GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #57

RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE DETECTIVE

 Created by Blake Edwards, Richard Diamond first appeared on radio from April 24, 1949 to September 20, 1953.  Dick Powell starred as Diamond, a wisecracking former police officer turned P.I..  Episodes typically began with a client visiting or calling the cash-strapped Diamond and agreeing to his fee of $100 a day plus expenses.  Sometimes Diamond took on a case at the behest of his friend and former partner Lieutenant Walter Levinson.  Most of the radio episodes ended with Diamond at a piano singing a song to his girlfriend Helen Asher in her penthouse apartment at 975 Park Avenue.  Lt. Levinson was played variously by Ed Begley, Ted De Corsia, and Alan Reed (Fred Flintstone).  Helen was played by Virginia Gregg.  

Many of the shows were written and directed by Edwards.  The show's theme, "Leave It to Love", was whistled by Powell at the beginning of each episode.  The show started on NBC with Rexall as a sponsor, April 24, 1949 - December 6, 1950.  Camel cigarettes became the sponsor when it moved to ABC, January 5 - June 29, 1951.  Rexall returned as the sponsor from October 5, 1951 to June 27, 1952, and remained with the show when the series moved to CBS as a Sunday replacement for "Amos 'n' Andy", May 31 - September 20, 1953.

Blake Edwards (1922-2010) was a film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.  He was born William Blake Crump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where his father left the family before he was born.  His mother remarried and the family moved to Los Angeles.  After graduating from Beverly Hills High School, Blake began getting jobs as an actor and then served in the Coast Guard during WWII.  He suffered a severe back injury and turned to writing and directing in radio before moving into television.  Edwards was responsible for TV series like "Four Star Playhouse", "Richard Diamond, Private Detective", and "Peter Gunn".  Edwards then became a movie director.  He directed "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "Days of Wine and Roses", the "Pink Panther" series with Peter Sellers, and several of his wife's movies - (he married Julie Andrews in 1969) - including "Darling Lili", "The Tamarind Seed", "10", "S.O.B.", "Victor/Victoria", and "The Man Who Loved Women".  He and Julie Andrews were married for 41 years until his death, at age 88, from pneumonia.

TELEVISION

Dick Powell's company, Four Star Television, produced the TV version of "Richard Diamond, Private Detective" which premiered in the summer of 1957 on CBS.  Dick Powell, who had originated the role on radio, did not want to play Diamond on TV and Don Taylor played the title role in the November 22, 1956 pilot.  The pilot episode was titled "Double Cross" and appeared on the anthology series "Chevron Hall of Stars", co-starring Marian Carr, Barbara Nichols, and Andrew Duggan.  David Janssen assumed the role in the subsequent series that ran for four seasons.  The first two seasons followed the storyline created by the radio series, and each episode began with Janssen seen walking down a dimly lit street toward the camera when he would stop to light a cigarette, illuminating his face.

The third season moved the series from NYC to LA.  By the late 1950s the glamor of Hollywood was becoming an irresistible fantasy for millions of viewers, and the newer image of Diamond seemed to be more influenced by Hugh Hefner than Dashiell Hammett.  Diamond no longer occupied a low-rent, cloistered office, instead operating from a modern ranch house, complete with pool, in the Hollywood Hills.  Panoramic sliding glass doors provided a view of the mountains and city, and the sunken living room featured a bar and loveseat where Diamond could be found many evenings entertaining young women.  He drove a convertible - a 1959 DeSoto Fireflite - with a car phone that connected him to his answering service, overseen by the shapely, enigmatic "Sam".  Even the theme song by Pete Rugolo was a jazzier, stylized Stan Kenton-like sound.

In addition to Janssen , the series had other recurring characters.  Regis Toomey played Diamond's former superior on the NYPD, Lt. Dennis "Mac" McGough.  In the radio series Diamond had a steady girlfriend, wealthy socialite Helen Asher, a story arc that was avoided by TV until Season 3 when Diamond meets fashion designer Karen Wells, played by Barbara Bain.  The omnipresent Sam, who ran his answering service, was just a sexy voice who was never seen completely on screen.  Usually the audience only saw her legs, and the voice and legs belonged to Mary Tyler Moore (later replaced by Roxanne Brooks).

The show was sponsored by Maxwell House and Kent cigarettes and aired on CBS, July 1, 1957 to January 25, 1960.  The final season the show moved to NBC from June 28 - September 13, 1960.  A total of 77 episodes were produced, and was later syndicated as "Call Mr. D".

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