''The Casebook of Gregory Hood'' was a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

detective 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 th ...

program in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It existed in several versions - with different stars on different networks in different years. Hood was an importer in San Francisco who dealt in rare items. John Dunning summarized the show's premise as follows: "With his sidekick Sanderson ('Sandy') Taylor, Hood traveled the world seeking artifacts for his import house. Each item found by Hood had an intriguing history and was inevitably linked to some present-day mystery."Dunning, John. (1976). ''Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976''. Prentice-Hall, Inc. . P. 116. The character of Hood was based on real-life importer Richard Gump, who lived in San Francisco. Gump also was a consultant for the program. Hood was a character with a multi-faceted personality. One website devoted to

old-time radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early ...

wrote about him as follows:

Gregory Hood was also an accomplished pianist and composer, a self-taught forensics expert, spoke several languages fluently, was an expert in ancient and modern armament, had a military intelligence background, was a wine expert with an extensive rare wine cellar, and was an acknowledged expert in oriental tapestry. He lived in a penthouse on San Francisco's
Nob Hill Nob Hill is a neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States that is known for its numerous luxury hotels and historic mansions. Nob Hill has historically served as a center of San Francisco's upper class. Nob Hill is among the highes ...
and employed a Chinese valet, Fong.

On June 3, 1946, ''The Casebook of Gregory Hood'' began 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 ...

, replacing ''

The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ''The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' is a radio drama series which aired in the USA from 1939 to 1950, it ran for 374 episodes, with many of the later episodes considered lost media. The series was based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Art ...

'' for the summer. Although intended to be just a summer replacement, it continued in the fall, sponsored by Petri Wine. Jeffrey Marks, in his biography of co-creator

Anthony Boucher William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio d ...

, explained, "The show had originally been planned as a summer replacement for ''

'' in 1946, but continued for the next year when the radio network had difficulty in reaching an agreement with the Conan Doyle estate."Marks, Jeffrey. (2008). ''Anthony Boucher''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 86. The program had another full-season run 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 ...

in 1949-50 and also "resurfaced periodically in summer slots." The show was written by Boucher and Denis Green, who also teamed to write the Holmes show. Marks provided this background:

Boucher and Green did such a good job for the Holmes show that they were asked about writing an original series for Mutual Radio. Radio shows relied on new episodes. Just as TV airs re-runs during the summer, radio shows gave their actors a summer hiatus of 13 weeks. Networks frequently ran original short-run programming during the summer. Boucher and Green came up with "The Casebook of Gregory Hood" a San Francisco-based antiquities expert who seemed to find current day crimes in the artifacts that he dealt with. ''The Casebook of Gregory Hood'' was nearly identical to ''
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ''The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' is a radio drama series which aired in the USA from 1939 to 1950, it ran for 374 episodes, with many of the later episodes considered lost media. The series was based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Art ...
'' in its opening: same sponsor, same announcement, same narrator frame for storytelling, and the same music. The narrator stopped by to visit Gregory either in his office or home, and the story was told by Hood. Hood's own Watson, Sandy Taylor, accompanied him. Taylor was Hood's lawyer and friend.

Book reviewer Bertil Falk noted that the technique Boucher and Green used had deep roots in storytelling. He wrote: "The structure was of a very ancient kind, a frame story where Gregory Hood and his friend tell

Harry Bartell Harry Alfred Bartell (November 29, 1913 – February 26, 2004)Aaker, Everett (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . p. 34. was an American actor and announcer in radio, television and film. Wit ...

a story from the casebook of Gregory Hood. It is a literary method well known from

The Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

and much older than that, since it was used in the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

work

Panchatantra The ''Panchatantra'' (IAST: Pañcatantra, ISO: Pañcatantra, sa, पञ्चतन्त्र, "Five Treatises") is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story.

more than two thousand years ago.

Gale Gordon Gale Gordon (born Charles Thomas Aldrich Jr., February 20, 1906 – June 30, 1995) was an American character actor perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball's longtime television foil—and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfiste ...

played Gregory Hood in the initial version of the program. Others who had the leading role later were Elliott Lewis,

Jackson Beck Jackson Beck (July 23, 1912 – July 28, 2004) was an American actor best known as the announcer on radio's '' The Adventures of Superman''Dunning, John. (1998). ''On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio''. Oxford University Press. . Pp. 1 ...

, Paul McGrath,

Martin Gabel Martin Gabel (June 19, 1911 – May 22, 1986) was an American actor, film director and film producer. Life and career Gabel was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Rebecca and Isaac Gabel, a jeweler, both Jewish immigrants. He married Arlen ...

and George Petrie. Sidekick Sanderson Taylor was portrayed at various times by

Art Gilmore Arthur Wells Gilmore, known as Art Gilmore (March 18, 1912 – September 25, 2010) was an American actor and announcer heard on radio and television programs, children's records, movies, trailers, radio commercials, and documentary films. He also ...

Carl Harbord Carl Harbord (26 January 1908 – 18 October 1958) was an English stage, film and television actor. Stage When he was 19, Harbord appeared in the play ''The Happy Husband'', which was presented at the Criterion Theatre in London, England. ...

William Bakewell William Bakewell (May 2, 1908 – April 15, 1993) was an American actor who achieved his greatest fame as one of the leading juvenile performers of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Early years Bakewell was a native of Los Angeles, where he at ...

and

Howard McNear Howard Terbell McNear (January 27, 1905 – January 3, 1969) was an American stage, screen, and radio character actor. McNear is best remembered as the original voice of Doc Adams in the radio version of ''Gunsmoke'' and as Floyd Lawson, the ...

. Changes in stars, time slots and networks undoubtedly hindered the show's success. Marks wrote: "The show suffered from a constantly rotating cast. ... Boucher grew increasingly annoyed with the lack of support for the series." Boucher indicated his dissatisfaction in some personal correspondence: "As to myself and the contest -- the excellent idea you proposed of entering a Gregory Hood short story no longer appeals to me. My relations with the agency controlling the Hood program have become so unsatisfactory that I have no desire to build up their property for them, nor to associate myself too closely with it." In 2009, Crippen & Landru Publishers produced a volume of their Lost Classic Series devoted to ''The Casebook of Gregory Hood''. The book contains 14 scripts from the series.

References

External links

Ten streaming episodes available from archive.org.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casebook of Gregory Hood 1940s American radio programs American radio dramas Detective radio shows Fictional amateur detectives Mutual Broadcasting System programs 1946 radio programme debuts 1950 radio programme endings ABC radio programs Works by Anthony Boucher