Leaping down upon the underworld to smash gangland, comes the friend of the unfortunate, enemy of criminals, a mysterious all-powerful character. A problem to the police, but a crusader for law; in reality Dan Garrett, a rookie patrolman. Loved by everyone, but suspected by none of being, the Blue Beetle! As the Blue Beetle, he hides behind a strange mask and a suit of impenetrable blue chain armor, flexible as silk but stronger than steel!"
The Blue Beetle was a 15-minute twice-a-week serial that aired on CBS from May 15, 1940 until September 13, 1940. It was adapted from Fox's Blue Beetle comic books. The comic book super hero, of course, was much later revived and reworked by Charlton comics in the 1960s and revamped by Steve Ditko into a beloved super hero; the Charlton version was eventually bought by DC Comics.
But this program was years before Ditko; Fox were trying to promote their comic book hero (they couldn't have been blind to the success of DC's Superman) and had branched him out into a comic strip. It seems as though the Blue Beetle comic book was more a product of committee than anyone's passion project; Fox didn't credit many of their creators. The Blue Beetle might have been created by Will Eisner and Charles Nicholas, but that's not entirely certain. He debuted in the first issue of 1939's Mystery Men Comics but didn't even land the cover spot until the 7th issue, which shipped just months before the radio show started. I'm baffled as to why Fox decided the Blue Beetle should be their marquee property - it feels very random.
Well, not too random. In his 1st appearance the Blue Beetle was rip-off of the Green Hornet. He wore a suit with hat and mask; he drove around in a fancy car; he pretended to be a criminal; there was an over-confident comedy relief Irishman who wanted to unmask him (Mike Mannigan, a Mike Axford rip-off). Heck, what is the Blue Beetle but just another color-themed insect codename? I feel Fox wanted to ride the coattails of an existing popular radio hero franchise.
The radio version gives the Blue Beetle something he lacked in the comics - a proper origin. The first issue of Blue Beetle's own series came out just ahead of the radio show and featured his origin but although it went into great detail as to hero Dan Garrett's upbringing and police training it never actually explained why he wore a costume and made his hangout a local pharmacy (his costume wasn't said to be bulletproof until Mystery Men Comics #10). The radio version does this in the first two-parter as Dr. Franz saves the life of dying policeman Dan Garrett by giving him the 2X super vitamin. Mystery Men Comics #13 came out the same month as the radio series launched and had a hastily-pasted caption in the first panel that claimed the comics hero also used this vitamin. It certainly wasn't the most elegant cross-media adaptation.
Speaking of cross-media, just as the Adventures of Superman radio program was the place where Kryptonite, Perry White and Jimmy Olsen first appeared, Blue Beetle contained the debut of Joan Mason, a lady reporter who went on to appear in the Blue Beetle comics and became the star of her own adventures. Of course, introducing a lady reporter character also invites comparisons to Superman...
There were other cross-media adaptations; a two-parter called "Sabotage and Liquidation" was also told in Blue Beetle #2; the two-part story "Thoroughbreds Always Come Through" about a crooked race horse scheme might be adapted from another story in Blue Beetle #2; Mystery Men Comics #7 had a story about criminals impersonating the Blue Beetle which was also the plot of "Crime Incorporated"; and a story in Mystery Men Comics #8 about mad bombers might have inspired a similar story in "Blasting the Dynamite Ring."
Another aspect from the comics that was faithfully adapted to radio is Blue Beetle's over-confidence. Usually near the end of each part 1, the Blue Beetle will confront the villains. He will then be caught unaware as one of them creeps up behind him and knocks him out. That seemed to happen in just about every Blue Beetle comic book story in 1939-1940. Unique to the radio version, however, is a repeated conversation wherein he confronts criminals who sputter, "The Blue Beetle--!?" he likes to respond, defiantly, "Yes, the Blue Beetle, and I'm going to nip you!" It's really not intimidating but the man says it with conviction.
In the comics, the Blue Beetle had a habit of suddenly revealing he was carrying objects to help him overcome his obstacles, such as revealing his belt buckle contains a lockpick. Other times a pistol would just suddenly appear in the Blue Beetle's hand in-between panels so he could execute his enemies (certainly he couldn't conceal one in his skintight costume); it's easy to fight crime when the artist helps you cheat! In the radio version his chief weapon was his "magic ray gun." Dr. Franz would frequently come up with new sci-fi inventions to help him out. I can understand a pharmacist inventing a miracle vitamin, but on the radio Dr. Franz comes up with an invisibility formula, a poison detector ring and a portable television set! Usually these were tossed off in a line of dialogue such as, "Oh, by the way Danny, you might as well test the portable television set! It may come in handy!"
Dr. Franz had a very soft, kindly voice with a hint of accent that made him sound like Geppetto. He was also incurably naive and would constantly need Dan to explain things to him very carefully, such as why people would cheat on horse races. It was clunky dialogue clearly meant for the juvenile audience but then, it was a juvenile serial. I found the dialogue on Blue Beetle much more juvenile than that of the Adventures of Superman - in fact, it was written with the same kind of dialogue you'd find in comic books of 1939-1940. I guess I'm saying once again that it's a very authentic adaptation?
In the first 10 episodes, Dan was portrayed by Frank Lovejoy, very early in his career; Lovejoy would go on to greater things but he definitely put some vigour his performance on this radio series. Unfortunately we don't know who took over the role after Lovejoy exited.
Again, this was a very juvenile program but good for it's time; it's certainly an interesting curio that, for a brief window, the Blue Beetle was being promoted as one of comicdom's big names. It probably helped him maintain recognition to audiences in the years and decades to come, long after the radio program itself was forgotten.
You can hear all 48 episodes of the Blue Beetle using this YouTube playlist created by the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Group.
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