GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #12

BOSTON BLACKIE

 The Character was created by Jack Boyle.  In the forward to "Boston Blackie" (1919), the only book about the ex-convict and cracksman, Boyle wrote: "To the police and the world, he is a professional crook, a skilled and daring safecracker, an incorrigible criminal made doubly dangerous by intellect.  But to me, 'Blackie' is something more - a man with more than a spark of the Divine Spirit that lies hidden somewhere in the heart of even the worst of men.  University graduate, scholar, and gentleman, the 'Blackie' I know is a man of many inconsistencies and a strangely twisted code of morals."  Blackie does not consider himself a criminal - he is a combatant who has declared war on society.  He is married to a pretty girl named Mary, his "best loved pal and sole confidant" who knows what he does and joins in his exploits.  Oddly, Blackie lives in San Francisco.  Boston has nothing to do with the stories.

Horatio Black, also known as Boston Blackie, is a hardened criminal serving time in a hellish California prison and looking forward to his release.  After the first story in prison he decides to go straight, but every time a crime happens police Inspector Farraday suspects Blackie.  Whenever such a crime is committed Blackie and his pals must prove his innocence by finding the real criminals and turning them over to the police.  Blackie lives with his wife Mary in a cozy apartment in San Francisco and just happens to be a tough, professional criminal with a strict moral code - he is exceedingly loyal to friends, he will not use a gun, and he has a soft spot for kids.  In silent films Blackie was portrayed as a professional thief with a heart of gold.  By 1941 when Columbia began a series of films with Chester Morris he had given up his life of crime to become a sort of freelance adventurer/detective working for the good guys (although he preferred to not get involved with the police).  The Runt was Blackie's talkative but dim-witted sidekick.  Arthur Manleder is a millionaire, eccentric, middle-aged playboy pal who assists Blackie upon occasion, as does a streetwise pawnbroker named Jumbo Madigan.  

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The 1919 book "Boston Blackie" by Jack Boyle was published by H. K. Fly, and was the only book devoted to his adventures.  It was a collection of previously published short stories that appeared in magazines and it's possible that the release of the book was a tie-in with the silent film "Blackie's Redemption".  In the early 20th Century such tales of a starker, darker, more realistic America had become increasingly popular.  Stylistically these were hardboiled tales before the hardboiled style was born, flawed by sentimental endings that were typical of the times.  Jack Boyle, the creator and author, was a felon himself with multiple convictions and prison terms.  He was born October 19, 1881 in San Francisco, grew up in Chicago then returned to San Francisco to work as a newspaper reporter.  During this time he became an opium addict and was drawn into crime.  He served time for writing bad checks and later robbery.  During his sentence for robbery in San Quentin Boyle created Blackie.  The first story "The Price of Principle" appeared in the July 1914 issue of The American Magazine with a full-page color illustration by N. C. Wyeth.  The byline was credited to "No. 6066", and it wasn't until the fifth story that Boyle used his real name.  I don't know the cause of death but Jack Boyle died in Portland, Oregon on October 16, 1928, just days shy of his 47th birthday.

A total of 43 Boston Blackie stories were published in magazines, of which I've only been able to track down 24 of them that appeared 1914-1921 in The American Magazine, Redbook, The Strand, and Cosmopolitan.  The remaining 19 stories I only have titles for and no publication history, though Boyle was a prolific writer and other non-Blackie stories appeared in the aforementioned magazines along with Photoplay, Detective Story Magazine, and The Smart Set.

FILMS

"Boston Blackie's Little Pal" Metro, 1918.  Bert Lytell (Blackie), Rhea Mitchell (Mary).  Director: E. Mason Hopper.  Based on the story of the same name (June 1918, Redbook).

"The Poppy Girl's Husband" Paramount, 1919.  Walter Long (Blackie), William S. Hart.  Directors: William S. Hart & Lambert Hillyer.  Based on the story of the same name (Oct. 1918, Redbook).

"The Silk-Lined Burglar" Universal, 1919.  Sam De Grasse (Blackie).  Based on "Miss Doris, Safecracker" (May 1918, Redbook).

"Blackie's Redemption" Metro, 1919.  Director: John Ince.  Based on "Boston Blackie's Mary" (Nov. 1917, Redbook) and "Fred the Count" (Jan. 1918, Redbook).

"Boomerang Bill" Cosmopolitan, 1922.  Lionel Barrymore (Blackie), Marguerite Marsh, Frank Shannon.  Director: Tom Terriss.  Based on the story of the same name (Dec. 1920, Cosmopolitan).

"Missing Millions" Famous Players-Lasky, 1922.  David Powell (Blackie), Alice Brady.  Director: Joseph Henabery.  Based on "A Problem in Grand Larceny" (Dec. 1918, Redbook) and "An Answer in Grand Larceny" (Jan. 1919, Redbook).

"The Face in the Fog" Cosmopolitan, 1922.  Barrymore, Louis Wolheim, Gustav von Seyffertitz.  Director: Alan Crossland.  Based on the story of the same name (May 1920, Cosmopolitan).

"Boston Blackie" Fox, 1923.  William Russell (Blackie).  Director: Scott Dunlap.  Based on the story "The Water Cross" (Nov. 1919, Cosmopolitan).

"Crooked Alley" Universal, 1923.  Thomas Carrigan (Blackie), Laura LaPlante.  Director: Robert F. Hill.  Based on "Daughter of Crooked Alley" (no publication history available).

"Through the Dark" Cosmopolitan, 1924.  Forrest Stanley (Blackie), Colleen Moore, Hobart Bosworth, Wade Boteler.  Director: George W. Hill.  Based on "Daughter of Mother McGinn" (June 1919, Cosmopolitan).

"The Return of Boston Blackie" Chadwick, 1927.  Raymond Glenn (Blackie).  Director: Harry O. Hoyt.

In 1941 Columbia revived the character and featured Chester Morris as an energetic, snappy Blackie, not so much concerned with agonizing self-reform as with utilizing his specialties just outside the law to better serve the course of justice.  He nearly always must elude the watchful eye of Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) who never believes that Blackie is rehabilitated.  In this series Blackie has no steady girl, no permanent residence, and few close friends other than Runt (George E. Stone) and Arthur Manleder (Lloyd Corrigan).  Some of the movies in the series, all B-grade productions, were shot in as little as 12 days.  It was fortuitous for Columbia that they selected Morris a veteran powerhouse actor for the role as wise-cracking, girl-chasing Blackie.

"Meet Boston Blackie" Columbia, 1941.  Chester Morris (Blackie), Richard Lane (Farraday), Rochelle Hudson, Charles Wagenheim.  Director: Robert Florey.  A girl Blackie is tailing is shot to death on a Coney Island boardwalk.  The setting allows Blackie to demonstrate his skill in legerdemain and con games.

"Confessions of Boston Blackie" Columbia, 1941.  Morris, Lane, Lloyd Corrigan (Manleder), George E. Stone (Runt), Harriet Hilliard.  Director: Edward Dmytryk.  The body of a crooked art dealer is found inside the counterfeit replica of a priceless statue.

"Alias Boston Blackie" Columbia, 1942.  Morris, Lane, Stone, Corrigan, Adele Mara.  Director: Lew Landers.  While Blackie puts on a magic show for the inmates of the state prison, a young convict escapes, vowing revenge on the gangster who framed him.

"Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood" Columbia, 1942.  Morris, Lane, Stone, Corrigan, Forrest Tucker, Constance Worth.  Director: Michael Gordon.  Blackie arrives in Los Angeles at the request of hapless Arthur Manleder who has let a pretty girl charm him out of the fabled Monterey diamond.

"After Midnight with Boston Blackie" Columbia, 1943.  Morris, Lane, Stone, Cy Kendall, Ann Savage.  Director: Landers.  A girl pleads with Blackie to help find her father, who she fears has been kidnapped by gangsters, along with his priceless diamonds.

"The Chance of a Lifetime" Columbia, 1943.  Morris, Lane, Stone, Corrigan, Jeanne Bates, Erik Rolf, Douglas Fowley.  Director: William Castle.  Blackie suggests to the Governor that prison labor be used in war plants to alleviate the wartime manpower shortage.  A model convict soon escapes and is found standing over the body of a gangster.  Blackie believes him to be innocent, confesses to the murder himself, and eludes the police while he looks for the real killer.

"One Mysterious Night" Columbia, 1944.  Morris, Lane, Stone, Janis Carter.  Director: Oscar Boetticher, Jr.  A clerk has stolen the Blue Star of the Nile diamond from an exclusive hotel, but before Blackie can recover it the thief is shot.

"Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion" Columbia, 1945.  Morris, Lane, Stone, Lynn Merrick, Steve Cochran.  Director: Arthur Dreifuss.  Arthur Manleder asks Blackie to help him dispose of a rare first edition of Charles Dickens' "Pickwick Papers" which turns out to be counterfeit.

"Boston Blackie's Rendezvous" Columbia, 1945.  Morris, Lane, Stone, Cochran, Nina Foch.  Director: Dreifuss.  A homicidal maniac escapes from an institution determined to find a girl whose picture he has seen in a newspaper, and leaves a trail of murdered women.

"A Close Call for Boston Blackie" Columbia, 1946.  Morris, Lane, Stone, Lynn Merrick.  Director: Landers.  Blackie tries to help a girl flee from her husband, a former convict, who has threatened her - and discovers that he is about to be framed for murder.

"The Phantom Thief" Columbia, 1946.  Morris, Lane, Stone, Jeff Donnell, Dusty Anderson.  Director: D. Ross Lederman.  When a duped wife begs Blackie to recover the jewels she has paid as blackmail to a shady spiritualist, several murders occur.

"Boston Blackie and the Law" Columbia, 1946.  Morris, Lane, Stone, Trudy Marshall, Constance Dowling.  Director: Lederman.  A woman convict escapes while Blackie is staging another prison show.  Years before, she and her husband, a magician, had been involved in an unsolved robbery.  Blackie finds them both murdered.

"Trapped by Boston Blackie" Columbia, 1948.  Morris, Lane, Stone, June Vincent, Patricia White.  Director: Seymour Friedman.  At a fashionable party the hostess' pearls are stolen and Blackie finds them in his pocket.

"Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture" Columbia, 1949.  Morris, Lane, Maylia, Joan Woodbury, Sid Tomack (playing Runt in this film only).  Director: Friedman.  A Dutch diamond expert is sought by Blackie in a case of murder in Chinatown.

Chester Morris was born in NYC February 16, 1901, the son of actors.  After graduating from the New York School of Fine Arts in 1916 he joined the Westchester Players and made his Broadway debut in 1918, and thereafter was frequently seen in New York productions.  His film debut came in "Alibi" 1929 for which he was Oscar nominated.  He died of an overdose of barbiturates on September 11, 1970 in New Hope, Pennsylvania while appearing in "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" at the Bucks County Playhouse.  He was sick and frail and he missed smoking which he had to give up.  He had an extremely rare and incurable ailment that reduced his weight to under a hundred pounds, preventing him from drinking and eating most foods.  His memory was so shattered that he lived in perpetual terror of forgetting his lines, an actor's worst fear.  His weakened and hopeless condition brought him frequently to a state of despair.  The coroner refused to say if the overdose of Seconal was an accident.  It wasn't.

RADIO

In 1944 "Boston Blackie" became a summer replacement for "Amos 'n' Andy" on NBC.  Sponsored by Rinso soap it featured Chester Morris and Richard Lane reprising their film roles and Lesley Woods as Mary, who was not part of the film series but essential to the written stories.  There were 12 episodes from June 23 - September 15, 1944.  A new series began in 1945 with Richard Kollmar as Blackie, Maurice Tarplin as Farraday, and Jan Miner as Mary.  Sponsored by R&H Beer it ran for a half hour on the Mutual Network.  The introduction intoned "Enemy to those who make him an enemy.  Friend to those who have no friend".  The radio series aired June 13, 1945 to June 29, 1949, producing 220 episodes.

TELEVISION

"The Adventures of Boston Blackie" aired on TV from September 8, 1951 to October 13, 1952.  Kent Taylor appeared as Blackie, now a private eye tooling around LA in a snazzy convertible with his best gal Mary (Lois Collier).  Frank Orth played Farraday.  A total of 58 half hour episodes were produced, 26 of them in black & white, 32 in color.