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''I Love a Mystery'' is an American radio drama series that aired 1939–44, about three friends who ran a detective agency and traveled the world in search of adventure. Written by
Carlton E. Morse Carlton Errol Morse (June 4, 1901 - May 24, 1993) was a Louisiana-born producer/journalist best known for his creation of the radio serial ''One Man's Family'', which debuted in 1932 and ran until 1959 as one of the most popular as well as long-r ...
, the program was the polar opposite of Morse's other success, the long-running ''
One Man's Family ''One Man's Family'' is an American radio soap opera, heard for almost three decades, from 1932 to 1959. Created by Carlton E. Morse, it was the longest-running uninterrupted dramatic serial in the history of American radio. Television versions ...
''.'' The central characters, Jack Packard, Doc Long, and Reggie York, met as mercenary soldiers fighting the Japanese in China. Later, they met again in San Francisco, where they decided to form the A-1 Detective Agency. Their motto was "No job too tough, no adventure too baffling." The agency served as a plot device to involve the trio in a wide variety of stories. These straddled the genres of
mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...
,
adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
, and
supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
horror, and the plot lines often took them to exotic locales. Over the years, Jack was played by
Michael Raffetto Michael Raffetto (born Elwyn Creighton Raffetto; December 31, 1899 – May 31, 1990) was an American radio actor who starred as Paul Barbour (1932–1956) in the NBC Radio series ''One Man's Family'' and as Jack Packard in '' I Love a ...
, Russell Thorson,
Jay Novello Jay Novello (born Michael Romano, August 22, 1904 – September 2, 1982) was an American radio, film, and television character actor. Early life Novello was born in Chicago to Joseph Romano and Maria (Salemme) Romano. He had three sibling ...
,
Jim Bannon James Shorttel Bannon (April 9, 1911 – July 28, 1984) was an American actor and radio announcer known for his work on the '' I Love a Mystery'' and ''Red Ryder'' series during the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Born in 1911 in Kansas City, Mis ...
, and
John McIntire John Herrick McIntire (June 27, 1907 – January 30, 1991) was an American character actor who appeared in 65 theatrical films and many television series. McIntire is well known for having replaced Ward Bond, upon Bond's sudden death in Novem ...
. Doc was played by
Barton Yarborough William Barton Yarborough (October 2, 1900 – December 19, 1951) was an American actor who worked extensively in radio drama, primarily on the NBC Radio Network. He is famous for his roles in the Carlton E. Morse productions '' I Love a My ...
and
Jim Boles Jim Boles (February 28, 1914 – May 26, 1977) was an American actor. He appeared in the films ''The Tattooed Stranger'', '' The Man with My Face'', ''Naked in the Sun'', '' Fluffy'', '' The Ghost and Mr. Chicken'', '' The Trouble with Angels'', ...
. Reggie was portrayed by Walter Patterson and
Tony Randall Anthony Leonard Randall (born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg; February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American actor. He is best known for portraying the role of Felix Unger in a television adaptation of the 1965 play ''The Odd Couple'' by Neil Sim ...
. The agency's secretary, Jerry Booker, was played by
Gloria Blondell Gloria Blondell (August 16, 1915 – March 25, 1986) was a stage, film, and television actress who was the younger sister of actress Joan Blondell. Family She was born into a vaudeville family. Her parents and siblings, Edward Jr. and Joan, wer ...
. After Paterson committed suicide in 1942, his friend Morse could not bear to recast the role and Reggie was written out of the series. In later shows, Jerry's role was increased, and she replaced Reggie.


Broadcast history

Sponsored by Fleischmann's Yeast, ''I Love a Mystery'' first aired on the NBC West Coast network from January 16 to September 29, 1939, weekdays at 3:15 p.m. Pacific time, and then moved to the full
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
network from October 2, 1939, to March 29, 1940, airing weeknights at 7:15 p.m. In 1940, it expanded to 30-minute episodes from April 4 to June 27 on NBC Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. Continuing on the
Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the N ...
from September 30, 1940 to June 29, 1942, it was heard Mondays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m.
Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
(for
Oxydol Oxydol is a brand of laundry detergent sold in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It was created in 1914 by Thomas Hedley Co. of Newcastle upon Tyne and purchased by Procter & Gamble in 1927. It was P&G's first laundry soap. In t ...
and Ivory Soap) replaced Fleishmann's Yeast as the sponsor in the series broadcast by
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
from March 22, 1943, to December 29, 1944, with 15-minute episodes heard weeknights at 7 p.m.


Revivals

After a four-year lapse, Jack, Reggie, and Doc returned in 1948 with a title change to ''I Love Adventure'', broadcast on
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
from April 25 to July 18, 1948. It followed the post-war adventures of the trio who worked for the Twenty-One Old Men of 10 Gramercy Park in London, an extra-governmental organization of some power. ''I Love Adventure'' ran for 13 episodes. A year later, ''I Love a Mystery'' was revived on the
Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...
, and the production relocated from Hollywood to New York. This series, which was sustaining, began October 3, 1949, and continued until December 26, 1952, with 15-minute episodes heard weeknights at 7 p.m. during 1949-1950 and then 10:15 p.m. from 1950 to 1952. The Mutual series recreated the original scripts written by Morse for the earlier NBC series.


Reconstructed versions

In 1989, Episodes 8-15 of "The Temple of Vampires" were recreated for Bud Carey's ''Old Radio Theater'' on KALW with Frank Knight, Pat Franklin, Nicky Emmanuel and Rosemary Leever. "The Fear That Creeps Like A Cat", the serial preceding "The Thing That Cries in the Night", was completely recreated in 1996 by
Jim Harmon James Judson Harmon (21 April 1933 – 16 February 2010), better known as Jim Harmon, was an American short story author and popular culture historian who wrote extensively about the Golden Age of Radio. He sometimes used the pseudonym Judson Gre ...
Productions starring
Les Tremayne Lester Tremayne (16 April 1913 – 19 December 2003) was an English actor. Early life Born in Balham, London, he moved with his family at the age of four to Chicago, Illinois, where he began in community theater. His mother was Dolly Trema ...
as Jack Packard, Tony Clay as Doc Long,
Frank Bresee Frank Bresee (August 20, 1929 – June 5, 2018) was an American radio actor, radio historian, and board game designer. He hosted the "Golden Days Of Radio" program which began in 1949 and aired on the Armed Forces Radio Network from 1967 to 1995. B ...
as Reggie York, and
Fred Foy Frederick William Foy (March 27, 1921December 22, 2010) was an American radio and television announcer and actor. He is best known for his narration of ''The Lone Ranger''. Radio historian Jim Harmon described Foy as "''the'' announcer, perhaps t ...
as the announcer.


Story situations and characters

Tough, charismatic group leader Jack is usually the first to figure solutions to the mysteries. Jack has more of an edge than the typical radio hero of the period. He distrusts the attractive women who always seem to show up, and he professes to dislike women in general. The series' writer claimed that Jack's problems with women had to do with his youth. He had gotten a girl pregnant and had to leave his home town in shame. This was only a back story detail and was never made explicit on the show. Doc and Reggie are slightly less edgy characters. The Texas-born Doc is a hard-fighting, boastful, high-spirited character who provides comic relief. Reggie, an Englishman noted for his great strength, however, usually shied away from the fairer sex. Morse, regarded as one of the best writers in radio, took delight in creating vividly imagined settings for the show and elaborate, often bizarre and at times over-the-top plots. In a medium whose heroes tended to be serious and strait-laced, he created three who were wonderfully reckless and exuberant. Jack, Doc, and Reggie were more interested in the thrill of adventure than in righting wrongs. When they collected a fee, their only goal was to spend it as quickly as possible.


Controversy

*Actor
Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...
once sent Morse a letter threatening legal action because a character named Michel in two of the serials sounded like Lorre. Morse dropped the character from the series shortly after. *"The Temple of the Vampires" was the first serial to cause concerned parents to write letters to the network expressing concern about its effect upon children. *When Walter Patterson committed suicide, the character of Reggie was written out of the series, but he was mentioned by name two years later.


Theme music

''Valse Triste'' by
Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com ...
was the program's
theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
. During the show's Mutual run, its opening was a train approaching a grade crossing sounding its horn full-tilt.


Epilogue

It was announced that in 2009 Audio Cinema Entertainment, Inc. had gotten the blessings of the Morse Estate to do recreations of the full series based on the Hollywood run.


Surviving serials

Despite the popularity of the program, few series have survived in a listenable state.


Series as survived in their entirety

*"The Thing That Cries in the Night" *"Bury Your Dead, Arizona".


Series as survived in part

(Several or all episodes of the following series are missing, but recreations have been made.) *"Fear Creeps Like a Cat" (All episodes are recreations.) *"The Temple of Vampires" (Episodes 8-15 are recreations.) (Several episodes of the following series are missing, hence explaining plot holes in surviving copies) *"The Million Dollar Curse" *"Battle of the Century" *"The Hermit of San Felipe Atabapo"


Series log

First Season ::(NBC Pacific Coast, Monday-Friday 15-minute episodes) *1 "The Case of the Roxy Mob" (1/16 – 2/3 1939, 15 episodes) *2 "Death Aboard the Lady Mary" (2/6 – 2/24 1939, 15 episodes) *3 "The Case of the Nevada Cougar" (2/27 – 3/31 1939, 25 episodes) *4 "Mystery of the Lady K Ranch" (4/3 – 4/28 1939, 20 episodes) *5 "Strange Affair of Sandy Spring Sanatorium" (5/1 – 5/19 1939, 15 episodes) *6 "The Texas Border Smugglers" (5/22 – 6/9 1939, 15 episodes) *7 "The El Paso, Texas Murders" (6/12 – 12/30 1939, 15 episodes) *8 "Flight to Death" (7/3 – 7/31 1939, 15 episodes) *9 "Murder Hollywood Style" (7/27 – 8/11 1939, 15 episodes) *10 "Incident Concerning Death" (8/14 – 9/1 1939, 15 episodes) *11 "Yolo County/Battle of the Century" (9/7 – 9/29 1939, 18 episodes) *12 "The Blue Phantom" (10/2 – 10/20 1939, 15 episodes) *13 “Castle Island" (10/23 – 11/17 1939, 20 episodes) *14 “Hollywood Cherry" (11/20 – 12/8 1939, 15 episodes) *15 "Bury Your Dead, Arizona" (12/11 – 12/29 1939, 15 episodes) *16 "San Diego Murders" (1/1 – 1/19 1940, 15 episodes) *17 "Temple of Vampires" (1/22 – 2/16 1940, 20 episodes) *18 "The Brooks Kidnapping" (2/19 – 3/8 1940, 15 episodes) *19 "Murder in Turquoise Pass" (3/11 – 3/29 1940, 15 episodes) ::(NBC Red Network, Thursdays, 30-minute episodes) *20 "The Snake with the Diamond Eyes" (4/4 – 6/27 1940, 13 episodes) Second Season ::(NBC Blue Network, Mondays, 30-minute episodes) *21 "The Tropics Don't Call It Murder" (9/30 – 12/30 1940, 13 episodes) *22 "The Case of the Transplanted Castle" (1/6 – 3/3 1941, 9 episodes) *23 "Murder on February Island" (3/10 – 5/5 1941, 9 episodes) *24 "Eight Kinds of Murder" (5/12 – 6/30 1941, 8 episodes) Third Season *25 "The Monster in the Mansion" (10/6 – 11/24 1941, 8 episodes) *26 "Secret Passage to Death" (12/1/1941 – 02/02/1942, 10 episodes) *27 "Terror of Frozen Corpse Lodge" (2/9 – 4/4 1942, 9 episodes) *28 "Pirate Loot of the Island of Skulls" (4/13 – 6/29 1942, 12 episodes) Fourth Season ::(CBS, Monday-Friday, 15-minute episodes) *29 "The Girl in the Gilded Cage" (3/22 – 4/9 1943, 15 episodes) *30 "Blood on the Cat" (4/12 – 5/7 1943, 20 episodes) *31 "The Killer of Circle M" (5/10 – 6/4 1943, 20 episodes) *32 "Stairway to the Sun" (6/7 – 7/16 1943, 30 episodes) *33 "The Graves of Whamperjaw, Texas" (7/19 – 8/6 1943, 15 episodes) *34 "Murder Is the Word for It" (8/9 – 8/27 1943, 15 episodes) *35 "The Decapitation of Jefferson Monk" (8/30 – 10/1 1943, 25 episodes) *36 "My Beloved Is a Vampire" (10/4 – 11/5 1943, 25 episodes) *37 "The Hermit of San Felipe Atabapo" (11/8 – 12/3 1943, 20 episodes) *38 "The Deadly Sin of Richard Coyle" (12/6 – 12/24 1943, 15 episodes) *39 "The Twenty Traitors of Timbuktu" (12/27/1943 – 02/24/1944, 44 episodes) *40 "The African Jungle Mystery" (2/28 – 3/24 1944, 20 episodes) *41 "The Widow with the Amputation" (3/27 – 4/21 1944, 20 episodes) *42 "I Am the Destroyer of Women" (4/24 – 5/12 1944, 15 episodes) *43 "You Can't Pin a Murder on Nevada" (5/15 – 6/2 1944, 15 episodes) *44 "The Corpse in Compartment C, Car 75" (6/5 – 6/9 1944, 5 episodes) *45 "The Thing Wouldn't Die" (6/13 – 7/7 1944, 20 episodes) *46 "The Case of the Terrified Comedian" (7/10 – 8/7 1944, 21 episodes) *47 "The Man Who Hated to Shave" (8/8 – 8/21 1944, 10 episodes) *48 "Temple of Vampires" (8/22 – 9/18 1944, 20 episodes) *49 "The Bride of the Werewolf" (9/19 – 10/9 1944, 15 episodes) *50 "The Monster in the Mansion" (10/10 – 11/09 1944, 23 episodes) *51 "Portrait of a Murderess" (11/10 – 12/7 1944, 20 episodes) *52 "Find Elsa Holberg, Dead or Alive" (12/8 – 12/29 1944, 16 episodes)


Film, TV and comics adaptations

A 1945
mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means ...
called ''I Love A Mystery'' starred Jim Bannon as Jack, Barton Yarborough as Doc, George Macready, and Nina Foch. Reggie did not appear in the movies as he had been written out of the radio series. The movie was about a man who seeks protection after he predicts his own death in three days. Two more movies in the series starring Bannon and Yarborough followed in 1946: ''
The Devil's Mask ''The Devil's Mask'' is a 1946 American crime film directed by Henry Levin and starring Anita Louise, Jim Bannon and Michael Duane. The film was the second of three B pictures based on the popular radio series '' I Love a Mystery''. As well a ...
'' and '' The Unknown''. Also, Jim Bannon starred in a fourth ILAM theatrical movie—sort of—when "The Fear That Creeps Like A Cat" was adapted as "The Missing Juror". The names Jack Packard, etc. were dropped and Bannon played a Packard-like character named Joe Keats. A TV movie which was also a TV pilot was produced for Universal Studios in 1967, and starred
Les Crane Les Crane (born Lesley Stein; December 3, 1933 – July 13, 2008) was a radio announcer and television talk show host, a pioneer in interactive broadcasting who also scored a spoken word hit with his 1971 recording of the poem ''Desiderata'', w ...
as Jack, David Hartman as Doc, and
Hagan Beggs Hagan Beggs (March 19, 1937 – September 16, 2016) was a Northern Irish-born Canadian actor. He was best known for starring as Dr. George Dunbar on the Canadian television series, ''Danger Bay'', which aired on CBC Television and The Disney Cha ...
as Reggie. The movie was based on the radio episode "The Thing That Cries in the Night". After being shelved for six years, NBC aired the movie in 1973. ''I Love a Mystery'' was an influence in the development of the long-running
Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...
franchise
Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animation, animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative List of Scooby-Doo media, media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the orig ...
in its early stages of development as a live-action series under the working titles ''Mysteries Five'' and ''Who's Scared?'' The radio show was also adapted in a comic book version by Don Sherwood.


References


External links


Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: ''I Love a Mystery''


Audio


OTR Network Library: ''I Love a Mystery'' (57 episodes)Archive.org: ''I Love A Mystery''Archive.org II: ''I Love A Mystery''
* 244 episodes. {{DEFAULTSORT:I Love A Mystery American radio dramas 1930s American radio programs 1940s American radio programs 1950s American radio programs 1939 radio programme debuts 1944 radio programme endings CBS Radio programs Mutual Broadcasting System programs NBC radio programs NBC Blue Network radio programs ABC radio programs Radio programs adapted into television shows Radio programs adapted into films Radio programs adapted into comics Detective radio shows