Kill as directed: Other Media part 2 ...radio (2)

n 1939, over at CBS, the Columbia Workshop started it's second series. The Workshop was the first to experiment with radio drama...added sound Herrmann , one of the most innovative composers in radio, would also score the first Ellery Queen radio series... effects and music to good scripts thus attracting many big stars. In the early years Bernard Herrmann scored for the workshop. Herrmann, one of the most innovative composers in radio, would also score the first Ellery Queen radio series... The Columbia Workshop 2nd series had as it's 7th episode "The Great Microphone Mystery" a 30-minute episode broadcast on October 05, 1939. Aka Ellery Queen Mystery "The Case of the Mysterious Leap Year" and reran on February 29, 1940 it featured several CBS personalities, joined by several of their wives, play roles opposite to their usual ones. Burgess Meredith, Beatrice Kay, Howard Barlow, John Reed King, Mel Allen, Earle McGill, Norman Corwin, Nila Mack, Ted Husing, David Ross, Robert Trout, Kitty Trout, Mrs. Linton Wells, Ray Bloch (music director), Phil Cohen (director), John Fitzgerald (director), Paul Phillips (writer), Ted de Corsia, Mrs. George Fielding Eliot and Hugh Marlowe.
The nephews wrote at least two 12-minute scripts for 'The Kate Smith Hour' a popular radioshow with Kate Smith (singer) and Ted Collins (vice president of Columbia Records). Both of them were armchair detectives in one of the EQ radioshows early on in 1940. Two scripts "The Case of the Three Macklins" and "The Case of the Crusading Reporter" (dated Jan 12. 1940, there was a unknown capsule on Jan 19. 1940) were recovered and star Ellery, Nikki and the Inspector. They supposedly were broadcast just after their appearance in the EQ-show. One script (Macklins) has been made available in print through a special Crippen & Landru booklet in 2005 (limited edition of Adventures of the Murdered Moth), it clearly mentiones the fact that next week another EQ-story would be heard. However crossreference with other data remains uncertain as to the precise dates.

fter the CBS reign the cousins returned to the proze and wrote 'Calamity Town', Dannay wrote his anthology '101 Years' Entertainment' and launched EQMM. He had a near fatal accident in 1940 but despite all this they restarted to produce a radio script a week. The reason being one of their best works till date 'Calamity Town' was rejected for prepublication in a national magazine. So they decided it wise not to put all the eggs in one basket. By that time Ellery went to the movies but Dannay described them quiet rightful as '...each one more dreadful than the other... They had much more control over their product in radio and frankly more luck...their agent was instructed to look for a network and sponsor. In 1941 the cast did an episode in The Campbell Playhouse (the follow up to The Mercury Theater On The Air, CBS) The name changed to reflect the sponsor, as was often done in radio, and the series took off with a large radio audience. In 1941 these 30 minutes broadcasts were produced by George Zachary ... Episode 78 broadcast on 04/25/41 was called 'Do Not Disturb', billed as a 'comedy-mystery' it featured the Ellery Queen Radio Cast and starred Edmund Lowe. None of these episodes seem to have survived.
The two cousins appeared on Behind the Mike (42-01-25 3:30 pm) a program which provided listeners not only an insight into NBC behind the scenes but into many of the technologies and practices behind most broadcast networks of the era. This episode came under the title "Creating Ellery Queen". In 1942, it coincided with the start of the new season when after an abscence of 15 months, a new sponsor for the regular series was found...

Hugh Marlowe and Marian Shockley Inspector Queen turns the tables. Ellery Queen, Columbia's master of mysteries, and Nikki listen to Inspector Queen. Usually Ellery's father finds it difficult to get in a word when the youngsters are in action. This time, they are not only listening but positively concentrating.

Season 2

"The Adventures of Ellery Queen" list of titles 4
Ernest Chappell

   NBC Bromo-Seltzer Thursdays 9:30 - 10:00 pm 1942 (68-93)
   East Coast version aired Saturdays 7:30 - 8:00 pm
   Producer/Director: George Zachary
   Announcer: Ernest Chappell
   Scripts: Frederic Dannay, Manfred B. Lee
   Music: Charles Paul, organist
   Stars: Carleton Young, Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Marion Shockley

anny and Kaye Brinker were married on July 4,1942 coinciding with the last broadcoast of the series. During the next three months of he and Dannay worked on There was an Old Woman. Zachary had left to work for the Office of War Information and it wasn't long before they were contacted by the OWI and asked to feed their American public some war propaganda. They would keep control over the plots only some slogan's were added by the Office. Tom, Dick and Harry or the Adventure Of The Murdered Ship (EQMM, 7/43) is by no means the best example of a Queen story but it does show the format of the radioplays and, like no other radio drama the influence of the Office. In 1944 under the overt sponsorship of the OWI a (15 minutes) 'special' was made from the West Coast broadcast of "The Bullet-Proof Man" (11-18-43) and renamed "The Adventure of the Wounded Lieutenant", it was also published in EQMM that summer.(EQMM, 7/44)

Season 3

   "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" list of titles 5
   NBC Bromo-Seltzer Thursdays 9:30 - 10:00 pm 1942 - 1943 (94-145)
   East Coast version aired Saturdays 7:30 - 8:00 pm
   Producer/Director: George Zachary
   Announcer: Ernest Chappell Stand-by Announcer: Ben Grauer
   Scripts: Frederic Dannay, Manfred B. Lee
   Music: Charles Paul, organist
   Stars: Carleton Young, Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Marion Shockley.

Season 4

   "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" list of titles 6
   NBC Bromo-Seltzer Thursdays 9:30 - 10:00 pm 1943 - 1944 (146-197)
   East Coast version aired Saturdays 7:30 - 8:00 pm
   Producer/Director: George Zachary
   Announcer: Ernest Chappell
   Scripts: Frederic Dannay, Manfred B. Lee
   Music: Charles Paul, organist
   Stars: Sydney Smith (Ellery), Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Marion Shockley (Helen
   Lewis for two months)

There's a human interest story of friendship, loyalty - and special talent - behind Marion Shockley's absence in the Fall of 1944. Marion was seriously ill for two months, and Helen Lewis took over the difficult job of impersonating - not only Nikki - but Marion Shockley playing Nikki! With few listeners even realizing that Marion herself wasn't at her usual place behind the mike. Helen is a gifted mimic who has imitated Queen Elisabeth, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ginger Rogers and many others on "The March of Time." In this case she had the special benefit of long, close friendship with the subject of her impersonation. The two girls came to New York about the same time, six years ago, and were roommates at the Rehearsal Club for young actresses.

he middle of the War was the peak of their success, reportedly they earned $50,000 per year most of which through the radio adventures which were heard by more than fifteen million listeners every week! In 1943 some reruns were scheduled and the cousins used their time to write The Murderer is a Fox . Enter Sydney Smith as Ellery Queen which kept the role for almost four years. As a gimmick NBC kept his identity a secret and as did Hugh Marlowe before him Smith convinced himself he was Ellery Queen. In 1944 (Aug '44) Ellery Queen appeared on "Bill Stern's Sports Newsreel". In these 15 minutes shows sports reporter Bill Stern tells many stories of and about sports and sports figures -- many are rumors, or even gossip. Each week he had a different guest who told a story themselves.

Season 5

   "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" list of titles 7
   NBC Bromo-Seltzer Thursdays 9:30 - 10:00 pm 1944 (198-210)
   East Coast version aired Saturdays 7:30 - 8:00 pm
   Producer/Director: George Zachary
   Announcer: Ernest Chappell
   Scripts: Frederic Dannay, Manfred B. Lee
   Music: Charles Paul, organist
   Stars: Sydney Smith (Ellery), Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Marion Shockley.

   "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" list of titles 8
   CBS Anacin Wednesdays 7:30 - 8:00 pm 1945 (211-239)
   Producer/Director: George Zachary
   Announcer: Don Hancock
   Scripts: Frederic Dannay (Anthony Boucher), Manfred B. Lee
   Stars: Sydney Smith, Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Barbara Terrell (Gertrude Warner
   beginning 6-13-45)

he next series knew it part of chances but the one most radical was the 'replacement' of Dannay with Anthony Boucher. Mary Dannay was near dead (she died that same year) and Fred had to redistribute his priorities. They already had farmed out some publication of radio stories and beginning with 'The Corpse of Mr.Entwhistle" all but a few scripts were the uncredited work of Anthony Boucher and Manfred B.Lee.Unlike Dannay or Lee, Boucher was profoundly religious and the figure was to be transformed from celebrated gentlemen to socially concerned citizen. Richard Coogan (once an Armchair detective) took over the Ellery Queen part late in 1946.

Season 6

   "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" list of titles 9
   CBS Anacin Wednesdays 7:30 - 8:00 pm 1945 - 1946 (240-291)
   Producer/Director: George Zachary
   Announcer: Don Hancock
   Scripts: Frederic Dannay (Anthony Boucher), Manfred B. Lee
   Stars: Sydney Smith, Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Gertrude Warner

Season 7

   "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" list of titles 10
   CBS Anacin Wednesdays 7:30 - 8:00 pm 1946 - 1947 (292-318)
   Producer/Director: George Zachary
   Announcer: Don Hancock
   Scripts: Anthony Boucher, Manfred B. Lee
   Stars: Sydney Smith, Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Charlotte Keane

Gertrude Warner, (a hidden) Ellery Queen and Santos Ortega in the studio (11-1945)

Warren Hull, Parks Johnson (When the Vox Poppers were armchair detectives) and Charlotte Keane before the CBS mike, (August 21 1946)

he start of each episode of the 1947-1948: " I dedicate this program to the fight against crime- not only crimes of violence and crimes of dishonesty, but also crime of intolerance, discrimination and bad citizenship-crimes against America." and ending with "This is Ellery Queen saying goodnight till next week, and listening all Americans every night - and every day- in the fight against bad citizenship, bigotry, and discrimination-the crimes which are weakening America!" In 1947 when mandated segregation was proudly practiced a bold statement. Lawrence Dobkin played Ellery and would later direct the Ellery Queen tv-series. We also mention the appearence of Kaye Brinker (Mrs.Lee!) to be heared in 'the Message in Red'.

Season 8

   "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" list of titles 11
   NBC Anacin Sundays 6:30 - 7:00 pm 1947 (319-328)
   Producer/Director: Tom Victor
   Announcer: Don Hancock
   Scripts: Anthony Boucher, Manfred B. Lee
   Stars: Lawrence Dobkin, Bill Smith (IQ), Ed Latimer (Velie), Charlotte Keane
   Music: Chet Kingsbury, Organist

Show moves to Hollywood

   "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" list of titles 12
   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 Woollen later Dwight Hauser
   Announcer: Paul Masterson
   Scripts: Anthony Boucher, Manfred B. Lee
   Stars: Lawrence Dobkin replaced by Howard Culver (EQ), Herb Butterfield (IQ),
   Alan Reed (Velie), Virginia Gregg (Nikki), in turn replaced by Kaye Brinker
   Music: Rex Koury, Organist

fter Ford theatre re-ran a first season episode "Bad Boy", 1 hour long with Howard Lindsay as Host and following actors: Hugh Marlowe (EQ), Santos Ortega (IQ), Ted De Corsia (Velie), Charlotte Keane (Nikki), Ellery Queen left the airwaves...(1-4-48)
Only to reappear briefly during 1954-55 in Australia, as was quiet common in those days, several of the Ellery Queen episodes were re-enacted with Charles 'Bud' Tingwell as Ellery Queen. The series was produced by Grace Gibson Radio Productions and had John Saul as director. From Friday July 16. 1954 on 52 weekly episodes were broadcast, with its conclusion on July. 8. 1955 it was game over.

Australian episodes
"The Adventures of Ellery Queen" list of titles 13
   Grace Gibson Radio productions Fridays 7:30 - 8:00 pm 1954-1955 (1-52)
   Director: John Saul
   Sterren: Charles Tingwell (EQ), Wendy Playfair (Nikki), Harp McGuire,
   Georgie Sterling

The following 'Queen radio products' we only mention to be complete but in essence the radio story ends here, fortunately by that time television had began to show interest (1951).
In 1957 the BBC broadcast a six weeks summer series based on six of the earliest Queen short stories.
During the sixties the cousins rented their hero for use in this syndicated package of 100 (silly)one minute mysteries none of them with any involvement of Lee or Dannay. Most of these episodes seem to have survived.

   Ellery Queen's Minute Mysteries list of titles 14
(Syndicated)

   Bill Owen played the role of Ellery. No less than
520 one minute long mysteries were produced by
Creative Marketing & Communications, Cincinnati,
Ohio and issued on a reel-to-reel format. Four boxes
are available each containing about 130 episodes.

            Set 1: November 1965 (episode 1-130)
            Set 2: April 1966 (episode 131-259)
            Set 3: September 1966 (episode 260-390)
            Set 4: February 1967 (episode 391-520)

(radio pages partially based on
Francis M.Nevins Jr & Ray Stanich "The Sound of Detection"and
David S.Siegel's "A Challenge to the Listener: Ellery Queen on the Air")

TO PAGE: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11