Radio Recap: The Adventures of the Saint

The Adventures of the Saint was a radio series based on the character created by Leslie Charteris. Charteris himself contributed to the first attempt at an adaptation in a 1940 pilot, with Denis Green as the Saint. I've only read Charteris' novel the Saint in New York but the episode seemed very faithful to the character from the novels - a charming, witty, adventurer who operates outside the law but loves to frustrate criminals.

It became a NBC program from January-March, 1945 with Edgar Barrier as the Saint. It came back on CBS for June-September, 1945 with Brian Aherne taking over. I haven't heard any surviving copies of this version.

But the Adventures of the Saint really got cooking in 1947 when CBS brought it back and gave the role of Simon Templar to one Vincent Price, who had a pretty respectable Hollywood career at the time. Price stuck with the role of the Saint up to May 1951, sticking with the series from CBS to Mutual and finally NBC.

I don't know what true blue fans of the Saint think of Vincent Price's interpretation; I know they have very particular ideas of who the character is and what they expect from an adaptation (for instance, Saint fandom really disliked the 1997 Val Kilmer movie the Saint). From where I sit, Price's Simon Templar doesn't seem to be much like the Leslie Charteris character. He's witty and clever but not much of an outlaw or a rogue. In the Price series, he simply seems to be a well-to-do bachelor who is forever heading out on taxi rides that are interrupted when someone stumbles across his path to say they're the victim of a crime.

Also unlike Simon Templar, Vincent Price wasn't an Englishman, though his posh-sounding Mid-Atlantic accent came close enough. Although he did okay in fights, he was just typical of other radio detectives - that is, he usually got hit over the head once per episode, unlike the Simon Templar of prose who seemed to be almost always in control of the situations he found himself in and usually armed with a gun.

As Vincent Price's Simon Templar was forever getting into taxis (in one early episode, the culprit turns out to be the cab driver he meets), eventually the series simply worked a taxi driver into the cast - Louie (played by Lawrence Dobkin). Even the characters would note in one episode how unlikely it was that Simon would keep getting the same taxi driver in New York, but that was typical of the show's tongue-in-cheek humour. And really, that what was the best part of the Adventures of the Saint; the mystery dramas were really just average so far as other detective programs of the time. The series was elevated by Simon and Louie's humorous banter and occasional lean upon the fourth wall. Jerome Epstein and Louis Vittes wrote many of the episodes, which were usually directed by Helen Mack.

My pick for the best of the series is the terrific Christmas episode "Santa Claus Is No Saint" (December 24, 1950) in which Simon is mistaken for a jewel thief. The banter in this episode is especially humourous; consider it an early Christmas present from me to you.

Although Vincent Price continued in the role of Simon Templar until May 1951, the series continued until July 1951 with Tom Conway assuming the lead role. I like Tom Conway in other roles but I find him too stuffy as Simon Templar; the writing is basically the same as when Price was in the part, but Conway would have been a better fit for a figure like Bulldog Drummond - he just didn't have a lilt in his voice to add the necessary humour.

You can hear the remaining episodes of the Adventures of the Saint on this YouTube playlist.