Ellery Queen's radioplays - page 12 - Restaged Australian episodes of Ellery Queen (1954-1955)

b a c k

package of Ellery Queen episodes were restaged for the
Australian market with local actors and local commercials. A common practice back then. The Australian episodes were produced by Grace Gibson Radio Productions and were directed by John Saul. Charles Tingwell played Ellery Queen and Wendy Playfair played Nikki Porter. Other members of the cast were Harp McGuire and Georgie Sterling.' (Marcia Jones is also mentioned as cast member - 1 ). The 52 episodes were broadcast from 1954 until 1955.
Charles "Bud" Tingwell, the Australian actor who portrayed Ellery Queen on the restaged episodes. Two episodes have survived on tape but strangely enough neither of them are included in the listing provided by Australian Old Time Radio. Their broadcasting dates are often (if not always) confused with the dates for the original US broadcasts. An episode featuring Gypsy Rose Lee as the “Guest Armchair Detective” was broadcast on 11-19-54. Information is sketchy but we will list what we have been able to research concerning the episodes, with episodes with no or conflicting dates set forth at the head of the list.

00* "The Man who could Vanish"
          30:00* unconfirmed date
          Guest Armchair Detective:
          First of a series of EQ episodes to be restaged with Australian actors and
          local commercials. Additional writing by Frank Clune.
          Original US broadcast 01-08-47 (episode 304)

          Mr.Revenant enters the policestation to confess to a murder and says he
         can disappear at will. Put in jail he subsequently disappears without a
          trace.

00* "Who Died First"
           08-27-54 : 30:00* (timeslot taken by confirmed episode) unconfirmed date
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           No original US radio broadcast known

00* "Instruments of Death"
           09-17-54 : 30:00*(timeslot taken by confirmed episode) unconfirmed date
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           No original US radio broadcast known

00* "Mystery of the Strangler's Ghost"
           11-19-54 : 30:00* (timeslot taken by confirmed episode) unconfirmed date
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           No original US radio broadcast known

00* "Thirteen Year Old Murder"
           12-17-54 : 30:00* (timeslot taken by confirmed episode) unconfirmed date
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           No original US radio broadcast known

Publicity in an Australian newspaper of July 6. 1954. It contains a "letter" by Ellery Queen to the Chairman of the Major Broadcasting Network in Sydney. This letter, dated Februari 14. 1954 was written in Roxbury, Connecticut. Which... was at the time Manfred B. Lee's place of residence.

Francis M. Nevins writes in The Sound of Detection that the first episode to be re-staged in Australia was "The Man Who Could Vanish" (original US broadcast Jan 8, 1947). However production dates can differ from broadcasting dates and there is evidence that this was not, in fact, the first episode broadcast in Australia. We found a newspaper clip dated Saturday July 24th 1954 which states as follows "Professor Harry Messel, atomic scientist didn't score when he tried to work out the combination of a safe in the first of 3 DB's Ellery Queen crime stories. Clue to the combination was a line from a nursery rhyme: "Said Simple Simon to the pieman, show me first your penny". The professor trotted out a series of numbers in a deliberate fashion that showed he had a "system" - but the system wasn't the same as Ellery Queen's. Perhaps that mechanical brain the professor is working on at Sydney University could be invited to appear on the session some time?"

01*"The Crooked Man"
          07-16-54: 30:00*
        Guest Armchair Detective: Harry Messel (professor Sydney University)
          Original US broadcast 03-12-47 (episode 304) Likely adapted as an episode
          from Dumont tv-series The Adventures of Ellery Queen, 11/30/50

          A private eye is blackmailing culprits of crimes, many of them have
          commited suicide. Ellery sets a trap by framing himself for Nikki's
          murder. The evidence is in a safe with a timebomb. The clue to to the
          combination is the second verse of the nursery rhyme "Simple Simon"

          In the tick of the studio clock at 2UE on Friday night Ellery Queen
        deduced the combination of a safe from a nursery rhyme. The solution,
         involving a knowledge of the mathematical symbol pi, baffled, we hazard,
         not only Professor Messel, but also rather more than 3.14159 of listeners.
         Yet, a few minutes before, the great detective had airily supposed that a
         disinterred skeleton would be mistaken for a corpse barely a week old.
         Tsk! Tsk! (Al Godon - 07-21-54)

02* "The Man Who Was Afraid"
           07-23-54 : 30:00*
         Guest Armchair Detective: Adrian Quist (Former Davis Cup
           representative)

03* "The Private Eye"
            07-30-54 : 30:00*
            Guest Armchair Detective: Bill Thoman (director of the US information
            Service in Australia)
            Original US broadcast 01-22-48 (episode 337)

             Private eye Cam Clubb tries to unravel the murder of a statesman in
             exile. He comes across... Ellery Queen.

04* Title Unknown
         08-06-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:

05* "Big Time Prize Fight"
           08-13-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           No original US radio broadcast known, there was however a Dumont TV
           episode who had Inspector Queen attending a prizefight that culminates
           in murder. It's was called "The Winner was Death" 8/20/52

06* "Other Side of The Grave"
           08-20-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           No original US radio broadcast known

07* "The Ninth Mrs.Pook"
           08-27-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective: Jim McDougall (Newspaper columnist)
           No original US radio broadcast known

08* "Murdered In The Dark"
           09-03-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective: Arthur Morris (test cricketer)*
           No original US radio broadcast known

09* "Lost Soul"
           09-10-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective: William Dobell (artist)
           Original US broadcast 09-19-45 (episode 242)

           Central figure is an artist so obsessed with one of his paintings that his wife
           believes him mad and calls in a psychiatrist. The climax comes when the
           great work is found slashed to ribbons.

10* "The Sword of Damocles"
           09-17-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective: Hal Missingham (artist, director of the New South
           Wales National Art Gallery)
           No original US radio broadcast known

11* "The Blue Egg Mystery"
           09-24-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           Original US broadcast 09-12-45 (episode 241), repeated 02-26-48

           An impossible crime has been committed. Where is that missing
           fabulous blue sapphire

12* "The Slicer"
           10-01-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective: Michael Sawtell (author, lecturer, member of the
           Aborigine Welfare Board)
           Original US broadcast 04-15-48 (episode 349) Repeat of 08-01-45 "Nick
           the Knife"

           An unknown madman has murdered nineteen women by attacking
           them at night while they are alone. The identity of "The Slicer" is
           quite a surprise.

13* "The Hollywood Mystery"
           10-08-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           Could be based on a original US radio broadcast known as "The
           Hollywood Murder Case" 05-22-46 (episode 277)

            Ellery and Nikki in Hollywood. Ellery wants to write a screenplay based
            on the murder of a famous director. Another director claims to have a
            piece of the movie soundtrack that implicates a famous actress of the
            crime. Then soundtrack is stolen and the second director murdered

14* "The Needle Hole Mystery"
           10-15-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           No original US radio broadcast known, several other sotries with needle's
           known

15* "The Lynching of Mr.Cue"
           10-22-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           Original US broadcast 03-11-48 (episode 344) "The Lynching of Mr.Q"

           Ellery is arrested for murder in a small town. They take him for
           "Scarface Ellery Cue," a notorious gangster and a lynch mob forms.

16* Title Unknown
10-29-54 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

17* "The Curious Thefts"
           11-05-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective: Ernest Burbridge (British Arts Council)
           Original US broadcast 12-19-45 (episode 255)

           The case concerns Cornelius Benedict, a novelist, from whom is stolen a
           shoe, then his dental plate and finally his reading glasses. Later,
           Mr. Benedict is murdered.

18* "The Curse of the Pharaohs Mystery"
           11-12-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           Could be based on a original US radio broadcast known as "The
           Pharaoh's Curse" 05-22-46 (episode 63) Repeated as "The Pharaoh's
           Tomb" on 07-06-44 and 07-08-44

19* "Nikki Porter, Suspect"
         11-19-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective: Gypsy Rose Lee
           Original US broadcast 03-05-47 (episode 312)

           Nikki gets blamed for a murder after stepping off a train just as
           the loot from a train robbery disappears from her compartment
           and a man is murdered

Gypsy Rose Lee arrived in Australia on Saturday Sep 25 1954. Starting October 1st until October 14th she performed at the Nicholson's Palladium in Sydney. Miss Lee is introduced as appearing at the Sydney Palladium.

20* "Ten Thousand Suspects"
           11-26-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           No original US radio broadcast known

21* "The Man in the Street"
           12-03-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective: Jack Crawford (tennis star)
           No original US radio broadcast known

Two newspaper clippings placing Jack Crawford on 12-03-54 in the studio. One stating "The Man in the Street" being the episode, one stating "Ten Thousand Suspects" as tonights episode.

22* "The Specialist in Cops"
           12-10-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective: Jim Russell (creator of cartoon 'The Potts')
           Original US broadcast 03-19-47 (episode 314)

           Nutsy Yapp specializes in killing police officers for hire, now
           has kidnapped Ellery. Yapp lets him write a note to his father.
          Can Ellery include a clue to his whereabouts?

23* "Dead Man's Cavern"
           12-17-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective: Franquin (stage hypnotist, quiz master)
           Original US broadcast 10-22-39 (episode 19) as "The Haunted Cave",
           Repeated condensed as "Dead Man's Cavern" 04-13-44 and 04-15-44

           Ellery spends the weekend at Tecumseh Lodge with Nikki, Inspector
          Queen and Velie. While investigating a cave haunted by a strangler Colin
           Montague is murdered...

24* "Peddler of Death"
           12-24-54 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detectives: nine armchair detectives*
           Original US broadcast 2-05-45 (episode 253)
          These nine men, who will give the production an international carnival
          atmosphere, are members of a K.L.M. Dutch Airlines party representing nine
          different nationalities. The group includes a Cockney London bus driver, a
          Parisian taxi-driver, a Venetian gondolier, and a Swiss funicular railway driver,
          each of whom will greet listeners in his own language.

Add in Australian newspaper for Ellery Queen

25* Title Unknown
          12-31-54 : 30:00*
          Guest Armchair Detective:

26* "Three Fingers"
           01-07-55 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           No original US radio broadcast known (The Three Fencers?)

27* "The Doodling of Mr. O'Drew"
           01-14-55 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           Original US broadcast 11-28-45 (episode 252) "The Doodle of Mr.
           O'Drew" aka "Nikki Porter, Starlet" broadcast 05-13-48 (episode 353)

28* "Questions of Colour"
           01-21-55 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           Original US broadcast 02-12-48 (episode 340) "A Question of Color"

           Gamblers have set up a colored boxer into taking a fight beyond his
           abilities, so they can win big. The boxer's trainer has been made
           drunk, severely limiting the chances the boxer can win. Who gave
            Doc the whiskey?

29* Title Unknown
           01-28-55 : 30:00*
           Guest Armchair Detective:
           No original US radio broadcast known

30* Title Unknown
02-04-55 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

31* Title Unknown
02-11-55 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

32* Title Unknown
02-18-55 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

33* "The Lost Card"
          02-25-55 : 30:00*
          Guest Armchair Detective:
          Original US broadcast 02-07-45 (episode 213) possibly as "The Lost Card
          Game"

34* Title Unknown
03-04-55 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

35* "Man without a Heart"
          03-11-55 : 30:00*
          Guest Armchair Detective:
          Original US broadcast 08-03-44 or 08-05-44 (episode 189) Repeat of "The
         Meanest Man in the World" 08-18-40

36* "The Wine Machine"
          03-18-55 : 30:00*
          Guest Armchair Detective:
          Original US broadcast 02-14-45 (episode 214)

37* "The Case of the Green Eye"
          03-25-55 : 30:00*
          Guest Armchair Detective:
          Original US broadcast 01-16-46 (episode 259) as "The Green Eye"

38* Title Unknown
04-01-55 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

39* Title Unknown
04-08-55 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

40* "The Adventures of the Old Man's Darling"
          04-15-55 : 30:00*
          Guest Armchair Detective:
          Original US broadcast 12-11-46 (episode 300) as "The Old Man's Darling"

         Ellery has the chance to earn $ 5,000 for a children's fund to
         investigate if old John Spuyten's young nurse has been stealing.
          During the investigation the nurse is murdered.

41* Title Unknown
04-22-55 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

42* Title Unknown
04-29-55 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

43* "The Case of Entwhistle"
          05-06-55 : 30:00*
          Guest Armchair Detective:
          Original US broadcast 06-13-45 (episode 230) as "The Corpse of
          Mr. Entwhistle"

44* Title Unknown
05-13-55 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

45* "The Dark Cloud"
          05-20-55 : 30:00*
          Guest Armchair Detective:
          Original US broadcast 06-23-40 (episode 54) Repeated on 09-02-43 or
          09-04-43

46* Title Unknown
05-27-55 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

47* Title Unknown
06-03-55 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

48* Title Unknown
          06-10-55 : 30:00*
          Guest Armchair Detective:

49* Title Unknown
          06-17-55 : 30:00*
          Guest Armchair Detective:

50* Title Unknown
          06-24-55 : 30:00*
          Guest Armchair Detective:

51* Title Unknown
          07-01-55 : 30:00*
          Guest Armchair Detective:

52* Title Unknown
07-08-55 : 30:00*
Guest Armchair Detective:

Thanks to Scott Pitzer (CA) for opening the discussion with a simple question which eventually led to me rendering this page!