The Fat Man & The Thin Man

 

 

Apart from Sam Spade (available separately from this website), another detective character created by Dashiell Hammett was The Fat Man:

 

"There he goes across the street into the drugstore,

steps on the scale, height: 6 feet, weight:

290 pounds, fortune: Danger! 

Who is it? 

The Fat Man."

 

The Fat Man was Brad Runyon, played to perfection by the subterranean bass-voiced J. Scott Smart, who actually outweighed his character by over thirty pounds. When he spoke, there was no doubt that this was the voice of a big guy. Dashiell Hammett created Brad Runyon, the Fat Man, specifically for radio and even wrote a few scripts to help "set" the series. Runyon, known as The Fat Man, was a tough, at times world-weary private eye. He worked out of an office manned by the obligatory secretary, in this case Lila North. Smart gave a witty, tongue-in-cheek performance and helped make The Fat Man one of the most popular detective programs on the  air.

 

Nick and Nora Charles are Dashiell Hammett's most enchanting creations, a rich, glamorous couple who solve homicides in between wisecracks and martinis in The Thin Man

Both The Thin Man and After The Thin Man films were dramatized for radio as part of the Lux Theatre. These two 50 minute shows starred William Powell and Myrna Loy and were obviously designed to promote the movies.

Thirty minute The Thin Man "stories" also appeared as part of Mystery Theatre (twice) and Frontline Theatre (once). Meanwhile The Thin Man Radio Show endured for many years as a popular 30 minute program in its own right about  "happiest married couple in radio" - only 4 episodes of this latter series have survived.

 

This MP3 CD contains:

 

A.      The Fat Man

1.          TFM_1946-01-21 The 19th Pearl.mp3

2.          TFM_1946-02-xx The Twice Told Secret.mp3

3.          TFM_1946-07-08 The Black Angel.mp3

4.          TFM_1946-09-09 The Crooked Horse.mp3

5.          TFM_1947-10-03 A Window for Murder.mp3

6.          TFM_1948-01-02 Murder Plays Hide and Seek.mp3

7.          TFM_1948-04-09 Murder Rents a Flat.mp3

8.          TFM_1949-04-01 Murder Wins the Draw.mp3

9.          TFM_1949-07-22 Murder is the Medium.mp3

10.      TFM_1951-01-17 The Nightmare Murder.mp3

11.      TFM_1951-09-05 Order for Murder.mp3

 

B.      The Thin Man - Lux Theatre

1.          LT_1936-06-08 The Thin Man.mp3

2.          LT_1940-06-17 After The Thin Man.mp3

 

C.      The Thin Man - Regular Series

1.          TM_1943-10-10 Nick & Nora's Anniversary.mp3

2.          TM_1944-12-01 Plunger and Joan Winslow.mp3

3.          TM_1948-07-06 Adv. of the Passionate Palooka.mp3

4.          TM_1948-07-13 The Haunted Hams.mp3

 

D.      The Thin Man - Mystery Playhouse

1.          MP_1944-10-06 Nora's Night Out.mp3

2.          MP_1944-12-01 Murder in the Record Shop.mp3

 

E.      The Thin Man - Frontline Theatre

1.          FT_1948-xx-xx The Strange Case of Professor Wainger.mp3

 

 

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