GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #42

CAPTAIN DUNCAN MACLAIN

 Created by Baynard H. Kendrick.  Tall, dark, strikingly handsome, and immaculately dressed and groomed, Captain Maclain moves with astonishing ease and self assurance in spite of his total blindness.  Although injured while serving as an intelligence officer during WWI, Maclain has been able, through ceaseless effort, to master his handicap by developing his other senses.  He turned to the profession of private detective and has found that his resources are often challenged to their utmost.  Maclain lives in a penthouse apartment 26 stories above 72nd Street and Riverside Drive in New York City.  His hobbies are reading his braille books, listening to his Capehart phonograph, and putting together massive jigsaw puzzles.  He has taught himself to shoot guided only by sound.  He is assisted by his best friend and partner, Spud Savage; his secretary Rena (who is married to Spud); and his seeing eye dogs, the gentle Schnucke and the not so gentle Dreist.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baynard H. Kendrick (1894-1977) was born in Philadelphia and educated at the Episcopal Academy there.  He was a lawyer and certified public accountant, and then in 1932 switched to freelance writing.  His first mystery novel was published in 1934 and he continued to write mysteries into the mid-1960s.  In WWI Kendrick was the first American to enlist in the Canadian Army, exactly one hour after that country declared war, and served in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces.  Long interested in the problems of the blind, Kendrick was an acknowledged expert on the subject.  He once served as the only sighted adviser to the Blinded Veterans Association.  His experiences provided him with the source material for a non-mystery novel "Lights Out" in 1945, filmed as "Bright Victory" in 1951, and for his long-running series about blind detective Captain Duncan Maclain.

Maclain's debut appearance was in "The Last Express" which starts with a murder in a nightclub and reaches a climax in a tense hunt for a killer in a deserted subway tunnel under NYC's financial district.  "The Whistling Hangman" concerns the apparent suicide of a fatally ill millionaire who jumps from his hotel balcony.  Yet, the verdict is death by hanging.  The title of "The Odor of Violets" is counterpointed by the fumes of gasoline at the scene of the murder of a beautiful girl who has been decapitated.  A madman has left traces of his favorite perfume at the scene of his misdeed.  In "Blind Man's Bluff" Maclain tries to investigate a series of murders set in a bank building that seem impossible to solve.

"Death Knell" opens at a cocktail party - all the guests are enjoying the fun until a very attractive young woman enters and an ominous silence falls upon the scene.  This unpopular individual is soon found dead of a gunshot wound and Duncan is drawn into the investigation.  In "Out of Control" Kendrick is more concerned with suspense and thrills than with his customary detection.  Maclain pursues an extremely dangerous and deranged murderess through the picturesque but treacherous mountains of Tennessee.  "You Die Today" concerns Maclain's efforts to help a blind client adjust to postwar life.  "Reservations for Death" is about a millionaire steel tycoon who prefers anonymity and is willing to commit murder to preserve it.

NOVELS

1937 "The Last Express"/  1937 "The Whistling Hangman" (Detective Book Magazine Fall 1938)/  1941 "The Odor of Violets"/  1943 "Blind Man's Bluff"/  1945 "Death Knell"/  1945 "Out of Control" (Redbook July 1945)/  1947 "Make Mine Maclain" (3 novelettes)/  1952 "You Die Today"/  1954 "Blind Ally's"/  1957 "Reservations for Death"/  1958 "Clear and Present Danger"/  1960 "The Aluminum Turtle"/  1961 "Frankincense and Murder".

SHORT STORIES

"The Silent Whistle" (Thrilling Detective May 1942)/  "The Murderer Who Wanted More" (American Jan 1944)/  "The Death of You" (Flynn's Detective Fiction Feb-Apr 1944)/  "Melody of Death" (American June 1945)/  "5-4=Murderer" (EQMM Jan 1953)/  "Silent Night" (Sleuth Mystery Magazine Dec 1958).

FILMS

"The Last Express" Universal, 1938.  Kent Taylor (Maclain), Dorothea Kent, Don Brodie, Addison Richards, Paul Hurst.  Director: Otis Garrett.  Private detective Maclain (who is not blind in this film) uncovers corruption in the district attorney's office involving the theft of incriminating papers.  The title refers to the abandoned subway station in which the papers are found.

"Eyes in the Night" MGM, 1942.  Edward Arnold (Maclain), Ann Harding, Donna Reed, Reginald Denny, Katherine Emery.  Director: Fred Zinnemann.  Based on "The Odor of Violets".  Blind detective Maclain is visited by a woman whose stepdaughter is involved in murder and espionage.  He solves the case with the help of his seeing eye dog.  A decidedly stout, aging Edward Arnold as Maclain was not what Kendrick envisioned (no pun intended).

"The Hidden Eye" MGM, 1945.  Arnold, Frances Rafferty, Ray Collins, Paul Langton, William Phillips.  Director: Richard Whorf.  Heavily perfumed notes hinting at a betrayal in faraway Sumatra are found at the scenes of murder of several members of one family.  Maclain and his dog are called into the case and later both are kidnapped.

RADIO

"Suspense" CBS mystery anthology.  "Out of Control" March 28, 1946, with Brian Donlevy as Maclain.

TELEVISION

"Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse" CBS anthology show made a pilot for an undeveloped series.  Titled "Change of Heart" and filmed in 1960 with Robert Middleton as Duncan Maclain.  Allison Hayes and Dick Sargent also appeared.  The proposed pilot never aired in 1960 as intended, and became an episode of NBC's "Kraft Mystery Theater" which was shown Sept 12, 1962.

"Longstreet" was an ABC drama series with tall, handsome James Franciscus as Michael Longstreet, an insurance investigator recovering from an explosion that killed his wife and took his sight.  He captures the killers then continues his career with his seeing eye dog German Shepherd called Pax.  A 90-minute pilot aired on Feb 23, 1971, and the series ran for 23 episodes Sept 16, 1971 to Mar 2, 1972.  Kendrick was credited in each episode as the creator.  James Franciscus certainly looked the part of Kendrick's character, more than did Arnold in the movies or Middleton on TV, despite the name change from Maclain to Longstreet.