The Adventures of Nero Wolfe and The Strange Dr. Weird

Sydney Greenstreet played Nero Wolfe
for one season on radio.

This week we feature a detective who was, at one point, voted as a finalist for best detective in an ongoing series - Nero Wolfe.  (He ultimately lost to Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot).

The creation of a Noblesville, Indiana author, whose "Some Buried Caesar" Nero Wolfe mystery was named Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library's choice for "One Book, One City", Nero Wolfe was a corpulent, orchid-loving "foodie" who disliked leaving his comfortable, custom-made armchair, even to solve cases.

Wolfe came to radio at least 3 different times, none of which author Rex Stout particularly cared for.  (This was typical of the detective writers of the time.  Others like Hammett and Chandler were only loosely associated with the productions of the Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe series, associating their names with the programs for the sake of royalty checks, but otherwise despising the writing and, occasionally, the acting). 

But of the Wolfes to be on the air, Stout most enjoyed the characterization of the star we hear from this week - Sydney Greenstreet. 

Stick around after the Nero Wolfe episode for a nice Strange Dr. Weird mystery called "When Killers Meet".

Duffy's Tavern & The Strange Dr. Weird

Picture Cheers, except set in a dingy bar somewhere in New York City with an absentee owner and a manager whose grammatical skills, or lack thereof, were a weekly source of comedy.  Toss in a dash of funny character actors and the occasional Hollywood guest star, and you've got Duffy's Tavern. 

The show was the brainchild of Ed Gardner, who played the lead character of Archie, the manager of Duffy's Tavern (pictured right).  As the story goes, Gardner was a producer on another show, and trying to get his actors to hit the perfect New York accent.  None could, so Gardner stepped up to the mike and showed them just what he wanted.  Within seconds, the cast was in stitches, and the voice of Archie was born.

This episode from December 18, 1946 guest stars Joan Bennett, who, in this author's humble opinion is underrated in terms of both looks and acting ability.  Check out this photo of Bennett to judge the former, and the film "Scarlet Street" for the latter.

We top this edition of the Old Time Radio Express off with The Strange Dr. Weird.  Because you can never go wrong with the writing team of Robert A. Arthur and David Kogan.

New Show - "Fibber McGee & Molly" and "The Strange Dr. Weird"

This week on the Old Time Radio Express, we listen to The Fibber McGee and Molly Program from January 2, 1945, as well as The Strange Dr. Weird, and the program, "The Man Who Talked With Death".

There are so many great aspects of the Fibber Mc Gee and Molly show that it was impossible to pick one episode that hit all the highlights.  This episode does a great job of showing the brilliance of some of the joke-writing and how the middle Johnson's Wax commercial is neatly incorporated, but there are so many other F&M standards that this episode doesn't have....the characters of the Old Timer and Wallace Wimple (actor Bill Thompson was fighting in WWII during this broadcast), the famous closet gag, some of Molly's more famous catchphrases ("T'aint funny, McGee!"), Fibber's rapid alliteration jokes, and many more.  I guess that's good - we've got a lot to listen to and talk about in the future.

The Strange Doctor Weird is, essentially, The Mysterious Traveler condensed into a 15 minute program.  My preference is The Mysterious Traveler, simply because so much more can be developed in 30 minutes than 15.  But like a novelist adept at writing short stories with a punch, Robert A. Arthur and David Kogan succeeded in both long-form and short-form radio.