Michael Shayne | Old Time Radio

Private Detective drama (1944 - 53)

Michael Shayne, "the reckless, red-headed Irishman" was a popular hard-boiled detective created by American crime novelist Brett Haliday. Mike blew into Miami just after WWII, making crime pay by fighting it with a license and an attitude. Like Mike Hammer and other Phillip Marlowe wannabes, he was a loner. He was a guy with a sense of humor, like Sam Spade or Richard Diamond. He was different from the others, however, because in the first of the Haliday novels, Mike's happily married, but suddenly his wife is tragically murdered, and that hits Mike like no sucker punch before or after. Grief-stricken, Shayne loses himself the gumshoe grind, prowling the darker streets of the American dream complete with the (then) very adult themes of drugs and middle-class adultery. Shayne was the genuine fighting Irish, and his believability made him a popular private eye with the Post World War veterans who had lived more than their share of violent morality.

Jeff Chandler The radio version of Mike's exploits debuted as Michael Shayne, Private Detective in the fall of '44 with the fine radio actor Wally Maher as Mike. In the fall of 1946, the show went national for a year. Mutual did it again in 1948, titled The New Adventures of Michael Shayne, starring the hunky movie star Jeff Chandler. Many like Chandler's Shayne, Jeff did the job for two years, of which nearly three dozen episodes or so are available. (Chandler played the love interest in Our Miss Brooks, proving he could handle comedy as well as tough guys.)

In 1952-53, Donald Curtis took over for Mike for another ride, with Robert Sterling jumping in as replacement along the way, calling this one Michael Shayne, Private Detective. During these years, the Michael Shayne novels by Halliday kept the public tuned in and wanting more of their boy Shayne.

Halliday didn't do the old time radio show scripts, but took the money for his creation, as well he should. That's the American way. In the early 1960's, Mike Shayne took a stab at TV, with Richard Denning playing the part. Still, many of us agree radio's the best place for noir drama, where the shadows grow longer until the words are everything in the dark. The best of it is simply as good as it gets.

Other private eyes on radio that play it rough are The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Pat Novak for Hire and Jeff Regan, both done by Jack Webb. Also there's Richard Diamond, Nero Wolfe, The Saint, Boston Blackie, The Falcon and The Fat Man. Adventure shows with mystery and action abound on radio, including Bold Venture, Broadway is My Beat, Box 13, Dangerous Assignment, Escape, I Love a Mystery and many more.