Craig Kennedy, Criminologist is a syndicated American detective television series. Produced in 1951, it was the first filmed TV program to be shown in U. S. Army hospitals in other countries.[1] Reruns were being broadcast in the United States as late as 1958.[2]
The series adapted the character of "pulp-novel sleuth" Craig Kennedy, a crime expert at Columbia University, to television. Donald Woods portrayed Kennedy,[1] a character created by Arthur B. Reeve,[3] who solved crimes by means of scientific deductions.[4] Kennedy regularly interacted with police inspector J. J. Burke,[5] sometimes helping Burke[6] and sometimes being helped by him.[7] Burke was portrayed by Syd Mason,[8] and Lewis G. Wilson played crime reporter Walter Jameson.[9] The supporting cast included Mara Corday,[10] Sherry Moreland,[11] Valerie Vernon, and Patricia Wright.[12]
Adrian Weiss was the producer and director,[17] and Ande Lamb was the writer.[18][19] Twenty-six episodes of the 30-minute black-and-white program[20] were filmed in Hollywood[13] at Key-West Studios.[21] Louis Weiss & Company distributed the series.[22] The Weiss Brothers gained sales of the show by promising that if it did not have higher ratings than its competition in its first 13 weeks, they would not charge for the second 13 weeks' episodes.[1] At least one station, WCAU in Philadelphia, bought rights to third and fourth runs of the series. It began the third run on July 9, 1953, with plans to continue the series weekly for 12 months.[23]
Critical response
Ellis Walker, writing in the Daily Palo Alto Times, called the program "a class D mystery series".[24] Walker expressed surprise at Woods's involvement in the show and suggested that the actor could not resist the money that he received.[24]
Conversion into films
In 1953 Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors Ltd. of London bought four episodes of Craig Kennedy, Criminologist with plans to combine them to create two hour-long features. The conversion also included having "a British personality" provide opening and closing narrations for the films, which were to be distributed to theaters in Great Britain.[23]
↑ McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4thed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p.185. ISBN0-14-02-4916-8.
↑ "Obituaries: Ande Lamb". Variety. March 29, 1961. p.63. ProQuest1017059768. Ande Lamb, 60, vet motion picture and tv writer, died of a heart attack in Hollywood March 16. He wrote many of the feature and tv Hopalong Cassidy scripts, and worked on the 'Cisco Kid' and 'Craig Kennedy' series.
↑ Jenkins, Dan (May 7, 1952). "On the Air: Briefly". The Hollywood Reporter. p.8. ProQuest2322693817. Paul Keast signed for a 'Gangbusters' role ... Roy Maypole to address the Santa Barbara C-of-C on television Saturday ... Ande Lamb has scripted three more Craig Kennedy TV films for Adrian Weiss Productions ...
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