Boston Blackie is a fictional character created by author

Jack Boyle John Anthony Boyle (March 22, 1866 – January 7, 1913), nicknamed "Honest Jack", was an American catcher and first baseman in Major League Baseball. His younger brother, Eddie Boyle, played in 1896. Baseball career Born in Cincinnati, Boyle be ...

(1881–1928). Blackie, a jewel thief and

safecracker Safe-cracking is the process of opening a safe without either the combination or the key. Physical methods Different procedures may be used to crack a safe, depending on its construction. Different procedures are required to open different safes ...

in Boyle's stories, became a detective in adaptations for films, radio and television—an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend." Actor

Chester Morris John Chester Brooks Morris (February 16, 1901 – September 11, 1970) was an American stage, film, television, and radio actor. He had some prestigious film roles early in his career, and received an Academy Awards, Academy Award nomination ...

played the character in 14

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

films (1941–1949) and in a 1944

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

radio series.

Literature

Writer Jack Boyle grew up in Chicago, Illinois. While working as a newspaper reporter in San Francisco, he became an opium addict, was drawn into crime, and was jailed for writing bad checks. Later convicted of robbery, Boyle was serving a term in

San Quentin San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...

when he created the character of Boston Blackie. The first four stories appeared in ''

The American Magazine ''The American Magazine'' was a periodical publication founded in June 1906, a continuation of failed publications purchased a few years earlier from publishing mogul Miriam Leslie. It succeeded ''Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly'' (1876–1904), ' ...

'' in 1914, with Boyle writing under the pen name "No. 6066". From 1917 to 1919, Boston Blackie stories appeared in '' The Red Book'' magazine, and from 1918 they were adapted for motion pictures. When Boston Blackie began to find success on the screen, Boyle edited the ''Red Book'' magazine stories into a book, ''Boston Blackie'' (1919). He revised and rearranged the order of the stories to create a cohesive narrative—a common practice at the time known in publishing as a

fixup A fix-up (or fixup) is a novel created from several short fiction stories that may or may not have been initially related or previously published. The stories may be edited for consistency, and sometimes new connecting material, such as a frame s ...

. This was the only appearance of Boston Blackie in book form, but his adventures continued to appear in periodicals.

Short stories

Films

The earliest Boston Blackie film adaptations were silent, dating from 1918 to 1927.

revived the property in 1941 with ''

Meet Boston Blackie ''Meet Boston Blackie'' is a 1941 crime film starring Chester Morris as Boston Blackie, a notorious, but honorable jewel thief. Although the character had been the hero of a number of silent films, this was the first talking picture. It proved po ...

'', a fast, 58-minute B movie starring

. Although the running time was brief, Columbia gave the picture good production values and an imaginative director,

Robert Florey Robert Florey (14 September 1900 – 16 May 1979) was a French-American director, screenwriter, film journalist and actor. Born as Robert Fuchs in Paris, he became an orphan at an early age and was then raised in Switzerland. In 1920 he worked a ...

. The film was successful, and a series followed. In the Columbia features, Boston Blackie is a reformed jewel thief who is always suspected when a daring crime is committed. In order to clear himself, he investigates personally and brings the actual culprit to justice, sometimes using disguises. An undercurrent of comedy runs throughout the action/detective series. In one of these films, '' After Midnight with Boston Blackie'', the character's real name was revealed to be Horatio Black. Morris gave the Blackie character his own personal charm: he could be light and flippant or stern and dangerous, as the situation demanded. His sidekick, the Runt, was always on hand to help his old friend.

George E. Stone George E. Stone (born Gerschon Lichtenstein; May 18, 1903 – May 26, 1967) was a Polish-born American character actor in films, radio, and television. Life and career Stone was born Gerschon Lichtenstein in Łódź, Congress Poland, into ...

played Runt in all but the first and last films. Charles Wagenheim and Sid Tomack, respectively, substituted for Stone when he was not available. Blackie's friendly adversaries were Inspector Farraday of the police (played in all the films and the radio series by Richard Lane) and his assistant, Sergeant Matthews. Matthews was originally played as a hapless victim of circumstance by

Walter Sande Walter Sande (July 9, 1906 – November 22, 1971) was an American character actor, known for numerous supporting film and television roles. Films Born in Denver, Colorado, he was one of those stern, heavyset character actors in Hollywood no pe ...

; he was replaced by

Lyle Latell Lyle Latell (born Lyle Zeiem; April 9, 1904 – October 24, 1967) was an American character actor. He was perhaps best known for playing Pat Patton in the ''Dick Tracy'' film series. Biography Latell was born Lyle Zeiem on April 1904 in ...

, who played it dumber, and then by comedian

Frank Sully Francis Thomas Sullivan (June 17, 1908 December 17, 1975), known professionally as Frank Sully, was an American film actor. He appeared in over 240 films between 1934 and 1968. Today's audiences know him best as the dumb detective in the ''Bost ...

, who played it even dumber. Blackie and Runt were often assisted in their endeavors by their friends: the cheerful but easily flustered millionaire Arthur Manleder (almost always played by

Lloyd Corrigan Lloyd Corrigan (October 16, 1900 – November 5, 1969) was an American film and television actor, producer, screenwriter, and director who began working in films in the 1920s. The son of actress Lillian Elliott, Corrigan directed films, usually ...

; Harry Hayden and Harrison Greene each played the role once), and the streetwise pawnbroker Jumbo Madigan (played by

Cy Kendall Cyrus Willard Kendall (March 10, 1898 – July 22, 1953) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1935 and 1950. Kendall's heavy-set, square-jawed appearance and deep voice were perfect for wiseguy roles such ...

Joseph Crehan Joseph A. Creaghan (July 15, 1883 – April 15, 1966) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 300 films between 1916 and 1965, and notably played Ulysses S. Grant nine times between 1939 and 1958, most memorably in ''Union Paci ...

). A variety of actresses including

Rochelle Hudson Rochelle Hudson (born Rachael Elizabeth Hudson; March 6, 1916 – January 17, 1972) was an American film actress from the 1930s through the 1960s.Harriet Hilliard,

Adele Mara Adele Mara (born Adelaida Delgado; April 28, 1923 – May 7, 2010) was an American actress, singer, and dancer, who appeared in films during the 1940s and 1950s and on television in the 1950s and 1960s. Early years Mara was born in Highland P ...

and Ann Savage took turns playing various gal Friday characters. The films are highly typical of Columbia's B movies of the 1940s, with an assortment of veteran character actors (including

Clarence Muse Clarence Muse (October 14, 1889 – October 13, 1979) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, singer, and composer. He was the first African American to appear in a starring role in a film, 1929's ''Hearts in Dixie''. He acted for ...

Marvin Miller Marvin Julian Miller (April 14, 1917 – November 27, 2012) was an American baseball executive who served as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players ...

, George Lloyd,

Byron Foulger Byron Kay Foulger (August 27, 1898 – April 4, 1970) was an American character actor who over a 50-year career performed in hundreds of stage, film, and television productions. Early years Born in Ogden, Utah, Byron was the second of four ...

), new faces on the way up (

Larry Parks Samuel Lawrence Klausman Parks (December 13, 1914 – April 13, 1975) was an American stage and film actor. His career arced from bit player and supporting roles to top billing, before it was virtually ended when he admitted to having once been ...

Dorothy Malone Dorothy Malone (born Mary Dorothy Maloney; January 29, 1924 – January 19, 2018) was an American actress. Her film career began in 1943, and in her early years, she played small roles, mainly in B-movies, with the exception of a supporting role ...

Nina Foch Nina Foch ( ; born Nina Consuelo Maud Fock; April 20, 1924 – December 5, 2008) was a Dutch-born American actress who later became an instructor. Her career spanned six decades, consisting of over 50 feature films and over 100 television appea ...

Forrest Tucker Forrest Meredith Tucker (February 12, 1919 – October 25, 1986) was an American actor in both movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films. Tucker worked as a vaudeville straight man at the age of fifteen. A mentor provided fund ...

Lloyd Bridges Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. (January 15, 1913 – March 10, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, includi ...

) and stock-company players familiar from Columbia's features, serials, and short subjects ( Kenneth MacDonald, George McKay,

Eddie Laughton Eddie Laughton (20 June 190321 March 1952) was an American film actor. Laughton appeared in more than 200 films between 1935 and 1952, and is best known for his work with The Three Stooges. Career Laughton's family immigrated to the United State ...

, John Tyrrell). The series was also a useful training ground for promising directors, including

Edward Dmytryk Edward Dmytryk (September 4, 1908 – July 1, 1999) was an American film director. He was known for his 1940s noir films and received an Oscar nomination for Best Director for '' Crossfire'' (1947). In 1947, he was named as one of the Hollywoo ...

, Oscar Boetticher,

William Castle William Castle (born William Schloss Jr.; April 24, 1914 – May 31, 1977) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Orphaned at 11, Castle dropped out of high school at 15 to work in the theater. He came to the attenti ...

, and finally

Seymour Friedman Seymour Friedman (August 17, 1917 – April 2, 2003) was an American film director. He later worked as a production manager in television. Friedman began his career as an assistant director, before enlisting for military service following America' ...

, who went on to work prolifically in Columbia's television department. The Boston Blackie series ran until 1949.

Filmography

Radio

Concurrent with the Columbia Pictures films, a ''Boston Blackie'' radio series—also starring Chester Morris—aired on

June 23 – September 15, 1944, as a summer replacement for ''

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' is an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show ...

''. Lesley Woods played Blackie's girlfriend Mary Wesley; Richard Lane played Inspector Farraday. Harlow Wilcox was the announcer for the 30-minute program. A new incarnation of the ''Boston Blackie'' radio series aired April 11, 1945 – October 25, 1950, starring

Richard Kollmar Richard Tompkins Kollmar (December 31, 1910 – January 7, 1971), also known professionally as Dick Kollmar, was an American stage, radio, film and television actor, television personality and Broadway producer. Kollmar was the husband of jo ...

. Maurice Tarplin played Inspector Farraday;

Jan Miner Jan Miner (October 15, 1917 – February 15, 2004) was an American actress best known for her role as the character "Madge", the manicurist in Palmolive dish-washing detergent television commercials beginning in the 1960s. Biography Early life ...

was Mary. More than 200 half-hour episodes were transcribed and syndicated by

Frederick Ziv Frederick William Ziv (August 17, 1905 – October 13, 2001, Cincinnati, Ohio) was an American broadcasting producer and syndicator who was considered as the father of television first-run syndication and once operated the nation's largest indepe ...

to Mutual and other network outlets.

Television

Kent Taylor Kent Taylor (born Louis William Weiss; May 11, 1907 – April 11, 1987) was an American actor of film and television. Taylor appeared in more than 110 films, the bulk of them B-movies in the 1930s and 1940s, although he also had roles in more pr ...

starred in the Ziv-produced half-hour TV series ''The Adventures of Boston Blackie''. Syndicated in September 1951, it ran for 58 episodes, lasting until 1953, continuing in repeats over the following decade.

Lois Collier Lois Collier (born Madelyn Earle Jones; March 21, 1919 – October 27, 1999) was an American actress born in Salley, South Carolina. She was sometimes credited as Lois Collyer. Early years Collier's father was Ernest Jones, a pharmacist, of S ...

appeared as Mary Wesley and Frank Orth was Inspector Farraday. The series was set in Los Angeles; Mary and Blackie had a dog named Whitie, and comedy sometimes took precedence over crime. Television historian Tim Brooks in ''

The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present'' is a trade paperback reference work by the American television researchers Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, first published by Ballantine Books in 1979. History Th ...

'' described ''Boston Blackie'' as "a memorable B-grade television series … The term 'B' is used in all the best senses: a certain vitality and sense of humor substituted more than adequately for the normal criteria of expensive production and famous stars."

Graphic novels

Scripter Stefan Petrucha and artist Kirk Van Wormer created the graphic novel ''Boston Blackie'' (

Moonstone Books Moonstone Books is an American comic book, graphic novel, and prose fiction publisher based in Chicago focused on pulp fiction comic books and prose anthologies as well as horror and western tales. The company began publishing creator-owned com ...

, 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 that the truth of what happened that night is awash in a watery grave. A sequel to the graphic novel was published years later.

In popular culture

* In the 1955 film ''

Tight Spot ''Tight Spot'' is a 1955 American film noir crime film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Ginger Rogers, Edward G. Robinson and Brian Keith. The story was inspired by Senator Estes Kefauver's tactics in coercing Virginia Hill to testify in ...

'',

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...

exclaims "Well, aren't we the real life-size Boston Blackies." * In a 1957 song Searchin by

The Coasters The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with " Searchin'" and " Young Blood" in 1957, their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producin ...

, there is a reference to "Sergeant Friday, Charlie Chan and Boston Blackie." *A 1957

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Mel ...

cartoon, ''

Boston Quackie ''Boston Quackie'' is a 1957 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes short directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on June 22, 1957, and stars Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. The cartoon and its title are a parody of the character Boston Blackie. The fi ...

'', is a direct parody of the television serial, with Daffy as the detective – who needs everyone else's help to solve his case. * Jimmy Buffett's song "

Pencil Thin Mustache "Pencil Thin Mustache" is a song written and performed by American popular-music singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was released as a single (with "Brand New Country Star") on Dunhill D-15011 in August 1974. It was first released on his a ...

" references Boston Blackie, as does

' song "Searchin'" and some versions of " The Wabash Cannonball". * Boston Blackie's Restaurant was a bar and grill with locations in Chicago and Deerfield, Illinois. * In a 1967 episode of '' Bewitched'' ("Samantha's Thanksgiving to Remember", Season 4, Episode 12), "Boston Blackie" is mentioned in fond remembrance by Aunt Clara (

Marion Lorne Marion Lorne MacDougal or MacDougall (sources differ) (August 12, 1883 – May 9, 1968), known professionally as Marion Lorne, was an American actress of stage, film, and television. After a career in theatre in New York and London, Lorne ...

), who confuses him as attending the

First Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. It is sometimes called American Thanksgiving (outside the United States) to distinguish it from the Canadian holiday of the same name and re ...

with famous Pilgrims. * In

Errol Morris Errol Mark Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of its subjects. In 2003, his documentary film '' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamar ...

' 1988 documentary '' The Thin Blue Line'', interviewee Emily Miller cites Boston Blackie as an inspiration for wanting to become a "detective, or the wife of a detective." The film's score by Philip Glass also has a cue titled "Boston Blackie." * In Chuck E. Weiss's 2014 release, ''Red Beans and Weiss'', track 3 is entitled "Boston Blackie" and comprises four verses, sandwiching three repetitions of the chorus; the chorus lyrics include "I'm just like Boston Blackie, yes I am", and, derived from the original stories, "Friends to those who have no friends". *In a 2007 television episode of ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its f ...

'', when talking about

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

as a potential opponent for 1960 presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon, character Bert Cooper says, "It's going to be Kennedy. 'Boston Blackie' won West Virginia."

References

Informational notes Citations Bibliography *Pitts, Michael R. ''Famous Movie Detectives''. Scarecrow Press, 1979. .
Judge, Dick. "Chronological listing": ''Boston Blackie''

External links

*
"Boston Blackie"
*

* Radio shows * * *{{InternetArchiveOTR, id=otr_bostonblackie, title=Higher-quality copies of some Boston Blackie shows (June 1944 through July 1945)
Zoot Radio, free 'Boston Blackie' old time radio show downloads, over 390 episodes.
Literary characters introduced in 1914 Male characters in literature Male characters in radio Male characters in television Film series introduced in 1918 Blackie, Boston American radio dramas 1944 radio programme debuts 1944 radio programme endings 1940s American radio programs NBC radio programs Detective radio shows Radio programmes based on novels American film series Television series by MGM Television Ziv Company radio programs Syndicated radio programs