Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, email it
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cameo at cameo dot Great Detectives dot net record a brief video for a special
event. So far, we've completed four as of the time recording. They
all went rather well, so you can check that out over at cameo dot
Great Detectives dot net. But now it is time for this week's episode of
Mister Chameleon. The original air date March the second, nineteen forty nine,
and this one is the False Witness Murder Case. Next Mister Chameleon and the
False Witness Murder Case. Tonight we again present the famous mister Chameleon of Central
Headquarters in his most famous cases of crime and murder, brought to you by
the makers of genuine Bayer Aspirin. Mister Chameleon, as you all know,
is the famous and dreaded detective of Central Police Headquarters who frequently uses a disguise
or impersonation to confuse the criminals he is tracking down. In tonight's case,
he appears in a particularly clever disguise which the audience will at all times recognize.
Tonight, we give you, mister Chameleon. In the false witness murder
case. Our story opens in the home of Alden Allen, a very magnific
in the East seventies. But the beauty of that home, the luxury and
comfort, no longer give pleasure to Alan's young wife, Helen, and we
find her now in the living room, her face ravaged with emotion, and
she is saying to herself. When I was a child, I used to
say, I pray the Lord my soul to keep No, I pray the
Lord to show me the way out of this unbearable, this scarcely horrible thing.
Oh what am I going to do? What am I going to do?
Missus Allan, Yes, Gertrude, mister Philip Wilkes is here to see
you. Philip Wilkes, Oh no, no, tell him, I can't
see him now. Gertrude. Give him any excuse, but please please get
ri of him. Helen. You can't mean this, You can't mean you
won't see me, Philip, Gertrude leave the room, please, Yes,
madam Philip, are you mad coming here today? Please? Please leave it
once all in. My husband is hold He mustn't know you're here, Helen.
Did you ask him for a divorce last? No? Well? Yes,
and it was dreadful, horrible the things he threatened to do to both
of us, to think that I should have married such a man. Such
a man is right, a man who's put you through every humiliation, every
scandal. But I'm not afraid of him. Where is he in his study?
Don't go in there, Helen. I'm going to have it out with
your husband myself. It's better that way, Philip, I beg of you.
Don't go in there. I'm sorry, I'm going in, Helen,
Helen. What's the matter, Alden. There's something wrong. He's lying face
down well on the floor. Why, oh, he must be ill.
No, he's dead. Did you kill him, Helen? I did I
kill him? I think you did? Phil Do you know what you're saying?
I repeat, I think you killed him? Don't lie to me.
I know you killed him. And you're the one who said you loved me,
who said you trusted me, that you'd stand by me no matter what
happened. When I said those things, I didn't know I was saying them
to a murderous Please please stop, take any more, Holland Helen, what's
wrong? I heard your voices. Oh hold, it is dead, Alden
dead, and Philip thinks I murdered him. Philip, get out of this
house, Missus Hayward. If anyone killed Aldro and it was you, not
my daughter, I know what's been going on. Leave this house. Philip
immediately ges you. Oh here you are eavesdropping as usual. Show mister Wilkes
to the door. Yes, Missus Hayward. And then I'm going to call
the police and leave myself. I won't stay in a house with a woman
who's killed her husband. And now a little later, we find mister Camellion
examining the lifeless body of all and Allen, while Helen and her mother sit
side by side, their eyes never leaving the quick moving figure of chameleon.
Your husband, Missus Allan, died of poison. That a fast and potent
poison put into this glass of medicine. Why did he take this medicine?
He had a slight heart conditioned, mister Comelion, very slight. He took
one teaspoonful of medicine in a glass of water. Where did he keep the
medicine in a little cupboard in the pantry. Alden was a hypochondria. He
was always taking medicine. When did you last see your husband alive last night,
mister Commede. Yet you didn't find his body until an hour ago,
and it's nearly noon, Missus Allen. Alden went your separate way, mister
comedian. Sometimes my daughter and I wouldn't see him for days at a time.
I take it that you did not like your son in law, Missus
Haywood, yet you lived under his robe. I paid my way and my
daughter needed me here, she needed me very much. Go off me,
I didn't do anything, and come along quiet, mother, and to take
the sergeant on dev what's up? I caught her trying to sneak out of
the house, mister Comellion. She says her name is d Matthews and that
she works here as a maid for the Allens. Did work for them?
You mean you don't think I'd go on working for a murderous be quiet,
No, I won't. You're a nice woman, Missus Hayward, and you
love your daughter just like I did mine. But Missus Allen is a murderess.
Well, then she must have had a reason for murdering her husband.
What was that reason? In your opinion, Gertrude, it wouldn't give her
a divorce. She wanted to marry Philip Wilkes, and mister Allen wouldn't let
her go. How did you know that? Well, how do you know
it, Gertrude? I heard him quarreling last night, mister Cameleon. It
was a terrible fight. He said he'd never set her free. He said
she'd have to go on living under the same roof with him and put up
with his ways for the rest of her life. That true, Missus Allen.
Did you quarrel with your husband? Yes, mister Commedian. You wanted
to marry this Philip Wilkes. Yes, And mister Wilkes he called her murderers
too. This morning I heard them when they found the body. He said
he knew she'd die. Is this also true, Missus Allen? Yes,
it is? Who gave your husband the medicine last night? Who gave your
husband the fatal dose of medicine that killed him? What she did, mister
comeleion, She gave it to him. I saw her hand him the glass
after they've been quarreled. But Gertrude, have you forgotten you're the one who
mixed it. You mixed the medicine in the water, and then you gave
it to me. I acidly carried it into my husband, and you poisoned
it on the way, You scheaming murderer, Gertrude. Why do you hate
Missus Allen so much? And since you do hate her, why have you
kept on working here? Hmm? Because because good jobs are hard to get.
And I don't hate her, mister comedian, It's just that she's a
murderer. And I forbid you to use that word again. But Missus Hayward,
you know this has all been a great shock to me. I'm not
young anymore. I'm afraid. I'm afraid. I can't take it. I
got it me put her on the couch. Mother. She's only fainted,
Missus Allen, Your mother would be all right. How are you feeling,
Missus Hayward? Oh, mister camellon, are you here? Where are the
others? I asked them to leave us alone so you could question me and
then compare my answers with the answers of the others. That was clever of
you, But then you're noted for your cleverness. This is the first time
I've ever met a detective, Missus Hayward. Tell me about Philip Wilkes.
Philip Wilkes, he's been telling my daughter for months that he loved her.
In fact, did he have a chance to poison your son in law?
Yes he did, or perhaps I should and say this, mister comedian,
but he did have a chance to poison Alden. How well, last night
he came to see Helen. She wasn't home, and he waited for her.
He saw Alden's bottle of medicine in the studying He asked a great many
questions about it. Mister Comeleion. I was called to the telephone. When
I returned, Philip was gone. He did not wait to see your daughter.
No, no he didn't, By the way, Missus Hayward didn't.
Who was your son in law's doctor? His doctor? Yes, his name
is uh Ridley, Herbert Ridley. But as a matter of fact, he's
he's out of town on our holiday. Just now I seem now, uh,
tell me something about your son in law, Missus Hayward. Missus Hayward.
He was a dreadful man, mister Comeleion, really horrible. For years
he flaunted his other women in Helen's face. Oh my, poor Helen.
Five years of torment and now murder. Missus Hayward. Gertrude Matthews, the
maid said that you loved your daughter just as she loved hers. What do
you mean by then? So you noticed that remark? You notice everything,
don't you, mister chameleon. I'll come over here to the table. I'll
show you what she meant. You see this album? Oh yes, that's
a Yer photograph album. Yes, magnificent, isn't it? The finest lever
hand tooled. Alden kept this in full view, one of his most sadistic
trips tricks Open it. Who are these one? Lovely? Aren't they?
Page after page of them? They were all friends of Alden's. And this
one here, what do you think of her? Beautiful, the real beauty.
But she's a famous artist model. Many is the time I've seen that
face? She was an artist model. She no longer is because you're doing
with that album? What are you doing with that picture? Give it to
me, Give me that picture, mister chameleon, whose picture is it?
Your daughter? Yes, Lilah's she's dead, isn't she? She killed herself
and she'd be alive today if it wasn't for missus Allen. True, that's
not true. Yes, it is, Missus Haywood Holden. Alan was going
to marry my Lilah. Instead he married your daughter. And I hope your
daughter's arrested for murder. And now a little later we find mister Cameleon and
Detective Sergeant Dave Arnold approaching the apartment of Philip Wilkes, and mister Camelian is
saying, what a house full of hatred that was, Dave, And what
a terrible man Old and Allen must have been. That made Gertrude Matthews had
plenty of reason for killing Old and Allen, or for framing missus Allen.
She certainly did. She revealed a great deal about herself when she saw that
picture. Here we are Philip Wilkes's apartment, very anxious to meet this young
man. There's one question in particular I hope you can answer him. Yes,
mister Wilkes, my name is Chameleon from Central Police Headquarters. There is
a detective sergeant Donald. Oh, come in. I've been expecting you.
You. I called Helen. She said you were on the case. I
would have stayed there. I discovered the body, you know, but her
mother ordered me out of the house. Yes, I understand you accused Helen,
that is Missus Allen, of murder Helen. I couldn't have I love
her, mister comedian, don't lie, mister Wilkes. Gertrude the maid swore
to me that you accused Missus Allen of being a murderer. Well, perhaps
I did to tell you the truth. I was so upset at the time.
I don't know what I said. I realized now that Helen couldn't have
done it. But then who did you, Missus Haywood. Helen's mother claims
that last night you were left alone with mister Allan's bottle of medicine. You
had plenty of time to poison that medicine. Mister Welks, but that's ridiculous.
As a matter of fact, you could very well have accused Helen Allan
for that reason. You were afraid for yourself, and you put the blame
on her, knowing she wouldn't be convicted of a murder she did not commit.
Oh no, that's insane. Of course I didn't do it. You
claim that missus Allan couldn't have done it, mister Camellian. Yes, I
did love Helen, but she was under terrible pressure. She was nearly out
of her mind. Alden told her if she ever tried to divorce him,
he'd trump up evidence against her character. He'd make it so bad for her
that she'd never be able to face decent people again. Must have been frankful
for him, unbearable, mister comedian. She often said that that her husband's
death would be the only way out. I see one more thing, mister
Wilks, about the doctor. What doctor mister Allan's doctor? What was his
name? Why? Fillmore? Robert Fillmore? Not doctor? I know.
I heard Helen say only last week that he'd changed from doctor Ridley to doctor
Fillmore. Very well, that's all uenow, mister Wilks, come along day,
goodbye, goodbye. What mister Comellion, I mean, have you finished?
I have? Indeed, Dave, I asked all the questions I intended
to ask, and I got some extremely interesting answers too, mister cameleon,
and the false witness murder case continues in just a moment. A very important
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And now back to mister Chameleon and the false witness murder case. Old
and Allen has been poisoned and his wife Helen had good reason to kill him,
as Camellia knows. And now in the office of the Commissioner Police,
Camellon is saying to the Commissioner, Allan's record is fantastic, Commissioner, fantastic.
There is no excuse for murder ever, But that man spread unhappiness around
him like a plague. What about the poison, Chameleon, Have you been
able to trace it? No? That is one of the strangest angles of
the case. Analysis showed that that entire bottle of medicine had been poisoned.
So even if old and Allen had mixed the dose himself in of dime,
that's what the killer wanted to be sure of exactly. Philip Wilkes was alone
with that bottle, yet there is no record of his having purchased poison in
this city. There is no record of Helen Allen having purchased either and the
doctor what doctor? Someone lied about Allan's doctor, Missus Haywood, Helen's mother,
tells me Allen's doctor was named Ridley Philip Wilkes, on the other hand,
says he went to doctor Fillmore, you know, Commissioner, the well
known specialist. So that's easily checked on chameleon. Yes, but whichever one
lied, why did they lie? I have a theory. I'm going to
see doctor Fillmore, and if my theory is right, that is one piece
of evidence I have got to get. Missus Heywood may love a daughter,
but Gertrude Matthews, the maid, loved hers too, and I am going
to take advantage of that mother love. What do you mean? I want
to get into that house unknown to Helen Allen or any one else. Commissioner,
I'm going to call that disguised as Peter Tombs, an artist for whom
Gertrude's dead daughter once posed. I hope that will be an open sesame to
the Allen house and whatever secret that house may hold. And so we find
mister Camellion in his disguise of Peter Tomes, walking along the street with Detective
Sergeant Dave Arnold beside him, and he's fingering the little black Beard, which
is part of his disguise, and saying, how about a day you think
it'll get by? Yeah? Sure, you know what's funny? That bird
gives your face a different shape. Is a lot is in the eye of
the beholder. That made Gertrude is pretty sharp. But what I have to
say to her may blind her too. That often happens. And what about
doctor Fillmore. I'm going back there later though what he told me practically clinches
it. Now I can only have free access to the house. Oh stop
here, day, this is close enough and wait for me here, wait
to understand, and hope that I will manage to get past Gertrude. And
so mister Cameleon approaches the Allen house. He rings the doorbell and as he
hope, Gertrude answers the door, and he says to her in the voice
of Peter Tolmes, are you missus, Gertrude Matthews, Yes I am.
I'm glad I've found you. I've been reading the papers. I was afraid
you left the place. I mean, after all, a murder, you
think I wouldn't leave if I possibly could. But no, the police say,
I got to stick around. I can't leave till this is all cleared
up, so thin, you might as well stay on here till the police
get around to arresting Missus Allen. Frankly, Missus Matthews, I'm not interested
in this murder. I only read about this one because you were mixed up
in it. And what have I got to do with you. I've never
even seen you before. No, Missus Matthews, but I was a friend
of your daughters, my daughter Lilah. Yeah, I'm an artist. My
name is Peter Tolmes. Sure she mentioned me. She posts for me often,
Peter Tomes. No, Oh, yeah, I guess she did.
She was a beautiful girl, most beautiful I have ever seen. Step inside
mister Tomas's cold out here. Wow, Alan and her mother upstairs getting ready
for the funeral of the husband. This is Alan killed, But never mind
that coming. So my daughter post for you. Huh. Yeah, one
of the finest models I ever had. In fact, I miss her desperately.
Just starting an illustration, I wandered e Lilah for the central figure.
She killed herself. I know. I don't even like to think about that
I was wondering. You have a photograph of Lilah good one? Why?
Yeah, I wouldn't even have to take it with me. I could sit
in the kitchen here make a sketch of it. That's all I needed,
a sketch to work from how your daughter Lilah would be immortalized. Missus Matthews.
I'll tell you I don't have a very good photograph, but mister Allen
had one. The finest photographer in the country made it. Hey, would
you let me copy that? I beg of you. Please let me copy
it? Okay, but send his album and that detective mister Camellion is interested
in it. You couldn't take it out of the house. But how long
would it take you? Oh, couple of hours to make this sketch?
Then you wait here in the kitchen. They'll be leaving for the funeral in
about half an hour. You just sit nice and quiet an. They won't
know you're here. I'm going too, and after we leave, you'll have
the place to yourself. Dave, Dave, mister Comellion. Instead at work,
did you manage to get under the Allan house? It worked. I
was able to go through the house and I got exactly what I wanted.
Well, did a tie in with what doctor Fillmore told him? M Dave
call Philip Wilkes, tell him to be at the Allen home at nine o'clock
to night. I am ready for a showdown with old and Allen's murderer.
Mister comedian, Why did you bring me here? I mean you mean you're
a little embarrassed at entering this home, mister Wilkes, after having accused Helen
Allen of murdering her husband. Isn't that right, mister Camille? Did he
tell you too that I poisoned Allen? He said you had a reason for
it, Missus Allen. He overlooked the fact that quite a few people had
a motive for killing your husband. Well who did mister comeleion. Don't brush
me, Gertrude, I'm coming to it. You mean you know, yes,
Missus Hayward. But have you actually got proof I have, mister Wilkes,
You see, first of all, I went to see doctor Fillmore.
And doctor Fillmore was your husband's physician, wasn't he, Missus Allen? Yes,
all in change from doctor Ridley to doctor Fillmore. Yes, I discovered
doctor Fillmore and myself had a very interesting discussion about incurable diseases. Incurable diseases.
That's right, mister Wilkes. If you know that you're going to be
dead in the near future, naturally it affects your behavior. Wouldn't you say?
Why, mister Commilon, are you trying to say that Alden, that
my husband had an incurable disease, that he killed himself and tried to make
it look like murder. No, I don't mean that, though I wouldn't
have put it past him. No, Missus Allen, it wasn't your husband.
It's the murderer who has an incurable disease. What are you sure of
your facts, mister Camellion, positive, Missus Hayward. I also have the
evidence to back it up. I found the supply of poison that was put
in old in Allan's medicine. You got the poison, yes, Gertrude.
The murderer had it in their possession for some time. That is why there
was no recent record of its purchase. But how did you find it,
mister Camellion. Where did you find it in this house? Missus Hayward?
Would you never search the house? I did this afternoon while you were all
at the funeral this afternoon. But the house was locked, right, Missus
Allen. But I was on the inside when you locked it. I was
waiting in the kitchen, wasn't I Gertrude? What you you mean you were
Peter Tolmes, that artist Fello, mister cameleon. You mean you got into
this house in disguise, Yes, Missus Hayward, I'm afraid I deliberately played
on Gertrude's mother love. I told her that I wanted to paint a portrait
from her daughter Lilah's photograph. Mister Camellion, I never guessed who you were
the poison. Where is the poison? Yes? Where is it, mister
comedian? Right here in this box, Missus Allen, Missus Hayward. Where
are you going? Why? Just upstairs? Oh yes, Missus Hayward,
you'd only find the poison gun. This really is the poison I have in
this box. I found it hidden in a hollow post in your four poster
bed. Mother, Missus Hayward. I wondered why you lied about the doctor,
Missus Hayward, why you tried to keep me away from doctor Fillmore.
You lied because Fillmore was your doctor too. You're afraid i'd ask him about
you, which I did this afternoon, when I was here alone in disguise,
I went straight to your room, Missus Hayward. I thought i'd find
the poison there, and I did. Mother. Oh mother, Well,
mister Hayward, must I prolong this? Hasn't your daughter been through enough?
Yes? That's why I murdered Alden, because Helen had been through so much.
I couldn't stand her unhappiness. Oh mother, there's never any excuse for
murder. Didn't it occur to you that she might be accused? Yes,
but I thought I couldn't bear to face a murder charge if I didn't die
before. I intended to kill myself. Now I know it's better to take
my medicine. I plead guilty to Alden's murder. Mister Chameleon, Did I
tell you something I know of that motto of yours? The innocent must be
protected, the guilty must be punished. Yes, I protected the innocent,
mister Chameleon. I left a full confession in my safe deposit vault, to
be read in case I died. But good Heavens, you let me think
that Helen was the murderer. How could you do that, Missus Haywards.
How could you think it? Philip? I understood you very well, your
weakness and your cowardice. I knew that if suspicion pointed to you, you'd
behaved badly, and Helen would see whos you rarely are. But that's terrible,
Helen, Darling, forgive me, you will forgive me. No,
I'll never forgive you, Philip, But I said I'd never forgive you.
Now get out, Please get out and leave me with my mother. Very
well, I certainly wouldn't want a murderer for a mother in law. You're
very well rid of him, Missus Allen. Philip didn't love you. I
know. The law does not require a husband and wife to testify against each
other because love might make them lie. That's part of loving, absolute loyalty
to each other. One might suspect the other of murder, but certainly doesn't
immediately run to betray them. No, in a way, your mother freed
you from a man who was almost as bad as old and Ellen. Oh,
mister commission, Missus Hayward, it is my sad duty to take you
to police headquarters. I am ready to go, and so mister Cameleon concludes
Tonight's murder case. Whenever you feel like you're catching coal, remember the way
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Listen next Wednesday night at this same time for mister Camellion, the man
of many faces, in the case of the elevator with two bodies. The
part of mister Comedion is played by Carl Swenson, with dialogue by Marie Bomber
from the original story by Frank and Anne Hummert. Music directed by Victor Arden.
Your announcer is Howard Claney. After years of work, a revolutionary new
toothpaste has been developed, called Lion's Toothpaste. By actual laboratory test on scores
of individual teeth, it gets teeth two and a half to five and a
half times brighter than any of the five leading brands, brighter by far than
any other toothpaste. New Lion's Toothpaste does this because it's a new kind of
toothpaste with a formula that's completely new and radically different. A remarkable toothpaste that
cleans without soap and polishes without chalk. Try it. Ask for Lions Toothpaste.
Listen for mister Chameleon in the case of the Elevator with two bodies next
Wednesday night. At this time. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Welcome back. Now. I know some of you are going to insist
that mister Chameleon's disguises are not necessary when he's trying to gain access to a
home to search it, as he's a member of the police force. But
I'd refer you to the Fourth Amendment. The right of the people to be
secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and
Caesar's shall not be violated, and no warrants issue, but upon the investigating
officer assuming a clever disguise, which may or may not include the use of
foreign dialect, and then tricking the documents into leaving him in the rooms unattended.
The Fourth Amendment. Okay, it's all seriousness. It doesn't say that.
I wouldn't a few years back have felt the need to say that,
but these days you've got to be careful. So either mister Camellion doesn't have
a warrant and anything he found would be inadmissible, or he has a warrant
and is therefore being incredibly eccentric. I also have to say that that this
was probably the soapious plot for mister Chameleon that we've heard, and that says
something. All it's missing is a long lost brother, and of course a
con man pretending to be a nobleman. Well, now we turn to listener,
calm and feedback, and we have an email from Nick in Philadelphia,
who writes, Hi, Adam, I recently created a Wikipedia article for Mister
Chameleon. This led me to look at newspaper reviews of the program written during
its original run. One of my favorites appeared in the August of nineteen fifty
two in the mollen, Illinois Daily Dispatch. The critic Muriel Stevens was so
irked by that week's episodes of both mister Chameleon and mister Keynes, Reiser of
Lost Persons, that she spends the whole column tearing them apart, singling out
their painful dialogue and atrocious acting, which she calls so awful that it's kind
of fun to listen to. I know some great detective listeners will agree.
Attaches the review for your reading pleasure. Thanks so much, Nick. Can
I appreciate you adding mister Chameleon to Wikipedia and for anyone who goes out there
and edits it, particularly to get it in that are more accurate. I
read the article. It was definitely interesting, and I will go ahead and
quote for some of it. Won't read anything that's too spoilerrific, I guess
for mister Chameleon as who knows that episode could come into circulation and it might
be fun to circle back to this Olam and compare with Stevens's thoughts to what
actually happened in the episode. But she goes off ahead and says, like
millions of other addicts, I have an almost psychopathic weakness for mystery stories.
But I'm afraid that Keen and Chameleon, which are perfect illustrations of how to
not dramatize crime yarns, have gone beyond the limits of my patient It's the
more rose assortment of characters mercilessly entangled in these sordid epics usually keeps running around
accusing each other of lying, of murder, and of illicit swindles of every
kind. At the end of the program, the only one who hasn't been
crimically implicated are the announcers and the listeners. The titles of the cases that
the kindly Old Tracer and the Man of Many Disguises get mixed up in never
fail to amaze me. On Thursday Nights broadcast, mister Keene became involved in
something called the Case of Murder and the Man Who Loved Danger, while some
thirty minutes later mister Chameleon was messing with a thing called the surprise motive murder
cases. These two literary achievements alone are enough to give you an idea of
what follows. I never could quite ascertain mister Keene's position in life. Although
he's supposed to be a tracer of lost persons, his activities don't seem to
be directed towards recovering wayward souls. I gather he's some sort of investigator,
but never collects any money for his work, either from his mad clients or
the police department. I sincerely hope the sponsor's mail in my check each week,
for a man can't survived on half baked murder cases for nourishment. As
his partner in crime, mister Keene travels around with his assistant, Matt Clancy,
who keeps muttering sense preserves and yes, Boss. I won't go into
the plot on Thursday's charming episode, since newsprint space is valuable, but I
cringed in horror it some of the painful dialogue as I listen to you,
you the dagger, don't ah, you're killing me? That cherish line was
uttered in the victim studies. These killings always happen in the master's study,
as his murderer approached him. Later on, another intruder in the study,
of course, was interrupted by mister Keen and Mike Clancy. He ejaculated some
well chosen words, says, don't move any of you, hands up,
reach for the ceiling, stand back. This gun is loaded, and Miss
Stevens' ads in parentheses, so is this program. A scuffle followed, and
Keene said, proudly, good work, Mike. I've got the record and
the gun, and I've got a headache, Adsmiths Stevens. Finally, Cynthia
or Clara or whatever her name was admitted to homicide just to in the program
quickly, for nothing else, because she couldn't stand her husband's philanthropic instincts.
I killed Walter when I couldn't stop him from giving away his money. She
has no heart, this woman, and so our narrator concluded, mister Keen,
the kindly old tracer finds the solution to the case of murder and the
man who loved danger. Miss Stevens wrote, mister Cameleon, he solves his
cases with several disguises and in a sequius assistant by the name of Dave Arnold,
who tags along with his master yelling, got you, mister comeleon,
write mister chameleon, and where to now, mister chameleon? He writes,
I'm also fond of the acting on these two shows, which is among the
most atrocious to be found anywhere. It's so awful that it's kind of fun
to listen to simply to speculate all the motives which drove these people into a
profession that they're so clearly unfitted for out Okay, I think that was maybe
a little bit unfair, actually a lot bit. I think that people too
often either give actors too much credit or too much blame for the quality of
production. I've heard Carl Swinson and other things, and he also did a
lot of film and television acting, and many of the actors who worked on
these programs were quite talented and capable of doing many things, and they were
giving the type of performance that the director was asking for that this type of
genre of program called for. I thought that was a bit much, But
I think that her feelings are definitely understandable. She talks about the programs that
she actual enjoys, which is kind of a nice counterbalance you don't often get
in these sort of fitting acid sort of reviews. She like dragging that the
lineup Whitehall twelve twelve and the FBI and Peace and War, and there are
actually people alive who really can relate to those sort of programs as much the
same way the original audience did. I think that in many ways it's a
much greater challenge to find people who relate to mister Keene and mister Chameleon in
the same way the original audience did. There also is some insight in this
article in terms of writing and journalism in the pre information age. Now.
She expressed confusion at mister King Tracer of Lost Persons having that title, given
that he didn't go and look for lost persons when the radio series started originally
back in nineteen thirty seven. He did look for lost persons, but he
began to move more and more into homicide cases and then that kind of exclusively
became was investigated, even though the title was still mister Keenes Tracer of Lost
Persons. Based on her appearance and some other information I was able to find
she was probably like ten or eleven when mister Camellian got started, would have
been in her late teens when this series started to focus exclusively on homicides,
but showed first of all that while being the same name and changing focus may
not have bothered regular listeners, newer people coming on to listen to the pro
program might have been confused by it. It also shows that many of the
facts in trivia that pertained to rate programs just simply were not easily available or
well known or disseminated to the general public or even two media people outside of
some of these larger Marty kits like New York, LA and Chicago. And
this is further illustrated actually at the lead of the story, as Stevens writes,
a bunch of characters have been floating around the airwaves for a long time
and doing what they think right by mystery fans throughout the nation. Several of
them have been in book form, created by Franken and hummerd, a pair
of so called authors who decided their little homicidal madiacs might as well plague listeners
as well as readers. As a result, these bookworms have been transferred to
the airwaves, though for what purpose I couldn't say. Just a few of
these insipid programs come under the titles of mister Keene, Tracer of Lost Persons,
Mister and Missus North, mister Cameleon, and Hearthstone of the Death Squad.
Now this is an opening, but there's one problem. It is actually
very very wrong. First of all, Anne and Frank Hummertz didn't write books.
They weren't authors. Now, two of the characters she mentions here do
have literary origins, neither written by the Hummerts. Carstone of the Death Squad
and mister Chameleon were completely original to radio. Mister Keen Tracer of Lost Persons
came from a book by Robert Chambers written in nineteen o six. Mister and
Missus North was rated by Francis and Richard Lockridge, and there was a radio
program, and while it had devolved into something that you might think was produced
by the Hummers, it wasn't actually produced by the Hummers. Now this illustrates,
I think the challenge you have whenever you are researching these sort of programs,
because just because it ends up in a newspaper or a magazine back in
the nineteen forties or fifties doesn't make it so, particularly when you're talking about
a critic who's providing her opinions rather than any particularly informed basis of facts and
history, and you will see that sort of thing. When you look at
old newspaper articles, will find all sorts of unintentional bits of misinformation. I
remember when I was writing my series on Robert Bailey, I looked at his
obituaries from various newspapers, and some of the things in those obituaries were wild,
Like one I remember said that he had appeared in twenty Laurel and Hardy
films. He appeared in two, and oftentimes they didn't even mention yours truly,
Johnny Dollar or let George do it, despite those being the most prominent
roles of his radio career. Well, the information age definitely has its challenges.
At least were able to more quickly research and fact check these sort of
details. As it is, it's easy to understand how during earlier times it
was really possible for a lot of myths and misconceptions to spread really easily and
really unintentionally. Well, now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the
day, and I want to go ahead and thank Lewis. Lewis has been
one of our patrire On supporters since March of twenty eighteen, currently supporting the
program at the Master Detective level of fifteen dollars or more per month. Thank
you so much for your support, Lois, and that will do it for
today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast
So if you're enjoying the podcast on YouTube, be sure to lock the video,
subscribe to the channel, and mark the notification bell. We will be
back next Thursday with another episode of Mister Chameleon, but join us back here
tomorrow for the conclusion of the Alder Matter. Where anything the matter? There's
cuts on your face? What happened your daughter's boyfriend Alkin Kin? Yeah,
he's got the idea. You hired me to bust up their little romance.
He didn't like it, that idiot. Is that all you've got to say,
mister Elderon, Well, because of it is. Let me tell you
how I feel about it. Where I stand look Dollar you look. I
know you're the insured, but I just about had it with you. I
don't have to take that kind of talk. I think you do. You
ask me to keep you alive, but you won't lift a finger to help.
Every time I ask you a question, you look the other way.
Do an imitation of clam. What am I supposed to be a mind reader?
All I want you to do is protect Oh come on, come on,
Alder, You're smarter than that. Protect you from what You've almost been
tagged out once. You must have an idea who made that try and why?
I have no idea. I hope you'll be with us then. In
the meantime, do send your comments to Box thirteen at Greatdetectives dot net,
follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us out on Instagram,
Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives from Boise the Autoho. This is
your host, Adam Graham. Sign and off.