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Fitzwilliam NH 03447 Road Florence, Ky 41042 RANDOLPH RADIO ISSN: 1083-8376 CORPORATION (603)-585-3448 '111 W.LakeSt. Dept. 221 ChJcago 2 3 • 1941 The Gay Falcon THE • 1942 A Date with the Falcon ADVENTURES • 1942 The Falcon Takes Over • 1942 The Falcon's Brother of • 1943 The Falcon Strikes Back .,.11li • 1943 The Falcon in Danger • 1943 The Falcon and the Co-eds • 1944 The Falcon in Hollywood • 1944 The Falcon in Mexico • 1944 The Falcon Out West • 1945 The Falcon in San Francisco • 1946 The Falcon's Adventure al Deli 2011@ '"'by Dee Neyhart from The Digit • 1946 The Falcon's Alibi • 1948 Devil's Cargo Background story "Tile Gay Falcon" (1 940) that may • 1948 Appointment with Murder The background of th e 'l ho r nlcoll' /lave established the franchise of The • 1949 Search for Danger characlcr is as much of ci mystery us lhc Falcon, the nickname derived from the George Sanders retained the role of .... -~-- 0 1Io cl10 and tclov,sion slolios, filrns, .111< last name of Arlen's chaiacter, 'Gay The Falcon, as 'Gay Lawrence' for the rnysto11os Ill.ii 1110 various The Falcon Stanhope Falcon,' in t11e short story. Gay first four The Falcon films. The role fr nnctusos spawned from 1936 through ~iRRH Stanhope Falcon was a 'gentleman almost immediately undertook a transition ...... DERS lhc 1950s. The introduction of The Falcon sleuth,' of the type of character very much with Raymond Chandler's novel, Farewell AUaJMIS•AllmlllfflR-GWIYS Lmffl·BNBUlft character may have arrived through e from the 1880s through the the rag My Lovely, adapted as the third The ' ~~~-!.!~,_bM\1111$1.US Bulgarian-born Armenian author Michael 1950s. The Falcon character caught the Falcon film, The Falcon Takes Over(1942). Arlen, born Dikran Kouyoumdjian in 1895. interest of Hollywood, launching a long­ The film loosely shoe-horned Arlen's The Raised and educated in England, running, popular franchise of The Falcon Falcon character into Chandler's famous It remains something of a mystery how Kouyoumdjian tegan writing under the films beginning with "The Gay Falcon" in Philip Marlowe novzl that only two years Michael Arlen's 'The Falcon' character pen name, Michael Arlen in the early 1941 . later found its way to film with Murder, My morphed into Drexel Drake's 'The Falcon' 1920s. He changed his name legally to In fact ii was legendary CBS and Sweet (1944) starring Dick Powell as character beginning in 1943 over both Michael Arlen in 1922. Arlen's most imme­ Columbia Workshop engineer, producer, Philip Marlowe. The Falcon's fourth outing Radio and Television. Drexel Drake was diate successes came from writing mostly reportedly the pen name of Charles H. director, wnler and creator /Ning Reis that introduced George Sanders' brother Tom romance novels, one of which, The Green directed //Jo first 1/Jree 'The Falcon' films Conway, as his on-screen brother, 'Tom Huff. Drake had written a brief series of Hat, resulted in a Broadway play, The from RKO. Never actually revealing why Lawrence'. So as to avoid a spoiler alert, detective novels featuring a protagonist Green Hat (1925) starring Katherine the character adopted the nickname, The we'll leave it that Gay Lawrence departed nicknamed 'The Falcon' beginning with Cornell, and soon after mounted in Falcon, the nickname couldn't be traced to the franchise with The Falcon's fourth The Falcon's Prey (1936). Drake followed London's West End, starring Talullah the film character's name, which became film, The Falcon's Brother (1942). up with The Falcon Cuts In (1937), The Bankhead--at the time the darling of the 'Gay Lawrence,' as originally portrayed by Tom Conway, as Tom Lawrence, con­ Falcon Meets A Lady (1 938) and The West End. The Green Hat was subse­ Georgo Sanders Had the film character tinued The Falcon franchise for nine more Falcon Strikes (1938). And in a further quently turned into a silent film, A Woman relainod the name 'Gay Stanhope Falcon,' films, ultimately departing the franchise point of confusion, Drake's The Falcon of Affairs (1928) starring John Gilbert and lhe etymology of T/Je Falcon would have with The Falcon's Alibi (1946). It's at this character was known to friends as Greta Garbo. The Green Hat was further made considerably mure sense going for­ point that The Falcon character takes a 'Malcom J. Wingate.' adapted as Outcast Lady (1934) starring ward. In any case, The Falcon Film fran­ mysterious turn. Given that Drexel Drake's 'The Falcon' Constance Bennett and Herbert Marshall. chise ultimately comprised the following Enter Drexel Drake's 'Michael Waring' character predated Michael Arlen's 'Gay • But it was Arlen's last fictional short sixteen films: • as The Falcon • Stanhope Falcon' character by almost four 4 5 years, some understandable confusion Network's The Adventures of The Falcon Francisco. WJZ had originated The arises as to which of the two incarnations over Radio on April 10, 1943, first starring Adventures of The Falcon from its New of 'The Falcon' was truly the character 11,1 ,CHILLS & Radio veteran Berry Kroeger as Michael IJlo CffUctt· York studios. Those NBC-Blue and WJZ depicted in The Falcon films franchise. Waring. The creator of those first The 1~ .JIik ~ assets included The Adventures of The Michael Arlen had already become a Adventures of The Falcon programs was Falcon. Hollywood fixture by 1941, so one might credited as Drexel Drake. And indeed, for Set in cosmopolitan New York City, the reasonably presume that any ambiguity as the ensuing eleven years of The Falcon series was initially an east coast produc­ to the ownership of The Falcon character franchise over Radio, it was 'Michael tion supported by many of the finer New was resolved by RKO's legendary legal Waring' that became the name of The York Radio talents of the era.