Philip Marlowe: Old Time Radio
"Philip Marlowe" is one of the more popular detective thrillers that created a stir in the golden age of American old time radio. This fictional character was created by renowned novelist, Raymond Chandler. Although Chandler was more involved in short fiction and poetry during the earlier part of his career, his rise to fame was largely attributed to his change of writing style. It was in the midst of switching from his favored genre of ficlets and short tales into novels that the notorious private eye was born.
Despite suffering one failure after another while trying to penetrate the literary industry, Chandler spent the latter part of his life writing full-length novels. However, it was a series of short stories targeting the pulp fiction genre that launched his career. His ideas and hardened views of society were reflected in his tales, and were published in "Black Mask" and "Dime Magazine." His earlier heroes shared the same basic characteristics and would later become the building blocks from which the most notorious hard-boiled detective old time radio anthologies would be born.
It was in "The Big Sleep" in 1939 that Philip Marlowe made his first appearance. His unexpected popularity with the masses led to Marlowe becoming the central figure in most other creative writings of Chandler. It is possible that part of his charm stemmed from the fact that Marlowe was a far cry from being a regular detective. Going deeper into his past, we learn that his roots in crime-fighting came from the time he worked as a district attorney's assistant. His slightly unsociable behavior quickly alienated him from his peers and he was fired for insubordination. This led our errant hero to start running a one-man business of his own.
As a private detective, he could get down and dirty, the toughest and most disgusting creatures of the night and still maintain his own particular brand of elegance. Indeed, Philip Marlowe possessed a mysterious charisma that was truly undeniable. The complexities of his persona created an interesting paradox that the program's listeners could not get enough of. One minute, Marlowe would be sipping a fine brandy while pondering the subtle nuances of chess, and at the next he would be delivering a staggering punch to the heart of the metro's most degenerate denizens.
It is not surprising that the overwhelming success of this literary work was immediately snapped up and adapted into other forms of media-- the foremost being syndicated as a radio program. Philip Marlowe was one of the most popular old radio shows to grace the airwaves in the mid-1940s. Some of the most famous talents have lent their voices to the character was Dick Powell, Van Heflin, and the distinguished Gerald Mohr.
Despite suffering one failure after another while trying to penetrate the literary industry, Chandler spent the latter part of his life writing full-length novels. However, it was a series of short stories targeting the pulp fiction genre that launched his career. His ideas and hardened views of society were reflected in his tales, and were published in "Black Mask" and "Dime Magazine." His earlier heroes shared the same basic characteristics and would later become the building blocks from which the most notorious hard-boiled detective old time radio anthologies would be born.
It was in "The Big Sleep" in 1939 that Philip Marlowe made his first appearance. His unexpected popularity with the masses led to Marlowe becoming the central figure in most other creative writings of Chandler. It is possible that part of his charm stemmed from the fact that Marlowe was a far cry from being a regular detective. Going deeper into his past, we learn that his roots in crime-fighting came from the time he worked as a district attorney's assistant. His slightly unsociable behavior quickly alienated him from his peers and he was fired for insubordination. This led our errant hero to start running a one-man business of his own.
As a private detective, he could get down and dirty, the toughest and most disgusting creatures of the night and still maintain his own particular brand of elegance. Indeed, Philip Marlowe possessed a mysterious charisma that was truly undeniable. The complexities of his persona created an interesting paradox that the program's listeners could not get enough of. One minute, Marlowe would be sipping a fine brandy while pondering the subtle nuances of chess, and at the next he would be delivering a staggering punch to the heart of the metro's most degenerate denizens.
It is not surprising that the overwhelming success of this literary work was immediately snapped up and adapted into other forms of media-- the foremost being syndicated as a radio program. Philip Marlowe was one of the most popular old radio shows to grace the airwaves in the mid-1940s. Some of the most famous talents have lent their voices to the character was Dick Powell, Van Heflin, and the distinguished Gerald Mohr.
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