The Adventures Of The Falcon - "The Case Of The Carved Ham" (04-08-51)

The Case Of The Carved Ham (Aired April 8, 1951)

INTRO: Bob Plays The O'Jays "The Backstabbers" (1972)

Like Boston Blackie, a long, lucrative and convuluted career in film, radio and television soon followed, as The Falcon's occupation and even his name were changed from medium to medium.  Regardless of the date of his first literary appearance, The Falcon was first brought to the screen in a 1941 RKO film, as a replacement for its popular series of B's featuring Leslie Charteris' The Saint. Except for the name change, at first at least it was pretty hard to tell the difference. The Falcon was also a good-looking suave, sophisticated type, a sort of freelance gentleman adventurer. The first film, 1941's The Gay Falcon, proved successful enough to warrant a long string of sequels, three with George Sanders (who had previously played The Saint) in the lead, although he was now called Gay Lawrence (as far as I know, none of the films or television or radio episodes ever explains why he's known as The Falcon).

THIS EPISODE:

April 8, 1951. NBC network. "The Case Of The Carved Hand". Sponsored by: Kraft Velveeta, Kraft Caramels. The Falcon suspects that Joe Santos is behind the killing of Brian King and the mutilation of Stuart Van Dyke. Les Damon, Ed Herlihy (announcer), Jackson Beck, Mason Adams, Eugene Wang (writer), Ken Lynch, Glenda Isby (Vassar dramatic student), Bernard L. Schubert (producer), Drexel Drake (creator), Arlo (music), Richard Lewis (director). 24:13. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.