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Detective mystery (1930 - 56) "Everything comes in circles - even Professor Moriarty It's all been done before, and will be again." So said Holmes, and he was right. Conan Doyle killed Holmes off in disgust, but had to "resurrect" him and continue the tales, as the public knew what they liked, and wanted more of the same! Sherlock Holmes episodes on radio are often dismissed, as are the many films. Yet for his fans and all lovers of mystery, the swirling London fogs, murder most foul, odd villains and an upper class becoming modern as London's denizens struggle in pitiful poverty means "the game is afoot!" Holmes actually has a long and wonderful history on the radio. For American radio, the heroine of Holmes on the radio was Edith Meiser, an actress who loved the stories and was convinced they would make great listening. She scripted several Conan Doyle stories and took them around. Meiser entrepreneured a fitting sponsorship for the show herself, and went back to the network triumphantly. Beginning in the early 1930's, she single-handed wrote the show for over a dozen years, first working from the Conan Doyle canon, and then continuing to create stories in the spirit of the originals. A spot of crass commercialism seeped into the radio show from the start, as Watson himself, played by various actors, took on the co-host role with a spokesman for G. Washington Tea as a visitor ready to hear a Holmes story. Before a blazing fire with tea always at the brew, Watson reminiscences the great tales between comments on how good the tea is! For seven years, the great shows of Rathbone and Bruce were made. They began in 1939 and continued through the mid 40's, while the two were also cranking out 16 Hollywood films (Rathbone and Bruce had radio appearances from 1939 through May, 1946). The radio stories were action packed, filled with atmosphere, and featured great music by Lou Kosloff, as well as excellent sound effects. Dunning relates how Denis Conan Doyle, son of the writer, watched a radio production with Rathbone and Bruce in 1941, and was heard to say, "…admirable, absolutely admirable." In 1955, the transcribed re-ran of the original great Conan Doyle stories with the fine actors Sir John Gielgud as Holmes, and Sir Ralph Richardson as Watson, and in "The Final Problem," Orson Welles as Moriarty. This series is held in high regard by all fans of Holmesiana. For over one hundred years, these Sherlock Holmes episodes have thrilled and chilled the world. These radio dramatizations are collected from a variety of sources, including fine British ones, and together offer more exciting adventures and more clues to more mysteries than any mere mortal could possibly keep straight. But we have a special man in charge. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know."
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