franken (Karl), Theo Goetz (Max Leopold), Cosmo Cordello, Luis Van Rooten


Lee Bowman as Ellery QueenA German beer stein , bought on vacation in Germany reminds Ellery of what befell him and his father in a club in West-Germany. There they met British correspondent Marsden who meets Ilsa, a sultry singer.
Proprietor Max  Leopold does not approve. Marsden is drugged by a red agent Karl and swept off to East-Germany where he is tortured. In a attempt to find Marsden Inspector Queen also is kidnapped and subjected to the same treatment. Ellery, aided by Ilsa finds his  way through tunnels to the "Red Zone".

40* "The Dead Man who Walked"  (2) (6) (7) (9) (10)
9/20/51
Script: Henry Misrock  (7) (10)
With  (10): Mary Beth Hughes   (2)
(6) (9), Lawrence Fletcher, Arthur Kohl and Paul Genge
41* "Murder in the Death House"  (2) (6) (7) (10)
9/27/51
Script: Betty Loring  (7) (10)
With (10): Rex Williams, Raymond Bramley, Tommy Nello, Nick Dennis and Bernard Burke

Ellery sets out to to solve a prison murder and prevent a jailbreak in a federal penitentiary.
42*

"The Garden of Death"  (2)  (6)  (7) (10)
10/4/51
Script: Henry Misrock   (7)
With (10):  Wesley Addy, Richard Purdy, Leona Maricle, Rita Gam and Ronald Telfer

Ellery gets to know a frightened sculptor and finds a murder problem.

43* "The Hanging Acrobat" (2) (9) (10)
"Carnival Acrobat" (?)
"Carnival Killer" (?)
"Murder at the Carnival" (?)
Originally broadcast on 12/21/50
Repeated on 10/12/51  (2) (9) (10)
Donald Richardson (director), Gilbert Braun (7) (adaptation),  Eugene Burr (script editor), Trew Hocker (settings), Ray Carter (music), Rex Marshall (announcer: uncredited).
With: Sono Osato  (9) (10) (Louise), Kurt Katch  (10) (Hugo), Frank Tweddell (Sheriff), Ray Bramley ( Colonel Day), Don Kennedy (Tex), Maurice Manson (10), Richard Robbins (10)

Amy Muller, a carnival acrobat with too many boyfriends, is found strangled to death. The prime suspect is "Tex," but Ellery Queen soon discovers who really did it. 
 
("The Hanging Acrobat" - YouTube ComicWeb)
44* "The Gridiron Murder"   (2) (7) (10)
10/18/51
Script: Henry Misrock  (7)
Script : Norman Lessing  (10)
With (10): Mark Dawson, Howard Smith, Robert Emhardt, Kathleen Crowley, Robert Keith Jr., Rusty Lane
45*

"The Coffee House Murder" (2) (6) (7) (10) (11)
10/25/51 (11)
Script: Norman Lessing  (7) (10) (11)
With (10): Harry Bellaver, Joseph Buloff, John Shellie, Sy Travers and Henry Sharpe.

Ellery visits a poor neighborhood to solve murder in an ethnic coffeehouse and does so by means of an old Hungarian card game.

Survives on Kinescope (1) 

46* "Death in a Ghost Town"  (2)  (6) (10) (11)
11/01/51 (11)  (re-used as basis for an episode of TPA tv-series Adventures of Ellery Queen  03/25/56)
Script: Henry Misrock
With (10): Virginia Lord, Charles Cooper and Helen Carew.

Ellery and his father find a body in a Western ghost town but it disappears before anyone else sees it. Ellery suspects that somewhere in the ghost town both the victim and the murderer are hiding.
47* "Murder to Music"  (2) (6) (7) (10)
11/8/51
Script: Helene Hanff   (7) (10)
Director: Donald Richardson
"Kaiser Frazer" commercials presented by Rex Marshall.
With  (10): Jerome Cowan, Nancy Coleman, Peggy Allenby, Glad Davies, Rolfe Sedan

Ellery is invited to the birthday party of the famous Maestro, he becomes suspicious when the conductor's invalid wife dies under strange circumstances.
 
("Murder to Music" - YouTube moondogsballroom)
48* "The Inside Man"  (2) (7) (10)
11/15/51
Original story: Irving Pincus and Eugene Burr
   (7)  (10)
Adaptation: Henry Misrock  (10)

With (10): Valerie Bettis
(2), Rex O'Malley, John Shelley and James Bender.

"An Agency for Murder" 
  (6)
11/15/51
49* "Pavane for a Dead Princess"  (7) (9) (10)
11/22/51
Script: Betty Loring  (7) (10)
With (10): Billy Redfield (9), Reba Tassel, Oliver Thorndike and Anita Dangler
50* "The Shapeup"   (2)
"The Shape-up"  (10)
"The adventure of the shape-up"  (7)

11/29/51
Script: Henry Misrock  (7) (10)
Adaptation: Irving Pincus
With (10): Dennis Harrison, Walter Klavun, Anna Minot and John Marley
51* "Death attends the Opera" (2) (10)
Death at the Opera" (1) (7)
12/6/51
Script: Helene Hanff  (7) (10)
With  (10): Robert H. Harris, Rita Gam, Katherine Sergava and Charles Cooper
   

The series changed date, time slot, network and sponsor. It was seen Sundays on ABC from 7:30 to 8:00 PM sponsored by Kaiser-Frazer ...

The series changed date, time slot, network and sponsor. It was seen Sundays on ABC from 7:30 to 8:00 PM sponsored by Kaiser-Frazer.

6:30-7:00 (6)

The series changed date, time slot, network and sponsor. It was seen Sundays on ABC from 7:30 to 8:00 PM sponsored by Kaiser-Frazer ...
Ellery Queen will switch from Dumont to the ABC network Dec 9, increasing the audience potential from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 sets in operation according to Charles J. Leonard, Kaiser-Frazer ad manager. The show will move to Sundays at 7:30 p.m. Meanwhile, the five Sunday evening ABC periods preceding the Ellery Queen bow will feature a new show starring Betty Furness and titled "Kaiser-Frazer's Adventures in Mystery"

   
52* "Ticket to Nowhere"  (6) (7) (10)
12/16/51   (2) (6) (10)
12/13/51   (7)

Script: Henry Misrock based on a story by Carol Gluck  (7) (10)
With (10): Nils Asther
(5) (foreign con man), Ellen Cobb Hill, Paul Ford, Tonio Selwart, Maurice Smith

An immigration scandal on Ellis Island.
53* "A Christmas Story"   (2) (7) (9) (10)
12/23/51
Script: Raphael Hayes   (7) (10)
With (10): Butch Cavell (9), Harry Bellaver, Joe Downing and Klock Ryder
54*  "The Unhung Jury"   (6) (10)
12/30/51  (6) (9) (10)
Script: John C.Gibbs
With (10): Edgar Stehli, Dennis Harrison, Harry Clark and Larry Davies

Murder in an antique shop (9)

"The Murder in the Horseroom" (6)
"The Longshot" 
(2)
12/30/51
  (1)
1/6/52 (2) (6)
Script: Norman Lessing
See 55*

A murder is committed in a betting parlor, Ellery and his dad investigate.
55* "The Murder in the Horseroom" (6)
"The Longshot"  (2)
"The Long Shot" (10)
1/6/52 (2) (6) (10)
12/30/51  (1)

Script: Norman Lessing
With (10): Lewis Charles, James Gregory, Russell Collins, Hollis Irving and Eddie Hyans

A murder is committed in a betting parlor, Ellery and his dad investigate.

Note: Based on this description this radio play was possibly based on the short-story "Long Shot" (Blue Book, 1939) which also appeared in The New Adventures of Ellery Queen.


"
The Unhung Jury"  (1) 
1/6/52
 (1)

See 54*
56* "Death in the Sorority House" (2) (10)
1/13/52
Script: Henry Misrock
Director: Donald Richardson
With  (10): Frances Helm, Rene Paul, Ann Meecham and Lenore Garland

Ellery becomes involved in a sorority house murder
  (6)
57* "The Feminine Touch" (2) (10)
1/20/52
Script: Raphael Hayes
With
(10): Robert H. Harris, Katherine Meskill, Steve Gravers, Jean Casto and Robert Lieb

A mother seeks Ellery's help to get her child prodigy away from the evil influence of his father
    (6)
58* "Dance of Death" (10) (13)
1/27/52
Other airdates: Feb 10. 1952 (13)

Script: Helene Hanff
With
(10): Katherine Sergava, Robert Harris, Joan Wetmore and Elli Sonneman

Mysterious doings in a ballet school, Ellery investigates.
59* "One Week To Live" (10)
2/3/52 (re-used as basis for an episode of TPA tv-series Adventures of Ellery Queen  12/04/55)
Script: John C.Gibbs
With (10): Rex O'Malley, Judy Parrish, Sylvia Stone, George Lipton, Robert Bernard and Edward Packer

A bereaved widow asks Ellery for help after she's contacted by a stranger who demands she share with him the proceeds on her late husband's life..

Ellery becomes involved with a dangerous insurance racket and nearly loses his life trying to crack it (6)
60* "The Red Hook Murder" (10)
2/10/52
Script: Richard Ellington
With
(10): Hildy Parks, Rex Williams and Russell Collins

"
Mr. Big"
 2/10/52
 see 62*
61* "Left Cross" (6)
"Left-Cross" (10)
2/17/52
Script: Raphael Hayes
With
(10): Joe Downing, John Shelley, Robert Keith Jr and Duncan Baldwin

A corrupt boxing manager wants to fix a championship fight, he gets murdered the night before. Ellery looks for clues.
62*

"Mr. Big"  (6) (10)
2/24/52   (6) (re-used as basis for an episode of TPA tv-series Adventures of Ellery Queen  01/01/56)
Script: Betty Loring
With
 (10): Lily Darvas, Blair Davis, Robert Downing, David Kurlan and Dick Shankland

Ellery suspects that the suicide death of a smalltime gangster is connected with the operations of the underworld's Mr.Big. This mysterious figure has risen to the leadership of a narcotics ring.

Story of a man who dies twice in tracking down a mysterious leader of a narcotic ring   (6)

"The Red Hook Murder"
2/24/52
See 60*

63* "Kingsize Death" (6)
"King Size Death" (2) (10)
3/2/52
Original Script by Robert Tollman
Adaptation: John C. Gibbs
With (10): Robert Emhardt, Constance Dowling, Madaleine Sherwood and Sally Gracie

A tale of cigarettes called whitecaps
64* "The File of Death" (2) (6) (10)
3/9/51
Script: Henry Misrock
With (10): Tamara Geva, Lawrence Fletcher, Joe De Santis, Robert Jewitt and Gene Galvin

Income tax fraud uncovered as Ellery investigates a murder.

Ellery gets mixed up with a murdered scrap iron dealer (6)
   

Lee Bowman (right) in a scene from "the Red Hook Murder".Lee Bowman as Ellery Queen in "Buck Fever" (01-10-1952).
Above left: Lee Bowman (right) in a scene from "The Red Hook Murder".
Above right: Lee Bowman as Ellery Queen in "Buck Fever" (01-10-1952).


After slightly more than a month the series returned to ABC in a new time slot 9:00 PM Wednesdays with a new sponsor (Bayuk) Phillies Cigars and a new title
Ellery Queen's Adventures beyond these changes the production team remained the same...

65* "The Peaceful Ranch Murder" (6)
"The Bar Peaceful Murder"  (2) (10)
4/16/
52
Script: Norman Lessing
With (10): Diana Douglas (6)
, James Gregory, Marc Cramer and Helen Carew

Ellery and his father go to a Western ranch for vacation.
A kind old lady is murdered. Ellery sets out to find the culprit and is almost murdered himself!
66* "Doodle of Death" (6) (10)
4/23/
52 (re-used as basis for an episode of TPA tv-series Adventures of Ellery Queen  01/29/56)
Script: Betty Loring
With
(10): Rita Gam (6), Robert H. Harris, Bernard Burke and Edith King

Ellery probes a murder that is connected with the disappearance of a priceless diamond. A series of penciled doodles provide a clue.
67*

"The Men without Faces"  (2) (6) (10)
4/30/52 (re-used as basis for an episode of TPA tv-series Adventures of Ellery Queen  "The Night Visitors" 03/11/56)
Script: Henry Misrock
With
(10): Royal Beal, Vaughn Taylor, Anna Minot

While traveling in Germany Ellery witnesses the beating of a young couple by a Neo-Nazi group wearing uniforms and masks. Ellery decides to expose it. He meets with no success  however until he meets an old innkeeper.

Television could use more of the hard hitting, courageous scripting that went into last week's installment of "Ellery Queen" on ABC-TV. Within the framework of the half-hour production, which generally hews to the standardized, pedestrian cops-and-robbers formula, producers Irving and Norman Pincus, writers Henry Misrock and director Donald Richardson, aided and abetted by star Lee Bowman and such capable TV thespians as Vaughn Taylor, detoured into seldom penetrated video avenues for a vivid  exposition of bigotry and intolerance as practiced in some sectors of the United States.
Inspired by recent accounts of floggings and attacks of minorities by masked marauders in small communities of the country, this "Ellery" episode had something important to depict, and did it with commendable forthrightness and honesty. It told of a reign of hooded terrorism in a small town, led by the mayor and sheriff, ostensibly to rid the community of "foreigners" but actually motivated by the town's vested interests bent on retaining their filling stations, hardware stores, etc., when competition threatened to move in.
It was not a pretty picture, which spanned the gamut of the tar-and-feather brand of terrorism to actual lynching's. All concerned acquitted themselves in fine style - with the single exception of the Bayuk cigar (Phillies) sponsors, with over-accented spiels and a closing filmed commercial (featuring Bobby Clark's cigar-wielding comicalities) that was so out of tempo with the half-hour stanza as to make the whole thing ludicrous. - Rose
                                        (Variety, Wednesday May 7. 1952)

68* "Death of a Wax Doll"   (2) (10)
5/7/52 (re-used as basis for an episode of TPA tv-series Adventures of Ellery Queen  02/26/56)
Script: Betty Loring
With (10): Butch Cavell, Richard Purdy, Reba Tassel and Frieda Altman

Ellery investigates a murder discovered by an eleven-year old boy who took a  shortcut through a vacant lot.
When the young boy visits a wax museum to see a tableau of a murder he has witnessed, he is almost killed.

"Cat & Mouse"   (6)
5/7/52
Script: Henry Misrock

A vengeful criminal threatens Ellery's life.
69*

"Cat & Mouse (6) (10)
"Cat and Mouse"  (2)
5/14/52
Script: Henry Misrock
With
(10): Joseph Antony, Paul Langton, Flora Campbell, Glenn Gordon

A vengeful criminal threatens Ellery's life.

70* "Coroner's Inquest"   (2) (6) (9) (10)
5/21/52
Script: Raphael Hayes
With : Whit Bissell, Richard Webb & Virginia Vincent
With
(10): Lawrence Fletcher, Wright King, Katherine Sergava, Frank Campanella

Ellery tries to help a boy prove that his father's death was not accidental.

A man who has embezzled money from a bank tries to stage a fake robbery to save himself.    (6)
71* "The Not-So Private Eye"  (2)  (10)
5/28/52
Script: Henry Misrock
With (10): Robert Emhardt, Jean Carson and Pat Ferris.

 

Episode 6/4/52 pre-empted: Betty Garde, local TV actress was injured when the taxi in which she was riding was involved in a collision with another car. As a result Ellery Queen scheduled for that night, in which she had the female lead was canceled and the entire cast paid off.
Norman and Irving Pincus used a kine of an earlier stanza in the 9-9:30 p.m. slot, via ABC which meant a second payment to members of that cast as well. Miss Garde was resting in a New York hospital with a split lip, banged nose and possible concussion. Her role was to be rescheduled for July.

Betty Garde, who was to play the femme lead on ABC-TV’s "Adventures of Ellery Queen” last Wednesday (4), was hurt while riding in a taxicab to a rehearsal on the day of the telecast. As a result, the N. Y.-originating live show had to be cancelled and an old kine used; It was too close to air time to get a substitute lead. Packagers Norman and Irving Pincus were clipped financially, since they had to pay the cast in the vehicle which wasn’t aired and also pay the performers and scripter on the kine. The cancelled yarn will be reprised in a month or so when Miss Garde is able to appear in it. Accident occurred when a pedestrian darted in front of the cab and the driver stopped short; a web spokesman said. Actress, was thrown against the jump seat, had a nose hemorrhage and had to be hospitalized.
                                                 (Variety, Wednesday June 11, 1952)

"... so many things can go wrong, it can give you ulcers overnight. Like having a principal on the show conk out just before broadcast time. This happened to us weeks ago when Betty Garde was hurt in a taxicab accident a few hours before airtime. It was impossible to get a replacement on such short notice, and so we used a kinescope of a previous show, which we kept for just such emergencies." (Variety, July 16. 1952)

Rehearsal avialable at the UCLA Library Film & Television Archive...A rehearsal of this episode, dated 6/4/1952 and directed by Donald Richardson is held at UCLA Library. It has the following description: "A young ballerina and her boyfriend are menaced by a brutal prima donna in their company. She is jealous of their love and is also desirous of getting rid of her drunken husband who has threatened to divorce her and replace her with another dancer. She pushes him off of a roof and Ellery Queen solves the crime with some very deft maneuvering" (8)

 

72* "Rehearsal for Murder"  (2) (6) (10)
6/11/52
Original story: Irving Pincus and Eugene Burr
Adaptation: Helene Hanff
With
(10): Lili Darvas  (5), Ian Keith, Sally Hester and Farrell Pelly.

Ellery visits a summer theater and gets involved in a blackmail scheme as a murder is committed.
..
73* "Prize Catch"  (2) (6) (9) (10)
6/18/52
Script: Raphael Hayes
With (10): Robert Simon, Pat Ferris, Frieda Altman, Perry Fiske, Crahan Denton

Whilst on a fishing trip Ellery and his father get entangled in a murder
investigation.
74* "The Heart Broken Men" (6)
"The Case of the Heartbroken Men" (2)
"The Case of the Heart-Broken Men" (10)

6/25/52
Script: Henry Misrock
With: Neva Patterson (5) (10), Mercer McLeod (10)

Ellery and his father crack a vicious insurance racket. A retired jeweler, afraid to contact police, visits Ellery's office and makes an accusation of murder
75* "The Third Room (6) (10)
7/2/52  -   6/4/1952 (12)
Script: Betty Loring
With (10): Betty Garde, Charles Cooper, William Free and  Georgianne Johnson.

A young girl staying at a tourist lodge disappears and Ellery sets out to find her. He nearly loses his life.

This episode came up at an eBay auction (Jul 2009) described as "ABC Television Network 16mm A-wind Kinescope Composites Ellery Queen #6 #4900 07-02-52" unfortunately as part of 5,000$ (starting bid) set

Episode 7/9/52 pre-empted by coverage of the Republican National Convention.
76* "The Pool of Death"  (2) (6) (13)
"Pool of Death" (10)
7/16/
52
Other airdates: 7/30/52  (13)
Script: Betty Loring
With (10): Grant Richards, Ruth Matteson, Hildy Parks

Ellery decides to combine a little pleasure with writing, and rents a beach cabana at a local resort. Things happen so fast & furiously that the literary efforts are quickly abandoned since, as usual, Ellery runs into a murder plot.

Episode 7/23/52 pre-empted by coverage of the Democratic National Convention.
77* "Dead Secret" (2) (10) (13)
"Dead Street" (6) 
 
7/30/52
Other airdates: 8/13/52
 (13)
Script: Irving Pincus and Helene Hanff
Adaptation: Helene Hanff
With (10): Vinton Hayworth, Mary Alice Moore, Heywood Hale Broun and Rusty Lane.

Ellery's life depends on his memory as he needs to remember the finest details of his last visit to the bank
.
78* "The Canvas Shroud"
The Case of the Canvas Shroud" (2) (10)
8/6/52
Script: Irving Pincus, Eugene Burr
Adaptation: John C.Gibbs
With (10): Edward Binns, Elliot Sullivan, Lewis Charles, Cameron Prud'homme. Bowman was on vacation so Florenz Ames' role is the lead.

Ellery's on vacation and Inspector Queen sets out to the circus only to find murder.

Walter Hart is directing ABC-TV’s "
Ellery Queen” this week. Donald Richardson has left the stanza, with a new megger not yet set by packagers Norman and Irving Pincus .
  (Variety, Wednesday August 13, 1952)

79* "A Frame for a Chair" (2) (6) (9) (10)
8/13/52
Original script: Henry Misrock
Director: Walter Hart
With (10): Martin Newman, Phyllis Love, Berry Kroeger, Russell Hardie, Beatrice Pons

Inspector Queen sets out to exonerate a teenager sentenced to the electric chair.
80* "The Winner was Death" (10)
8/20/52
Original script: John C. Gibbs
Director: Walter Hart
With (10): Robert Keith Jr, John Shellie, Joseph Downing, Nita Talbot, Robert Middleton, Remo Pisani

Inspector Queen attends a prizefight that culminates in murder. 
(6)
81* "Confidential Agent"  (2) (6) (10) (13)
8/27/
52
Other airdates: 9/10/52  (13)

Original script: Betty Loring
Staff-directed
With (10) : Richard Derr, Stella Andrew, Barbara Joyce, Martin Kosleck, Margaret Hamilton

Inspector Queen reminisces about one of the more important cases he has solved in the story of Jefferson Moon, a lad who operated as a "Confidential Agent" (6)

A blackmail victim and a murderess is what faces Inspector Queen.

Richard Derr stars on "Ellery Queen" tonight (Wed.)- while Lee Bowman is on vacation. Bowman returns the following week
                          (Variety, Wednesday, August 27, 1952)

82*

"The Ten Dollar Bill"  (2) (10)
"The $10 Bill"  (5)
9/3/52
Original script: Henry Misrock
Staff-directed
Technical director: Walter Kubillus
Supervisor: Burke Crotty
With (5) (10): Olive Deering, Henry Jones, Harry Bellaver, Joseph Sullivan

Ellery and his dad need to visit a waterfront magic shop as they found a strange banknote on the body of a murdered man.

Lee Bowman returns to the title role to expose an international counterfeit syndicate. (9)

Lee Bowman came back from a summer vacation last Wednesday night (3) to resume his lead sleuth role in the “Adventures of Ellery Queen” series on ABC-TV. 'Vehicle for his return was a good one, a script yarn by Henry Misrock, titled “The $10 Bill."' in which Bowman, as Ellery Queen, became involved with a ship-dock murder, a snazzy blonde, a waterfront shop selling articles of “magic” and an international counterfeit syndicate. Situations weren’t hard to follow — or to spot — but they maintained a good level of interest, thanks to excellent acting performances as well as good dialog. Smaller parts (such as Henry Jones’ and Olive Deering’s) were as well-taken and authentic as Bowman's and Florenz Ames’ (latter in the familiar role of Bowman’s father Inspector Queen). Commercials had punch, and were kept in proper focus.- Bron.
                           (Variety, Wednesday September 10. 1952)

83* "The Wise Man Avialable at the UCLA Library Film & Television Archive...
"The Case of the Wise Man" (10)
"Record in the mail" (8)
9/10/52
Director: Walter Hart (Staff-directed  (10) )
Script: John C.Gibbs
With  (10): Rex O'Malley, Georgianne Johnson, John Marley, John Boruff, Truman Smith  (8)

Ellery tracks down a blackmail ring. When a mysterious blackmailer uses recordings to threaten a political candidate, Queen and the candidate's daughter team up to catch him.
(8)
84* "Ready for Hanging"  (2) (6) (10)
9/17/52
Script: Helene Hanff based on a story by Irving Pincus
Staff-directed (10)
With (10): Robert Emhardt, Patricia Ferris, Edward Cullen, Arthur Jarrett, Steve Gravers.

Ellery is invited by an art patron to visit his home, and becomes involved in an art swindle which ends up as a homicide case
85* "The Legacy of Death"   (6)
"Legacy of Death"  (2) (10) (11)
9/24/
52 (10)
10/9/52
  (11)
Script: Betty Loring
Staff-directed
With
(10): Frances Fuller, Nita Talbot, Oliver Cliff, Blair Davies

Ellery as bodyguard for a woman who is marked for murder.
A rich industrialist has a hobby of collecting unusual weapons, much to his regret...
86*

"Buck Fever"  (2) (6) (10)
"The Case of the Buck Fever" (9)

10/1/52
Script:
Henry Misrock,
Script Editor: Eugene Burr
Directed by Walter Hart
Set Design:  John Robert Lloyd
Music Arrangement:  Ray Carter
Technical director: Walter Kubilus
Supervision:  A.Burke Crotty
With: Richard Caryle (Bill Williams), Rusty Lane (Sheriff), Robert Middleton (Tim Hadden) , Lori March (Claire Williams), Dennis Dengate (Stick-man)    

Ellery goes hunting and gets accused of shooting a colleague hunter by accident.                               

 
("Buck Fever" - YouTube ComicWeb)
87* "Custom Made"   (2)  (6) (10)
10/08/52 (re-used as basis for an episode of TPA tv-series Adventures of Ellery Queen  01/08/56)
Script: Raphael Hayes and Helene Hanff
With (10): Melville Cooper, Beverly Whitney,  Lawrence Fletcher

Ellery's tailor sends him the wrong dinner jacket, Ellery seeks out the right garment only to find it on a dead man.
88* "The Two-Faced Man"    (6)
"The Case of the Two-Faced Man"  (2) (9) (10) (13)
10/15/52
Other airdates: 10/27/52  (13)
(re-used as basis for an episode of TPA tv-series Adventures of Ellery Queen  "The Mask of Rosselli" 12/25/55)
Script: Michael Morris
Staff-directed
With (10): Gaby Rodgers, Peter Capell, Mario Badolati,  Julie Lawrence, Steve Gravers, Allen Nourse.

Ellery is baffled when an American plastic surgeon is kidnapped in Rome by a deported American gangster, the surgeon then changes the hood's facial features, only to be identified a few weeks later as a dangerous masked murderer. Ellery finds the culprit just in time to prevent his escape to America and another murder.
89*

"A Touch of Death"  (2)
10/22/52 re-used as basis for an episode of TPA tv-series Adventures of Ellery Queen  "Stranger in the Dark" 10/02/55
Script: Betty Loring
With (10): Raimonda Orselli, Frank Sutton, Florence Stanley, Betty Beuhler, Lauri Collier, Maurice Fain.

Ellery tries to save a blind girl, the only witness her roommate's murder, who is stalked by the killer in the Braille room of the public library.

Ellery catches the psychopathic murderer of a gal who apparently was a bit of a trollop, but who lived with a very nice blind girl. The viewer never finds out how these two girls got together, or what they had in common. There is never time to explain intriguing situations such as this. Instead we have to follow Ellery around while he tracks the killer. ("Public Enemy: Who Murder TV Sleuths" by Hal Humphrey -"The Detroit Free Press", June 4. 1954)

90* "A Closeup of Murder"  (6)
"A Cross Up of Murder" (2)
"A Close-up of Murder" (10)

10/29/52 (re-used as basis for an episode of TPA tv-series Adventures of Ellery Queen  12/11/55)
Original script: Henry Misrock
Staff-directed
With (10): Mary Alice Moore, Patricia Ferris, Don Briggs

Ellery sets up a hidden microphone to solve a murder in TV-studio during broadcast of a live detective program.
91* "The Destructive Angel"   (2) (6) (10) (13)
11/5/52
Other airdates: 11/17/52  (13)
Original script: Michael Morris
Staff-directed
With (10): Haila Stoddard
(13), Frieda Altman, Blair Davies.

The plagiarism/theft of a literary manuscript leads to murder. In his search for a stolen script Ellery finds a corpse instead.
92* "The High Executioner" (10)  (13)
"The Case of the High Executioner" (9)

11/12/52
Other airdates: 11/24/52  (13)
Original script
: Helene Hanff
Staff-directed
With (10): Leona Maricle, Oliver Cliff, Rita Lynn, John Moore.

During the performance by an amateur opera company of "The Mikado" a murder takes place. Ellery sets out to find the murderer and investigates the on-stage accident that turns out to be a carefully planned murder.
93* "Companion to a Killer"  (2) (6) (10)
11/19/52 (re-used as basis for an episode of TPA tv-series Adventures of Ellery Queen  "The Recluse" 11/27/55)
Script: Irving Pincus and Betty Loring
Adaptation: Betty Loring
Staff-directed
With (10): Kathleen Comegys, Paul Newman, Peggy Nelson.

A hotel bellhop murders the desk clerk and takes refuge in the room of a diabetic old woman. Ellery uses a lump of sugar as part of a plan to capture the murderer without endangering then hostage.
94*

"Double Exposure"   (6) (10)
11/26/52 (re-used as basis for an episode of TPA tv-series Adventures of Ellery Queen  04/01/56)
Original
script: Henry Misrock
Staff-directed
With
(10): Frances Reid, William Kemp, Mary Beth Hughes, Allan Stevenson and Carol Harren.

A frightened father comes to Ellery for help when the kidnappers of his son warn him not to go to the police. Ellery compares two photographs and comes up with a clue.

After several years, the mother of a kidnapped child receives a note from the kidnappers (6)

 

"Playhouse 7" which used edited versions of regular theatrical films replaces "Adventures of Ellery Queen", which was dropped November 26. 1952 (10)

ABC-TV's Ellery Queen program received an award from Parade magazine for "public service in the national effort to combat crime".  Presentation was made on program by Parade editor Jess Gorkin.
(Broadcasting, Jan 12, 1953)
 
Note: Unknown title, possibly alternative title to an existed episode or pre-empted episode: "Killer D.A."  exact date unknown  ? / ? /51
In "The Clay Pigeon," Ellery's held hostage by a cop killer (Lee Bowman)
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References

(
1) The Live Television of Ellery Queen  by Francis M. Nevins Jr in
    
The Armchair Detective volume 17, 1984
(2) Brooklyn NY Daily Television and Radio Programs Newspaper, 1951-52
(3) IMDb
(4) Wikipedia

(5) Variety
(6) Chicago TV Forecast
(7) Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. Periodicals January-June
     1951 (confirming titles and dates)
(8) UCLA Library
(9) The Evening Star, Washington D.C.
(10) Ross Reports on Television Programming
(11) TV Guide
(12) TV Digest
(13) TV-Radio Life
  Last updated August 4 2023

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