The Johnny Fletcher Radio Program

Background

Frank Gruber was a very successful pulp fiction writer, novelist and scenarist throughout the Golden Age of Radio. Gruber's earliest detective novels featured a something of a scofflaw of a detective named Johnny Fletcher. Between 1940 and 1964, Gruber penned at least eighteen 'Johnny Fletcher Mystery' installments:

• 1940 The French Key
• 1940 The Laughing Fox
• 1941 The Navy Colt
• 1941 The Hungry Dog Murders [Die Like A Dog]
• 1941 The Talking Clock
• 1942 The Gift Horse
• 1942 The Mighty Blockhead
• 1945 The Silver Tombstone Mystery
• 1947 The Whispering Master
• 1948 Fighting Man
• 1948 The Honest Dealer
• 1948 The Lock and The Key
• 1948 The Scarlet Feather
• 1949 The Leather Duke
• 1954 The Murder Gun
• 1955 The Limping Goose
• 1964 Swing Low, Swing Dead
• 1964 The Corpse Moved Upstairs

Throughout the same period, Frank Gruber became a popular and successful scenarist in the Film Industry. While the majority of Gruber's Film treatments were of the Western variety, in 1945 Republic Pictures suggested a Johnny Fletcher Mystery series to be adapted by Frank Gruber from his 'Johnny Fletcher' novels. Noted character actor Albert Dekker, who bore a close resemblance to Gruber was offered the role of Johnny Fletcher. Former football player and wrestler Mike Mazurki was signed on to portray Johnny Fletcher's sidekick, Sam Cragg.

The first--and only, as it turned out--Johnny Fletcher Mystery film from Republic was Gruber's "The French Key" which premiered in 1946. During 1944, Albert Dekker had been elected to California's 57th District Assembly Seat as a Democrat and served in the California State Assembly until 1946. Having already performed in several film noir features of the era, Dekker seemed ideal for the Johnny Fletcher portrayal in "The French Key."

Irrespective of the tepid success of The French Key Republic film, NBC thought enough of Albert Dekker and Mike Mazurki's portrayals to order an audition of a proposed Johnny Fletcher Mysteries series, to be penned by Frank Gruber himself. The NBC-ordered audition was an adaptation of Gruber's "The Navy Colt." Adapted as much for its compelling plot as for gags, Dekker and Mazurki played off of each other very convincingly. The closing announcement for "The Navy Colt" announced "The Mighty Blockhead" as the following episode. Performed and recorded at NBC's Radio City-West, John Storm was the audition's announcer.

ABC acquires Johnny Fletcher from NBC; green-lights it for Radio

The still expanding American Broadcasting Company acquired the rights to the 'Johnny Fletcher project' from NBC and rebranded it "The Adventures of Johnny Fletcher" or simply "Johnny Fletcher." Starring Radio announcer and Film star Bill Goodwin as Johnny Fletcher, Film star and Radio favorite Sheldon Leonard was signed on to portray sidekick Sam Cragg.

The ABC rendition of The Adventures of Johnny Fletcher was clearly one of the relatively new network's most ambitious undertakings. With a per-episode budget of $6000, ABC equipped Frank Gruber's brainchild with radio noir specialist Bill Rousseau as Director, Don Sharpe as producer, and Buzz Adlam as Music Director. Legendary radio writers David Friedkin and Morton Fine were supported by Bob Rys and Frank Gruber himself. Owen James was the series' announcer.

From the May 29th 1948 edition of the Naugatuck Daily News:

Playing the series for laughs clearly suited the talents of both Bill Goodwin and Sheldon Leonard. Frank Gruber's storylines were sufficiently twisty and compelling as detective yarns go, and the West Coast-produced series attracted some of the era's finest right-coast radio talent.

Borrowing heavily from Frank Gruber's own [by then] thirteen 'Johnny Fletcher Mystery' novels, the titles for at least the first thirteen installments of The Adventures of Johnny Fletcher fairly closely mirrored Gruber's Johnny Fletcher output by that date. Inaugurated as a summer 'sustainer' for the network, by the time the summer season wound down, ABC ordered another thirteen episodes in the hopes of allowing the series to attract a sponsor for the Fall of 1948.

Though a resonably well-received feature throughout the Summer, the additional thirteen Fall episodes failed to attract a sponsor. ABC announced that it would be pulling the plug on The Adventures of Johnny Fletcher in October, with a proposed finale on November 21st 1948. ABC had already lined up another vehicle for Bill Goodwin and Sheldon Leonard's star continued to rise in Radio, Television and Film, thankew very much.

Series Derivatives:

Notes on Provenances:

The most helpful provenances were newspaper listings.

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