GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #36

NERO WOLFE

Perhaps the most eccentric of all detectives is Nero Wolfe, created by Rex Stout, the elephantine sleuth whose brownstone on West 35th Street in NYC serves as his home and office.  He is 5'11" but weighs 285 pounds.  He is a gourmand and loathes unnecessary physical activity.  "I carry this fat to insulate my feelings," he once stated.  No one - police, criminals, or Wolfe himself - denies that he is a genius.  He speaks seven languages and has a good knowledge of Latin.  His command of English is exemplary and limitless.  Anyone who uses words properly, even his enemies, gains his respect.  He curses or swears only occasionally.  His brown hair is neatly trimmed and brushed, and his teeth are so white that they gleam.  He dresses conservatively, wearing a suit, tie, and vest year-round.  

To Wolfe, work is detestable.  He keeps his confidential assistant, Archie Goodwin, on the payroll primarily so that Goodwin will prod him to undertake cases, although Archie also serves as secretary, errand boy, bodyguard, bookkeeper, and chauffeur (Wolfe abhors all mechanical devices, especially automobiles, and will do anything to avoid getting into one: he would rather end his own life than step into a taxi, and Archie is the only driver he will trust to take him around the block).  All aspects of the private detective business that require travel or physical prowess are handled by Archie.  In his spare time, if he does not have a date, Archie chronicles the adventures of his employer.

Wolfe accepts cases only because he realizes that maintaining his luxurious quarters takes money, and that others rely on his income for theirs.  In addition to Archie he must pay Fritz Brenner, the Swiss chef who prepares the epicurean dishes that Wolfe relishes.  Fritz could easily work in New York's best restaurant at double what Wolfe pays him.  Wolfe began his career as a private detective in 1928 and quickly earned enough to indulge his whims, which includes growing orchids on his roof.  Every day he spends two 2-hour sessions with his plants.  He begins work by having Archie report to him.  If he requests a full report, Archie can repeat an hour-long, five-way conversation verbatim, including gestures and inflections.  Wolfe sits back in his chair, a glass of beer close at hand, and closes his eyes to listen.  

Wolfe has nearly total control of emotions and only Archie can accurately guess what he is thinking.  Ostensibly antagonistic toward women, Wolfe admits, in a moment of candor, that his manner is merely a defensive mechanism.  Archie notes that Wolfe seats attractive female clients in the chair that affords him the best view of their legs.  Wolfe rarely leaves his brownstone, except under extreme provocation.  Archie does most of the footwork.  Wolfe maintains a love-hate relationship with New York City's police, notably Sgt. Stebbins, Lt. Rowcliff, and Inspector Cramer of the Homicide Squad, who is intelligent, though Wolfe once told him, "Your acceptance of your salary constitutes a fraud on the people of New York and you are a disgrace to an honorable profession."  The real strength of the stories is the Wolfe-Goodwin relationship, their repartee, the humor, which is unequaled in any sustained series in literature, and the ambience of their lifestyle.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rex Stout (1886-1975) was the creator of America's largest, most eccentric detective.  Because of his last name, many assumed that Stout bore a resemblance to his creation.  They could not have been more unalike.  Stout was a stringy 150 pounds, dripping wet, and had a scraggly beard that someone once suggested he stole from a billy goat.  Shortly after his birth in Noblesville, Indiana, his Quaker family moved west to Kansas.  By the time he was four he had read the Bible twice, and had read more than a thousand classics before he was ten.  At thirteen he was the state spelling champion.  He began selling numerous articles and stories to the popular magazines of the day like Smart Set and Munsey's.  His first detective novel about Nero Wolfe was published in 1934 and was an instant success, as was its successor.  Like Dashiell Hammett, Stout was active in many political activities and espoused many liberal causes during the 1930s and after WWII.  He wrote propaganda and made speeches for preparedness, Lend-Lease, and the draft; he criticized congressional isolationists; and was one of the more militant members of the Fight for Freedom.  He served as the master of ceremonies for the Council of Democracy's radio program "Speaking of Liberty", was chairman of the Writer's War Board, president of the Authors Guild, the Authors League of America, and the Mystery Writers of America.  And he was investigated endlessly by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI.

NOVELS (and magazine adaptations)

1934 "Fer-de-lance" (American Nov 1934)/  1935 "The League of Frightened Men" (Saturday Evening Post June 15 - July 20, 1935)/  1936 "The Rubber Band" (Saturday Evening Post Feb 29 - Apr 4, 1936)/  1937 "The Red Box" (American Dec 1936 - Apr 1937)/  1938 "Too Many Cooks" (American Mar - Aug 1938)/  1939 "Some Buried Caesar" (American Dec 1938)/  1940 "Over My Dead Body" (American Sept 1939)/  1940 "Where There's a Will" (American May 1940)/  1942 "Black Orchids" (2 novelettes)/  1944 "Not Quite Dead Enough" (2 novelettes)/  1946 "The Silent Speaker"/  1947 "Too Many Women"/  1948 "And Be a Villain"/  1949 "Trouble in Triplicate" (3 novelettes)/  1949 "The Second Confession"/  1950 "Three Doors to Death" (3 novelettes)/  1950 "In the Best Families"/  1950 "Curtains for Three" (3 novelettes)/  1951 "Murder By the Book"/  1952 "Prisoner's Base"/  1952 "Triple Jeopardy" (3 novelettes)/  1953 "The Golden Spiders"/  1954 "Three Men Out" (3 novelettes)/  1954 "The Black Mountain"/  1955 "Before Midnight"/  1956 "Three Witnesses" (3 novelettes)/  1956 "Might as Well Be Dead"/  1957 "Three for the Chair" (3 novelettes)/  1957 "If Death Ever Slept"/  1958 "And Four to Go" (4 novelettes)/  1958 "Champagne for One"/  1959 "Plot it Yourself"/  1960 "Too Many Clients"/  1960 "Three at Wolfe's Door" (3 novelettes)/  1961 "The Final Deduction"/  1962 "Gambit"/  1962 "Homicide Trinity" (3 novelettes)/  1963 "The Mother Hunt"/  1964 "Trio for Blunt Instruments" (3 novelettes)/  1964 "A Right to Die"/  1965 "The Doorbell Rang" (Argosy Apr 1966)/  1966 "Death of a Doxy" (Argosy June 1967)/  1968 "The Father Hunt" (Argosy Nov 1968)/  1969 "Death of a Dude"/  1973 "Please Pass the Guilt"/  1975 "A Family Affair"/  1985 "Death Times Three" (3 previously unpublished stories - "Bitter End", "Frame-Up for Murder" which was expanded from "Murder Is No Joke", and "Assault on a Brownstone" which was an early draft of "Counterfeit of Murder").

SHORT STORIES & NOVELETTES (all appeared in American unless otherwise noted).

"Bitter End" (Nov 1940)/  "Black Orchids" (Aug 1941)/  "Cordially Invited to Meet Death" (Apr 1942)/  "Not Quite Dead Enough" (Dec 1942)/  "Booby Trap" (Aug 1944)/  "Help Wanted, Male" (Aug 1945)/  "Instead of Evidence" (May 1946)/  "Before I Die" (Apr 1947)/  "Man Alive" (Dec 1947)/  "Bullet for One" (July 1948)/  "Omit Flowers" (Nov 1948)/  "Door to Death" (June 1949)/  "The Gun with Wings" (Dec 1949)/  "Disguise for Murder" (Sept 1950)/  "Cop Killer" (Feb 1951)/  "See No Evil" (Aug 1951)/  "Home to Roost" (Jan 1952)/  "This Will Kill You" (Sept 1952)/  "Invitation to Murder" (Aug 1953)/  "Scared to Death" (Dec 1953)/  "When a Man Murders" (May 1954)/  "The Body in the Hall" (Dec 1954)/  "The Last Witness" (May 1955)/  "Immune to Murder" (Nov 1955)/  "Nero Wolfe and the Vanishing Chair" (May 1956)/  "Too Many Detectives" (Collier's Sept 14, 1956)/  "Christmas Party" (Collier's Jan 4, 1957)/  "Easter Parade" (Look Apr 16, 1957)/  "Fourth of July Picnic" (Look July 9, 1957)/  "Murder Is No Joke" (Saturday Evening Post Feb 14, 1958)/  "Frame-Up for Murder" (Saturday Evening Post June 21 - July 5, 1958)/  "Method Three for Murder" (Saturday Evening Post Jan 30, 1960)/  "Counterfeit for Murder" (Saturday Evening Post Jan 14-28, 1961)/  "Death of a Demon" (Saturday Evening Post June 10-24, 1961)/  "Eeny Meeny Murder Mo" (EQMM March 1962)/  "Kill Now, Pay Later" (Saturday Evening Post Dec 9-30, 1962)/  "Blood Will Tell" (EQMM Dec 1963).

FILMS

"Meet Nero Wolfe" Columbia, 1936.  Edward Arnold (Wolfe), Lionel Stander (Archie), Russell Hardie, Joan Perry, Victor Jory, Nana Bryant.  Director: Herbert Biberman.  Based on "Fer-de-lance".  A murder on a golf course, and a second murder nearby, involves Wolfe in a case (he sips beer and tends his indoor garden while Archie does the legwork).  The murderer is revealed at a gathering of suspects at Wolfe's home, and there is a hint that Archie may marry a girl (Dennie Moore) who has been chasing him.

"The League of Frightened Men" Columbia, 1937.  Walter Connolly (Wolfe), Stander, Irene Hervey, Allan Brook, Eduardo Ciannelli, Victor Killian.  Director: Alfred E. Green.  During their college days ten men hazed a fellow student so roughly that they crippled him for life.  When one of the men is later murdered and the rest receive warning messages, Wolfe is consulted and extracts a large fee from the group.

RADIO

"The Adventures of Nero Wolfe" was a weekly half-hour series heard on the New England Network for 12 episodes from April 10 to June 26, 1943.  Santos Ortego played Wolfe.  The show was then picked up by the ABC (Blue) network from July 5, 1943 until July 14, 1944.

"The Amazing Nero Wolfe" with Francis X. Bushman in the leading role, was carried by Mutual for 21 episodes from July 17 to November 30, 1945.

"The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe" was carried by NBC with Sydney Greenstreet as the detective.  It aired from October 20, 1950 to April 27, 1951.

The last radio series was "Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe" carried by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) for 13 one-hour episodes, January 16 to April 10, 1982.

COMICS

A daily and Sunday newspaper comic strip debuted in November 1956, distributed by Columbia Features.  Despite being well drawn by the likes of Mike Roy, Pete Hoffman, Fran Matera, and Jim Christiansen, the strip had no popularity or longevity and ceased publication after a year-and-a-half in 1958.

TELEVISION

"Nero Wolfe" was filmed in March 1959, intended as a pilot for a series.  Kurt Kaszner was Nero Wolfe and William Shatner was Archie.  The half-hour pilot never aired, and CBS announced the series, then backed out.  Other series were filmed in Europe, in Germany (1961) and Italy (1969).

"Nero Wolfe" was a pilot filmed in 1977 with Thayer David as Wolfe and Tom Mason as Archie.  The pilot also starred Anne Baxter, John Hoyt, and Brooke Adams.  Though filmed in 1977, it did not air until December 18, 1979 on ABC's late show.  By this time Thayer David (Wolfe) had died in July 1978.

"Nero Wolfe" was finally made into a series by NBC with William Conrad as Wolfe and Lee Horsley as Archie.  14 one-hour episodes ran January 16 to June 2, 1981 before being cancelled.

"Nero Wolfe: The Golden Spiders" was a 2-hour movie/pilot that aired on A&E March 5, 2000, with Maury Chaykin as Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie.  The pilot was a success and launched a series on A&E.  26 episodes appeared April 22, 2001 through August 18, 2002.  Guest stars were Penelope Ann Miller and Carrie Fisher, and was the most successful adaptation of the novels in all media.