Michael Shayne

Michael Shayne is a fictional private detective character created during the late 1930s by writer Brett Halliday. It was the title of a series of 12 films starring Lloyd Nolan, a radio series under a variety of names, between 1944 and 1953, and later in 1960-1961, a 32 episode NBC television series starring Richard Denning (1914–1998) in the title role.

Novels and short stories

Shayne debuted in the novel Dividend on Death first published in 1939, written by Halliday, a pseudonym of Davis Dresser. Dresser wrote fifty Shayne novels, with the help of Ryerson Johnson. Twenty seven more were written by Robert Terrall for a total of 77; 300 short stories, a dozen films, radio and television shows, and a few comic book appearances have resulted from the character.

The books were typically very well plotted, with Shayne always gathering the suspects at the end and explaining the crime and naming the murderer. Shayne was initially married in the novels, his wife being Phyllis Shayne, who was a somewhat limited character, and was often out of town. Dresser "killed her off" when he sold the movie rights to the series. In the book, Blood on the Black Market a comedy, she disappears and Shayne is forced to deal with his wife's death.

Halliday stopped writing the Shayne novels after Murder and the Wanton Bride in 1958. Shayne novels continued, however, written by Ryserson Johnson, Robert Terrell and Dennis Lynds.

Some of these Halliday ghost writers have suggested that Dresser still kept his hand in, even after other writers largely took over the writing of the novels, by doing at least a light edit of the Shayne manuscripts contributed by others, and thus making the later books in the series "ghost-collaborated" rather than actually "ghost-written."

Magazine

Halliday later created Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, first introduced in 1956 by Renown Publications under the title Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine. The magazine continued for over three decades, always having at least one Shayne short story included in each edition.

Films

The 1940 film Michael Shayne - Private Detective was the first in a series of 12 films. Lloyd Nolan starred as Shayne until the series was dropped by Twentieth Century Fox and picked up by PRC. At that point, Hugh Beaumont, who later went on to play Beaver Cleaver's father Ward on television's Leave It to Beaver, took over the role.

Twentieth Century Fox films with Lloyd Nolan

• Michael Shayne - Private Detective (1940)
• Sleepers West (1941)
• Dressed to Kill (1941)
• Blue, White and Perfect (1942)
• The Man Who Wouldn't Die (1942)
• Just Off Broadway (1942)
• Time to Kill (1942)

PRC films with Hugh Beaumont

• Murder Is My Business (1946)
• Larceny in Her Heart (1946)
• Blonde for a Day (1946)
• Three on a Ticket (1946)
• Too Many Winners (1946)

Radio

Jeff Chandler and Wally Maher were among the actors who starred as Shayne in a weekly radio series.

Television

In 1960, the 32-episode Michael Shayne television series began. Richard Denning, formerly of the series Mr. and Mrs. North, played Michael Shayne. Patricia Donahue originated the role of Lucy Hamilton, Shayne's secretary. She was replaced by Margie Regan after more than half of the 32 episodes had been shot.

Herbert Rudley (1910–2006) played Lieutenant Will Gentry of the Miami Police Department and Jerry Paris (1925–1986) played reporter Tim Rourke of the fictitious Miami Tribune. Gary Clarke (born 1936), later of The Virginian, played Dick Hamilton, Lucy's younger brother (this character does not appear in Halliday's books).

William Link and Richard Levinson wrote a number of episodes of the series, including "This Is It, Michael Shayne", which was based on Halliday's novel of that name. Julie Adams, who had previously worked with Richard Denning in Creature from the Black Lagoon, guest starred in this episode. Beverly Garland guest starred in the episode "Murder and the Wanton Bride." She and Denning had previously starred in the Roger Corman feature film Naked Paradise (1957). Garland and Denning later costarred with Vincent Price in "The House of the Seven Gables" segment of the film Twice-Told Tales (1963). Warren Oates, Joan Marshall and David White guest starred in the episode "Murder Round My Wrist." Margie Regan played a nurse in this episode, while Patricia Donahue was still playing Lucy Hamilton.

The hour-long series ran at 10pm Fridays on NBC. Its competition was CBS's The Twilight Zone with Rod Serling and ABC's The Detectives with Robert Taylor and The Law and Mr. Jones, starring James Whitmore, Conlan Carter, and Janet De Gore.^[1] The series can still be seen on the Detective Channel of TV4U.Com.

Comics

Dell Comics soon picked up the character for a comic book series, Mike Shayne - Private Eye.

References

1. ^ "Michael Shayne". TV series 1960-1961 at Internet Movie Data Base. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053521/. 

External links

"Michael Shayne". Internet Movie Data Base. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053521/. Retrieved March 29, 2009. 

• Thrilling Detective on thrillingdetective.com
• DVD starring Lloyd Nolan
• The Toughest Red Head Ever Brett Halliday explains the creation of Mike Shayne