GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #17

CHARLIE CHAN

Charlie Chan was created by Earl Derr Biggers (1884-1933) who was born in Warren, Ohio and attended Harvard, graduating in 1907.  His first job was on the Boston Traveler for which he wrote a humorous column and occasional drama criticism.  He wrote a play in 1912 that was unsuccessful.  Then in 1913 his first mystery novel "Seven Keys to Baldpate" was published and was an immediate success.  In the mid-1920s he was searching for an idea for another book and thought, "Sinister and wicked Chinese are old stuff, but an amiable Chinese on the side of law and order had never been used."  The result was Charlie Chan and a series of six novels beginning with "The House without a Key" (1925).  The books and character were extremely popular.  Before they were published in book form all six novels were serialized in The Saturday Evening Post.  The Chan series was clean, humorous, unpretentious, more than a little romantic, and just a shade mechanical and old-fashioned by modern plot standards.  The stories are remembered less for themselves than for the wise, smiling, pudgy little Chinese they introduced.  Conventional as the narratives often were, Charlie Chan's personal popularity played a part in the Golden Age of detective fiction that cannot be ignored.  Biggers died of heart disease in Pasadena, California in 1933.  He was only 49.

Detective sergeant (later inspector) of the Honolulu police department, Chan is very stout but walks with the light and dainty steps of a woman.  His skin is ivory tinted and his cheeks are as chubby as a baby's.  His hair is black and closely cut, and his slanted amber eyes have an expression of keen brightness that makes the pupils gleam like black buttons in yellow light.  The Chinese-Hawaiian-American sleuth is married, has eleven children, and lives with his family in a house on Punchbowl Hill.  He wears western clothes but speaks broken English in a stilted manner.  Extremely humble, always courteous and charming, he is considered lovable by all who know him.  A student of Chinese philosophy, Chan is fond of quoting aphorisms.  He is not a physically impressive figure but his intelligence is razor-sharp.  Known as the best detective on the Honolulu police force, he has the reputation for always getting his man.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1925 "The House without a Key" (The Saturday Evening Post Jan 24-Mar 7, 1925);  1926 "The Chinese Parrot" (The Saturday Evening Post June 26-July 24, 1926);  1928 "Behind That Curtain" (The Saturday Evening Post Mar 31-May 5, 1928);  1929 "The Black Camel" (The Saturday Evening Post May 18-June 22, 1929);  1930 "Charlie Chan Carries On" (The Saturday Evening Post Aug 9-Sept 13, 1930);  1932 "Keeper of the Keys" (The Saturday Evening Post June 11-July 23, 1932).

"The House without a Key" (1925) the first Chan book, is probably the best of the series.  It concerns his investigation of the murder of rich, handsome, and genial Dan Winterslip, whose past was open to question.  Murder on a ranch in California is the subject of "The Chinese Parrot" (1926).  In spite of a bullet hole in the wall and a missing gun, the victim - a Chinese cook - has been stabbed to death.  "Behind That Curtain" (1928) starts with a murder in London and continues with a second killing in San Francisco - 16 years later.  A pair of Chinese slippers embroidered with Chinese characters is the only clue to both crimes.  "The Black Camel" (1929) is about famous film actress Shelah Fane, who is stabbed to death in a secluded spot on Waikiki Beach, and the public outcry makes it imperative that Chan find the murderer immediately.  In "Charlie Chan Carries On" (1930) a group of people on a round-the-world tour keep encountering dead bodies, and the Chinese detective must find the culprit as the ship travels on its last lap from Honolulu to San Francisco.  It is one of Chan's best cases, notable for its doom-laden shipboard atmosphere.  The final Chan adventure "Keeper of the Keys" (1932) is about a much-married prima donna whose marital and operatic careers are cut short by gunfire near romantic Lake Tahoe.

FILMS

Charlie Chan has never been portrayed by a Chinese actor.  But his popularity in films was immense.  He has been depicted as a wise, philosophical policeman who methodically pursues his quarry.  Audiences have been delighted by the almost ritualistic assembly of suspects and Chan's accusation "You are murderer!", as well as his paternal patience with his Americanized offspring who clumsily try to "help Pop", and his frequent, sage, quasi-Confucian sayings ("Bad alibi like dead fish.  Cannot stand test of time").  All of this endeared him to the public.  The first films based on the Chan novels altered and minimized the role of the detective.

"The House without a Key" Pathe, 1926.  10-chapter serial.  Walter Miller, Allene Ray, George Kuwa (Chan).  Director: Spencer Gordon Bennett.  The character of Chan was played for comedy, and Japanese actor Kuwa had 12th billing.  This is a lost film.

"The Chinese Parrot" Universal, 1928.  Marion Nixon, Edmund Burns, Kamiyama Sojin (Chan).  Director: Paul Leni.  Chan is again portrayed by a Japanese actor.  The film concentrates on a cursed string of pearls that brings evil to all who wear it.  This is a lost film.

"Behind That Curtain" Fox, 1929.  Warner Baxter, Lois Moran, E. L. Park (Chan).  Director: Irving Cummings.  The detective in this film is a Scotland Yard inspector played by Gilbert Emery in a heavy drama of illicit love, blackmail, and murder that moves from desert sands to London to San Francisco.  Chan, played by English actor Park, makes an appearance in the final minutes of the movie, just in time to shoot the villain.

The best actor to portray Chan was Warner Oland, born October 3, 1880 in Ulmea, Sweden.  Educated in Boston the actor received his dramatic training at Dr. Curry's Acting School.  After excelling on the stage Oland turned to cinema where he portrayed a number of Oriental villains in silent movies, often in Pearl White serials.  Oland would play Chan in 16 films.  While preparing scenes for "Charlie Chan at the Arena" he became ill and was found wandering the streets.  He died soon thereafter on August 6, 1938.  The uncompleted film was rewritten and had additional footage added to be released as a Mr. Moto film.

"Charlie Chan Carries On" Fox, 1931.  Warner Oland (Chan), John Garrick, Marguerite Churchill.  Director: Hamilton McFadden.  Again, the Chinese detective appears only at the end of the movie, embarking on a round-the-world cruise on its final leg from Honolulu to San Francisco when a Scotland Yard friend (investigating two murders that have occurred on the trip) is himself shot.  Oland, reversing his previous image of sinister Orientals, was a huge success and the Charlie Chan franchise began.

"The Black Camel" Fox, 1931.  Oland, Sally Eilers, Bela Lugosi, Dorothy Revier, Robert Young.  Director: McFadden.  While making a film on location in Hawaii, an actress is murdered after making a revelation about her past to a phony Hindu seer (Lugosi).  The black camel of the title represents death.  In this film the domestic Chan, his large family about him, is first revealed.

"Charlie Chan's Chance" Fox, 1932.  Oland, Ralph Morgan, H. B. Warner,  Marian Nixon.  Director: John Blystone.  A Scotland Yard detective searching in New York for a man wanted for murder in England dies of a supposed heart attack.  But visitor Chan notices a dead cat in the room with the victim.  Chan's eleventh son is born in Honolulu.

"Charlie Chan's Greatest Case" Fox, 1933.  Oland, Heather Angel, Roger Imhof, John Warburton.  Director: McFadden.  Based on "The House without a Key".  A much-hated man is killed.  His broken arm gives Chan a vital clue.

"Charlie Chan's Courage" Fox, 1934.  Oland, Drue Leyton, Donald Woods, Paul Harvey.  Director: George Hadden.  Based on "The Chinese Parrot".  Chan takes a job as a cook on a ranch in order to secretly investigate the man the man to whom he is to turn over a valuable string of pearls.

"Charlie Chan in London" Fox, 1934.  Oland, Leyton, Douglas Walton, Alan Mowbray, Mona Barrie.  Director: Eugene Forde.  Chan begins a round-the-world cruise during which he attends police conventions and similar functions.  His travels serve as a device whereby the films from this point on are set in varied locales.  In London, a girl begs him to clear her brother, who is about to be hanged for a murder she insists he did not commit.

"Charlie Chan in Paris" Fox, 1935.  Oland, Mary Brian, Erik Rhodes, John Mijan, Thomas Beck.  Director: Lewis Seiler.  A knife-throwing assassin kills a dancer at a Left Bank cafe.  Since she was one of Chan's agents he becomes involved in counterfeit bank stock and a chase through the Parisian sewers.  Chan's son Lee (Keye Luke) makes an appearance.

"Charlie Chan in Egypt" Fox, 1935.  Oland, Pat Paterson, Beck, Rita Cansino (Rita Hayworth).  Director: Louis King.  On the Nile, at the site of eerie archaeological excavations, several murders occur.  One is caused by deadly vapors that seep from a violin when it is played.  A mummy with a bullet in its chest is found in a tomb.

"Charlie Chan in Shanghai" Fox, 1935.  Oland, Irene Hervey, Jon Hall, Luke.  Director: James Tinling.  A British secret service agent calls Chan to Shanghai, rife with smuggling and gang wars, but is killed by a gun triggered when he opens up a gift.  Chan is "aided" by his number-one son Lee and the warm affection between them is evident.

"Charlie Chan's Secret" Fox, 1936.  Oland, Charles Quigley, Astrid Allwyn, Rosina Lawrence.  Director: Gordon Wiles.  Chan arrives in San Francisco searching for a missing heir to millions who suddenly turns up - dead on the darkened floor during a seance.

"Charlie Chan at the Circus" Fox, 1936.  Oland, Luke, Francis Ford, Shirley Deane, John McGuire.  Director: Harry Lachman.  Chan and his large brood arrive at the circus to have a good time, but the detective discovers the owner strangled, supposedly by the circus ape, which had been released from its cage.

"Charlie Chan at the Race Track" Fox, 1936.  Oland, Luke, Helen Wood, Thomas Beck, Alan Dinehart, Gavin Muir.  Director: H. Bruce Humberstone.  As Chan's boat docks in Honolulu for a stopover, a famed racehorse owner is supposedly kicked to death by his prize steed.  But Chan thinks that it is murder and accompanies the animal to a California handicap.

"Charlie Chan at the Opera" Fox, 1936.  Oland, Luke, Boris Karloff, Charlotte Henry, Beck, Nedda Harrigan.  Director: Humberstone.  Oscar Levant composed a special opera for the film.  Famed opera singer Gravelle (Karloff) escapes from the asylum where his wife and her lover had abandoned him.  Soon both the wife and lover are stabbed to death during the performance of an opera.  Gravelle stalks the opera house in Mephistophelian costume, but Chan believes that he is innocent.

"Charlie Chan at the Olympics" Fox, 1937.  Oland, Luke, Katherine De Mille, Pauline Moore, Allan Lane.  Director: Humberstone.  Chan ventures to Berlin on a dirigible where son Lee is part of the American swimming team at the 1936 Olympics.  Spies have taken a stolen device used to control airplanes by radio, and the inventor has been killed in Honolulu.

"Charlie Chan on Broadway" Fox, 1937.  Oland, Luke, J. Edward Bromberg, Leon Ames, Donald Woods, Joan Marsh.  Director: Forde.  On an ocean liner returning from Europe, a girl hides her politically explosive diary in Chan's trunk.  Later she is murdered in New York's Hottentot Club, and Chan must interrupt a police banquet in his honor to sample Broadway nightlife.

"Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo" Fox, 1938.  Oland, Luke, Virginia Field, Sidney Blackmer, Harold Huber.  Director: Forde.  Stranded on the dark highway between Monte Carlo and Paris, Chan and son come upon a dead man in a car - a bank messenger who had been carrying a million dollars worth of bonds.  Warner Oland died after this film and Missouri-born character actor Sidney Toler took over the role.

"Charlie Chan in Honolulu" Fox, 1938.  Sidney Toler (Chan), Phyllis Brooks, Victor Sen Yung (the new Lee Chan), Layne Tom, Jr. (Tommy, another son), Eddie Collins, John King, Claire Dodd.  Director: Humberstone.  While awaiting word on the birth of his first grandchild, Chan learns that a ship has docked in Honolulu Harbor with a murdered man on board - and $3 million missing.

"Charlie Chan in Reno" Fox, 1939.  Toler, Ricardo Cortez, Brooks, Slim Summerville, Kane Richmond, Yung.  Director: Norman Foster.  An old friend asks Chan to fly by China Clipper to Reno, where his wife, about to divorce him, has been accused of stabbing her rival to death.  In this film Yung becomes "number two" son, James "Jimmy" Chan.

"Charlie Chan at Treasure Island" Fox, 1939.  Toler, Cesar Romero, Moore, Yung, Douglas Fowley.  Director: Foster.  Chan and the Great Rhandini, a flamboyant stage magician, combine forces in an attempt to expose a mysterious psychic known as Dr. Zodiac, who blackmails victims and drives them to suicide.  The film is a complex mystery and is considered the best of the series.

"Charlie Chan in the City of Darkness" Fox, 1939.  Toler, Lynn Bari, Richard Clarke, Harold Huber.  Director: Herbert I. Leeds.  The city is Paris, blacked out because of the Munich crisis, and Chan, stranded, becomes involved with apaches and foreign agents as he investigates the death of a millionaire munitions dealer.

"Charlie Chan in Panama" Fox, 1940.  Toler, Jean Rogers, Lionel Atwill, Yung, Mary Nash, Jack LaRue.  Director: Foster.  In the Panama Canal Zone an American secret service operative is felled by a poisoned cigarette as he is about to reveal to Chan the identity of a dangerous saboteur, and the United States Fleet is scheduled to be blown up as it moves through the canal.

"Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise" Fox, 1940.  Toler, Marjorie Weaver, Atwill, Yung, Leo G. Carroll.  Director: Forde.  Based on "Charlie Chan Carries On".  Chan is on a cruise ship and a masked strangler has done away with his friend from Scotland Yard.

"Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum" fox, 1940.  Toler, C. Henry Gordon, Marc Lawrence, Marguerite Chapman, Yung.  Director: Lynn Shores.  Chan agrees to discuss old murder cases during a radio broadcast from an eerie waxworks whose owner secretly performs plastic surgery for the underworld and where a killer, plotting revenge against Chan, lurks.

"Murder Over New York" Fox, 1940.  Toler, Weaver, Robert Lowery, Ricardo Cortez, Melville Cooper.  Director: Lachman.  In New York for a police convention, Chan encounters yet another Scotland Yard inspector who dies (poison gas is the cause) before he can identify the leader of a gang of airplane saboteurs.  Chan unmasks the leader aboard a stratospheric bomber in flight.

"Dead Men Tell" Fox, 1941.  Toler, Sheila Ryan, Paul McGrath, George Reeves, Ethel Griffies.  Director: Lachman.  Chan's son lures him aboard a treasure hunting ship on which a "pirate ghost" is eliminating one by one the holders of pieces of a map showing the location of $6 million in bullion buried on the Cocos Islands.

"Charlie Chan in Rio" Fox, 1941.  Toler, Mary Beth Hughes, Victor Jory, Cobina Wright, Jr., Yung.  Director: Lachman.  Chan and son arrive in Rio de Janeiro to arrest a woman for murder but find her strangled.  A psychic who uses drugged "truth" cigarettes helps Chan smoke out the killer.

"Castle in the Desert" Fox, 1942.  Toler, Arlene Whelan, Richard Derr, Henry Daniell, Yung, Griffies.  Director: Lachman.  Chan is invited to view the replica of an ancient Italian castle built in the middle of the Mojave Desert by a millionaire eccentric whose wife is a titled descendant of the Borgias.  Several other guests are poisoned.

After 27 films 20th Century Fox discontinued the series.  Sidney Toler purchased the film rights to the Chan character and went to Monogram, a poverty row studio, to continue the series.  Being a much, much smaller studio, the budgets went from $200,000 a picture at Fox to $75,000 at Monogram.  The difference is noticeable.

"Charlie Chan in the Secret Service" Monogram, 1944.  Toler, Gwen Kenyon, Mantan Moreland (his first appearance as Chan's chauffeur Birmingham), Benson Fong (Tommy, another Chan son).  Director: Phil Rosen.  Chan, now a special FBI agent, investigates the death of an inventor who was in the employ of the United States government and was killed at a cocktail party attended by several suspicious foreign persons.

"The Chinese Cat" Monogram, 1944.  Toler, Fong, Moreland, Joan Woodbury, Weldon Heyburn, Ian Keith.  Director: Rosen.  In Washington, Chan's pursuit of jewel thieves leads him to their hideout, a dark funhouse in an abandoned amusement pier.

"Charlie Chan in Black Magic" Monogram, 1944.  Toler, Moreland, Frances Chan (a Chan daughter), Joe Crehan, Jacqueline DeWit.  Director: Rosen.  Just about to start his first vacation in years, Chan must solve the murder of a medium because his own daughter attended the seance at which the psychic is killed - by a bullet made of poisoned blood.

"The Jade Mask" Monogram, 1945.  Toler, Moreland, Janet Warren, Edith Evanson.  Director: Rosen.  Several strange residents of his household are suspected in the death of an elderly scientist.  Edwin Luke is a Chan son in this film.

"The Scarlet Clue" Monogram, 1945.  Toler, Fong, Moreland, Helen Devereaux, Robert Homans, Virginia Brissac.  Director: Rosen.  Several murders are committed in a radio studio, by means of a gas emitted from a microphone.  Chan is led to stolen secret radar plans.

"The Shanghai Cobra" Monogram, 1945.  Toler, Fong, Moreland, Walter Fenner, Joan Barclay.  Director: Phil Karlson.  Three employees die of poisoning at the Sixth National Bank, where a priceless store of radium is kept by the government.  Chan's investigation leads him to the sewers under the vaults.

"The Red Dragon" Monogram, 1945.  Toler, Fortunio Bonanova, Fong, Willie Best (another chauffeur, Chattanooga Brown), Carol Hughes, Barton Yarborough.  Director: Rosen.  In Mexico City, bullets fired by remote control kill several people thought to have been conspiring to obtain the plans for an improved atomic bomb.

"Dark Alibi" Monogram, 1946.  Toler, Fong, Moreland, Teala Loring, Joyce Compton.  Director: Karlson.  Chan is surprised to discover that several people have been convicted on the basis of forged fingerprints.

"Shadows Over Chinatown" Monogram, 1946.  Toler, Moreland, Yung, Tanis Chandler, Mary Gordon.  Director: Terry Morse.  In San Francisco an elderly woman asks Chan to find her missing daughter.  He learns that she was once part of an escort service tied in with the rackets and murder.

"Dangerous Money" Monogram, 1946.  Toler, Yung, Best, Crehan, Dick Elliott, Elaine Lang.  Director: Morse.  A federal agent who, with Chan, is on board a ship for Samoa is killed by a gang that smuggled currency and priceless art out of the Philippines during the Japanese invasion.  Several more murders occur before the ship docks at Pago Pago.

"The Trap" Monogram, 1946.  Toler, Moreland, Yung, Chandler, Larry Blake, Kirk Alyn, Anne Nagel.  Director: Howard Bretherton.  A Chinese girl enlists Chan's aid when several actresses in her troupe are killed while they are rehearsing in a Malibu beach house.

After 22 films as Chan (11 at Fox, 11 at Monogram) Sidney Toler died.  Monogram hurriedly cast actor Roland Winters in the lead role and continued the series.

"The Chinese Ring" Monogram, 1947.  Roland Winters (Chan), Moreland, Yung, Warren Douglas, Louise Currie, Philip Ahn.  Director: William Beaudine.  A Chinese princess arrives in the United States with a million dollars.  She plans to smuggle airplanes to her homeland but is murdered while in Chan's office enlisting his aid.

"Docks of New Orleans" Monogram, 1948.  Winters, Moreland, Yung, Virginia Dale, Carol Forman.  Director: Derwin Abrahams.  All three members of a syndicate that owns the rights to a formula for a new explosive are killed the same way: a radio tube shatters releasing poison gas.

"The Shanghai Chest" Monogram, 1948.  Winters, Moreland, Yung, Tim Ryan, Deannie Best, Tristram Coffin.  Director: Beaudine.  A judge is killed by a masked man.  The prints on the gun belong to a criminal whom the judge had convicted but who had been executed in prison six months earlier.  Soon the district attorney and the jurors who served during the man's trial are also murdered.

"The Golden Eye" Monogram, 1948.  Winters, Moreland, Yung, Wanda McKay, Bruce Kellogg.  Director: Beaudine.  Chan travels to the Lazy Y dude ranch to probe attempts on the life of the owner and to discover the source of the gold coming out of the supposedly played-out Golden Eye mine.

"The Feathered Serpent" Monogram, 1948.  Winters, Luke (back as Lee Chan), Yung, Moreland, Robert Livingston, Nils Asther, Forman.  Director: Beaudine.  On a vacation in the wilds of Mexico, Chan and two of his sons become involved in the attempted murder of an archaeologist, a hidden Aztec temple, and a vast concealed treasure.

"Sky Dragon" Monogram, 1949.  Winters, Luke, Moreland, Noel Neill, Ryan, Iris Adrian, Elena Verdugo, Milburn Stone, Lyle Talbot.  Director: Lesley Selander.  All the passengers and crew of a plane on which Chan is travelling are drugged (the plane is on automatic pilot), and the sum of $250,000 which is being transferred under guard, vanishes.  The last film in the Monogram series.

"Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen" American Cinema, 1981.  Peter Ustinov (Chan), Lee Grant, Angie Dickinson (Dragon Queen), Brian Keith, Roddy McDowall, Michelle Pfeiffer.  Director: Clive Donner.  Retired detective Chan is asked to help the San Francisco police solve a series of murders.  More comedy than mystery it was voted one of the worst movies of 1981.

PLAYS

Valentine Davies wrote an adaptation of "Keeper of the Keys" for Broadway in 1933.  William Harrigan played Charlie Chan, but the play did poorly and closed after 25 performances.

RADIO

Walter Connolly first played Chan in 1932 on Esso Oil's Five Star Theater which performed adaptations of the Biggers novels.  Connolly then appeared in a series "The Adventures of Charlie Chan" on the Mutual network 1935-1937.  "The Incomparable Charlie Chan" with Ed Begley, Sr. as the detective started out on NBC in 1944, sponsored by Lifebouy, and moved to ABC for the 1945 season.  Leon Janney played number one son Lee Chan.  Santos Ortego took over the role for the 1947-1948 season.

COMICS

The Charlie Chan comic strip drawn by Alfred Andriola and based on the novels by Biggers debuted on October 24, 1938.  The strip was distributed by the McNaught Syndicate.  There is a story that Earl Biggers personally selected Andriola to be the artist, but Biggers died five years before the strip came to newspapers, so I'm uncertain how this could happen.  The strip was discontinued soon after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, despite the fact that Chan was Chinese-Hawaiian-American.  The last strip ran on May 30, 1942.  Andriola went on to create the "Kerry Drake" comic strip which ran from 1943-1983.

Prize Comics issued a Charlie Chan comic book series with original stories from Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.  The series ran from June 1948 to February 1949.  Charlton comics ran their own series from June 1955 to March 1956.  DC Comics issued six books in 1958 to tie-in with a TV series.  Dell Comics issued two books in 1965.  Finally, Gold Key did a series in 1972 that was a tie-in to an animated TV series.

TELEVISION

The 1957-1958 season saw "The New Adventures of Charlie Chan" syndicated to television.  J. Carroll Naish appeared in 39 half-hour episodes that were filmed in London.  James Wong appeared as Chan's son.  A series of half-hour Saturday morning cartoons called "The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan" ran in 1972.  In this series the detective's large brood of younger offspring tried to solve mysteries on their own with minimal parental interference.  Keye Luke supplied the voice of Charlie Chan.  Jodie Foster was the voice of Anne Chan.  A proposed series with actor Marvin Miller as Chan was to be produced by Universal but never materialized.  Universal did make a TV-movie "The Return of Charlie Chan" with Ross Martin in 1973.  For whatever reason it did not air on ABC until 1979.