I LOVE A SEQUEL
It was a 13 week oddity and one that should be added to the already unusual broadcast history of I Love A Mystery.
Carlton E. Morse’s lurid tales of Jack Packard, Reggie York & Doc Long’s A-1 Detective Agency had been off the air for a little over three years in early 1948. Nevertheless, Michael Raffetto, (above left), who played Jack and Barton Yarborough, (above right), who was Doc, stayed busy as cast members of Morse's One Man's Family and other Network Radio projects.
Meanwhile, ABC was shopping around to fill the hour hole left in its Sunday night schedule with the cancellation of the sustaining Detroit Symphony broadcasts. The concerts made cultural programming sense against the popular appeal of the competing networks at 7:00 on Sunday nights and Henry Ford’s $1.0 Million annual subsidy made it more sensible.
But Ford’s money was gone in 1948 and the concerts had become a prestigious luxury for the cash-strapped network.
Besides, ABC needed something to attract more listeners during the 7:00 to 8:00 hour to lead into its new hit musical giveaway show devised by Les Cowan and Harry Salter which promised to be a Sunday night winner. (See Stop The Music!)
As ABC programming executives considered the alternatives for Sunday night’s 7:00 p.m. timeslot they were faced with these competing programs and their formidable March, 1948, Nielsen ratings: Jack Benny, (NBC): 26.1; Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch, (CBS): 14.5, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, (Mutual): 10.9. Their combined total of 51.5 points left little audience available.
It seemed like an inspired stroke of genius that ABC remembered I Love A Mystery which had a commendable ratings record on the network earlier in the decade. (1) It didn’t take much to convince Carlton E. Morse to revive I Love A Mystery under a new title, I Love Adventure, in the network’s half hour slot at 7:00. Pulp fiction adventure seemed to be the perfect competition to the comedian, the cowboy and the clue chasers heard elsewhere.
We’ll never know because the sustaining I Love Adventure didn’t appear in the published Nielsen ratings. But its impact on the 7:00 to 7:30 time period can estimated by comparing the April vs. May ratings of its competition: Jack Benny, (NBC): 22.2 to 18.7; Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch, (CBS): 12.1 to 9.9, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, (Mutual): 8.6 to 7.7. Their total 6.6 ratings loss can easily be written off to the annual spring drop in Network Radio audiences. But did the content of I Love Adventure encourage listenership?
When the new ABC program debuted on April 25, 1948, fans of past years could easly have mistaken it for the earlier series with the lonesome train whistle dissolving into the mournful Valse Triste played by organist Rex Koury. But the similarity suddenly ended when a message was read which ordered Jack Packard to report to his new bosses in London,“The 21 Old Men of Ten Grammercy Park.”
It seems that the A-I Detective Agency had folded and Jack was a mercenary adventurer during World War II while Reggie Yorke had returned to England to join the RAF and Doc Long went to Burma to fight with Clair Chennault’s Flying Tigers. Michael Raffetto’s solo act as Jack Packard didn’t last long. He was united with Reggie, (actor Tom Collins), in the second episode on May 2, 1948.
Variety’s brief review of the melodrama judged its writing to be, “…crisp and professional, with acting and direction to match.” Oddly, however, there is no mention of I Love Adventure’s obvious predecessor, I Love A Mystery, nor the carry-over of its three heroes, Jack Packard, Reggie Yorke and Doc Long, from one series to the next. In addition, the creator of both series, Carlton E. Morse, (first name misspelled Carleton), is identified only in the list of the show’s credits. (2)
Continuing the mystery/adventure theme at 7:30, I Love Adventure was followed by ABC’s answer to Suspense, director William Spier’s The Clock. The mystery anthology was replaced on May 30th, by a revival of The Johnny Fletcher Mysteries, starring Bill Goodwin in the title role and Sheldon Leonard as his sidekick. (3)
Jack and Reggie continued to do “The 21 Old Men’s” bidding through episode six, The Finishing School Kidnapping, on May 30, 1948. But listeners were surprised when they heard the beginning of the June 6, 1948 show the following week.
It was 1945 all over again. Without explanation, Jack and Reggie were back at The A-1 Detective Agency , (“…around the corner and up one flight, just off Hollywood Boulevard…”) The Doc Long character was again mentioned in the show’s opening but the womanizing Texan was nowhere to be heard.
Finally, on the series’ ninth episode, June 20, 1948, the familiar and friendly voice of Barton Yarborough was again heard as Doc Long. But just as suddenly, Reggie York disappeared from the cast. (4)
I Love Adventure from June 27, 1948, is remindful in its title and content of past I Love A Mystery adventures, The Kwan Moon Dagger. Our final sampling of the series is from July 11, 1948, and carries another pulp-type title that Carlton Morse seemed to relish, The Hearse On The Highway. The 13 week ABC series wrapped on July 18, 1948, but was reprised once again as I Love A Mystery a year later on Mutual.
(1) I Love A Mystery compiled half-hour ratings averaging 9.0 against major Monday night competition at 8:00 p.m. in the 1940-41 and 1941-42 seasons.
(2) Could these slights possibly have anything to do with Variety’s crusade against I Love A Mystery dating back to 1939?
(3) Critics agreed that The Clock, a well written and acted series featuring Hollywood’s top radio talent deserved a better fate than the nomadic role given it by ABC. The Mysteries of Johnny Fletcher, meanwhile, was a revival of the private eye series, based on Frank Cooper’s novels, first aired for a short run on NBC in 1946 with Albert Dekker and Mike Mazurki.
(4) Some of the twists and unexplained turns in the plots of I Love Adventure were probably the result of a second, uncredited writer on the show, John Paul Schofield.
Copyright © 2019, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
It was a 13 week oddity and one that should be added to the already unusual broadcast history of I Love A Mystery.
Carlton E. Morse’s lurid tales of Jack Packard, Reggie York & Doc Long’s A-1 Detective Agency had been off the air for a little over three years in early 1948. Nevertheless, Michael Raffetto, (above left), who played Jack and Barton Yarborough, (above right), who was Doc, stayed busy as cast members of Morse's One Man's Family and other Network Radio projects.
Meanwhile, ABC was shopping around to fill the hour hole left in its Sunday night schedule with the cancellation of the sustaining Detroit Symphony broadcasts. The concerts made cultural programming sense against the popular appeal of the competing networks at 7:00 on Sunday nights and Henry Ford’s $1.0 Million annual subsidy made it more sensible.
But Ford’s money was gone in 1948 and the concerts had become a prestigious luxury for the cash-strapped network.
Besides, ABC needed something to attract more listeners during the 7:00 to 8:00 hour to lead into its new hit musical giveaway show devised by Les Cowan and Harry Salter which promised to be a Sunday night winner. (See Stop The Music!)
As ABC programming executives considered the alternatives for Sunday night’s 7:00 p.m. timeslot they were faced with these competing programs and their formidable March, 1948, Nielsen ratings: Jack Benny, (NBC): 26.1; Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch, (CBS): 14.5, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, (Mutual): 10.9. Their combined total of 51.5 points left little audience available.
It seemed like an inspired stroke of genius that ABC remembered I Love A Mystery which had a commendable ratings record on the network earlier in the decade. (1) It didn’t take much to convince Carlton E. Morse to revive I Love A Mystery under a new title, I Love Adventure, in the network’s half hour slot at 7:00. Pulp fiction adventure seemed to be the perfect competition to the comedian, the cowboy and the clue chasers heard elsewhere.
We’ll never know because the sustaining I Love Adventure didn’t appear in the published Nielsen ratings. But its impact on the 7:00 to 7:30 time period can estimated by comparing the April vs. May ratings of its competition: Jack Benny, (NBC): 22.2 to 18.7; Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch, (CBS): 12.1 to 9.9, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, (Mutual): 8.6 to 7.7. Their total 6.6 ratings loss can easily be written off to the annual spring drop in Network Radio audiences. But did the content of I Love Adventure encourage listenership?
When the new ABC program debuted on April 25, 1948, fans of past years could easly have mistaken it for the earlier series with the lonesome train whistle dissolving into the mournful Valse Triste played by organist Rex Koury. But the similarity suddenly ended when a message was read which ordered Jack Packard to report to his new bosses in London,“The 21 Old Men of Ten Grammercy Park.”
It seems that the A-I Detective Agency had folded and Jack was a mercenary adventurer during World War II while Reggie Yorke had returned to England to join the RAF and Doc Long went to Burma to fight with Clair Chennault’s Flying Tigers. Michael Raffetto’s solo act as Jack Packard didn’t last long. He was united with Reggie, (actor Tom Collins), in the second episode on May 2, 1948.
Variety’s brief review of the melodrama judged its writing to be, “…crisp and professional, with acting and direction to match.” Oddly, however, there is no mention of I Love Adventure’s obvious predecessor, I Love A Mystery, nor the carry-over of its three heroes, Jack Packard, Reggie Yorke and Doc Long, from one series to the next. In addition, the creator of both series, Carlton E. Morse, (first name misspelled Carleton), is identified only in the list of the show’s credits. (2)
Continuing the mystery/adventure theme at 7:30, I Love Adventure was followed by ABC’s answer to Suspense, director William Spier’s The Clock. The mystery anthology was replaced on May 30th, by a revival of The Johnny Fletcher Mysteries, starring Bill Goodwin in the title role and Sheldon Leonard as his sidekick. (3)
Jack and Reggie continued to do “The 21 Old Men’s” bidding through episode six, The Finishing School Kidnapping, on May 30, 1948. But listeners were surprised when they heard the beginning of the June 6, 1948 show the following week.
It was 1945 all over again. Without explanation, Jack and Reggie were back at The A-1 Detective Agency , (“…around the corner and up one flight, just off Hollywood Boulevard…”) The Doc Long character was again mentioned in the show’s opening but the womanizing Texan was nowhere to be heard.
Finally, on the series’ ninth episode, June 20, 1948, the familiar and friendly voice of Barton Yarborough was again heard as Doc Long. But just as suddenly, Reggie York disappeared from the cast. (4)
I Love Adventure from June 27, 1948, is remindful in its title and content of past I Love A Mystery adventures, The Kwan Moon Dagger. Our final sampling of the series is from July 11, 1948, and carries another pulp-type title that Carlton Morse seemed to relish, The Hearse On The Highway. The 13 week ABC series wrapped on July 18, 1948, but was reprised once again as I Love A Mystery a year later on Mutual.
(1) I Love A Mystery compiled half-hour ratings averaging 9.0 against major Monday night competition at 8:00 p.m. in the 1940-41 and 1941-42 seasons.
(2) Could these slights possibly have anything to do with Variety’s crusade against I Love A Mystery dating back to 1939?
(3) Critics agreed that The Clock, a well written and acted series featuring Hollywood’s top radio talent deserved a better fate than the nomadic role given it by ABC. The Mysteries of Johnny Fletcher, meanwhile, was a revival of the private eye series, based on Frank Cooper’s novels, first aired for a short run on NBC in 1946 with Albert Dekker and Mike Mazurki.
(4) Some of the twists and unexplained turns in the plots of I Love Adventure were probably the result of a second, uncredited writer on the show, John Paul Schofield.
Copyright © 2019, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
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