Martin Bracknell's Black Jack Justice

= Martin Bracknell's Black Jack Justice =

Current Series

Black Jack Justice is a podcast series done in the style of pulp detective stories, that follows the adventures of Jack Justice, a hardboiled 1940s detective, and his partner Trixie Dixon, girl detective, who share the narrative duty and often openly conflict. The series is introduced with the byline "Martin Bracknell", though it was noted in the "Season One Spectacular" that Bracknell was a completely fictional character from the original "play-within-a-play" stage version of Black Jack Justice. Both the play and the series are written by Gregg Taylor of Decoder Ring Theatre.

Dramatis Personae

*Jack "Black Jack" Justice
Full name: Jonathon J. Justice. Owner and co-founder of "Justice and Dixon: Private Investigations". "Black Jack" Justice is a grizzled, hard-boiled private detective and one of the two protagonists of the series, along with his partner, Trixie Dixon (see below). Little is known about his childhood; he's one of seven children. (He had four brothers and two sisters. Two of the brothers were recently revealed to be deceased. Ep. 22: "Two of my brothers didn't make it back from the war".) Not much information is given about his parents. His father obviously shared some of his viewpoints (ep 13: "I remembered what Jack's father had told him: 'If you're going to bet angry, make sure you cheat'").

Before World War II, he worked with another private detective, Tom Fellows. Evidence suggests that he was deployed in Italy, Germany, and England. During the war, his partner, Tom Fellows, was captured. When Jack Justice returned home, he began to work with Trixie Dixon. His experiences overseas are a major factor in determining his character and have a profound impact on his outlook. On more than one occasion, his experience in the service aided him in his private detection, though just as often, it seems to be a curse. On the third Wednesday of October, Justice apparently spends long hours drinking with the remnants of his platoon, in what Dixon describes as an attempt "to finish off with whisky those whom the Germans had spared" (Epi.5). However, even under the effects of the next morning's eye-popping hangover, he still insists on showing up to work.

The nickname "Black Jack" originated before the war, during his early career, possibly with Tom Fellows. According to Frederick Hawthorne, Justice had a tendency to be knocked unconscious, or sapped, on a routine basis, apparently more often than anyone else in town. Someone was "mashing the back of ol' Jack's head" every few days. The nickname began as "Jack Justice, The Concussion King", until eventually, someone devised the rhyming "Black Jack", which Justice kept as it was good for business. After he returned from service, he was more aware and harder to sneak up on, vastly reducing the amount of times he was sapped.

One of Justice's other great advantages is his intimate knowledge of the city and its major players. Justice is apparently an expert on the Sullivan Mob, having tangled with them on numerous occasions. The context of these encounters aren't given in detail, but he is largely responsible for putting Arthur Sullivan and his crime family behind bars. He also has a sordid history with Monte Callahan; an art thief and a gentleman burglar. Justice ran Callahan, an expert on eluding capture, in on "the only charge that ever stuck": receiving stolen goods.

The point or even the major reason why Justice and Dixon cemented their partnership is unclear, though it is revealed that the current office was originally Justice's old office, very possibly the one he shared with Fellows. The exact relationship between Justice and Dixon is a complicated one and one of the show's most popular points. Though they both banter relentlessly, the two private detectives do seem to care for one another, if only grudingly and without much regard. They have been known to get into scraps on several occasions, but even when presented with the choice of Dixon or Fellows, Justice chose Trixie (Epi.12).

Romantically, Justice has a strange side. Jack is much more reserved than his partner, and his instances of romantic interest are considerably fewer and farther between than Trixie's. He appears to have long-standing, most likely unrequited, feelings for an unidentified Nora Nelson (Epi.8). In the very same episode, he apparently has a brief emotional attachment with one Mary Hayden, revealed in a popular ending to the episode. According to actor Christopher Mott, Justice's ending monologue is his "favorite piece of writing that has ever come from the illustrious Mr. Taylor's pen." Later in the season, Justice and Helen Cale, after a confusing Tuesday, enjoy a few days together.

Justice is reputed to be a quick and nearly unstoppable talker, apparently very difficult to derail. Hawthorne claims he also isn't much of a listener. He's known to own only one decent suit, eats black coffee, rye toast and boiled egg everyday for breakfast and carries a .45 in his shoulder holster. For the record, his eyes are steel gray, not "baby blue" as referenced in Episode 2. Played by Christopher Mott.

*Trixie Dixon, Girl Detective
Full name: Trixie Cynthia Dixon. Owner and co-founder of "Justice and Dixon: Private Investigations". Almost nothing is confirmed about her childhood. She attended reform school as a child, where she reputedly learned how to fight, along with several other tricks including a move known as the "Two Dollar Special", which apparently involves a roll of nickels clenched in each fist. From what little information we are provided about her mother, we know that she may or may not "be sweet on" Trixie's partner, Jack Justice.

Before working with Justice, Dixon worked on her own, though little information has been revealed about this time period. Her private detective's license number is 77777 - a carry-over from the stage play. Episode 5 - "Justice Incorporated" reveals an early conflict with a corrupt judge, resulting in the possession of a series of scandalous pictures, that predates Justice and Dixon: Private Investigations, but beyond a propensity for lost cat cases, that's all revealed about her own history.

For all her shady past, Trixie is the more responsible and organized of the two detectives. She enjoys research, and during dry periods between cases, she reorganizes the filing cabinets. She is more likely to arrive at the office on time than Jack. Trixie is not against using her femininity in the name of an investigation, often flirting her way past doormen or bodyguards in her trademark "little red dress" or boots. In the Decoder Ring Theatre Season One Spectacular, she is described by voice actress Andrea Lyons as being "tough as nails, hard as asphalt, and just [wanting] to be loved — by someone other than Jack." Played by Andrea Lyons.
*Molly Cameron
Although only having made a single appearance in the first two seasons of the series, Molly has quite a history with both Jack (as a former lover) and Trixie (as her lawyer). It remains to be seen whether she will return. Played by Lesley Livingston.
*Freddy The Finger
Frederick Josiah Hawthorne. Small-time crook and informant. He has a nervous habit of saying "see" anytime he knows something but won't spill the beans. He was friends with Justice before the war, and they have remained friends. Played by Peter Nicol.
*Tom Fellows
Jack's former partner, mentor and best friend before the war. The two of them had joined the infantry together, serving in the same unit until Tom had been captured and was presumed dead. After spending a year in a German prison camp, Tom was freed and decided life was too short to spend sitting around an office making the occasional 20 dollars a day so he went off to see the world. Unfortunately for him, he got himself mixed in with the mob. When he tried to recruit Jack, he made the mistake of pointing a snub-nose .38 at Trixie and Jack put two fist-sized holes in his chest for the trouble.
*King
The "vicious" dog detective acquired by Jack and Trixie in Episode 15, "How Much Is That Gumshoe In The Window?". Possibly named after Colonel Fitzking of the Original Universe Red Panda Adventures or the heroic dog star of the "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" old-time radio series.
*Lt. Vic Sabien
Full name: Victor Aloysius Sabien. "Two hundred pounds of broken-down flatfoot", Sabien is a Lieutenant who doesn't like Jack but is willing to work with him to take down bigger threats. Gets along just fine with Trixie, who has to step in from time to time to stop the two from beating each other senseless. In the first season, Lt. Sabien's middle initial was given as "J", but that was later revealed to be a red herring when Trixie told the audience his real middle name. Speculation on the boards as to why Trixie knows this fact whereas Jack doesn't touched on two probable reasons: either Lt. Sabien told Trixie in a moment of weakness, or his mother told her. Played by Gregg Taylor.
*Officer Nelson
A good shot, but a bad investigator, Officer Nelson is the hapless punching bag for Lt. Sabien's considerable ire. Played by M. John Kennedy.
*Lawrence Braithwaite
Owner of the Braithwaite Detective Agency. Played by Gregg Taylor.
*"Button Down" Theo
An investigator at Braithewaite's Detective Agency. Not very creative or outstanding in any particular way. He has an unrequited crush on Trixie because she is unlike "all the other girls," but if they were actually to get together, he would want her to settle down — just like all the other girls. Trixie continually refuses him, but he is undeterred. Played by Kevin Robinson.
*Mordecai Brasseau
A rich man, now deceased. He had hired Jack Justice Investigations on many occasions and each time Jack and Trixie said it would be the last.

Gangs and Their Leaders

*The Sullivan Mob
Mentioned in Episode 5, "Justice Incorporated".
*The Mason Mob
Their leader is Chick Mason. Most of the gang was arrested in Episode 9, "No Justice" Mason's main goons are Monk and Hawk. DECEASED.
*Rocco D'Angelo's Gang
Their leader is Rocco D'Angelo, a.k.a. "Rocky Angel", a.k.a. The Angel of Death. DECEASED.

Stage Play

The original stage-play version of Black Jack Justice played in Toronto in the summer of 2001. It was less a detective story than it was a one-act farce surrounding one very bad broadcast day in the life of a low-rated detective serial. As the play opens and the actors enter, bickering among themselves about their various personal conflicts, they are surprised to find the series writer and creator Martin Bracknell in their midst, seemingly quite busy at his typewriter. The cast is greeted with good news and bad news. The good news is that the show has a new sponsor, and the bad news is that they do not have a completed script. It turns out that, faced with the declining ratings after being put on against Jack Benny, Bracknell crawled into a whisky bottle and didn't come out for three weeks, during which time, his backlog of scripts was used up. And so they are forced to go to air, only to learn that the still-inebriated Bracknell has incorporated their personal conflicts into the story and still left them twisting in the wind for a last-minute improvised summation by actor Max Davis, who plays Jack. The play-within-a-play is actually very much a pilot script for the Black Jack Justice radio series, complete with the signature competing narrative voices of Jack Justice and his partner Trixie Dixon, Girl Detective.