Rogue's Gallery
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rogues_gallery.qxd:4 pg. Booklet 8/13/08 9:41 PM Page 1 CD 3, Program 1 - Blood in the Sand – December 13, 1945 – With Dick Powell, Peter Leeds, Gerald Mohr, ROGUE’S GALLERY Leith Stevens and his Orchestra and Jim Doyle announcing. Vacationing at the L7 Dude Ranch, Rogue tries to make time with an attractive blond secretary…but An Interest in Unalive Bodies finds himself swapping R&R for investigating the murder of a playwright. Program Guide by Ivan G. Shreve, Jr. CD 3, Program 2 - The Alibi Master – February 21, 1946 – With Dick Powell, Peter Leeds, Gerald Mohr, “This case has more angles than a six-pointed star…” – Rogue’s Gallery Leith Stevens and his Orchestra and Jim Doyle announcing. Unscrupulous attorney Fred Curtis is known Actor-crooner Dick Powell embarked on a new career as a hard-boiled tough as “The Alibi Master,” in recognition of his talent in winning acquittals for his none-too-well-thought-of guy with his starring turn as Raymond Chandler’s classic fictional detective clientele. Reporter Clark Ames is on a crusade to discredit Philip Marlowe in the 1944 film Murder, My Sweet . Powell had appeared in the mouthpiece, and when he reveals his newspaper has a scads of musicals at both the Warner Brothers and Fox studios beginning in the statement that could convict Curtis for falsifying early 1930s, and he welcomed the opportunity to shed his apple-cheeked chorus evidence…the managing editor turns up dead. Cathy Lewis boy image, having become tired of making films that featured “the same stupid CD 4, Program 1 - Mystery at the Ski Resort (a.k.a. “The Hermit in the Hills”) – story.” After reprising his role as Marlowe on Lux Radio Theater’s June 11, May 9, 1946 – With Dick Powell, Leith Stevens and his Orchestra and Jim Doyle 1945 broadcast of “Murder, My Sweet,” Powell got the opportunity to further announcing. Rogue takes another vacation to a winter ski resort, and is miserable until a flex his new tough-guy muscles by starring as investigator Richard Rogue on voluptuous Latin woman named Juanita Mansfield begins to perk things up. But getting the crime drama Rogue’s involved with Juanita and her suspicious husband leads Rogue to another knock on the Gallery , a summer head (where he meets Eugor’s girlfriend!), a bullet in his shoulder and a side trip off a replacement series for cliff! NBC’s popular The Fitch CD 4, Program 2 - Cabin on the Lake – July 7, 1946 – With Dick Powell, Peter Leeds, Bandwagon beginning Gerald Mohr, Leith Stevens and his Orchestra and Jim Doyle announcing. Rogue is June 23. (During its run spending a week in a summer hotel “so swanky the help hardly spoke to the guests.” as a summer replacement While checking in on a female guest named Janice Cole, he’s hit from behind…and that for Fitch, the show was oh-so-familiar trip to Cloud Eight begins… (Powell has a bit of trouble keeping the names usually referred to as of the women in this show straight.) Bandwagon Mysteries .) Written by Ray Buffum and directed by Dee Engelbach, the series also featured music from Leith Stevens and co- starred the usual gang of Radio Row professionals (Gerald Mohr, Lurene Tuttle, Lou Merrill, etc.). www.RadioSpirits.com Though Rogue’s Gallery PO Box 1315, Little Falls, NJ 07424 was fairly standard P.I. stuff, it did attempt to set Program Guide © 2008 Ivan G. Shreve, Jr. and RSPT LLC. All Rights Reserved. Dick Powell itself apart from the usual rogues_gallery.qxd:4 pg. Booklet 8/13/08 9:41 PM Page 2 gumshoe offerings through After Rogue’s Gallery’s successful summer run, Powell continued on with the a novel gimmick: role, only on another network—the program moved to Mutual beginning whenever Rogue was September 27, 1945 and ran for one season before returning to NBC on June unconscious (either by 23, 1946 for another summer run in the Fitch Bandwagon time slot. The series knockout drops or the then resurfaced again for Fitch in the summer of 1947, but by this time Powell more frequent blow-to- had been replaced by Barry Sullivan as a decidedly different Rogue. Rogue’s the-back-of-the-head), he Gallery enjoyed an additional season on ABC from November 29, 1950 to would travel to what he November 21, 1951 (played by both Chester Morris and Paul Stewart) before referred to “Cloud the sleuth took a trip to Cloud Number Eight permanently. Of the Rogue’s Number Eight” in his Gallery episodes in circulation today, the majority of them are culled from the subconscious. There, he Powell years (only two non-Powell episodes appear to be available; one with would confront Eugor— Sullivan and the other featuring Stewart). his alter ego (Eugor is Rogue spelled Radio fans often list Richard Diamond, Private Detective as one of the best backwards) who would detective series broadcast during Radio’s Golden Age. However, Rogue’s mock and taunt the Gallery —though considered a lesser light among the wide, wide world of detective (Rogue called gumshoes—still provides solid entertainment for detective/crime drama fans, him “a nasty little courtesy of the fine folks at the F.W. Fitch company ( “Laugh a while/Let a song spook”) and yet would be your smile/Use Fitch Shampoo…” ). steer him toward a clue or bit of business that Episodes in this collection: might have been CD 1, Program 1 - The McDonald Murder Case – June 23, 1945 – With Dick Powell, Gerald Mohr overlooked by our hero in his conscious state. Peter Leeds, Cathy Lewis, Gerald Mohr, Leith Stevens and his Orchestra and Jim Doyle announcing. In the first episode of the series, a man named Charles McDonald stumbles Eugor was played by radio veteran Peter Leeds, who appeared in numerous into Rogue’s office…and soon after keels over dead. A jewelry store manager, McDonald series ( Suspense, Gunsmoke ) but is probably best remembered as one of Stan was apparently eliminated due to his knowledge of the disappearance of “The Star of Freberg’s supporting players both on records and Freberg’s 1957 radio comedy Savoy,” the largest diamond in the world… show (“It’s too piercing, man, too piercing.”). A versatile performer, Leeds also played straight parts on Gallery as well. CD 1, Program 2 - Murder with Muriel – October 25, 1945 – With Dick Powell, Peter Leeds, Herb Vigran, Leith Stevens and his Orchestra and Jim Doyle announcing. While Rogue finds himself saddled with a love-struck insurance company investigator, a Rogue’s Gallery was essentially a warm-up act for Powell’s even more representative for a client of Rogue’s informs him that the client has split a map worth successful Richard Diamond, Private Detective series (broadcast from 1949- $25,000 in two and mailed Rogue a half—which becomes even more valuable after the 53). Part of the fun of listening to Powell’s Gallery series is hearing sketchy client turns up dead. (A rare broadcast in that Rogue escapes being hit on the head!) hallmarks of what would later be adopted on the Diamond program: the actor’s charming insouciance and refusal to take things too seriously, and on occasion CD 2, Program 1 - House of Fear – November 15, 1945 – With Dick Powell, Peter Leeds, Gerald Mohr, Leith Stevens and his Orchestra and Jim Doyle announcing. Rogue Richard Rogue would do a little crooning in the same tradition as his fellow is retained by an insurance company to retrieve a stolen diamond insured for $50,000. shamus Diamond. On a November 8, 1945 broadcast (“Little Drops of Rain”), But the oddest part of his investigation is that the owner of the diamond doesn’t seem to Rogue teases his girlfriend about wanting to see the movie musical Two Girls want him on the case! and a Sailor (when she releases her inner green-eyed jealousy monster, he responds: “How can you be jealous of a girl I don’t even know ?”) and during CD 2, Program 2 - Little Old Lady – November 29, 1945 – With Dick Powell, Peter their argument, sings an amusing cover of “June is Busting Out All Over.” Both Leeds, Gerald Mohr, Leith Stevens and his Orchestra and Jim Doyle announcing. Singer Conchita Morales offers Rogue $250 for his help in obtaining some incriminating love of these in-jokes are references to actress June Allyson, who had married Powell letters. In another seemly unconnected matter, an elderly woman asks Rogue to talk to her in August of 1945 and remained Mrs. Powell until Dick’s death in 1963. wounded son who may be mixed up in a holdup…and slips him a mickey in his cup of tea! rogues_gallery.qxd:4 pg. Booklet 8/13/08 9:41 PM Page 2 gumshoe offerings through After Rogue’s Gallery’s successful summer run, Powell continued on with the a novel gimmick: role, only on another network—the program moved to Mutual beginning whenever Rogue was September 27, 1945 and ran for one season before returning to NBC on June unconscious (either by 23, 1946 for another summer run in the Fitch Bandwagon time slot. The series knockout drops or the then resurfaced again for Fitch in the summer of 1947, but by this time Powell more frequent blow-to- had been replaced by Barry Sullivan as a decidedly different Rogue. Rogue’s the-back-of-the-head), he Gallery enjoyed an additional season on ABC from November 29, 1950 to would travel to what he November 21, 1951 (played by both Chester Morris and Paul Stewart) before referred to “Cloud the sleuth took a trip to Cloud Number Eight permanently.