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Saturday Night Radio
Tonight, from the pen of famed crime-novelist Raymond Chandler, who gave us such thrillers as “The Big Sleep” and “The Lady in the Lake,” it’s “The Adventures of Phillip Marlowe” starring Gerald Mohr on “Saturday Night Radio” …
Van Heflin played Marlowe when the series was on NBC as a summer replacement. Mohr had the role when it moved to CBS through the rest of its run, except for a single episode where William (He’s Everywhere!) Conrad took over.
One of my favorites.
Mohr was a liiiiiitle bit too breezy, but not by much. He had an easy, wry, well-inhabited charm, and could read the noir-soaked end monologues with the required weariness, tarnished idealism, and hope. The plots were efficient and just twisty enough to keep you wondering, and it all works well, again and again.
It was, I think, the height of Mohr’s career, because he carried the whole show. He did lots of secondary parts in movies and TV – he strolls through a Perry Mason or two – and he did a lot of The Whistler in its later half. I grew up with his voice, because he was Reed Richards in the animated Fantastic Four, one of his last roles. A bum ticker took him out in ’68.
I liked the tone more than I liked the way “The Adventures of Sam Spade” was a little too lighthearted. Not quite hardboiled enough. I did like Lurene Tuttle as Effie, though.
I was going to mention Spade as another example of the genre. Spade got high on its own supply early in the run; I think. It was praised for Duff’s sardonic tone and the high-quality writing, and the writers decided to ramp up the comically baroque lingo and characters. It feels like something that got hot fast and burned bright. It’s fun, without abandoning the conventions of the genre – much like Richard Diamond, later – and that was its niche.
William Conrad did seem to be everywhere in radio for sure and then on to television. I believe he was the captain on Dragnet among many, many parts.
Thanks for all your work on these posts Addiction!
Conrad was ubiquitous indeed, but I don’t think he did Dragnet. Maybe a one-off. Perhaps you’re thinking of Raymond Burr, who occasionally played a Deputy Chief in the early radio years.
Jack Webb and Raymond Burr as Pat Novak and Lt. Hellman in “Pat Novak: For Hire.” Novak rents boats and does odd jobs (sometimes very odd) on the San Francisco waterfront. Hellman is a homicide detective.
There is a set piece in nearly every episode.
…
Novak finds a body.
Hellman finds Novak finding a body.
Hellman reflects that this time Novak is going down for murder,
Novak proceeds to rank on Hellman with Webb’s patented rapid fire enunciation.
Good show.
You are correct. Mixing up my big burly guys.
Yes. It’s interesting to see the parallels of Dragnet and Novak. Sharp, tight dialogue in both though more florid in Novak. Novak also gets it on more with the chicks. In Boston Blackie, Nero Wolfe the detective is always going to send him to jail this time.
Hey, we made the front-page! Thanks, everybody!
Also Jeff Regan (spelling?). Jeff is the one the chicks are all over him almost the minute he walks through the door. Webb did not write it but I’m sure learned a lot with each show he was in.
I’ll have to give that a listen.