The Evolution Of Boston Blackie

 

 

 

Kent Taylor (Blackie) and Frank Orth (Faraday)

 

I confess that I have a soft spot in my heart for the old Chester Morris Boston Blackie movies and radio shows.   While the interplay between Blackie and the police was predictable, the shows were generally fun, and the adventures satisfying.

 

I wrote about this venerable character, first introduced as a hardboiled ex-con jewel thief in 1919 by author Jack Boyle, a year ago in Meet Boston Blackie.    I gave some of the history, links to 3 of the 14 Chester Morris Blackie movies, and links to hundreds of the radio shows.

 

Today I’ve links to 4 more of the Columbia movies from the 1940s available on Retrovision.tv, and a dozen episodes of the 1950s TV show from the Internet Archive as well.

 

One of the things you’ll notice about the TV series – aside from Kent Taylor in the role of Blackie – is the marked change in the relationship between Blackie and Inspector Faraday.   Also, Blackie’s sidekick The Runt is gone, replaced by a `Thin Man’ Asta wannabe, named `Whitey’.

 

In the movies and radio show, Faraday and his hapless (often buffoonish) Sgt. Matthews, nearly always suspected Blackie of being behind a jewel theft or murder. 

 

In the process of finding the real culprit and clearing his name, Blackie would invariably make fools of the police.

 

Chester Morris and Richard Lane (Faraday) played these roles clearly as semi-comical adversaries, although imbued with a grudging respect at times. 

 

In the TV version, Faraday and Blackie are pals, and Blackie is often called upon by the police to help.   So you’ll find considerably less wise-cracking in the TV version.

 

 

Since the antics of Mathews and the suspicions of Faraday were wearing a bit thin after 14 films and countless radio shows (and by now, Mathews would have been fired, and Faraday convinced that Blackie had gone straight), the decision to `normalize’ the relationship between Blackie and the police was probably inevitable.

 

The show was an early effort produced by ZIV - which specialized in syndicated (and often highly successful) shows like Sea Hunt, The Cisco Kid, Science Fiction Theatre, and Bat Masterson – and ran for 58 episodes over 2 years. 

 

Kent Taylor (who was half of the inspiration for Superman’s alter-ego’s name Clark Kent -  Clark Gable being the other) was a solid, if not spectacular actor in B movies of the 1930s and 1940s. 

 

Although he’d appeared in more than 80 films by the time he took on the Boston Blackie role, he’d never really clicked with the movie going audience, and had been relegated to a long procession of B programmers.

 

Television provided him with ample work throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, but late in his career he began to appear in cheaply made horror/exploitation films.   Grade Z films like  Satan’s Sadists, Angel’s Wild Women, and I spit on Your Corpse!

Kent Taylor died in 1987.

 

But first 7 Boston Blackie Movies from Retrovision.tv.

 

Boston Blackie and the Law (1946)

 

Phantom Thief, The (1946)

 

Trapped by Boston Blackie (1948)

 

After Midnight with Boston Blackie (1943)

 

Boston Blackie – Booked on Suspicion (1945)

 

Meet Boston Blackie (1941)

 

One Mysterious Night (1944)

 

There are a dozen episodes of the TV series now posted on The Internet Archive, and if more show up, you should be able to find them at this link.

 

 

BOSTON BLACKIE TV SHOW
This episode is entitled "Queen of Thieves."

 

BOSTON BLACKIE TV SHOW (1952)
Kent Taylor stars in this 1952 episode entitled "Deep Six."

BOSTON BLACKIE TV SHOW
"Shoot the Works" Starring Kent Taylor

BOSTON BLACKIE TV SHOW (1952)
Taylor stars in this episode, "Minuet for Murders"

 

BOSTON BLACKIE TV SHOW
This episode is entitled "Hired hand."

BOSTON BLACKIE TV SHOW
"Inside Crime" is the name of this Boston Blackie episode.

 

BOSTON BLACKIE TV SHOW
This episode is entitled "The Blonde."

BOSTON BLACKIE TV SHOW
This episode is entitled "Death does a rhumba."

BOSTON BLACKIE TV SHOW
This episode is entitled "The Friendly Gesture."

BOSTON BLACKIE TV SHOW - Joseph Strawbachincosco
This episode is entitled "The Gunman."

BOSTON BLACKIE TV SHOW
This episode is entitled "False Face."

BOSTON BLACKIE TV SHOW
This episode is entitled "So was Goliath."

 

For those with a hankering for more on Blackie, including links to the old time radio series, check out  Meet Boston Blackie.