The Adventures of Harry Nile

"The Adventures of Harry Nile" is a radio drama series created by veteran radio writer and producer Jim French. It has been in continuous production since 1991 and is syndicated nationally as part of the Imagination Theater package. The series made its original debut on January 1, 1976 over Seattle radio station KVI and continued for 24 episodes before French left the station to pursue other interests. In the late 80s Jim returned to broadcasting joining the staff of the local CBS affiliate KIRO. In 1990 he was asked if he knew who owned the rights to the Nile shows? Through a bit of foresight in the 1970s Jim retained the rights to all of his scripts and characters and it wasn't long before the original 24 episodes along with two that had been produced but never aired were running on Sunday nights. In 1991 Jim began writing and producing new Nile shows with one new episode playing every month, first only locally and then in 1996 nationally. As of this writing over 190 installments have been done.

From his 1976 debut until his death in October 2004 the part of Harry Nile was played by Phil Harper. Since Harper's passing, the show has starred Larry Albert.

SERIES DESCRIPTION

(From THE ADVENTURES OF HARRY NILE Broadcast LogSee External Link below)

Harry Nile, a fictional private detective in LosAngeles and Seattle during the 1940s and 50's, is thetitle character of this New-Time Radio detectiveseries. Like many private eyes, Harry started out as acop. Harry's real last name is actually Niletti; hechanged it before he joined the force to protect hisfamily from potential retaliation by the Mob. As arookie on the Chicago Police Department, Harry wasrecruited by the department's Internal AffairsDivision.

When his Blues singer wife is killed in a night clubshooting, Harry's life hits the skids. He turns upprecinct-wide police corruption and is eventuallyforced to resign from the Chicago police force. Afterhe runs up substantial gambling debts and is unable topay them, Harry agrees to travel to L.A. to do a"little favor" for the holder of his markers, a WindyCity casino owner/crime boss. The "little favor"involves the murder of a Los Angeles crime boss. Harrymanages not to do the deed and ends up staying on theWest Coast, working as a private eye, first in LosAngeles, and later, in Seattle.

Harry is definitely not a hard-boiled P.I. He seldomuses his gun or gets into a fight, but he's no wimp. This guy can be tough when necessary. Here's adetective who is a real human being. He'll never berich or have a fancy office; he's usually one stepahead of the bill collectors. Even after years in thebusiness, he's not completely cynical. He cares abouthis clients and his greatest strength is his humanity.

He's aided in his investigations by his associateMurphy, a red-haired, former librarian played by Pat French, who made herdebut in the episode "The Twenty Dollar Trackdown." Murphy is not the stereotype P.I.'s secretary; thislady is no dummy. She was initially enamored by the supposed glamour of the P.I. business and sometimesaccompanies Harry on cases. For several years, she wasHarry's unpaid assistant. Now she's basically Harry'spartner and great at finding important information. While she has always been infatuated with Harry, she'ssmart enough not to push it.

References

*French, Jim. "The Adventures of Harry Nile: America's Greatest Radio Detective Mysteries" ISBN 978-1931102513

External links

* [http://jimfrenchproductions.com/ Jim French Productions]
* [http://www.old-time.com/otrlogs2/hrynl_sw.log.txt The Adventures of Harry Nile Broadcast Log]
* [http://www.thrillingdetective.com/nile.html Harry Nile]