Monday, December 16, 2024

OTR Detective Christmas, Day 3: Boston Blackie

Boston Blackie was not a sophisticated detective show but it ran for many years through the Ziv company's syndication service on Mutual. The character of Boston Blackie originated in the pulp stories by Jack Boyle, then was adapted to film and finally ended up on radio with Richard Kollmar in the lead role.

Although Blackie's background was that he was a criminal with a heart of gold; the movies and radio made him a reformed criminal. Despite his good nature, Blackie was perpetually accused of being involved in whatever crime was most recently committed, thanks to the easily-befuddled Inspector Faraday, easily the dumbest of all dumb radio cops.

The episode referred to as "Stolen Rings at Christmas" (December 22, 1948) concerns a criminal who hides some stolen rings inside a street corner Santa Claus' donation pot. To get the rings back, Blackie poses as Santa himself and has to sing 'Jingle Bells' to save his life! It's not radio at it's best but it's a diverting yarn.

Another Christmas radio program tomorrow!

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