Mysteries of Chinatown

Last updated
Mysteries of Chinatown
StarringMarvin Miller
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes48
Production
Running time30 minutes
Original release
Network ABC
ReleaseDecember 4, 1949 (1949-12-04) 
October 23, 1950 (1950-10-23)

Mysteries of Chinatown is an American crime drama series that aired on the ABC television network from December 4, 1949 to October 23, 1950. [1] Marvin Miller made his television debut in the series. [2]

Contents

Cast

Plot

The series focused on Dr. Yat Fu (Miller), the proprietor of a herb and curio shop in San Francisco's Chinatown, and also an amateur sleuth. Fu helped police to solve crimes, usually being helped by his nephew and niece. [6]

Episodes included "The Body in Drawing Room D" [7] and "The Case of the Missing Alibi". [8]

Production

Mysteries of Chinatown originated at an east Hollywood studio that ABC bought from Warner Bros. [6] Episodes were broadcast live in Hollywood [9] and recorded via kinescope to be sent to New York for later transmission [6] to the rest of the United States. [9] Ray Buffum was the producer, and Richard Goggin was the director. Rex Koury provided the music. The program was sustaining. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Drake (actor)</span> American actor

Charles Drake was an American actor.

<i>Broken Arrow</i> (TV series) 1956 TV series

Broken Arrow is a Western television series that ran on ABC-TV in prime time from September 25, 1956, through September 18, 1960..The show was based on the 1947 novel Blood Brothers, by Elliott Arnold, which had been made into a film in 1950, starring James Stewart as Tom Jeffords and Jeff Chandler playing as Cochise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Brodie (actor)</span> American actor (1919–1992)

Steve Brodie was an American stage, film, and television actor from El Dorado in Butler County in south central Kansas. He reportedly adopted his screen name in memory of Steve Brodie, a daredevil who claimed to have jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886 and survived.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Lauter</span> American actor (1914-1990)

Herman Arthur "Harry" Lauter was an American character actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvin Miller (actor)</span> American actor (1913–1985)

Marvin Elliott Miller was an American actor. Possessing a deep baritone voice, he began his career in radio in St. Louis, Missouri before becoming a Hollywood actor. He is remembered for voicing Robby the Robot in the science fiction film Forbidden Planet (1956), a role he reprised in the lesser-known The Invisible Boy (1957).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald Mohr</span> American actor (1914–1968)

Gerald Mohr was an American radio, film, and television character actor and frequent leading man, who appeared in more than 500 radio plays, 73 films, and over 100 television shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Picerni</span> American actor (1922–2011)

Horacio Paul Picerni was an American actor in film and television, perhaps best known today in the role of Federal Agent Lee Hobson, second-in-command to Robert Stack's Eliot Ness, in the ABC hit television series, The Untouchables.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Doucette</span> American actor (1921–1994)

John Arthur Doucette was an American character actor who performed in more than 280 film and television productions between 1941 and 1987. A man of stocky build who possessed a deep, rich voice, he proved equally adept at portraying characters in Shakespearean plays, Westerns, and modern crime dramas. He is perhaps best remembered, however, for his villainous roles as a movie and television "tough guy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dehner</span> American actor (1915–1992)

John Dehner, also credited Dehner Forkum, was an American stage, radio, film, and television character actor. From the late 1930s to the late 1980s, he amassed a long list of performance credits, often in roles as sophisticated con men, shady authority figures, and other smooth-talking villains. His credits just in feature films, televised series, and in made-for-TV movies number almost 300 productions. Dehner worked extensively as a radio actor during the latter half of that medium's "golden age,” accumulating hundreds of additional credits on nationally broadcast series. His most notable starring role was as Paladin on the radio version of the television Western Have Gun – Will Travel, which aired for 106 episodes on CBS from 1958 to 1960. He continued to work as a voice actor in film, such as narrating the film The Hallelujah Trail. Earlier in his career, Dehner also worked briefly for Walt Disney Studios, serving as an assistant animator from 1940 to March 1941 at the company's facilities in Burbank, California. He appeared in Columbo episodes "Swan Song" (1974) with Johnny Cash, and as Commodore Otis Swanson in "Last Salute to the Commodore" (1976). He appeared in a two part episode of Mission: Impossible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reed Hadley</span> American actor (1911–1974)

Reed Hadley was an American film, television and radio actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Crane (actor)</span> American character actor (1918–1969)

Richard Ollie Crane was a character actor whose career spanned three decades in films and television. His early career included many uncredited performances in feature films made in the 1940s.

Judy Strangis is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in two ABC television series Room 222 (1969–1974) and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (1976–1977).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forrest Lewis</span> American actor (1899–1977)

Raymond Forrest Lewis was an American actor of the theater, radio, motion pictures and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Nardini</span> American film actor

Tom Nardini is an American film actor who had a lengthy career in television. His best-known roles were in Cowboy in Africa (1967), and in Cat Ballou (1965), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe award.

The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre is an American anthology series that aired live on NBC Mondays at 8 pm EST from September 27, 1948 to June 26, 1950. The program presented both news headlines and live dramatic performances of either original plays or works adapted for television from the stage. Sometimes the show was referred to as Chevrolet on Broadway or The Broadway Playhouse; particularly when the program was presenting an adapted stage work from New York City's theatre scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Engel</span> American actor (1913–1980)

Roy Engel was an American actor on radio, film, and television. He performed in more than 150 films and almost 800 episodes of television programs.

Philip Marlowe is a half-hour ABC crime series, featuring Philip Carey as Marlowe, the fictional private detective created by Raymond Chandler. It was broadcast from October 6, 1959, until March 29, 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Osterloh</span> American actor (1918–2001)

Robert Osterloh was an American actor. His career spanned 20 years, appearing in films such as The Dark Past (1948), The Wild One (1953), I Bury the Living (1958) and Young Dillinger (1965).

Hollywood Premiere Theatre was the original title of an American television program that was broadcast more often as Hollywood Theatre Time on the ABC Television Network from September 20, 1950 to October 5, 1951.

Volume One is a 30-minute American television anthology series produced, written, and hosted by Wyllis Cooper. It was a short-lived series that featured mystery and suspense stories. Six episodes aired on the American Broadcasting Company's WJZ-TV Channel 7 in New York City in 1949.

References

  1. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. 2003. p. 823. ISBN   0-345-45542-8.
  2. "ABC Kines 2 Segs For Eastern Release". Billboard. December 3, 1949. p. 10. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Terrace, Vincent (9 October 2018). Encyclopedia of Unaired Television Pilots, 1945-2018. McFarland. p. 168. ISBN   978-1-4766-3349-7 . Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Mysteries of Chinatown". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. January 22, 1950. p. 6. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 "Television Programs". Los Angeles Evening Citizen News. November 23, 1949. p. 29. Retrieved June 7, 2022 via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 3 Hawes, William (2001). Filmed Television Drama, 1952-1958. McFarland. pp. 52–53. ISBN   978-0-7864-1132-0 . Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  7. "On Your Speaker and Screen Tonight". Los Angeles Mirror. December 14, 1949. p. 23. Retrieved June 6, 2022 via Newspapers.com.
  8. "On Your Speaker and Screen". Los Angeles Mirror. January 11, 1950. p. 19. Retrieved June 6, 2022 via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 Hyatt, Wesley (October 6, 2015). Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops. McFarland. p. 21. ISBN   978-1-4766-0515-9 . Retrieved June 7, 2022.