Michael Shayne

Show Information based on John Dunning's book "On The Air" and www.otrcat.com

Detective melodrama, based on the books by Brett Halliday (1944-1953).

Michael Shayne, "the reckless, red-headed Irishman" was a popular hard-boiled detective created by American crime novelist Brett Halliday. Mike blew into Miami just after WWII, making crime pay by fighting it with a license and an attitude. Like Mike Hammer and other Phillip Marlowe wannabes, he was a loner. He was a guy with a sense of humor, like Sam Spade or Richard Diamond. He was different from the others, however, because in the first of the Halliday novels, Mike's happily married, but suddenly his wife is tragically murdered, and that hits Mike like no sucker punch before or after. Grief-stricken, Shayne loses himself in the gumshoe grind, prowling the darker streets of the American dream complete with the (then) very adult themes of drugs and middle-class adultery. Shayne was the genuine fighting Irish, and his believability made him a popular private eye with the Post World War veterans who had lived more than their share of violent morality.

The radio version of Mike's exploits debuted as Michael Shayne, Private Detective in the fall of 1944 with the fine radio actor Wally Maher as Mike. In the fall of 1946, the show went national for a year. Mutual did it again in 1948, titled The New Adventures of Michael Shayne, starring the movie star Jeff Chandler. Many like Chandler's Shayne. Jeff did the job for two years, of which nearly three dozen episodes or so are available. In 1952-53, ABC tapped Donald Curtis to take Mike for another ride, with Robert Sterling jumping in as replacement along the way, calling this one Michael Shayne, Private Detective. During these years, the Michael Shayne novels by Halliday kept the public tuned in and wanting more of their boy Shayne. Halliday didn't do the radio show scripts, but took the money for his creation.

BROADCAST HISTORY:

Oct. 16, 1944-Nov. 14, 1947, Mutual-Don Lee. 30m, Mondays at 8:30 Pacific time;

later Wednesdays at 7; West Coast network for two seasons,

then coast-to-coast beginning Oct. 15, 1946, Tuesdays at 8.

CAST:

Wally Maher as Michael Shayne, archetypal radio private eye.

Louise Arthur as his assistant, the blonde and gorgeous Phyllis (Phyl) Knight.

Cathy Lewis as Phyllis by ca. spring 1945.

Joe Forte as the Inspector.

Also: Charlie Lung, Anne Stone, Harry Lang, GeGe Pearson, Bob Bruce, Virginia Keith, Sharon Douglas, Hal Gerard, Jack Edwards, Earle Ross, and Virginia Gregg.

PRODUCERS: Bob Nye, Dave Taylor.

WRITERS: Richard de Graffe, Bob Ryf.

The New Adventures of Michael Shayne.

1948.-ca. 1950, 30m transcribed syndication.

CAST: Jeff Chandler as Shayne, "reckless red-headed Irishman."

PRODUCER: Don W. Sharpe.

Oct. 14, 1952-July 10, 1953, ABC. 30m, Tuesdays at 8 until Nov.;

Thursdays at 9:30, Nov.-Feb.; then Fridays at 8.

CAST: Donald Curtis as Shayne until Nov.; Robert Sterling and Vinton Hayworth subsequently as Shayne.