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Nero Wolfe |
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My boss is the smartest & the stubbornest,
the fattest and the laziest, the cleverest and the craziest, the most
extravagant detective in the world: Nero Wolfe The character of Nero
Wolfe came from a series of novels
by Rex Stout. Nero Wolfe was known as "the gargantuan gourmet, the fat
genius whose eye for detail has solved many a perfect murder" and
"the detective genius who rates the knife and fork the greatest
invention ever invented by man". The eccentricities of Nero Wolfe were well known by the time the character from the
book had made it to radio. Wolfe was an orchid fancier who was
"corpulent" to say the least. He solved the most baffling of
murders from the comfort of his own home without ever visiting the scene of
the crime. He grumbled whenever a potential client appeared but usually took
the case because his high living had taken a toll on his bank account.
Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin
did all the leg work (in more ways than one) and it was through his eyes (and
his hushed opinions of Wolfe) that we, the listener, see the case unfold
(often with much caustic humour). There were a number of
versions of Nero Wolfe on radio over the years: In 1943 The Adventures
of Nero Wolfe began a short-lived
run. No episodes from the series have survived. A year later, in 1944, the Peter
Lorre's hosted anthology series Mystery
Playhouse carried a Nero Wolfe
story entitled The Last Laugh Murder. The second attempt at
bringing Nero Wolfe to the
airwaves in a regular series was during1945 on the Mutual network with a
series called The Amazing Nero Wolfe. It starred noted film
actor Francis X. Bushman as
Wolfe and Elliott Lewis
("Mr. Radio") played Archie. This series was also short lived but
one episode has survived. The next & most
significant entry in these golden days of radio was The New Adventures of
Nero Wolfe. This starred noted film
actor Sydney Greenstreet (a
well-known "fat man"). Only 26 episodes were made and all but one,
have survived. These shows are quite entertaining although ratings did force
"jarring" changes to occur during the run - some good, some less
so. After the first two episodes the organ was dropped in favour of an
orchestra accompaniment (probably using one of those new fangled tape
machines). This gave a more polished and professional feel to the show,
however changes to the actor who playing Archie seem at times to undo all the
good work done by script writers (and Sydney Greenstreet). Archie was played
in order by Wally Maher, Lamont Johnson & Herb Ellis for episode Nos. 1,
2 & 3 respectively. Archie was played by Lawrence Dobkin for the next 9
episodes. Gerald Mohr took the role for the following four episodes (Nos 13
through 16) with Harry Bartell playing Archie for the remaining 10 episodes
of the series. Whilst all of the above
series were standard 30 minute episodes, a more ambitious radio treatment of
Rex Stout's popular character arrived in 1982 thanks to the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation. Thirteen
50 minute episodes of a series titled Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe were produced, as CBC tried their hand at bringing
back old-time radio. All
episodes were based on novellas or short stories written by Stout, and the
series starred Mavor Moore as
Wolfe, with Don Francis
excelling as Archie. Often considered the definitive treatment of Nero Wolfe
on Radio, this series was very successful, being repeated several times due
to listeners' entreaties. Want to check out a few
episodes? - why not "taste & try"? These two episodes can be
freely downloaded to your computer - just right button click on any link
below and chose "Download Linked File" (or words to that effect).
The files are on an average about 25Mb - download time will depend on your
(broadband) speed NANW_1951-01-19
The Case of the Calculated Risk.mp3 NANW_1951-01-26
The Case of the Phantom Fingers.mp3 These 2 MP3 CDs
contain all 25 episodes in existence of Sydney Greenstreet's The New
Adventures of Nero Wolfe, the single surviving episode of The Amazing Nero
Wolfe, the Mystery Playhouse episode - each of these episodes is of 30
minutes duration. The second disc contains all 13 episodes of the 1982
series: Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe - these episodes are of 50 minutes duration.
All episodes on both CDs are of great sound quality - perfect! A. The New Adventures of
Nero Wolfe 1.
NANW_1950-10-20
Stamped for Murder.mp3 2.
NANW_1950-10-27 The
Case of the Care Worn Cuff.mp3 3.
NANW_1950-11-03 The
Case of the Dear Dead Lady.mp3 4.
NANW_1950-11-17 The
Case of the Careless Cleaner.mp3 5.
NANW_1950-11-24 The
Case of the Beautiful Archer.mp3 6.
NANW_1950-12-01The
Case of the Friendly Rabbit.mp3 7.
NANW_1950-12-08 The
Case of the Impolite Corpse.mp3 8.
NANW_1950-12-15 The
Case of the Girl Who Cried Wolfe.mp3 9.
NANW_1950-12-22 The
Case of the Slaughtered Santa Clauses.mp3 10.
NANW_1950-12-29 The
Case of the Bashful Body.mp3 11.
NANW_1951-01-05The
Case of the Deadly Sell Out.mp3 12.
NANW_1951-01-12The
Case of the Killer Card.mp3 13.
NANW_1951-01-19 The
Case of the Calculated Risk.mp3 14.
NANW_1951-01-26 The
Case of the Phantom Fingers.mp3 15.
NANW_1951-02-02 The
Case of the Vanishing Shells.mp3 16.
NANW_1951-02-16 The
Case of the Party for Death.mp3 17.
NANW_1951-02-23 The
Case of the Malevolent Medic.mp3 18.
NANW_1951-03-02 The
Case of the Hasty Will.mp3 19.
NANW_1951-03-09 The
Case of the Disappearing Diamonds.mp3 20.
NANW_1951-03-16 The
Case of the Midnight Ride.mp3 21.
NANW_1951-03-23 The
Case of the Final Page.mp3 22.
NANW_1951-03-30 The
case of the Tell-Tale Ribbon.mp3 23.
NANW_1951-04-06 A
Slight Case of Perjury.mp3 24.
NANW_1951-04-20 The
Case of the Lost Heir.mp3 25.
NANW_1951-04-27 The
Case of Room 304.mp3 B. The Amazing Nero
Wolfe 1.
ANW_1946-12-15 The Shakespeare
Folio.mp3 C. Mystery Playhouse 1.
NWMP_1944-02-xx The
Last Laugh Murder.mp3 D. Rex Stout's Nero
Wolfe 1.
RSNW_1982-01-16
Disguise for Murder.mp3 2.
RSNW_1982-01-23 Before
I Die.mp3 3.
RSNW_1982-01-30
Counterfeit for Murder.mp3 4.
RSNW_1982-02-06 The
Cop Killer.mp3 5.
RSNW_1982-02-13
Christmas Party.mp3 6.
RSNW_1982-02-20
Cordially Invited to Meet Death.mp3 7.
RSNW_1982-02-27 Man
Alive.mp3 8.
RSNW_1982-03-06
Instead of Evidence.mp3 9.
RSNW_1982-03-13 Eeny
Meeny Murder Mo.mp3 10.
RSNW_1982-03-20 The
Squirt and the Monkey.mp3 11.
RSNW_1982-03-27 The
Next Witness.mp3 12.
RSNW_1982-04-03 Death
of a Demon.mp3 13.
RSNW_1982-04-10 Murder
is No Joke.mp3 |