However, Martin Kane would have been second to another hard-boiled PI from radio, if it weren’t for the Broadway musical Kiss Me, Kate.
Recently, I uncovered a sad noir tale of a forgotten PI done in by a dame.
TV’s forgotten Private Eye Eddie Drake got his start in radio under a different moniker, Eddie Ace. In 1947, George Raft starred as Eddie Ace, a tough guy PI on the short-lived syndicated radio series, The Cases of Mr. Ace. Each week Eddie would drop by the office of beautiful shrink Dr. Karen Gayle, who was writing a book on criminal behavior and wanted to hear the experiences of a PI, and Eddie would give her the lowdown on his latest case.
November 20, 1948, Billboard gabbed that the filming of The Cases of Eddie Drake had begun and nine episodes of the thirteen were done. The filming of the final four episodes was scheduled to begin November 17, 1948.
If things had gone as planned The Cases of Eddie Drake would have been ready to air before 1949, but it didn’t happen. Seems Patricia Morison took it on the lam for the starring role in the Broadway musical Kiss Me, Kate. TV syndication had barely started, and The Cases of Eddie Drake was one of the first TV series to be filmed, but Morison was a smart enough twist to blow Tinseltown for Broadway stardom.
Things continued to go sour for Eddie. Today, most believe CBS put the finished nine episodes on the shelf until DuMont TV network waltzed in, filmed the final four and put Eddie Drake on the air for the first time on March 6, 1952. But that’s hooey. This is the real dope on what happened to the poor sap, Eddie Drake.
I have my snitches like any Shamus. Billboard had told me what it knew. Now Broadcasting Magazine (February 27, 1950) gave me the rumble. “CBS has purchased TV rights to IMPPRO Inc’s (Hollywood) ‘Cases of Eddie Drake,’ half-hour film series … Present package includes nine films as firm unable to complete remaining four because of commitments of Pat Morrison [sic] feminine lead, with New York show ‘Kiss Me, Kate.’”
May 7, 1951, CBS runs an ad in Broadcasting offering thirteen episodes of The Cases of Eddie Drake for syndication. That was ten months before DuMont aired the series.
Billboard (August 25, 1951) tipped me off that Virginia Dare Wines would sponsor The Cases of Eddie Drake on WENR-TV starting September 7, 1951. Chicago’s television guide TV Forecasts told Chicago and me that the series aired on Chicago’s ABC-TV station WENR, Channel 7 starting September 7, 1951, and ran thirteen weeks. The show was a syndicated film series, not a network series.
By then Eddie’s chance for fame had turned to dust. Even Eddie’s car, a three-wheeled 1948 Davis Divan he called Dave, has been forgotten. But that’s Eddie, a three-wheeled PI in a four-wheeled world.
In a final low blow, Dr. Gayle became the first psychologist in a regular role for a weekly TV series.
What a bum deal. It should have been Eddie as TV’s first Private Eye, not Martin Kane, and it was all because of Broadway’s Kiss Me, Kate.
Michael Shonk spends his time searching for forgotten, neglected and
failed mystery fiction. Occasionally, he can be found at Steve Lewis'
MysteryFile.com/blog where he shares his discoveries.
Great piece, Michael. Thanks!
Cheers,
Jeff
We got our first television in early 1951 and it cause for great celebratrion. I find it fascinating to read about these struggles to get the fledgling industry up and running. We were just happy to have “movies” in the living room. Thank you.
Terrie, don’t forget the number of channels we had. I was born in 1954 in a Kansas college town. We had two stations. One for CBS and the other for ABC, NBC, and DuMont. There were shows I never got to see because no local station carried it. Today, I am so used to watching any TV show anytime I want, I get annoyed I can watch CBS’ “Person of Interest” only on a TV set on Thursday night at 9pm.