GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #68

VIRGIL TIBBS

Created by John Ball, when Tibbs first appeared in detective fiction readers knew that this remarkable character would end up in the "great detective" category.  Born in the Deep South, where his mother still resides, Virgil is visiting in that part of the country when he becomes a murder suspect solely because of his color in "In the Heat of the Night".  He solves the case to preserve his own reputation as well as that of the white police chief who reluctantly works with him.

For ten years, Tibbs, who is in his early thirties, has been with the Pasadena, California police department.  He is its expert on homicide cases, excellent at interpreting clues but equally qualified when physical force is needed.  He has studied karate under Nishiyama, who personally awarded him the black belt.  He also spent several years studying the highly advanced art of akido under the late master Isao Takashi.  He washed dishes and waited on tables in a university dining room while completing his education.  Tibbs feels that his ethnicity gives him a ready-made "disguise" - early in his career he made an important arrest while pretending to be a bootblack.  He assumed, correctly, that his suspect would not hesitate to transact "business", in this case peddling drugs, in the presence of a menial black.

Tibbs not concern himself with racial discrimination, feeling that the less attention he gives it, the less it will be directed toward him.  Because he views himself simply as a human being who happens to be black, he is able to deal effectively with all people in his community.  In "The Cool Cottontail" he investigates a murder in a widely known nudist resort.  In "Johnny Get Your Gun" a small white boy steals his father's gun, kills a black, and runs away from home.  Virgil must find the boy and prevent an impending race riot. (The facts of this case were somewhat distorted in the hardcover edition - a more accurate account appears in the Bantam paperback edition under the title "Death for a Playmate").

BIBLIOGRAPHY

John Ball (1911-1988) was born in Schenectady, NY, the son of a scientist, and grew up in Milwaukee.  He attended Carroll College in Waukesha, WI, and later became a commercial pilot.  During WWII he served for 4 years as a flier and flight instructor in the U.S. Army Air Corps.  Long interested in music, after the war he became the music editor and feature writer for the Brooklyn Eagle.  Later he was a daily columnist for the New York World-Telegram and a broadcaster with a Washington, D.C. radio station.  He also served on the science staff of Fortune magazine and lectured at New York's Hayden Planetarium before he moved to California to become director of public relations for the Institute of Aerospace Sciences.  He lived in Encino where he devoted himself full-time to writing.  Ball began his mystery writing career with high honors in 1965 when his first Virgil Tibbs novel was published.  "In the Heat of the Night" won the Edgar from the MWA as best first novel of the year.  The film version of the book won five Academy Awards.

NOVELS

1965 "In the Heat of the Night"/  1966 "The Cool Cottontail"/  1969 "Johnny Get Your Gun" (republished 1972 as "Death for a Playmate")/  1972 "Five Pieces of Jade"/  1976 "The Eyes of Buddha"/  1980 "Then Came Violence"/  1986 "Singapore"

SHORT STORIES

"One for Virgil Tibbs" (EQMM Feb. 1976)/  "Virgil Tibbs and the Cocktail Napkin" (EQMM Apr. 1977)/  "Virgil Tibbs and the Fallen Body" (EQMM Sept. 1978)/  "Good Evening Mr. Tibbs" 1987 was published in the book "Murder California Style".

FILMS

"In the Heat of the Night" United Artists, 1967.  Sidney Poitier (Tibbs), Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant.  Director: Norman Jewison.  When a prominent citizen is killed in a small Southern town, the redneck police chief (Steiger) quickly arrests a well-dressed black passing through town and is only slightly less suspicious when he learns that his suspect is a homicide detective in the Philadelphia police department.  Slowly he gives in to tolerance and respect.  Set in Sparta, Mississippi, the movie was filmed in Sparta, Illinois.  The film won both the Academy Award and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar for best picture of the year.

"They Call Me Mr. Tibbs!" United Artists, 1970.  Poitier, Martin Landau, Barbara McNair.  Director: Gordon Douglas.  Now with the San Francisco Police Department, Tibbs must defend a friend, a crusading minister, against the charge of murdering a prostitute, a crime of which he seems unmistakably guilty.

"The Organization" United Artists, 1971.  Poitier, McNair, Sheree North, Ron O'Neal, Allan Garfield.  Director: Dan Medford.  Again in San Francisco, Detective Tibbs must unofficially help a gang of well-meaning vigilantes who want to thwart the very business-like leaders of a nationwide heroin organization by stealing $4 million worth of the drug.

TELEVISION

"In the Heat of the Night" was loosely based on the novel and film of the same name.  Carroll O'Connor was police chief Bill Gillespie and Howard Rollins was Virgil Tibbs.  The show originally ran on NBC from March 6, 1988 until May 19, 1992, then moved to CBS from October 28, 1992 through May 16, 1995.  The TV series is a sequel to the movie, taking place years in the future when Virgil returns home for his mother's funeral and is persuaded to stay in town as the Chief of Detectives.

During the series run, Rollins, an Oscar-nominated actor, struggled with drug and alcohol addiction.  He was arrested four times and spent a month in jail for a DUI.  Due to his ongoing personal and legal issues Rollins was fired from the series after the sixth season.  Afterwards, Rollins achieved sobriety and began to work to rebuild his career and reputation.  In the fall of 1996 he was diagnosed with AIDS and six weeks later, on December 8, 1996, he died at the age of 46.