| Boston Blackie | |
|---|---|
 "Unhurried and without excitement, but quickly, Boston Blackie forced drawer after drawer"— N. C. Wyeth illustrated "The Price of Principle" (1914) for The American Magazine | |
| First appearance | "The Price of Principle" (1914) |
| Created by | Jack Boyle |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Jewel thief, safecracker, detective |
Boston Blackie is a fictional character created by author Jack Boyle (1881–1928). Blackie, a jewel thief and safecracker in Boyle's stories, became a detective in adaptations for films, radio and television—an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend."
Actor Chester Morris played the character in 14 Columbia Pictures films (1941–1949) and in a 1944 NBC radio series.
Writer Jack Boyle was born in Oakland, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. While working as a newspaper editor in San Francisco, he became an opium addict and was drawn into crime to support his habit.[1] He was sent to San Quentin for writing bad checks. Later convicted of robbery in Denver, Colorado, Boyle was serving time at the Colorado State Penitentiary when he created the character of Boston Blackie.[2][3] The first four stories appeared in The American Magazine in 1914, with Boyle writing under the pen name "No. 6066". From 1917 to 1919, Boston Blackie stories appeared in The Red Book magazine, and from 1918 they were adapted for motion pictures.[4]: 149
When Boston Blackie began to find success on the screen, Boyle edited the Red Book magazine stories into a book, Boston Blackie (1919). He revised and rearranged the order of the stories to create a cohesive narrative—a common practice at the time known in publishing as a fixup. This was the only appearance of Boston Blackie in book form, but his adventures continued to appear in periodicals.[4]: 149–150 [5]
| Year | Title | Publisher | Publication date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1914 | "The Price of Principle" | The American Magazine | July 1914 | As No. 6066[6] |
| 1914 | "The Story About Dad Morgan" | The American Magazine | August 1914 | As No. 6066[7] |
| 1914 | "Death Cell Visions" | The American Magazine | September 1914 | As No. 6066[8] |
| 1914 | "A Thief's Daughter" | The American Magazine | October 1914 | As No. 6066[9] |
| 1917 | "Boston Blackie's Mary" | The Red Book Magazine | November 1917 | [10] |
| 1917 | "The Woman Called Rita" | The Red Book Magazine | December 1917 | [10] |
| 1918 | "Fred the Count" | The Red Book Magazine | January 1918 | [10] |
| 1918 | "Miss Doris, Safe-Cracker" | The Red Book Magazine | May 1918 | [10] |
| 1918 | "Boston Blackie's Little Pal" | The Red Book Magazine | June 1918 | [10] |
| 1918 | "Alibi Ann" | The Red Book Magazine | July 1918 | [10] |
| 1918 | "Miss Doris's 'Raffles'" | The Strand Magazine | August 1918 | [10][11] |
| 1918 | "The Poppy Girl's Husband" | The Red Book Magazine | October 1918 | [10] |
| 1918 | "A Problem in Grand Larceny" | The Red Book Magazine | December 1918 | [10] |
| 1919 | "An Answer in Grand Larceny" | The Red Book Magazine | January 1919 | [10] |
| 1919 | "The Third Degree" | The Strand Magazine | April 1919 | [10][12] |
| 1919 | "The Daughter of Mother McGinn" | Cosmopolitan | June 1919 | [13] |
| 1919 | "Alias Prince Charming" | Cosmopolitan | July 1919 | [14] |
| 1919 | "Black Dan" | Cosmopolitan | October 1919 | [15] |
| 1919 | "The Water-Cross" | Cosmopolitan | November 1919 | [16][17] |
| 1920 | "Grandad's Girl" | Cosmopolitan | March 1920 | [18] |
| 1920 | "The Face in the Fog" | Cosmopolitan | May 1920 | [19][20] |
| 1920 | "The Painted Child" | Cosmopolitan | October 1920 | [10][21] |
| 1920 | "Boomerang Bill" | Cosmopolitan | December 1920 | [10][22] |
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The earliest Boston Blackie film adaptations were silent, dating from 1918 to 1927. Columbia Pictures revived the property in 1941 with Meet Boston Blackie, a fast, 58-minute B movie starring Chester Morris. Although the running time was brief, Columbia gave the picture good production values and an imaginative director, Robert Florey. The film was successful, and a series followed.
In the Columbia features, Boston Blackie is a reformed jewel thief who is always suspected when a daring crime is committed. In order to clear himself, he investigates personally and brings the actual culprit to justice, sometimes using disguises. An undercurrent of comedy runs throughout the action/detective series.
In one of these films, After Midnight with Boston Blackie, the character's real name was revealed to be Horatio Black.
Morris gave the Blackie character his own personal charm: he could be light and flippant or stern and dangerous, as the situation demanded. His sidekick, the Runt, was always on hand to help his old friend. George E. Stone played Runt in all but the first and last films. Charles Wagenheim and Sid Tomack, respectively, substituted for Stone when he was not available.
Blackie's friendly adversaries were Inspector Farraday[a] of the police (played in all the films and the radio series by Richard Lane) and his assistant, Sergeant Matthews. Matthews was originally played as a hapless victim of circumstance by Walter Sande; he was replaced by Lyle Latell, who played it dumber, and then by comedian Frank Sully, who played it even dumber.
Blackie and Runt were often assisted in their endeavors by their friends: the cheerful but easily flustered millionaire Arthur Manleder (almost always played by Lloyd Corrigan; Harry Hayden and Harrison Greene each played the role once), and the streetwise pawnbroker Jumbo Madigan (played by Cy Kendall or Joseph Crehan). A variety of actresses including Rochelle Hudson, Harriet Hilliard, Adele Mara and Ann Savage took turns playing various gal Friday characters.
The films are highly typical of Columbia's B movies of the 1940s, with an assortment of veteran character actors (including Clarence Muse, Marvin Miller, George Lloyd, Byron Foulger), new faces on the way up (Larry Parks, Dorothy Malone, Nina Foch, Forrest Tucker, Lloyd Bridges) and stock-company players familiar from Columbia's features, serials, and short subjects (Kenneth MacDonald, George McKay, Eddie Laughton, John Tyrrell). The series was also a useful training ground for promising directors, including Edward Dmytryk, Oscar Boetticher, William Castle, and finally Seymour Friedman, who went on to work prolifically in Columbia's television department. The Boston Blackie series ran until 1949.
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| Year | Title | Actor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1918 | Boston Blackie's Little Pal | Bert Lytell | Adapted from "Boston Blackie's Little Pal"[25] |
| 1919 | The Poppy Girl's Husband | Walter Long | [26] |
| 1919 | The Silk Lined Burglar | Sam De Grasse | Adapted from "Miss Doris, Safe-Cracker"[27] |
| 1919 | Blackie's Redemption | Bert Lytell | Adapted from "Boston Blackie's Mary" and "Fred the Count"[28] |
| 1922 | Boomerang Bill | Lionel Barrymore | Adapted from "Boomerang Bill"[29] |
| 1922 | Missing Millions | David Powell | Adapted from "A Problem in Grand Larceny" and "An Answer in Grand Larceny"[30] |
| 1922 | The Face in the Fog | Lionel Barrymore | [19] |
| 1923 | Boston Blackie | William Russell | Adapted from "The Water-Cross"[16] |
| 1923 | Crooked Alley | Thomas Carrigan | Adapted from Boyle's original story, "The Daughter of Crooked Alley"[31][32] |
| 1924 | Through the Dark | Forrest Stanley | Adapted from "The Daughter of Mother McGinn"[33] |
| 1927 | The Return of Boston Blackie | Raymond Glenn | [34] |
| 1941 | Meet Boston Blackie | Chester Morris | [24] |
| 1941 | Confessions of Boston Blackie | Chester Morris | [35] |
| 1942 | Alias Boston Blackie | Chester Morris | [36] |
| 1942 | Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood | Chester Morris | [37] |
| 1943 | After Midnight with Boston Blackie | Chester Morris | [38] |
| 1943 | The Chance of a Lifetime | Chester Morris | [39] |
| 1944 | One Mysterious Night | Chester Morris | [40] |
| 1945 | Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion | Chester Morris | [41] |
| 1945 | Boston Blackie's Rendezvous | Chester Morris | [42] |
| 1946 | A Close Call for Boston Blackie | Chester Morris | [43] |
| 1946 | The Phantom Thief | Chester Morris | [44] |
| 1946 | Boston Blackie and the Law | Chester Morris | [45] |
| 1948 | Trapped by Boston Blackie | Chester Morris | [46] |
| 1949 | Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture | Chester Morris | [47] |
Boston Blackie—enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend.
— Boston Blackie radio series[48]
Concurrent with the Columbia Pictures films, a Boston Blackie radio series—also starring Chester Morris—aired on NBC June 23 – September 15, 1944, as a summer replacement for Amos 'n' Andy. Lesley Woods played Blackie's girlfriend Mary Wesley; Richard Lane played Inspector Farraday. Harlow Wilcox was the announcer for the 30-minute program.[48][49][50]
A new incarnation of the Boston Blackie radio series aired April 11, 1945 – October 25, 1950, starring Richard Kollmar. Maurice Tarplin played Inspector Farraday; Jan Miner was Mary. More than 200 half-hour episodes were transcribed and syndicated by Frederick Ziv to Mutual and other network outlets.[48][49][50]
Kent Taylor starred in the Ziv-produced half-hour TV series The Adventures of Boston Blackie. Syndicated in September 1951, it ran for 58 episodes, lasting until 1953,[citation needed] continuing in repeats over the following decade. Lois Collier appeared as Mary Wesley and Frank Orth was Inspector Farraday.[51] The series was set in Los Angeles; Mary and Blackie had a dog named Whitie, and comedy sometimes took precedence over crime.[52]
Television historian Tim Brooks in The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present described Boston Blackie as "a memorable B-grade television series … The term 'B' is used in all the best senses: a certain vitality and sense of humor substituted more than adequately for the normal criteria of expensive production and famous stars."[52]
Scripter Stefan Petrucha and artist Kirk Van Wormer created the graphic novel Boston Blackie (Moonstone Books, 2002) with a cover by Tim Seelig. A jewel heist at a costume ball goes horribly wrong, and the five-year-old son of the wealthy Greene family disappears and is presumed dead; the body is never found. The main suspect is Boston Blackie, who is still haunted seven years later by what happened that night. Drawn back into the case, he finds that the truth of what happened that night is awash in a watery grave. A sequel to the graphic novel was published years later.[53]
