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Edgar Lustgarten | |
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![]() Edgar Lustgarten hosting Scotland Yard (1953–1961) | |
Born | Broughton Park, [1] Salford, [2] Lancashire, UK | 3 May 1907
Died | 15 December 1978 71) Marylebone, London, UK | (aged
Pen name | Brent Wood |
Occupation | Novelist and journalist |
Nationality | English |
Genre | Detective fiction, crime fiction, mystery fiction |
Spouse | Joyce Goldstone (m. 1932–1971) (her death) |
Edgar Marcus Lustgarten (3 May 1907 – 15 December 1978) was a British broadcaster and noted crime writer. [3] [4]
Born in the Broughton Park [5] area of Salford, [6] Lancashire, he was the son of Joseph and Sara (née Finklestein) Lustgarten. His father was a Romanian-Jewish barrister. Lustgarten was educated at Manchester Grammar School and St John's College, Oxford. He was President of the Oxford Union for the Hilary term of 1930. His years at the bar—he was a practising barrister, 1930–40—provided the background to his crime novels and his studies in true crime. [7] In 1932 he married Joyce Goldstone in Manchester. [8] She came from a family of jewellers. [9] She died in 1972. They didn't have any children [10]
During the Second World War he was medically unfit for active service but worked in Radio Counter-Propaganda (1940–45), under the name of 'Brent Wood'. He was a BBC staff producer, 1945–48, and organiser of the BBC television programme In the News (1950–54) and of the ATV programme Free Speech (1955–61).
His books included crime fiction but most were accounts of true criminal cases. The legal justice system and courtroom procedures were his main interests and his writings reflect this. He also wrote numerous articles for newspapers and presented the radio series Advocate Extraordinary. He used to say that he had no schedules, writing everywhere any time, on bars, in cars, and while walking in the streets.
He is remembered for hosting the series of British film shorts Scotland Yard (1953–61) and The Scales of Justice (1962–67), filmed at Merton Park Studios, London, SW19. [11] Initially released as supporting films in UK cinemas, Scotland Yard was broadcast beginning on 17 November 1957, by the American Broadcasting Company in the United States. [12] His novel Game For Three Losers was filmed as an episode of Merton Park's Edgar Wallace Mysteries . [13]
Lustgarten died at the Marylebone Library while reading The Spectator . [14] In the decade following his death, Lustgarten briefly ascended into the realm of pop culture when his inimitable voice was heard in dance music. Samples of him reading from "Death on the Crumbles" were used in the Australian band Severed Heads' 1984 hit song "Dead Eyes Opened". His works are still used as introductory readings in several law schools in different countries because of their accuracy on the atmosphere of trials and attorneys' behaviour. He was mimicked as the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Picture Show . [15]
In October 2012, his film work made its debut on DVD when Network released the complete series of The Scales of Justice as a two-disc set. [16] Scotland Yard was released by Network DVD in 2014 as a seven-disc set. [17]
Crime novels
True crime
Broughton is a suburb and district of Salford, City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, on the east bank of the River Irwell, it is 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of Manchester and 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Prestwich.
Anglo-Amalgamated Productions was a British film production company, run by Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy, which operated from 1945 until roughly 1971. Low-budget and second features, often produced at Merton Park Studios, formed much of its output. It was the UK distributor of many films produced by American International Pictures (AIP), who distributed AA's films in the United States.
James Philip O'Connolly was an English actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known as the associate producer of many of the Edgar Wallace Mysteries b-films made at Merton Park Studios in the early 1960s, though he also directed a number of other low budget British movies, including The Hi-Jackers (1963), Smokescreen (1964), and Tower of Evil (1972), as well as several episodes of The Saint.
The Scales of Justice was a series of thirteen British cinema featurettes produced between 1962 and 1967 for Anglo-Amalgamated at Merton Park Studios in London. The first nine episodes were made in black and white, the last four in colour. The final episode, Payment in Kind, was Merton Park's last production.
The Edgar Wallace Mysteries is a British second-feature film series mainly produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated. There were 48 films in the series, which were released between 1960 and 1965. The series was screened as The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre on television in the United States.
Merton Park Studios, opened in 1929, was a British film production studio located at Long Lodge, 269 Kingston Road in Merton Park, South London. In the 1940s, it was owned by Piprodia Entertainment, Nikhanj Films and Film Producers Guild.
Frederick Porter Wensley served as a British police officer from 1888 until 1929, reaching the rank of chief constable of the Scotland Yard Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Serving in Whitechapel for part of his career, he was involved in street patrols during the investigation of the Jack the Ripper murders, details of which he would later publish in his memoirs in 1931. He was one of the 'Big Four', a nickname given to the four Superintendents in charge of the Metropolitan Police CID, with his murder investigations regularly published in the press. The leading prosecuting barrister Sir Richard Muir referred to him as "the greatest detective of all time".
Murder Anonymous is a 1955 British crime short film directed by Ken Hughes and featuring Edgar Lustgarten, Peter Arne and Jill Bennett.
The Drayton Case is a 1953 British short crime film produced by the Anglo-Amalgamated production company as part of their Scotland Yard film series. It was directed by Ken Hughes and is hosted by Edgar Lustgarten. It stars Hilda Barry and John Le Mesurier.
Invasion is a 1965 low-budget British science fiction film, directed by Alan Bridges for producer Jack Greenwood of Merton Park Studios.
New Scotland Yard is a police drama series produced by London Weekend Television (LWT) for the ITV network between 1972 and 1974. It features the activities of two officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the Metropolitan Police force headquarters at New Scotland Yard, as they dealt with the assorted villains of the day.
Stryker of the Yard is a 1953 British crime film directed by Arthur Crabtree and starring Clifford Evans, Susan Stephen, Jack Watling and Eliot Makeham.
Scotland Yard is a series of 39 half-hour episodes produced by Anglo-Amalgamated. Produced between 1953 and 1961, they are short films, originally made to support the main feature in a cinema double-bill. Each film focuses on a true crime case with names changed, and feature an introduction by the crime writer Edgar Lustgarten.
The Clue of the New Pin (1961) is a British crime film directed by Allan Davis and starring Paul Daneman, Bernard Archard and James Villiers. It was one of the series of Edgar Wallace Mysteries, British second-features, produced at Merton Park Studios in the 1960s.
The Sinister Man is a 1961 British crime drama film directed by Clive Donner and starring Patrick Allen and John Bentley. It was one of the series of Edgar Wallace Mysteries, British second-features, produced at Merton Park Studios in the 1960s.
The Dark Stairway is a 1953 British short film. It was one of a series of shorts made for British cinemas as second features in the 1950s made by Anglo-Amalgamated at the Merton Park Studios as part of the Scotland Yard film series. They are narrated by crime writer Edgar Lustgarten, and were subsequently broadcast as television episodes.
Man from Interpol is a 1960 TV series produced by The Danzigers. The NBC series was filmed in England and the music was scored by jazz musician Tony Crombie.
Game for Three Losers is a 1965 British drama film directed by Gerry O'Hara and starring Michael Gough, Mark Eden and Toby Robins. It was made at Merton Park Studios as part of the long-running series of Edgar Wallace adaptations; this being adapted from a novel of the same name by Edgar Lustgarten.
Change Partners is a 1965 British crime drama directed by Robert Lynn and starring Anthony Dawson, Zena Walker and Kenneth Cope. It was made at Merton Park Studios originally as a Warner-Pathé release, prior to being included as a part of the long-running series of Edgar Wallace Mysteries.
The Clue of the Twisted Candle is a 1918 crime novel by the British writer Edgar Wallace.