1954-01-13 The Road Angel

Road Angel is the first of the revival series and is a below average Casey presentation. The broadcast is  interesting, however, for its use of the original show opening from the early sustaining years and how the characters are introduced to the audience through dialogue. Off the radio for 37 months, the listening audience had changed dramatically, with many new listeners who needed to be familiar the characters, and returning listeners who needed to be refreshed (and perhaps de-programmed from the different characterizations of the television series). The big band flourishes of the Anchor-Hocking period are long gone, and the lusher orchestral arrangements of the Philip Morris era are replaced by organ music, a staple of early radio and always of soap operas. The revival could be viewed as a step down in show quality, which it was, but it also reclaimed the innocence of earlier years of both radio drama in general and Casey in particular.

There are no continuity notes for any of the revival series, nor are there any episode-specific news clippings.

1:10 Casey says hi to cops Charlie, Pete, Frank, and there is a group greeting in return. No clue why those names were picked by Cole, but they usually have some meaning to staff and others.

1:25 The murder victim (Pierce) has been shot with a .38; he was a sales representative, shot by a hitchhiker.

2:45 We hear Teddy Wilson for the first time in the drama portion of the program; he played along with Lew White's organ music at the show open. Ethelbert answers the phone "Blue Note Cafe, Ethelbert the Bartender speaking." New listeners get an intro to the character and the location.

3:15 Ethelbert asks Walter for a cup of coffee (for Casey) and to bring up more olives. Olives? Martinis, though a drink with a long history, had a surge of popularity in the mid-1950s; and this may have been a nod to that. Walter has no response. We do hear the sound effects of the coffee being delivered at 3:36.

4:55 Logan has fingerprints from the car of a known criminal, Flagler. It's a false lead.

6:10 Casey would like to take a ride to Clinton County to get away from things. This is another indicator that Casey's locale is New York City. The county is along the west shore of Lake Champlain and borders Canada. This was a popular area for summer homes on the lake or in the Adirondack Mountains. In the center of the county is the town of Dannemora, known for a 2015 prison escape that made national headlines and became a 2018 Showtime feature directed by Ben Stiller. It is one of the more remote parts of New York state, 300 miles from New York City, so it is unlikely that a pleasure trip for an afternoon would even be possible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Clinton_Correctional_Facility_escape

10:00 Casey considers a theory of the case that Pierce survived a botched holdup by Flagler, but would pick up another hitchhiker if it was a woman, especially an attractive one.

11:40 Hite announces that On Stage is coming back in a new time slot; Casey has taken its time slot. The program, which starred Elliott and Cathy Lewis, resumed in early February.

12:30 Casey is up in Ardmore, described as "upstate." There is no such town in New York or New England.

13:15 Casey stops for gas after four days of picking up woman hitchhikers with no success in attracting the killer.

14:05 Casey gives his business card to the gas attendant in case he hears of anything about the hitchhiker. The attendant recognizes the name as the photographer for crime pictures. He mentions the Pierce killing; he knew Pierce as a regular customer. Casey is thinking of packing it in and purposely and sarcastically misquotes a line from Longfellow's The Day is Done https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45896/the-day-is-done The attendant corrects him. It was common at the time that high school educated persons would have some familiarity with such literature at the time, so while amusing, it is not out of place. 14:50 The attendant knows of the "girl hitchhiker" and she robbed him. He never said anything because he was concerned about his reputation as a family man. He describes her for Casey... "an angel of the road." That is where the show title came from. He describes her gun as a snub-nose .38 revolver!

17:55 Casey finally spots the "road angel" and she gets into his car. She says her name is Doris Chapman. She is 21. They eventually get into small talk, all a ruse to gain Casey's confidence. She turns at 19:57 saying how much she hates men and makes Casey stop and get out. She takes the car and drives away.

20:55 Hours later, Casey is back with Ann and Logan, getting a good razzing from both of them. At least he has a good description of her ("I haven't been photographing people all these years without lookin' at 'em"). Logan thinks that Ann, knowing the description, can send her to find the "road angel" and win her confidence. She does, this time her name is "Doris Larkin." Ann plays it up that she's a tough grifter, too, and this time she wins Doris' confidence. Doris explains her tough family experiences. Ann scuffles in the car with Doris and takes her gun! Casey and Logan were following Ann's car (for four days... that's unlikely in real life to have a homicide captain out of the precinct for that long) and come running to get Doris and protect Ann. Ann had a recorder in the car hidden in the luggage, and was able to capture Doris' confession.

Lenrow (Logan) finally gets on-air credit as part of the regular cast.

Vox has an interesting brief history of hitchhiking. https://www.vox.com/2015/6/8/8737623/hitchhiking The practice was common in the Depression, and slowly declined as prosperity brought greater car ownership and declines in prices of long-distance travel.

Casey 54-01-13 368 The Road Angel (series returns to air).mp3
Degoo https://app.degoo.com/share/Zb6EoktBT4eSe4
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The 1954-1955 Revival Series

Casey's life on radio ended with The Upholsterer on 1950-11-16 as Philip Morris let its sponsorship expire. It all seemed like very bad news on top of other bad news. The movie rights were sold, but it never went into production. The comic book failed. A stage play, written for performance by theater groups hit with a thud. There was television. It seemed like a natural. There had been five experimental broadcasts in 1945. The only radio cast member in the episodes was John Gibson.

The series may have died on radio at the end of 1950, but it premiered on television in 1951 with Richard Carlyle in the starring role, and of course, there was John Gibson in the cast, yet again. Jan Miner was playing Ann. A young reporter, Frank Lipman, was added to the regular cast of characters. Cole did not participate in any of the scripting.

A few weeks into the series, the cast was changed to have Darren McGavin in the lead, and Gibson was replaced, too, but Miner stayed. Believe it or not, Toni was one of the sponsors! The company alternated week-to-week with Longines watch company. The series survived just a year. In mid-June 1952, it was replaced by the game show, I've Got a Secret.

For sure, Casey was dead now... multiple times...

At the end of 1953, CBS issued a press release announcing that Casey was returning to radio as a sustaining feature, with much of its original cast. Herman Chittison was replaced by Teddy Wilson. The new announcer was Bob Hite (who sounds like a combination of Don Pardo and Fred Foy). Cole was still supplying most of the scripts.

1953-12-31 CBS Press Release


1954-01-14 CBS Press Release


1954-01-15 CBS Press Release


1954-01-07 Kokomo IN Tribune


1954-01-10 Shreveport LA Times


1954-01-13 Charlotte NC Observer

Not everyone was thrilled with the idea. Casey was generally disliked by the critics for most of its run. These are negative comments by columnist Bob Fischer that likely reflect those of others in the newspaper trade. He believed the series lacked realism and trivialized the professional status of newspaper staffers. This did not sit well with Fischer and others. No one ever thought that Casey could be just plain fun and that they might want to go along for the ride.

1954-01-10 Rochester NY Democrat & Chronicle

The episodes recalled its earliest format, using the show opening that was most like Casey, Press Photographer, with Casey clicking his camera and saying "Got it! Look for it in the Morning Express!" Organ music replaced much of the orchestral arrangement, also giving it an early 1940s (and low budget but somewhat innocent) feel.

There were 62 broadcasts. Only the first two survive as circulating recordings, Road Angel and Source of Information. Cole wrote most all of the episodes, and based on what we now know about the original series, the bulk of the 62 are repeated scripts with mild adaptations to them. There are even some broadcasts in the 62 that are repeats of themselves. There are many episodes that are unidentified, and newspapers had so de-emphasized radio coverage and limited it to timetables that plot descriptions are not available. There is a good chance that because the programs were recorded on tape that the tapes were eventually re-used and that the revival broadcasts are gone for good.

1950-11-09 Woman of Mystery

Woman of Mystery is a repeat of Mysterious Lodger, one of the worst episodes of the series. Details are at https://bluenotebulletin.blogspot.com/2020/01/1947-03-06-mysterious-lodger.html

ADC continuity notes...

This time the corpus delecti is an attractive young woman who has been stabbed in the back by an obviously powerful man, The police find out that she has been a convicted murderess herself, that she had stabbed her lover and spent several years in prison for her crime. Her landlady says that the brother of the man she murdered has been seen hanging around her lately - and when the cops go to bring him in, he shoots it out with them - and he's killed in the process. It Looks like an open and shut case .. the brother obviously was the killer... But then Casey arrives on the scene. He corroborates the story that the police have learned from the young woman's landlady. And, for some reason, he doesn't believe it's quite as much of an open and shut case as the police believe. Casey develops a theory that the police hadn't even thought of - he unreels some of the peculiar quirks in human nature which ultimately portray the real murderer - the landlady..

Eva Condon's part has changed from Mrs. Myers in Mysterious Lodger to Mrs Banks. Details about her interesting career are in the Mysterious Lodger posting.

1950-11-03 CBS Press Release

Casey 50-11-09 366 Woman of Mystery AFRS#61 (ends Came to you Through -- same script as #175)
FROM DISC.mp3Degoo https://app.degoo.com/share/bWKlLoskvAT2QI
hubiC http://ovh.to/73geSDk

1950-11-09 San Antonio TX Express


1950-11-09 Tampa FL Times


1950-11-11 Moline IL Dispatch
This is a review of the episode. The Casey series was not well-liked by reviewers, so the tone is not a surprise. It's too bad the reviewer based it on one of the weakest entries of the series.

1950-11-02 The Deadly Wolf

The Deadly Wolf is a repeated program of Lady Killer. The details of that episode are at  https://bluenotebulletin.blogspot.com/2020/01/1947-07-10-lady-killer.html

ADC continuity notes...

When handsome Oswald Vinton strikes up a conversation with Clarissa Mellish, a rich and bored divorcee, she is definitely intrigued. So Oswald buys her a coupl of drinks, takes her driving and strangles her to death. Casey and Ann are sent to cover the case. They discover that from the description given by the hotel people, Vinton is known by other names to the police as a klller with a long record of murdering rich women, then looting their apartments. The scene shifts to another resort where Jane Kitchener is Vinton (under an assumed name) next intended victim. The hotel manager recognizes him and calls the police. However, by the time they arrive, Vinton has disappeared. With Jane's help Casey sets the trap, which, after an exciting sequence of events, springs the mystery of "The Deadly Wolf."

The character names were changed. Lady Killer's Madeleine became Clarissa Mellish; Cecil Gramatan became Oswald Vinton; Clara Simmons was changed to Jane Kitchener. 

An AFRS disc of this episode (AFRS #60) was recently sold on eBay, and it is hoped that a recording of it is available sometime in the future.

1950-06-15 Unlucky Numbers

Unlucky Numbers is a better than average episode, written by Gail & Harry Ingram. The Ingrams were highly capable writers, and their work indicates great familiarity with the details of the Casey program and its often lighthearted moments. Harry wrote Scene of the Crime, one of the more entertaining episodes for its focus on Ethelbert as a wannabe detective. The Ingrams seem well-versed in Casey background and continuity, and may be more entertaining than some of Cole's work.

Their collaboration for this episode is an interesting one. The core of the program is Gail's script for The Big Story of 1948-07-21 about "lottery rackets" in Atlanta as uncovered by reporter Keeler McCartney. Harry adapted the script to the characters of Casey resulting in this episode. Both Gail and Harry each contributed scripts to The Big Story radio series, and Gail also composed scripts for The Big Story television series. It is fascinating to have Gail's original script in front of you as you listen to this Casey episode. The script is at https://app.box.com/s/ogqz6zddmr2v0y88i54n15jjm538y301 and is available to the public because scripts of radio programs that were sponsored by cigarette companies became part of the tobacco litigation of the last decades of the 20th century and were made available online for attorneys and the public. (many thanks to Cobalt Club member mjnunes84 for the research tip; The Big Story episode can be heard at YouTube.)

ADC continuity notes... (typos included)

Casey and Ann are set out to get some info. on "the numbers racket".  They interview the mother or one or the youngsters who has fallen victim to the lure or the numbers game. Mrs. Polachek tells how her son Steve cannot resist trying his luck each week, using his hard-earned money and even going so far as to use the family savings when his own gives out... She is bitter about the whole things and begs Casey to put a stop to it. Casey does some sleuthing and meets up with the head of the numbers racket and with the help or Mrs. Polachek and her son, puts an end to this worthless racket.

0:42 Ethelbert believes that Gladys wants to marry him, because she said so. He says if he doesn't ask her, she'll be mad. And if he does ask her, she'll say yes. He believes neither result is satisfactory. Casey says he needs to be firm, and not let a woman gain the upper hand... and as he rants, Ethelbert tries to get his attention that Ann has walked in and has been hearing all this.

Ann tells Casey that Burke has an assignment about the numbers racket. Casey sees no problem with the numbers games, so thinks it's a "silly" assignment. Elsewhere in the US, these games may have been referred to as lottery games. Both usually were done in bars as the owners looked the other way or may have gotten an under-the-table cut of the take. If there were problems, they would say they were not aware that such things were happening in their establishment.

2:06 Ethelbert says if they want to know about the numbers, they should ask Steve Polachek, a young patron of the Blue Note, since he plays the games. Ethelbert gives his address as 22 Ward Street.

2:50 Casey and Ann meet Steve's mother. She gets very upset when Casey mentions that they are there to talk about the numbers games, thinking that they are there to collect a gambling debt. She explains that gambling is a sickness and he can't stop playing.

7:55 Casey is going undercover to find out who is behind the games. He's going to pretend to be a numbers runner at Al's Pool Hall. Logan warns him that it's dangerous.

Casey meets "Whitey" who really wants to be one of the tough guys but is not smart enough to be one, and leaks confidential information to Casey constantly. Casey's using the name "Duke." Whitey says the mob is concerned about the stories about numbers that are being written in the Morning Express, and that Casey and Williams may have to be dealt with.

11:43 Inadvertently, one of the local cops recognizes Casey and tries to start a friendly conversation with him in front of Whitey. Casey's cover is blown... but he gets away by pretending he has a gun in his suit jacket pocket.

13:50 Matheson, the gang leader, arranges to ambush Casey at the house with the "silver door" where they killed a cop who was investigating the racket two years ago.

14:45 Whitey approaches Steve in the street to play the game again. Whitey is behind in his receipts and he knows Steve is an easy target, and he gives in for "the last time." Steve is told that the "guys at the silver door" are going to take care of Casey.

16:35 Casey gets a call that is a ruse to get him to the trap. 18:00 Mrs. Polachek meets them to tell them that Steve told her it was a trap and they shouldn't go. 19:00 They realize they are at the house with the silver door, but they can't start the car to go away -- some wires were pulled.

They force Casey to drive to the place where they will kill him. But Casey starts to drive recklessly 21:00 at high speed to put everyone in the car in danger. He runs a red light and a police siren can be heard in the distance. The car crashes in a loud collection of skid and inadequate collision sound effects. The next scene is at the Blue Note.

21:44 Ethelbert asks Casey if he wants another pillow behind his back, which he refuses, though it is clear he is in pain (What's a bar doing with pillows?). The he says "Miss Williams, another pillow under your..." is a fill-in-the-blank much of the audience must have chuckled about.

Matheson was arrested for a long list of crimes, including the Sullivan Act. The law restricted the use of guns in New York, another indication of the locale of the series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_Act  Some people at the time imprecisely used the phrase as a generic name for gun laws in general.

Casey admits to driving through eight red lights in the adventurous driving incident; he still may be charged with reckless driving.

22:30 Steve and Mrs. Polachek visit the Blue Note to thank Casey and Ann for their work and that Steve is no longer playing the numbers. They can now save their money for the farm they wanted and more.

The AFRS closing, after some music, is "Tonight's adventure was written by Alonzo Deen Cole. Staat [sic] Cotsworth played the part of Casey, Jan Miner was Ann, and John Gibson was Ethelbert. Next week, another adventure of Casey, Crime Photographer! This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education."

The Polacheks live at 22 Ward Street. There is a home at 22 Ward Street in Norwalk, Connecticut, the town where the Ingrams lived. There is no indication any connection to the Ingrams that I can find at this time. Many writers of the time inserted real addresses to entertain themselves and others they knew. One of the best at it was Jack Johnstone, who used his home address and those of acquaintances in his writing of Johnny Dollar.

Casey 50-06-15 345 Unlucky Numbers AFRS#47.mp3
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There are no relevant newspaper clippings for this episode.

This chart shows some of the changes Harry made to the script:

The ending is much different and is newly written. The epilogue at the Blue Note has some similarities to the Big Story script.

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Gail and Harry Ingram were successful writers and directors of many programs such as Tales of Fatima, The Big Story, The Shadow, Inner Sanctum, and submitted scripts for other series such as Casey, Crime Photographer.

This is the only episode that they wrote jointly. The others were all credited to Harry alone.
48-07-15  246  Farewell Performance
48-08-05  249  Pattern for Murder (2nd use of the title, Cole wrote a different episode with this title)
48-09-16  255  Two Thousand Suspects
48-12-16  267  Blackout
49-03-10  279  The Scene of the Crime
49-06-09  292  Deadline -- Midnight
50-01-12  323  The Love Story
50-04-27  338  Dead Pigeon (2nd use of the title, Cole wrote a different episode with this title)
50-06-15  345  Unlucky Numbers

Pictures of Gail and Harry Ingram can be found at Getty Images
https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/gail-harry-ingram?mediatype=photography&phrase=gail%20harry%20ingram&sort=mostpopular

Harry's death was very unexpected.

1952-03-18 Syracuse NY Post-Standard


1952-03-18 Hartford CT Courant

Gail Ingram continued her career long after Harry's death. This blogpost has some excellent background about her.
https://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2007/12/21/in-memoriam-gail-ingram-1924-2007/

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Harry's script, Blackout, became a photostory in the Summer 1949 edition of Radio Album. The name was changed to Finger of Suspicion. Here is the first page...

Strangely, they give Casey the first name of "Steve" in the article! His name was "Jack" in the pulps. Based on the recordings we have, his first name was never used, but it did appear in some newspaper clippings. Perhaps the writer or editor of the piece was thinking of "Steve Wilson," lead character of the Big Town series?

These photoplays can be great fun to view. Even the gangsters are in suits and ties! These give you a chance to see the stars of the programs. The pictures are so staged and stilted, for the most part, that they have an innocence to them and give the reader a chuckle. Cotsworth can really ham it up for some of the photos, and those are great, too.

Download the full photoplay article as a PDF
https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code=XZ6GoMkZvP1cuz3WBKSa0muAGQ7pi5p8bBWX

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The series celebrated its eighth anniversary in July 1950. Below is the anniversary press release from CBS. The series would end four months later, when Philip Morris let its contract expire.

1950-07-10 CBS Press Release

1950-05-04 The Suicide

The Suicide is a repeated script that was originally presented on 1945-02-15 with the title Suicide Note. The last time a Broadway-like venue was used was for 1947-07-31 Bright New Star and a non-Cole script 1947-11-13 Too Many Angels were in similar settings of failed plays. This time, a handwritten page of draft dialogue from a very bad play was cut to look like a suicide note. Cole pulls the ol' life-insurance-doesn't-pay-for-suicides routine out of his back pocket. This is an average episode with a predictable plot, but generally well-executed.

ADC continuity notes (notes for 1945-02-15 Suicide Note are the same)...

After his play in which his wife starred and which was produced by her boyfriend fails an author is supposedly a suicide, having jumped from his hotel window while his wife was in the lobby talking with some people. He left a corny suicide note which Casey thinks was from a cut scene of his play. Casey gets the dead man's lawyer to tell the widow that he left very little money and that she forfeits the insurance because death was by suicide, As he thought she would, she goes to see the boyfriend and forces him to write a confession of murder after which she plans to kill him and make that too look like suicide; the police break in before she can complete her plans.

Every time I think of a failed Broadway play, I think of Mel Brooks' The Producers.

- Carl Ashby was the author of the play, a businessman who decided to try his hand at writing.
- Lee Gorman is the producer of the play, who decides to close the play after one night; according to Ann Williams, he is a "beautiful hunk of man."
- Nedra Millard is the star of the play... "Nedra" backwards is "Arden." Could Cole have had Eve Arden in mind? Nedra is Ashby's wife. Cole could have been stuck for a name. The actress-singer Nedra Volz was not active in this era https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nedra_Volz but Cole may have heard of her from her big band singing career in the Midwest. She was not well-known.
- Ben Cartwright is Ashby's lawyer (no, not Ben from the TV show of years later).

4:10 Ethelbert says to them "Say, I didn't see you two last night. Where was you?" He says that Ashby is a regular at the Blue Note.

5:40 Casey is told that Ashby has committed suicide. 6:00 Logan says it's an open and shut case. 7:25 Nedra seems to have a perfect alibi.

7:50 Casey sees the suicide note, and the top of the page has been torn off, and the note is not signed. 8:40 He's really suspicious about it.

10:40 Nedra uses almost the same words "all of us make mistakes, don't we... big ones..." as Gorman did at 1:53 "one of those big mistakes we make at one time or another." The "mistakes" line is used at the end about a sports bet Casey makes.

11:15 Casey explains it all to Logan: Nedra married Carl for his money, but she continued to be interested in Lee. They figured a way to get rid of Carl. Carl wanted to write a play, and Nedra and Lee helped him in such a way to ensure it was a flop. The play dealt with a suicide, so they concocted a way for him to draft in longhand some dialogue that would fit neatly near the center of a page that could be contrived to be a suicide note once they trim the paper to remove the various aspects of character identification and stage direction. The ridicule about the play would give reason to the suicide. 13:21 Casey explains that Lee had a key to the apartment and pushed Carl out the window, and then returned to the post-show event by way of the freight elevator.

14:00 Logan explains that the insurance policy Carl had was less than a year old, and would be void if death was by suicide. Logan says that Carl's lawyer says he was not as wealthy as believed. Casey believes that the voided insurance policy was actually part of the plan so no one would suspect Nedra of the murder because there was no financial incentive for it. Casey and the lawyer, Ben Cartwright, meet. The lawyer agrees, at Casey's urging, to tell Nedra that Carl was only worth $10,000 ($110,000 in 2020 dollars) and not $500,000 ($5.5 million in 2020 dollars).

18:48 Nedra meets Lee... neither of them knew about the insurance policy being voided. Now, she will turn on Lee and make it clear that Lee murdered him. 20:40 There's a gun in the room and Nedra has it as she says to Lee: "This gun will tell you what I mean" as she threatens to kill him unless he writes a confession that he was behind everything. Before she has a chance to shoot him, 21:27 Logan shoots the gun from her hand. Casey and Logan had rigged a Dictaphone to record everything they said about the murder. An ad for a 1950 Dictaphone product is at http://file.vintageadbrowser.com/n0kb0wqt4x8wgm.jpg The inventor of the core technology for the first Dictaphones was Alexander Graham Bell.

At the close of the episode, Casey mentions he bet Logan that the Red Sox would win today. They lost, Casey reports. And in real life, they lost, too, 5-4 with Cleveland's Bob Lemon beating the BoSox Mel Parnell. It was a day game, and it was over at about 4:30, they had time to adjust the script in any manner needed to make whatever Casey said be true. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS195005040.shtml  This line was newly added to this script because the original performance of this script was in February of 1945, two months before the baseball season would begin. This adds again to the question as to the locale of Casey, Boston or New York. If it was Boston, Casey would be unhappy if they lost. In New York, the saying has always been "I root for only two baseball teams, the Yankees and whoever is playing the Red Sox."

The AFRS closing is music after the Blue Note epilogue and then "This adventure of Crime Photographer starring Staat [sic] Cotsworth as Casey, came to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education."

Casey 50-05-04 339 The Suicide AFRS UPGRADE.mp3
Degoo https://app.degoo.com/share/kTA9PhPtwoabtN
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There were no newspaper clippings related to this episode.

This news item was available, however. The 2020 value of Cole's payments were $275,000. It did not last much longer. Cole was not able to adjust to television writing, and did not have any other outlets for his work. More details in an upcoming post, some of it tragic.

1950-05-04 Atmore AL Advance

1950-04-13 The Disappearance of Mr Dizzel

Disappearance of Mr. Dizzel was a re-use of the script from 1945-06-12 The Strange Case of Mr. Strange. It's an interesting script for a while but the details of the disappearance end up being simplistic and defy the mildest application of practical scrutiny.

For many years this episode circulated in bad sound, and no one was able to figure out the title or the spelling. In the 1970s, it would be listed as "The Disappearance of Adam Gazelle" or other approximations.

ADC continuity notes (the same for both broadcasts)...

The servants of a wealthy dealer in rare books return from their night off to see two men helping a third out or the house and inside they find bullet holes and bloodstains, but no body. Police believe that someone broke in and kidnapped the old man, and his nephew who has been friendly with several questionable characters is suspected. Ransom notes arrive at the nephew's door. The old man has been hiding in the fireplace chimney of his own den and has slipped the notes under the door himself at night in order to secure money to leave the country because his crooked dealings in book have been discovered by the other dealers.

00:50 There are some what may be considered caricatured portrayals of black servants (Louella and Henry Clarence) who work for Mr. Dizzel, speaking with exaggerated accents. It sounds like actors of that background (I suspect portraying the parts as they were "supposed" to sound) and are not imitations by other actors. They are not identified in the credits, but we know Casey only identified central characters and not supporting ones. Since we don't have the network copies of either broadcast or the scripts, we may never know. Cotsworth was very active quietly behind-the-scenes in getting helping actors get into roles on Broadway and radio and situations that broke some barriers. Perhaps that is the case here; again, we're 70 years removed from the day of broadcast so we can't be sure.

It's assumed from the beginning that Dizzel was kidnapped and there will be a call for ransom.

Professor Ishka is rare book thief who wants to do well and make amends after his release from prison. He goes to Casey because he knows the authorities won't believe him and doesn't want to be considered a snitch.

Bruce Madden, Jr. is a well-known extortionist. Neil Lawrence is Dizzel's nephew. Logan thinks they're in cahoots. Madden, Sr. cut his son off for his playboy and spendthrift ways. The Maddens are only referenced; they have no lines.

Another book dealer, Paul Vladimir, is killed later, at the same time as the Dizzel incident occurs, and the same kind of gun was used. We learn he was Ishka's brother.

8:00 Ann is suspicious of a kidnap plot from the beginning.

9:05 The ransom letter appears, placed under Lawrence's door. It's Dizzel's handwriting and says the kidnappers want $150,000. That's more than $1.6 million in 2020 dollars.

11:15 The indication is made by Louella that the building has been renovated with an impractical layout in the conversion from home to book shop. Moving from room-to-room is not intuitively navigated. This plays into the solution. 12:35 It's noted that there are phone extensions all over the house. In 1950, this was considered to be a sign of affluence because of the high costs. More than 35% of homes did not have phones in 1950.

14:15 Ann is still skeptical of Lawrence as the kidnapper.

14:46 Mr. Evans, a new customer at the Blue Note, diverts Ethelbert's attention; not sure which actor is doubling here. While Ethelbert steps away, Professor Ishka gets Casey's ear for a while and gives him some insights into Dizzel's dealings, which were not always ethical. He says that Vladimir was his brother and Dizzel killed him. Dizzel was a fence for stolen books, and that Dizzel was not kidnapped and is still alive, hiding.

18:45 Another envelope has been found. 19:05 It's a letter of instruction from Dizzel to his nephew. Casey gets suspicious. The note was tied to a piece of fire brick, not a rock. For some reason, this is a clue to Casey. He asks for some tear gas canisters.

20:58 The tear gas is dropped into a chimney -- and Dizzel comes out, gasping for air, from behind a bookcase with a gun! He drops the gun and surrenders.

21:35 The tear gas spills into the area, affecting Casey. He says he hasn't "cried so much since the Dodgers... well, you know..." He's could be referring to the 1949 World Series where the Dodgers lost to the Yankees in five games https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1949_WS.shtml but more likely the 1947 series where the Dodgers lost in seven games https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1947_WS.shtml Since this is a re-used script, this line may have been added. If the 1945 script had a World Series reference that was left intact, it would refer to the 1941 series https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1941_WS.shtml  This is another reference that implies Casey is based in New York.

Back at the Blue Note, Casey explains that Dizzel had a hiding place in the house where he could store stolen books and was using the room hide until he could escape with his own ransom money. It's unlikely his staying in the room could be pulled off in practical daily life. There's no mention of a lavatory in the hiding place, and servants and his nephew would have heard him using such for personal hygiene, or his having to leave the room for that. Dizzel was raiding the kitchen when everyone else in the house was asleep, and eventually he would have been detected, even accidentally by spilling something or dropping something. He would have been found out, just by moving around in an older home with its usual creakiness of floorboards and doors.

23:40 Ann is having a date with Mr. Lawrence, whom she always knew was innocent. Casey is mildly jealous.

The AFRS closing is "This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education."

Casey 50-04-13 336 The Disappearance of Mr Dizzel AFRS.mp3
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There are no newspaper clippings associated with this particular presentation.

This was not the episode originally promoted for this date. The substitution was made after the press releases were sent. The announced performance was done on another date, likely with a slightly different title.

1950-04-07 CBS Press Release

1950-04-06 The Fire

The Fire is a typical Casey episode, but has a little more than usual flirty interplay with Casey and Ann because one of the clues to the solution is the diamond rings in the story. Casey hates them; Ann loves them.

As I'm digging through the broadcast history of this series I have been finding many more repeats than expected and originally thought. Cole often changed the names of his scripts when they would be reused. And when he repeated them, he usually changed the names of the characters. In the Thunderbolt episode we heard many similarities with Gentle Strangler. We can't detect them all because we only have 80 recordings. They occur so often in those 80, that it suggests the reuse of concepts, sections of dialogue, and scripts was almost rampant. This particular script was broadcast on 1946-05-07 with the title The Man Nobody Liked. I will be creating a chart of such repeats as I have been able to find them, and will be updating the Casey log as well.

ADC continuity notes...

50-04-06 TYPOS INCLUDED
A clerk in the bookkeeping department on Mr. Windber's company is found murdered and an unsuccessful attempt is made to destroy his  apartment by starting a fire. On checking with the firm, Casey and Logan learn that the cashier under whom the clerk worked had disappeared several weeks ago. Casey believes the two are connected and that that was the reason the clerk was killed. At the interview both Mr. Windber and Mr. Haywood, the V.P., wear diamond rings. ON the drive home Casey and Ann notice that a large rock has fallen off a cliff or been pried loose to create a landslide. At the clerk's apartment they find a small roll of film hidden and as they look at it they are struck from behind and the only bit of film their assailant doesn't get shows a man's hand wearing a diamond ring, and also a bit of the rock that had been pried loose. When they return to the plant, Haywood is no longer wearing his ring, so he is the killer.  Haywood is the one who stole the money. He killed the Cashier, threw his body over the cliff and then started the landslide to cover it in order that the embezzlement would be blamed on him. The clerk was killed because he had seen the whole thing and recorded it on film.

1946-05-07 The Man Nobody Liked
A clerk in the bookkeeping department on Mr. Norbitt's company is found murdered and an unsuccessful attempt is made to destroy his apartment by starting a fire. On checking with the firm, Casey and Logan learn that the cashier under whom the clerk Ronson worked had disappeared several weeks ago. Casey believes the two are connected and that that was the reason the Ronson was killed. At the interview both Mr. Norbitt and Mr. Hartwell, the V.P., wear diamond rings. On the drive home Casey and Ann notice that a large rock has fallen off a cliff or been pried loose to create a landslide. At the Ronson's apartment they find a small roll of film hidden and as they look at it they are struck from behind and the only bit of film their assailant doesn't get shows a man's hand wearing a diamond ring, and also a bit of the rock that had been pried loose. When they return to the plant, Hartwell is no longer wearing his ring, so he is the killer. Hartwell is the one who stole the money. He killed Slater, the Cashier, threw his body over the cliff and then started the landslide to cover it in order that the embezzlement would be blamed on him. Ronson was killed because he had seen the whole thing and recorded it on film.

We learn early on that the apartment was burned after someone was searching through it, and did not find what they wanted to. So they wanted to make sure that if it was there but didn't find it, that the fire would destroy it. The original thought of Casey and Logan was the fire was to cover the murder and anything else that would lead to their detection. Later they realize it was to cover up the murder and destroy additional evidence.

This is another episode where the person had photographic developing in a home. The prior episode was Murder in Black and White.

Keep track of the names: Milton is the bookkeeper, killed as part of the fire cover-up. The cashier, Crowley, is the one who uncovered the embezzlement.

Milton was killed by being struck with a piece of iron... a crowbar later figures into the story.

10:30 Essential clue: "the big white rock that looked like a warty cucumber" is a recognizable rock that fell during the landslide. Casey says it's a wonder that the rock "didn't do a Brodie a long time ago." Steve Brodie claimed to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge in 1866, so any long fall jump went into the popular vocabulary as "do a Brodie." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Brodie_(bridge_jumper) NY Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin wrote in his May 24, 1983 column that Brodie put sand in his socks, a lot of it, to be sure he went feet first for the dive of 135 feet and went smoothly into the water with barely a splash. Then he took his socks off underwater and came right up.

1886-07-24 NY Times

10:55 The old timer says someone could move the rock with a crowbar, but the rain seemed to have done it... little does he know...

11:30 Ethelbert knows Casey seems very sad not in the mood for talking. Casey admits Ann is angry at him. Ethelbert says if it's over diamonds, he knows that's a sore subject among women.

13:30 Ann tells Casey the police say it's a case of embezzlement. Casey is now figuring out the logic of the case.

15:00 Casey and Ann are at Milton's burned out apartment looking for clues. Casey finds rolled up film inside a curtain rod. Just as they're about to turn around and leave, they're both attacked and knocked out. When they become conscious, Casey finds a piece of a negative. It has part of the "cucumber rock" and part of a hand holding a crowbar, and the hand has a diamond ring on a finger!

20:05 Casey relates the full story of the case to Logan, Winber, and Haywood, and the cover-up. Crowley had figured out one of the executives was embezzling, and wanted to put the blame onto Crowley the cashier who was leaving on vacation, to make it look like he absconded with the funds. The executive threw Crowley over the edge of the cliff, then caused the landslide. Milton the bookkeeper decided to trail the executive, and took a pictures of him causing the landslide so he could blackmail him. Instead, Milton was killed, and the executive frantically searched for the films and could not find them. It was not until Casey and Ann went back to the apartment and found them hidden in the curtain rod that anyone knew where the film was, and that's when they we struck, and he got away with the film, except for a small incriminating image. Casey was not certain if it was Winber or Haywood, but when he saw that Haywood was not wearing his diamond ring, he knew who the culprit was. When he holds a gun and tries to escape, Ann knocks Haywood out with a swing of her handbag -- she has a brick in it in case she had the chance for revenge for the attack of the other day.

The diamond exchanges:
7:43 Windber wears a diamond ring that he rotated to hide or protect the stone in his hand. Casey and Ann notice.
8:47 Ann says someday she will "quit this newspaper racket, and get married, and live like a human being."
8:57 Casey asks if she picked a guy and she says "I will pick the first one that puts a diamond on my finger." Windber's diamond was big but she says that a small diamond "will do."
9:16 Casey says "personally I got no use for diamonds." Ann responds somewhat sternly "you wouldn't."
9:30 The landscape unfolds in front of them as they drive through the country. Casey says "It's nature in her fairest aspects, budding trees, new grass, birds..." and Ann says "and bees."
11:05 The old-timer says goodbye to Casey "and his Missus" and Ann yells back "I'm not his Missus... I'm not even his friend... I hate men who have no use for diamonds."
23:40 Ann finally gets a diamond ring... Winber gave Ann his diamond ring as a reward for her role in the case.

The AFRS closing is music after the Blue Note epilogue and then "This adventure of Crime Photographer starring Staat [sic] Cotsworth as Casey, came to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education."

Casey 50-04-06 335 The Fire AFRS.mp3
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There are no newspaper clippings related to this episode.

1950-03-02 Bad Little Babe

Bad Little Babe has its flaws, but once you ignore or accept certain aspects of the plot, it is an entertaining story of misjudgment on the parts of Casey and Ann that turns into redemption and the best kind of revenge and justice.

ADC continuity notes...

Casey receives a mysterious phone call telling him to not leave his apartment or he will be killed... At first he thinks this is a gag but after successfully dodging a few close bullets, he is willing to believe otherwise. Casey's investigation reveals a flourishing game of blackmail - a suicide - and he runs into a gal who he believes is a part of this whole frame, but who, he later learns, is responsible for saving his life.

Once you accept or ignore the low likelihood that a 19-year-old woman can create and sustain a months-long scheme to take down an underworld figure, the story works. It's not that the gangsters can't be outsmarted by a 19-year-old, it's just that she would likely be silenced or found out in some manner before it could play out. It's hard to fathom that anyone, no matter their age, would be able to carry out the scheme without slipping up somewhere. Even the best undercover agents can slip up. Remember: Casey's a comic book, and things that are somewhat implausible are always possible. It's just that this is wildly implausible. Ignore it and enjoy the episode.

0:52 Casey gets the call that his life is in danger and he should not go to the parking lot to go to his car. He calls Logan, who arrives with other police to surveil Casey as he walks to his car.

4:26 The shooting starts, but Casey's okay; the gunmen are killed, but Casey does not recognize them.

When there's a lot of characters, it's often one of Cole's better stories; they might be hard to keep track of...
- Joe Kirby, gangster
- Sam Alberts, the gangster that Kirby likely killed (no lines)
- Sandra Lampson, girlfriend of Joe Kirby; she's a late judge's daughter, whom Casey has known most of her life; 6:30 Ann refers to her as a "bad little babe." The judge committed suicide by crashing his car.
- Emma Humphreys is Kirby's prior girlfriend, likely jealous of Sandra and angry at Kirby; Casey thinks Emma is the person who warned him (we thought the character had lines, but as the story moves on, we know she didn't.
- Sandra Lent is the person with whom Kirby was having dinner, his alibi for the Humphries shooting (no lines)
- Lou, a gangster who works for Kirby, gives Casey a tip, but actually leads Casey into a trap

8:20 Burke calls Casey at the Blue Note that Emma Humphreys was killed; 9:10 Logan thinks Emma was the one who tipped Casey, and Kirby had her killed in revenge for ruining his plot to kill Casey.

11:18 Kirby tells Casey he's marrying Sandra Lampson; Casey starts to scuffle with him over the idea, stopped by Logan.

12:42 Casey makes a "date" with Sandra Lampson at the home where her father lived and she grew up. There is important dialogue is where she tells Casey where to sit... he realizes the she bugged the room for Kirby, and then he gives her and Kirby an earful!

15:50 Casey is carrying a gun to protect himself, at Logan's insistence.

16:25 A gangster calls Casey at the Blue Note. Casey leaves to talk to "Lou," who is upset that Kirby and Sandra Lampson killed Emma Humphreys.

19:50 Casey and Lou climb into Sandra Lampson's bedroom to find the gun she is hiding. The gun is exactly where Lou said it was "wrapped in a nighty."

20:30 It's a trap! Kirby and Sandra step out from a closet, and Lou is part of the trap! She says she planned the trap. She calls Casey "a chump" and her shooting him would be covered by claiming Casey broke into the apartment.

21:35 She says that Kirby trusted her fully when he heard the tape recording of Casey. Lou admits he killed Emma.

22:13 Sandra turns on the thugs! She explains her long-executed hoax to trap Kirby. Her father wrote a letter to her before his suicide that Kirby had been blackmailing him. Casey says Sandra is "one swell little babe."

23:50 Gibson stumbles over dialogue and it's perfectly natural.

The AFRS closing is music after the Blue Note epilogue and then "This adventure of Crime Photographer starring Staat [sic] Cotsworth as Casey, came to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education."

CBS Press Release

Casey 50-03-02 330 Bad Little Babe AFRS.mp3
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1950-03-02 Miami FL Herald

1950-01-19 Wanted: A Gun

Wanted: A Gun is a slightly below-average entry in the Casey series. It has a pet store owner selling illegal guns to those who seek them. In the gangster lingo of the time, he's selling gats and cats! There's misdirection of motives and suspects involving rival business partners who want a big payday alone and not the other, a murder with confusing purpose and perpetrator, and attempted poisoning, too. It's all in a day's work for Casey and Ann. And the special at the Blue Note is pigs knuckles and sauerkraut! There's nothing really bad about the episode, it's good to hear the cast play it all out, but there's nothing really compelling about the endeavor.

ADC continuity notes...

A jealous husband purchases a gun - later he is found dead. The wife is questioned.  Soon after another murder ls committed - this man was an admirer of the first dead man's wife. It appears that she used the second man to rid herself of a jealous husband - and then wanted him out of the way also.  A corner torn from a $100 bill and saturated with perfume is found in the latter dead man's hand - the matching remainder is discovered in the woman's purse. Investigation shows us that the woman had no part in the murders - that the killer planted the same perfume that she was accustomed to wearing on the torn $100 bill so as to throw suspicion toward the woman.

This show is often confused with another show, 1948-05-27 #239 Gun Wanted. It is misidentified as circulating in the Siegel & Cox book and Wanted: A Gun is noted as missing. Key tipoff: the Gun Wanted episode would have Bill Cullen as the announcer because the date places it in the Toni run. Because Ken Roberts is the announcer, it is part of the Philip Morris run. The ADC continuity notes make it very clear that Gun Wanted is a much different episode, with the plot centered around a storekeeper murdered by a gangster.

The story begins with a Mr. Mercer entering a pet shop owned by Mr. Paxton. Mercer was told was Paxton was able to quietly procure guns. He wants to protect himself from a criminal being released, Jeff Robbins, who had threatened Mercer and Robbins wife whom he suspected of cheating. 2:21 Mercer is shocked when the gun will cost $75. That's $825 in 2020 dollars.

Pigs knuckles and sauerkraut is what's being offered at the Blue Note today. https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/german-roasted-pork-knuckle/

Burke calls the Blue Note and tells Casey that Jeff Robbins has been shot. At 4:45 Casey and Ann are with Logan at the alley where Robbins was shot. Logan knows that Robbins was "green-eyed" (jealous) about Mercer.

6:00 Business partner Carl Bantry identifies the body. Bantry and Robbins were in the chemical business. 7:40 Mercer is brought to the scene and the police found the gun with two chambers fired. He says he didn't fire the gun and did not kill Robbins. 8:30 Paxton denies selling the gun, and denies selling guns at all.

10:45 Casey is suspicious that Paxton used the gun on Robbins before giving it to Mercer to frame him. Paxton may have done both because he was interested in Mrs. Robbins, too. This theory of the crime turns out to be incorrect.

11:40 Mrs. Robbins perfume is mentioned, and is important as a diversion planted by the real killer. Logan and Casey stumble over each other getting the widow a glass of water.

13:20 Ann thinks Mrs. Robbins put Mercer up to killing her husband. Casey is still uncertain what happened. He's wrong again.

14:40 Casey and Ann find Paxton murdered... poisoned... and the odor of Mrs. Robbins perfume is in the air.

16:25 Casey and Ann find the corner of a $100 bill saturated with her perfume. They decide to confront Mrs. Robbins. 17:55 Casey looks in her handbag and finds a stack of $100 bills, one of which has a corner missing. The discussion leads to the possibility of Bantry being involved in the crime. Mrs. Robbins would inherit the share of the partnership. By framing her for the crime, Bantry would own the company free and clear. Casey has a hunch that Bantry is behind it all (the death of Robbins and the framing of Mercer). Casey asks her to invite him to her apartment, and to offer him a drink.

21:55 Just as Bantry and the widow are about to clink glasses, Casey and Ann come out from where they were hiding. The tell Mrs. Robbins not to drink from the glass. They're convinced she was about to be poisoned. Casey slugs Bantry and knocks him out.

Back at the Blue Note, we learn that Bantry confessed to the police that a new chemical formula that toughens plastic was developed while Robbins was in jail. Because Robbins was not involved in creating it, Bantry wanted all the profits for himself because it was valued at $100,000 ($1.1 million in 2020 dollars).

The AFRS closing, after some music, is "Tonight's adventure was written by Alonzo Deen Cole. Staat [sic] Cotsworth played the part of Casey, Jan Miner was Ann, and John Gibson was Ethelbert. Next week, another adventure of Casey, Crime Photographer! This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education."

CBS Press Release

Casey 50-01-19 324 Wanted - A Gun AFRS#32 UPGRADE.mp3
Degoo https://cloud.degoo.com/share/8GLkfj5uzFnJw2
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There are no newspaper clips of consequence, but this one shows the popularity of the program among photographer professionals.

1950-01-19 Tampa FL Times

1949-11-17 and 1950-11-16 The Upholsterer

The Upholsterer was repeated twice on the series, 1949-11-17 and almost exactly a year later on 1950-11-16. It is possible that the second network broadcast was transcribed as there are no notes for it in the Cole document and it was the final broadcast for Philip Morris, and assumed to be the final broadcast forever. The only copies that exist are AFRS copies. It's a below average production with what seems to be lots of time-filling dialogue and little real action.

There are many episodes left to post (7, then 2 revival episodes) but now is as good a time as any to make some comments related to the repeat episode of The Upholsterer. The 1950-11-16 episode is the final episode of the series as far as the cast and producers were concerned. The 1954-1955 revival would have been considered crazy at this time; no one would have thought it was possible or even necessary. Philip Morris let its sponsorship contract expire with the 1950-11-16 episode, and like others, were taking their ad dollars elsewhere. The action for drama on CBS had shifted strongly to Hollywood, and New York would be the source of CBS' daytime soaps. Casey went on to television where it did very badly, but was broadcast from April 1951 through June 1952. John Gibson was the only holdover from the radio cast, and they even replaced him after a while.

ADC continuity notes for the 1949 broadcast... (typos included)

Casey is assigned to cover a story involving the death of one Mr. Goldblatt, found dead in his upholstery establishment. The baffling question facing the police is How did the killer, after shooting the old man, manage to leave a chair against the locked door - inside?  An old overstuffed chair with an address tag attached to it gives Casey his first cIue,  He and Ann visit the address and meet Mrs. Potter there who tells them she let Mr. Goldblatt take the chair to his store that morning for repairs.....  She goes on to say that it was removed from the room of one of her boarders - and that he flew into a rage when he discovered it missing. Casey and Ann visit the man's room and are doing some snooping around when Suddenly the door opens and they are face to face with a murderer - and a thief.. for it is later revealed that this man not only killed Mr. Goldblatt but also pulled one of the biggest robberies which, up to this moment, had seemed unsolvable.

In following up the report of the crime, the beat cop asks a kid break a window, and then let the cop in by unlocking the door from the inside. Doesn't that seem like the possibility of contaminating a crime scene? They find Goldblatt dead, and there's no one hiding in the shop, and there's no gun. It's a locked room mystery, a favorite of writers.

7:55 Casey, Ann, and Logan are at the crime scene. The question they're grappling with is how the killer got out when a chair was up against the door. Goldblatt used to prop a chair against that door at the close of every day because he was always afraid of being robbed.

9:35 The body was near the furniture that Goldblatt was repairing. This is where later Casey notices that one chair is carefully attended to, and another has been cut almost haphazardly with a blade.

10:04 Logan is so befuddled he asks Casey to help solve the crime! "I'm just a newspaper mug, pal" is what Casey says. Logan is disappointed because they have made no progress solving the robbery of $80,000 (almost $1 million in 2020 dollars) of Charles Casimir. 11:00 Logan asks Casey for help another time since his hunches sometimes work out. The dialogue seems quite padded, much like the sofa.

11:50 Casey notices that a chair has had its covering very carefully removed, which is odd since Goldblatt's work was usually to put new upholstery on furniture, not to use the older covering. He also found another chair that had big knife cuts in it the covering. Casey has a hunch!

13:43 Casey ponders the nature of the noise in the shop after the shots. He thinks the noise was the fall of a chair that was piled on top of another, not the fall of Goldblatt's body.

15:40 They arrive at the rooming house address that sent the chair to Goldblatt's shop, believing that the clue to the mystery will be finding the reason for the repair and who sent it.

16:50 Casey and Ann pose as husband and wife to meet Mrs. Potter, the landlady. There are some funny moments. Casey notices a reupholstered chair, and she says that she sent a chair there just yesterday. She says the chair had no cuts, it was just shabby. The tenant who had that chair was quite upset when he realized that the chair was sent away. The tenant was the bookkeeper for Charles Casimir! (Gee, what a coincidence!) Now we know what happened... there was something in the chair... the loot from the Casimir robbery!

22:13 The bookkeeper comes home from work... early! Casey disarms him as he fires two shots, and knocks him out! The bookkeeper had killed Goldblatt and Casimir. He stole the money from Casmir and hid the money inside the chair that was sent to Goldblatt.

Other episodes have involved furniture: 1946-09-19 Duke of Skid Row had a crown hidden in a special compartment in a chair; 1947-11-06 The Case of the Blonde Lipstick had the lipstick stuck between cushions.

1949-11-11 CBS Press Release

There are two different AFRS releases of the 1949 version and one release of the 1950 version that are in circulation.

49-11-17  COPY 1 The AFRS announcement follows Ann's last bit of dialogue and is "This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education." No cast information is given.

49-11-17  COPY 2 has just music with no AFRS statement after Ann's last line.

50-11-16 After Ann's last line, some brief closing music follows. The AFRS announcement is "This adventure of Crime Photographer starring Staat [sic] Cotsworth as Casey, came to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education." This recording close matches the AFRS that of the recording of 50-11-09 Woman of Mystery, which is how it is identified.

1949 COPY 1
Casey 49-11-17 315 The Upholsterer AFRS (ends with This Is the US Armed Forces) FROM DISC.mp3
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hubiC http://ovh.to/8vRrcwL

1949 COPY 2
Casey 49-11-17 315 The Upholsterer AFRS (has no AFRS identification).mp3
Degoo  https://cloud.degoo.com/share/E7zN8rx8LfDdO3
hubiC http://ovh.to/VcFypt

1950 COPY
Casey 50-11-16 367 The Upholsterer AFRS (Repeat of #315) (EndsWith'CameToYouThrough') UPGRADE LQ.mp3
Degoo https://app.degoo.com/share/38n4cJytbCnE7W
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1949-11-17 Camden NJ Courier-Post


1949-11-17 San Antonio TX Express

There are no newspaper clippings for the 1950 broadcast.

This clip from Billboard reports the demise of the series with the November 16, 1950 episode.

Billboard 1950-09-23

1949-11-10 Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt ranks down at the bottom of Casey episodes, along with Great Grandfather's Rent Receipt and Action Photograph. There are elements of 1947-04-24 The Gentle Strangler that are re-used in the story. The plot and the dialogue are lifeless and the mad man who thinks he's Thor is silly and unconvincing. It's disappointing that this episode even made it to the air.

ADC continuity notes...

Dr. Foley, prominent brain surgeon, is found murdered - killed with a small tack hammer. His body is found on a dark street - after a thunderstorm - stretched out under a streetlamp. The previous week, Eli Whitlock, famous playwright, was found dead - under similar circumstances. A third murder is committed - under the same conditions and again, as in the two previous instances, the victim was a prominent, successful member of the community. A letter (the second of its kind) is received at City Desk, giving advance notice that another murder is about to be committed. The writer, who signs himself "Thunderbolt," promises another victim will meet his fate on the next rainy night. He describes his pretty certain intended victim and it's from the description, that be has Casey in mind. The next rainy night finds Casey on his way home - and sure enough he meets up with said murderer. After much struggling - and  some quick thinking on Casey's part, the killer is subdued and Casey has solved another crime.

This is somewhat like Gentle Strangler where people are accosted in the street and attacked. Some of the dialogue with Foley in the street is similar. The victim there was Whitcomb. The previous victim here was Whitlock. Cole is grabbing elements here and there.

2:12 The criminal (named Thorson) says that the thunder reminds him of Thor... get it? He's Thor's son.

A tack hammer was used in the killings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upholstery_hammer

Whitlock's alleged killer had been arrested and put in jail. But he never admitted the killing, just going through the pockets of someone already dead. Now, this new killing appeared to exonerate the person jailed.

4:55 Burke appears again. He has a letter from Thor, "his thunderbolt will destroy others." He'll attack again in the next thunderstorm, implying that it will be a financier of some kind.

7:00 Ann and Burke make some fun of Casey for not really knowing the legend Thor.

9:12 Thorson meets Klammert in the street... the attack is not enacted, but the scene changes to Logan's office in the aftermath of the new killing, also with a tack hammer. Thorson is disabling street lights with a BB gun.

12:00 Burke visits Logan -- this is the first time in a surviving recording that Burke and Logan are in the same room! He has another letter from Thunderbolt: the next victim target will be Casey, though not mentioned by name, all of the characteristics fit him and no one else.

15:28 Ann pleads with Casey to drive home and not walk home, and to take other precautions. 16:00 Of course he doesn't listen, and asks the parking attendant to not tell Ann.

16:40 Thunderbolt walks up to Casey as he walks home. 17:10 He says he saw Casey at the police station when he was visiting Sergeant McCloskey. Cole used a similar name for a neighbor of a murder victim, McCluskey, in Murder in Black and White.

17:42 It clicks on Casey when he hears the name "Thorson" that he's with Thunderbolt.

18:35 McCloskey is walking in the street, too, and joins them... saying that Logan asked for extra protection for Casey. Carl Thorson excuses himself.

20:35 Casey is in his apartment and the phone is ringing. It's Ann checking up on him as planned, a few minutes late.

21:28 Logan calls and checks on Casey... Thorson has walked through Casey's unlocked door! "You can see I'm armed with a revolver." Just like Gentle Strangler, Casey is confronted with a killer in his very own apartment. Thorson says he will throw his hammer at Casey.

23:35 Casey calls Logan to come and collect the Thunderbolt killer. The dialogue is very similar to that of Gentle Strangler (starting at 24:10 of that episode) for the call, except this time Casey speaks directly to Logan. The ending of that story is a bit more complex where here it is abridged.

The AFRS announcement is "This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education." No cast information is given.

Casey 49-11-10 314 Thunderbolt AFRS (ends with This Is the US Armed Forces).mp3
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There are no meaningful newspaper clippings for this episode. These are some other items of interest.

1949-11-09 Cincinnati OH Enquirer


1949-11-10 Scranton PA Times-Tribune

1949-10-20 The Coffin

The Coffin is a better than average episode, and yet another one where the primary murderer is a woman... Toni would have never gone for that! It is an unlikely plot but worthy of some of the better comic book detective stories. For that reason, it is entertaining, but not a top episode.

The main recording is not the best, so two recordings are posted, with the second one processed for the disc scratch and the background noise.

There are no ADC continuity notes... the notebook just skips this episode; there are no newspaper clippings. The decision to use the script may have been made closer to broadcast time than usual.

The episode opens with a great gimmick... gangsters trying to buy a coffin for a rival gang leader who is not yet dead... or sick.

0:50 The gangsters walk into a coffin manufacturer asking to make a purchase. The sales representative says his name is "Cook" or "Cooke." The reason that is "a funny name for a casket salesman" is that the largest funeral home in New York City was  Walter B. Cooke. Cooke was a considered a pioneer in the business.

1949-06-05 NY Daily News

2:00 Nick Maddock is whom the coffin is being purchased for. Andrew Grollo is the gangster buying it.

3:04 Logan calls the casket a "silver-plated slumber box." Earlier, 1:37 the gangster called it a "plush-lined box."

5:20 Maddock calls Logan asking if they have heard anything; Grollo and his gang walked into the police station! This gives them an alibi for the Maddock killing.

7:38 Casey says that they "may find the point" at Maddock's apartment. He sure does. At 13:01 Casey steps on a thumbtack. Whenever something innocuous and nonsensical happens, Cole has placed it there for a reason.

While Casey and Ann are talking to Inez at Maddock's apartment, she's arguing with Maddock and says she's standing by a doorway. She's putting herself in the right position so as not to get in the way when Maddock gets shot.

10:25 She mentions she grew up in a mill town and that her father was a weaver. That's important later.

10:38 Nick Maddock is shot!

14:02 Officer Bernstein finds fishing line outside, some of it tied in a "sheet bend knot" https://www.animatedknots.com/sheet-bend-knot  It is assumed that whomever killed Maddock was in the Navy at some time.

15:30 At the Blue Note, two weeks have passed without any resolution to the case. Ethelbert says he knows how to make the knot because his mother taught him, except to her, it was called a "weaver's knot."

All of this leads to Casey's theory that Inez, Maddock's girlfriend, created the combination of fishline, thumbtack, and gun, to give her an alibi because she could execute the plan in plain sight of people who would be her alibi. In this case, Casey and Ann. It was also coordinated that Grollo's gang would all be in jail at the time of the shooting. The rope ladder outside the building was used as a decoy.

20:25 Ann turns on the light in Inez' apartment, and Grollo is there looking for evidence, too. 20:54 There's a gun in the room, as Ann says "we're always willing to help a man who has a gun pointed at us." They're all looking for a clamp that held the gun. Grollo says she made him sign an incriminating letter.

22:07 Inez and Grollo shoot each other convinced that one double-crossed the other.

Ann calls Ethelbert a "skinker." The word means "someone who pours liquor." In recent years, there is a vastly different and more obscene definition, which could cleanly be described as a "woman on the prowl for a man." Casey says "skinker" is also a kind of lizard, which is correct. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skink

The AFRS announcement includes the cast and identifies the network with "This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education."

Here are the two copies, one essentially raw and the other one processed.

Casey 49-10-20 311 The Coffin AFRS#42 UPGRADE.mp3
Degoo https://app.degoo.com/share/21C8KgmZvhJaIi
hubiC http://ovh.to/b2qS8aw

Casey 49-10-20 311 The Coffin AFRS#42 PROCESSED UPGRADE-2.mp3
Degoo https://app.degoo.com/share/obegZaeeU5Ug7d
hubiC http://ovh.to/n3rWUiB

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Since there are no newspaper clippings for this episode, here are some other interesting items

1949-10-26 Hutchinson KS News
Casey is the 10th highest rated show


1949-10-26 Visalia CA Times-Delta


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Casey was generally disliked by radio critics, and one of the bigger naysayers was John Crosby, right from the beginning of the series. In this column, he sneers at the series, and by extension, its listeners. He could have, at least, gotten the character names and their spellings correct, but he did not. Since he is critiquing a particular episode, I thought it might be interesting to show the notes from the continuity book that I have been working from. The episode he targets is not in circulation.

Cole's notes for 1949-04-07 Murder in the Air


1949-04-15 Miami FL Herald

1949-08-25 Snowball

Snowball is a good program despite some really bad acting in an early scene and what seems to be an obvious plot hole. Ignore the bad acting. A little history of automobile technology, something most everyone about cars takes for granted, makes it clear there is no plot hole. It's a reminder that this is old time radio, and though these stories so often transcend their eras, they are still products of their time. The story is one that might never have been broadcast if Toni was still a sponsor. A faked murder-suicide staged by a woman? The idea could make someone's hair curl... without Toni!

The remainder of the Philip Morris episodes are AFRS recordings. They do not have any performance credits; the network recording ends at the end of the Blue Note epilogue, and then immediately cuts to the AFRS identification.

ADC continuity notes...

A murdered woman is found in the back seat of a car driven by an inebriated character who swears he never saw her before. The woman is identified and Casey sets out to question her husband - but finds him dead too, with a suicide note beside the body. It looks like an open and shut case of murder and then suicide born out of an insanely jealous husband's wrath. Neighbors are quick to tell that the dead man was insanely jealous of his beautiful wife who had attracted the attention of her husband's employer, a very handsome and suave ladies man. However, this theory is thrown to the wind when, a short time later, another dead woman is found in the same vicinity as the first. Investigation reveals that jealousy was the motive - but circumstances prove that it was not the husband's jealousy that brought about the triple tragedy - but by another, who, oddly enough, was believed to be out of the country at the time of the catastrophe.

1:49 The drunk's lines "I never saw that woman before" is delivered by the actor so badly, twice. It would be funny if it wasn't so grating.

2:45 George P. Rasko pleads his case to Logan... he says he was drunk and got into a car that looked exactly like his. It's a mystery how he got the car to run without his keys. It's not... keys were only needed to lock and unlock cars. The car he mistakenly got into was obviously left unlocked. It was not until Chrysler introduced key ignitions in 1949 that you needed a key to start a car. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_key

1949-03-17 Auburn CA Journal

7:07 They realize the suicide is of James R. Royce, owner of the car that looked like Rosko's, and husband of the strangled woman in the car.

Cole lays some groundwork for the solution to the crime by emphasizing how attractive Mrs. Royce is and how women were jealous of her looks and concerned about her catching the glances of their husbands.

11:12 Casey, Ann, and Logan visit Carlton Judd, Royce's boss. He was expecting Royce, but he never came. Judd's wife went to California, and the servants the Judds had in the house were all off for the night. Royce had a key to the apartment. Judd says he was out at a movie Lost Boundaries at the Empire Theater. It was a real movie https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041600 and was a highly regarded (Cannes award) film about race relations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Boundaries  For what seems to be an unprovoked reason, Casey asks if the apartments are soundproof, and Judd says no. Cole obviously plants that in the story because has a plan to use that as a factor in the conclusion.

15:30 Ann takes a call at the Blue Note that a woman's body has been found at the same apartment building. The medical examiner at the scene says the woman, a servant, was dead prior to being thrown from a top floor apartment.

17:25 Now we know the reason for the title. Casey explains how the first murder kept growing and growing like a snowball going down a hill into another murder involving other people in the building.

18:35 Casey starts figuring out the case... while confronting Judd. Mrs. Royce was killed in Judd's apartment and her body brought down to the car parked in the street, but it was the wrong car. It had to be arranged to make it look like Royce killed his own wife, and then committed suicide.

20:50 Judd confesses... Casey doesn't accept it... Judd's wife is not in California. She's been hiding in the apartment next door. This is why Cole planted the "thin walls" that she could hear her husband confess to the crime. Her trip was faked so she could spy on her husband to see if he was cheating on her with Mrs. Royce.

1949-08-17 CBS Press Release

This script is unlikely to have been accepted by the Toni management and their ad agency as the three-time murderer of this episode is a woman. It's an indication of how the show changed under Philip Morris.

The AFRS identification is "This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education." Sometimes the identification is useful for identifying which repeated Casey broadcasts are from which years.

Casey 49-08-25 303 Snowball AFRS#36 UPGRADE.mp3
Degoo https://app.degoo.com/share/5dszJxOVeHRNQe
hubiC http://ovh.to/uLdW8xC

1949-08-25 Tampa FL Times


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These are interesting items about the show that appeared in newspapers around this time.

1949-08-13 Binghamton NY Press & Sun-Bulletin


1949-08-14 Sioux City IA Journal