Johnny Fletcher
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Johnny Fletcher
Johnny Fletcher is a fictional character created by Frank Gruber. Fletcher is a con-man and reluctant amateur detective. The character was the protagonist of several mystery novels published between 1940 and 1964. Additionally, he was featured in a feature film adaptation scripted by Gruber, and a short lived radio series. Overview Fletcher and his sidekick Sam Cragg are small time scam artists. Fletcher is the brains, and the muscular Cragg the brawn. They often stumble upon crimes, and reluctantly end attempting to solve them. They often pose as private detectives. List of stories Novels * ''The French Key aka Once Over Deadly'' (1940) * ''The Laughing Fox'' (1940) * ''The Hungry Dog'' aka ''Die Like a Dog'' (1941) * ''The Navy Colt'' (1941) * ''The Talking Clock'' (1941) * ''The Gift Horse'' aka ''Heir to Homicide'' (1942) * ''The Mighty Blockhead'' aka ''The Corpse Moved Upstairs'' (1942) * ''The Silver Tombstone'' aka ''The Silver Tombstone Mystery'' (1945) * ''The Honest De ...
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Frank Gruber (writer)
Frank Gruber (born February 2, 1904, Elmer, Minnesota, died December 9, 1969, Santa Monica, California) was an American writer of short stories, novels, and screenplays. Included in his work are stories for pulp fiction magazines, dozens of novels (mostly Westerns and detective yarns) and scripts for Hollywood movies and television shows. He sometimes wrote under the pen names Stephen Acre, Charles K. Boston and John K. Vedder, and also was the creator of three TV series. Career Gruber said that as a nine-year-old newsboy, he read his first book, ''Luke Walton, the Chicago Newsboy'' by Horatio Alger. During the next seven years he read a hundred more Alger books and said they influenced him professionally more than anything else in his life. They told how poor boys became rich, but what they instilled in Gruber was an ambition, at age nine or ten, to be an author. He had written his first book before age 11, using a pencil on wrapping paper. Age 13 or 14, his ambition d ...
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Paul Stewart (actor)
Paul Stewart (born Paul Sternberg; March 13, 1908 – February 17, 1986) was an American character actor, director and producer who worked in theatre, radio, films and television. He frequently portrayed cynical and sinister characters throughout his career. A friend and associate of Orson Welles for many years, Stewart helped Welles get his first job in radio and was associate producer of the celebrated radio program "The War of the Worlds", in which he also performed. One of the Mercury Theatre players who made their film debut in Welles's landmark film ''Citizen Kane'', Stewart portrayed Kane's butler and valet, Raymond. He appeared in 50 films, and performed in or directed some 5,000 radio and television shows. Biography Paul Stewart was born in Manhattan, New York, on March 13, 1908, as Paul Sternberg. His parents were Maurice D. Sternberg, a salesman and credit agent for a textile manufacturer, and Nathalie C. (née Nathanson) Sternberg; both were born in Minneapoli ...
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Fictional Amateur Detectives
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with fact, history, or plausibility. In a traditional narrow sense, fiction refers to written narratives in prose often specifically novels, novellas, and short stories. More broadly, however, fiction encompasses imaginary narratives expressed in any medium, including not just writings but also live theatrical performances, films, television programs, radio dramas, comics, role-playing games, and video games. Definition and theory Typically, the fictionality of a work is publicly expressed, so the audience expects a work of fiction to deviate to a greater or lesser degree from the real world, rather than presenting for instance only factually accurate portrayals or characters who are actual people. Because fiction is generally understood as not adhering to the real world, the th ...
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Detective Radio Shows
A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads them to arrest criminals and enable them to be convicted in court. A detective may work for the police or privately. Overview Informally, and primarily in fiction, a detective is a licensed or unlicensed person who solves crimes, including historical crimes, by examining and evaluating clues and personal records in order to uncover the identity and/or whereabouts of criminals. In some police departments, a detective position is obtained by passing a written test after a person completes the requirements for being a police officer. In many other police systems, detectives are college graduates who join directly from civilian life without first serving as uniformed officers. Some argue that detectives do a completely different job and there ...
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Characters Of The Golden Age Of Detective Fiction
Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to Theophrastus Music * ''Character'' (Dark Tranquillity album), 2005 * ''Character'' (Julia Kent album), 2013 * ''Character'', an album by Rachael Sage, 2020 * ''Characters'' (John Abercrombie album), 1977 * ''Characters'' (Stevie Wonder album), 1987 * "Character", a song by Ryokuoushoku Shakai, 2022 Types of entity * Character (arts), an agent within a work of art, including literature, drama, cinema, opera, etc. ** Character actor, an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric or interesting characters in supporting roles ** Character sketch or character, a literary description of a character type * Game character (other), various types of characters in a video game or role playing game ** Player character, as above but who is c ...
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ABC Radio Programs
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television Group, the former name of the parent organization of ABC * Australian Broadcasting Corporation, one of the national publicly funded broadcasters of Australia ** ABC Television (Australian TV network), the national television network of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation *** ABC TV (Australian TV channel), the flagship TV station of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation *** ABC Canberra (TV station), Canberra, and other ABC TV local stations in state capitals *** ABC Australia (Southeast Asian TV channel), an international pay TV channel * ABC Radio (other), several radio stations * Associated Broadcasting Corporation, the former name of TV5 Network, Inc., a Philippine media ...
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1948 Radio Programme Endings
Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) go into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British Railways. * January 4 – British rule in Burma, Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic, named the 'Post-independence Burma (1948–1962), Union of Burma', with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu its first Prime Minister. * January 5 – In the United States: ** Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (''Tournament of Roses Parade'' and the ''Rose Bowl Game''). ** The first Kinsey Reports, Kinsey Report, ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'', is published. * January 7 – Mantell UFO incident: Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of an unidentified fl ...
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1948 Radio Programme Debuts
Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Italy and of New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) go into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British Railways. * January 4 – Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic, named the ' Union of Burma', with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu its first Prime Minister. * January 5 – In the United States: ** Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (''Tournament of Roses Parade'' and the ''Rose Bowl Game''). ** The first Kinsey Report, ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'', is published. * January 7 – Mantell UFO incident: Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of an unidentified flying object. * January 12 – Mahatma Gandhi begins his fast-unto-death in Delhi, to stop communal violence during the Parti ...
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Read Morgan
Read Lawrence Morgan (January 30, 1931 – April 20, 2022) was an American film and television actor. He was perhaps best known for playing Sergeant Hapgood Tasker in the American western television series '' The Deputy''. Life and career Morgan was born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended the University of Kentucky, where he played basketball and football. After two years there, he left to study drama at Northwestern University, then served in the United States Air Force for two years. Morgan began his acting career in the crime drama television series '' The Big Story'' in 1949. Later he joined the cast of the western television series '' The Deputy'', playing army officer Sergeant Hapgood Tasker, who was blind in one eye and wore an eye patch. Morgan also appeared in the Broadway play ''Li'l Abner''. Morgan guest-starred in numerous television programs including ''Gunsmoke'', ''Wagon Train'', ''The United States Steel Hour'', '' M Squad'', '' How the West Was Won'', '' La ...
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Broadcasting & Cable
''Broadcasting & Cable'' (''B&C'', or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') was a telecommunications industry monthly trade magazine and, later, news website published by Future US. Founded in 1931 as ''Broadcasting'', subsequent mergers, acquisitions and industry evolution saw a series of name changes, including ''Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising'', and ''Broadcasting-Telecasting'', before adopting its current name in 1993. ''B&C'', which was published biweekly until January 1941, and weekly thereafter, covers the business of television in the U.S.—programming, advertising, regulation, technology, finance, and news. In addition to the newsweekly, ''B&C'' operates a comprehensive website which offered a forum for industry debate and criticism. On August 6, 2024, Future announced that the magazine would cease publication after its September 2024 issue, and switch to a digital-only format as part of sister website ''Next TV''. However, ''Next TV'' as a whole ceased publishing new co ...
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Suspense (American TV Series)
''Suspense'' is an American television anthology series An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ... that ran on CBS Television from 1949 to 1954. It was adapted from the Suspense (radio program), radio program of the same name which ran from 1942 to 1962. Series overview The show was broadcast live from New York City to stations on CBS's eastern and midwestern networks. Kinescope recordings were made for transmission via KTTV in Hollywood. It was sponsored by the Autolite, Auto-Lite corporation, and each episode was introduced by host Rex Marshall, who promoted Auto-Lite spark plugs, car batteries, headlights, and other car parts. Some of the early scripts were adapted from ''Suspense'' radio scripts, while others were original for television. Like the radio program, many ...
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Albert Dekker
Thomas Albert Ecke Van Dekker (December 20, 1905 – May 5, 1968) was an American actor and politician known for his roles in '' Dr. Cyclops'', ''The Killers'' (1946), '' Kiss Me Deadly'', and '' The Wild Bunch''. Early life and career Dekker was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the only child of Thomas and Grace Ecke Van Dekker. He attended Richmond Hill High School, where he appeared in stage productions. He then attended Bowdoin College, where he majored in pre-med with plans to become a doctor. On the advice of a friend, he decided to pursue acting as a career. He made his professional acting debut with a Cincinnati stock company in 1927. Within a few months, Dekker was featured in the Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's play ''Marco Millions''. After a decade of theatrical appearances, Dekker transferred to Hollywood in 1937 and made his first film, 1937's '' The Great Garrick''. He spent most of the rest of his acting career in the cinema but returned to the stage f ...
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