“I’ve been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of.” So declared the man born Samuel Dashiell Hammett on this date in 1894, a confession he made to his daughter Joseph ...
Happy Birthday, Bret Morrison!(Post)Although it was often difficult to tell on radio, actor Bret Morrison—born in Chicago on this date in 1912—was considered quite the practitioner of sartorial splendor. (That’s just my fancy way of ...
“Out of the fog…out of the night…”(Post)It was on this date in 1941 that Captain Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond began what the announcer referred to as “his American adventures” on Mutual Radio. The need to stress “American adventures” stems f ...
Happy Birthday, Brett Halliday!(Post)If we were to truly recognize the birthday of author Brett Halliday, we’d have to settle in for a series of blog posts. “Brett Halliday,” the author who brought the adventures of detective Micha ...
Happy Birthday, Reed Hadley!(Post)The man born Reed Herring on this date in Petrolia, Texas in 1911 had one of the most instantly recognizable voices in show business. Actor Reed Hadley was the go-to man for narrating film noirs; y ...
Let’s have another cup of coffee…(Post)No less an authority than TV Guide declared Father Knows Best to be “the quintessentially comforting 50s sitcom.” A generation of dedicated couch potatoes never missed a weekly visit with the Ande ...
Happy Birthday, Amzie Strickland!(Post)One of radio’s most prolific character actresses was born in Oklahoma City on this date in 1919: Amzie Strickland. That first name is pronounced AIM-zee, by the way, and during her lengthy show b ...
Happy Birthday, Alice Faye!(Post)During the 1930s and early 1940s, actress-singer Alice Faye—born in New York City on this date in 1915—was one of 20th Century-Fox’s most bankable attractions, starring in such box office vehicles ...
“Good night, folks…”(Post)In his essential reference encyclopedia of old-time radio, On the Air, author John Dunning notes that actor William Gargan’s presence on the detective drama Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator ...
Happy Birthday, Raymond Chandler!(Post)For all his success in the literary world, and then later in Hollywood, author Raymond Thornton Chandler was a lonely man. He lived the life of a recluse; he left no surviving wife or children up ...
Happy Birthday, Rex Stout!(Post)He became famous for creating Nero Wolfe—a character memorably described by an author at The Thrilling Detective Website as a “{m}assively overweight, a cranky, agoraphobic and sedentary gourmet ...
“Wildroot brings to the air the greatest private detective of them all…”(Post)Shamus devotees would no doubt have an engaging discussion as to whether Samuel Spade was the greatest private detective of them all, but old-time radio fans could probably come to a consensus tha ...