Boston Blackie

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Boston Blackie is a fictional character who has been on both sides of the law. As originally created by author Jack Boyle, he was a safecracker, a hardened criminal who had served time in a California prison. Prowling the underworld as a detective in adaptations for films, radio and television, the detective Boston Blackie was "an enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend."

Jack Boyle's stories first appeared in the early 20th Century. "The Price of Principle" was a short story in the July, 1914 issue of The American Magazine. Boyle's character also turned up in Cosmopolitan. In 1917, Redbook published the novelette, "Boston Blackie’s Mary," and the magazine brought the character back with "The Heart of the Lily" (February, 1921). Boyle's stories were collected in the book, Boston Blackie (1919), reprinted in 1979 by Gregg Press. Boyle died in 1928.

1 Films
2 Radio
3 Television
4 Influence on popular culture
5 Character
6 Filmography
7 Listen to
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Films

The earliest film adaptations were seen from 1919 until 1927. Over a decade later, the screen rights were purchased by Columbia, and a new series ran from 1941 until 1949. Overall, the films were considered B-movies and did not receive critical acclaim. The longest of the films ran for just over an hour, and the scripts were deemed to be poorly conceived. The film's biggest assets were considered to be the lead character, played by Chester Morris, and a solid supporting cast.

[edit] Radio

The Boston Blackie radio series, starring Chester Morris, began June 23, 1944, on NBC as a summer replacement for The Amos 'n' Andy Show. Sponsored by Rinso, the series continued until September 15 of that year. Lesley Woods appeared as Blackie's girlfriend Mary Wesley, and Harlow Wilcox was the show's announcer.

On April 11, 1945, Richard Kollmar took over the title role in a radio series syndicated by Frederic W. Ziv to Mutual and other network outlets. Over 200 episodes of this series were produced between 1944 and October 25, 1950. Other sponsors included Lifebuoy Soap, Champagne Velvet beer and R&H beer.

While investigating mysteries, Blackie invaribly encountered harebrained Police Inspector Faraday (Maurice Tarplin) and always solved the mystery to Faraday's amazement. Initially, friction surfaced in the relationship between Blackie and Faraday, but as the series continued, Faraday recognized Blackie's talents and requested assistance. Blackie dated Mary Wesley (Jan Miner), and for the first half of the series, his best pal Shorty was always on hand. The humorless Faraday was on the receiving end of Blackie's bad puns and word play.

[edit] Television

Kent Taylor starred in the half-hour TV series, The Adventures of Boston Blackie. Syndicated in 1951, it ran for 58 episodes, continuing in repeats over the following decade.

[edit] Influence on popular culture

Scripter Stefan Petrucha and artist Kirk Van Wormer created the graphic novel, Boston Blackie (Moonstone Books, 2002), with a cover by Tim Seelig. A jewel heist at a costume ball goes horribly wrong, and the five-year-old son of the wealthy Greene family disappears and is presumed dead. The body is never found. The main suspect is Boston Blackie, who is still haunted seven years later by what happened that night. Drawn back into the case, he finds the truth of what happened that night is awash in a watery grave.

Jimmy Buffett's song "Pencil Thin Moustache" mentions Boston Blackie, as does The Coasters' song "Searchin'" and some versions of "The Wabash Cannonball".

Boston Blackies, a bar and grill chain with five Illinois locations, is designed with a dark Art Deco look and a pulp style illustration behind the bar.

Type designer Nick Curtis of Nick's Fonts in Gaithersburg, Maryland created a bold blackface font called Boston Blackie as a variation on Old English.

[edit] Character

Boston Blackie was a gentleman burglar who later became a reformed crook and a sleuth. His sidekick was a character named Runt, a dimwitted but well-intentioned ex-jailbird. Blackie was often aided by the wealthy Arthur Manleder, who usually proved to do more harm than good. In the later films, his nemesis was the Inspector Farraday.

[edit] Filmography

Film Title	Studio	Year	Actor
Boston Blackie's Little Pal	Metro	1918	Bert Lytell
Blackie's Redemption	Metro	1919	Bert Lytell
Missing Millions	Paramount	1922	David Powell
The Face in the Fog	Paramount	1922	Lionel Barrymore
Boston Blackie	Fox	1923	William Russell
Crooked Alley	Universal	1923	Thomas Carrigan
Through the Dark	Goldwyn	1924	Forrest Stanley
The Return of Boston Blackie	Chadwick	1927	Raymond Glenn
Meet Boston Blackie	Columbia	1941	Chester Morris
Confessions of Boston Blackie	Columbia	1941	Chester Morris
Alias Boston Blackie	Columbia	1942	Chester Morris
Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood	Columbia	1942	Chester Morris
After Midnight with Boston Blackie	Columbia	1943	Chester Morris
The Chance of a Lifetime	Columbia	1943	Chester Morris
One Mysterious Night	Columbia	1944	Chester Morris
Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion	Columbia	1945	Chester Morris
Boston Blackie's Rendezvous	Columbia	1945	Chester Morris
A Close Call for Boston Blackie	Columbia	1946	Chester Morris
The Phantom Thief	Columbia	1946	Chester Morris
Boston Blackie and the Law	Columbia	1946	Chester Morris
Trapped by Boston Blackie	Columbia	1948	Chester Morris
Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture	Columbia	1949	Chester Morris