"The Adventures of Harry Nile - Black Widow & Other Mysteries
Just finished listening to "The Adventures of Harry Nile - Black Widow & Other Mysteries.
Created by Jim French, "The Adventures of Harry Nile" has the distinction of being the longest running audio detective series that aired on the radio waves. First airing back on January 1, 1976 with about an hour-long episode that introduced the down-on-his luck former cop who ultimately sets up shop as a private detective, it had an initial two year run before going on a 12-year hiatus before returning to the air back in 1990, deftly picking up where the show initially ended.
Like many private eyes, Harry started out as a cop. As a rookie on the Chicago police force, Harry was recruited by the department’s Internal Affairs. We find out that Harry’s real last name is actually Niletti; he changed it before he joined the force to protect his family from potential coercion or retaliation by the Mob.
Yet when his beautiful blues-singer wife is killed in a nightclub shooting, Harry goes into a major tailspin. He resigns from the police force after exposing corruption at a Chicago precinct. After piling up substantial gambling debts, he hits rock-bottom and agrees to travel to L.A. to do a “little favor” for the holder of his markers, a Windy City crime boss. The “little favor” involves the murder of a rival crime boss. He manages not to do the deed and ends up staying on the West Coast, working as a private eye, first in Los Angeles, and later, in Seattle.
Jim French, who created and wrote a vast majority of the Harry Nile scripts, used his knowledge of Los Angeles and Seattle as they were in the 1940’s and 50’s to paint rich period backgrounds that are historically accurate and add interest and flavor to his stories.
Phil Harper, the actor who originally played Harry, was quoted in an interview that he drew on his remembrances of some of the great radio detectives as inspiration for his portrayal. “I drew some of my character’s rumbly voice from Howard Duff who played Sam Spade and from an actor who played Johnny Dollar, possibly Edmond O’Brien, on the radio,” Harper said.
Harper's portrayal of Harry Nile helped the show gain a cult status.
Of particular interest in this collection is that it starts off with the last show from the original run, "The Case of the Lisping Lover" that aired back on June 13, 1978, and the first 20 episodes from when the show returned back on the air in 1991 with the episode, "Favor For A Friend," on December 16, 1990.
While a lot of information about Jim French Productions can be found online, I do wish that Radio Spirits would invest the time and money to include booklets in their releases of Jim French Productions collections.
My favorite episodes in this collection in this collection are: "The Case of the Lisping Lover," "Favor For A Friend," "Maybe There is A Santa Claus," "Mr. Fixer," "Blood Ties," "Sticky Fingers," "Crime In A Bottle," "Floater," and The Case of The Exeter Audition."
HIGHLY RECOMMENED!
TEN STARS!
https://store.radiospirits.com/harry-...
Created by Jim French, "The Adventures of Harry Nile" has the distinction of being the longest running audio detective series that aired on the radio waves. First airing back on January 1, 1976 with about an hour-long episode that introduced the down-on-his luck former cop who ultimately sets up shop as a private detective, it had an initial two year run before going on a 12-year hiatus before returning to the air back in 1990, deftly picking up where the show initially ended.
Like many private eyes, Harry started out as a cop. As a rookie on the Chicago police force, Harry was recruited by the department’s Internal Affairs. We find out that Harry’s real last name is actually Niletti; he changed it before he joined the force to protect his family from potential coercion or retaliation by the Mob.
Yet when his beautiful blues-singer wife is killed in a nightclub shooting, Harry goes into a major tailspin. He resigns from the police force after exposing corruption at a Chicago precinct. After piling up substantial gambling debts, he hits rock-bottom and agrees to travel to L.A. to do a “little favor” for the holder of his markers, a Windy City crime boss. The “little favor” involves the murder of a rival crime boss. He manages not to do the deed and ends up staying on the West Coast, working as a private eye, first in Los Angeles, and later, in Seattle.
Jim French, who created and wrote a vast majority of the Harry Nile scripts, used his knowledge of Los Angeles and Seattle as they were in the 1940’s and 50’s to paint rich period backgrounds that are historically accurate and add interest and flavor to his stories.
Phil Harper, the actor who originally played Harry, was quoted in an interview that he drew on his remembrances of some of the great radio detectives as inspiration for his portrayal. “I drew some of my character’s rumbly voice from Howard Duff who played Sam Spade and from an actor who played Johnny Dollar, possibly Edmond O’Brien, on the radio,” Harper said.
Harper's portrayal of Harry Nile helped the show gain a cult status.
Of particular interest in this collection is that it starts off with the last show from the original run, "The Case of the Lisping Lover" that aired back on June 13, 1978, and the first 20 episodes from when the show returned back on the air in 1991 with the episode, "Favor For A Friend," on December 16, 1990.
While a lot of information about Jim French Productions can be found online, I do wish that Radio Spirits would invest the time and money to include booklets in their releases of Jim French Productions collections.
My favorite episodes in this collection in this collection are: "The Case of the Lisping Lover," "Favor For A Friend," "Maybe There is A Santa Claus," "Mr. Fixer," "Blood Ties," "Sticky Fingers," "Crime In A Bottle," "Floater," and The Case of The Exeter Audition."
HIGHLY RECOMMENED!
TEN STARS!
https://store.radiospirits.com/harry-...
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