The Adventures of Ellery Queen (radio program)

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The Adventures of Ellery Queen
Santos Ortega Hugh Marlowe Marian Shockley Ellery Queen on radio 1939.JPG
From left: Santos Ortega as Richard Queen, Hugh Marlowe as Ellery Queen and Marian Shockley as Nikki Porter in 1939.
GenreMystery
Running time1 hour for first 7 months
30 minutes thereafter
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
SyndicatesCBS
NBC
ABC
StarringHugh Marlowe
Carleton Young
Sydney Smith
Lawrence Dobkin
Howard Culver
AnnouncerKen Roberts
Bert Parks
Ernest Chappell
Don Hancock
Paul Masterson
Created byFrederic Dannay and Manfred Lee
Written byFrederic Dannay
Manfred Lee
Anthony Boucher
Directed byGeorge Zachary
Tom Victor
Dick Woolen
Dwight Hauser
Produced byGeorge Zachary
Original releaseJune 18, 1939 
May 27, 1948
Sponsored byGulf Oil
Bromo Seltzer
Anacin

The Adventures of Ellery Queen was a radio detective program in the United States. Several iterations of the program appeared on different networks, with the first one broadcast on CBS on June 18, 1939, and the last on ABC on May 27, 1948. [1]

Contents

The Adventures of Ellery Queen grew out of the combined efforts of producer-director George Zachary and writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee. Dannay and Lee, who were cousins, originated the Ellery Queen character. Initially they wrote the program's scripts, and Zachary handled production. Beginning in 1945, Anthony Boucher replaced Dannay and worked with Lee writing scripts. [2]

During the program's first season, Radio Guide magazine called it "a CBS drama that will keep you on the edge of your chair." It added "You will find Ellery Queen both brave and brilliant and you will find yourself participating joyously in the ageless thrill of the manhunt." [3]

Format

The Adventures of Ellery Queen invited a panel of armchair detectives to try to solve each case during its broadcast. Adapting a technique that had been used earlier in the Author! Author! radio program, when an episode's script reached a point at which all of the clues had been revealed, the scripted portion stopped, and the panel was challenged to identify the culprit. [4]

Even with changes in networks, sponsors and stars, the basic format of the program remained constant throughout its time on the air. As listed on The Digital Deli Too website, the elements of each episode were as follows:

Listeners were encouraged to follow the clues, drawing their own conclusions, and match wits with the panel and the detective himself. Jim Harmon described the situation in his book, "The Great Radio Heroes": "Ellery Queen's show was the detective program that gave you, the listener, a chance to join in on the fun and games. You were given all the clues, and you could solve the mystery if you happened to be a deductive genius on the level of Ellery Queen." [6]

The guest panelists were usually wrong in their solutions; in the program's first four months, only one panelist was correct. [2] Yet such appearances were quite popular with celebrities. Trade magazine Billboard reported in a 1942 article, "In some cases an agent's entire list of performers eventually ask to get on 'prestige' shows like Information Please as guest experts, on Ellery Queen as guest armchair detectives". [7] The number of panelists over the show's life has been estimated at more than 750. [5]

Characters and cast

Although the main characters in The Adventures of Ellery Queen remained consistent throughout its various incarnations on radio, the actors changed over the program's life. The primary characters and those who played each role were as follows:

Announcers were Ken Roberts (1939–40), Bert Parks (1940), Ernest Chappell (1942–44), Don Hancock (1947), Paul Masterson (1947), [2] and Roger Krupp [11] The musical directors were Lyn Murray [12] and Charles Paul. [13]

Broadcast history

Starting DateEnding DateNetworkSponsor/Notes
June 18, 1939September 22, 1940CBSinitially sustaining; [nb 1] then Gulf Oil
January 10, 1942December 30, 1944NBC Bromo-Seltzer
January 24, 1945April 16, 1947CBS Anacin
June 1, 1947September 21, 1947 NBC Anacin (summer replacement for The Bob Burns Show ) [14] (ran intermittently) [1]
November 27, 1947May 27, 1948ABCsustaining

Recognition

In 1946, The Adventures of Ellery Queen and Mr. and Mrs. North received the first Best Radio Drama Edgar Award awards from the Mystery Writers of America. [15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio . Oxford University Press. pp.  8-9. ISBN   0-19-507678-8 . Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Dunning, John. (1976). Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925–1976. Prentice-Hall, Inc. ISBN   0-13-932616-2. p.182.
  3. "The Good Luck Club Presents "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" -- and We Make a Correction" (PDF). Radio Guide. 9 (17): 2. February 9, 1940. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Nevins, Francis M. "The Radio Adventures of Ellery Queen: The First Season". Old Time Radio Researchers Group. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 "The Adventures of Ellery Queen Radio Program". The Digital Deli Too. Archived from the original on March 27, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  6. Harmon, Jim. (2001). The Great Radio Heroes. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN   978-0-7864-0850-4. P. 118.
  7. "10 Percent of 0 Is 0: Agents Driven Nuts by Hordes of Name Performers Asking Guest Appearances on 'Prestige' Airings". Billboard. December 19, 1942. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  8. 1 2 Reinehr, Robert C. and Swartz, Jon D. (2008). The A to Z of Old Time Radio. Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN   978-0-8108-7616-3. P. 14.
  9. "Ellery Queen Begins New Sunday Hour". Harrisburg Telegraph. Harrisburg Telegraph. April 27, 1940. p. 18. Retrieved March 14, 2015 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  10. Shreve, Ivan G. Jr. (February 17, 2004). "…the logical successor to Sherlock Holmes…". Best (and Worst) of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  11. Terrace, Vincent (1981), Radio's Golden Years: The Encyclopedia of Radio Programs 1930-1960. A.S. Barnes & Company, Inc. ISBN   0-498-02393-1. Pp. 5-6.
  12. "Maestro Reveals Tricks of Cueing Music to Mystery". Harrisburg Telegraph. Harrisburg Telegraph. March 2, 1940. p. 19. Retrieved September 25, 2015 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  13. Lesser, Jerry (January 31, 1942). "Radio Talent: New York" (PDF). Billboard. p. 7. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  14. "Ellery Queen". Variety. June 4, 1947. p. 29. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  15. "(photo caption)" (PDF). Broadcasting. July 15, 1946. p. 91. Retrieved December 24, 2015.

Notes

  1. "Sustaining" means the program had no sponsor.

Logs

Streaming audio

Scripts

Short stories based on radio program