In the wake of prohibition and the success of liquor-laced stories like the Thin Man, author Georgiana Ann Craig (aka Craig Rice) created John J Malone, a Chicago Attorney who was at his best when he was drunk and for that reason, he was usually at his best.
Malone wasn’t Perry Mason. He didn’t get into court. His solved his cases acting as an investigator. The Malone characters appeared in 14 books, 2 movies, and even a television series, and of course, the character did well on radio.
Under the titles of
Murder and Mr. Malone (1st Season), and
The Amazing Mr. Malone thereafter, the character enjoyed great success for three seasons over ABC from 1947-50 and then had an eight week Summer run on NBC in 1951, and then a 52-week syndicated run in Australian. Three different actors played Malone in the US and another in Australia.The radio series veered quite a bit from the books.
Malone’s drinking was no more than any other radio detective and gone too were his literary co-alcoholics Jack and Helene Justus. While the book featured the somewhat dimwitted Von Flanagan as his police foil, the radio version gave Malone competent police officers who on occasion got the case right before him. The series featured some tongue and cheek poking fun at itself and the typical conventions of the radio detective show.All in all, Mr. Malone over the radio appeared in solid shows that people can enjoy whether they’re fans of the book or not and it’s a shame that there are so few episodes of the the more than 200 Malone radio episodes.
Adam Graham hosts these old time radio episodes and they were originally released as part of
The Great Detectives of Old TIme Radio podcast.
