Whilst wandering around Fry’s Electronics in Las Vegas, I
checked out the TV shows section and found a DVD set titled “Ellery Queen
Mysteries” that contains uncut episodes of the entire 1975-1976 NBC television
series of 22 episodes and the show’s pilot.
The one-season tenure of Ellery Queen’s “who dunnit” adventures
takes place in the late 1940s, when people believed that television was just a
fad, and would never last. Why, New York Police Department Inspector Richard
Queen (Ellery's dad) remarks, shaking his head, would anyone want to watch bad news and
weather just before going to bed?
It was a time when radio shows were popular, and writers
used the two-finger hunt-and-peck method on manual typewriters to put their
thoughts down on paper … making copies with carbon paper at that. Shot in
typical big-city detective style with spinning New York Daily Star front pages screaming sensational headlines,
the show has a certain class and simplicity that grips your interest.
I haven’t read the Ellery Queen novels yet, but because of
the DVD, I just might have to do that.
Jim Hutton plays the nerdy, forgetful, klutzy Ellery Queen,
who helps his father, Inspector Queen, solve murders that often baffle the
police. Ellery has a knack for spotting the most insignificant of clues and
putting everything together. He’s a kind of post-World War II “modern-day”
Sherlock Holmes, except more lovable a character.
The two Queens are assisted by the cigar-sucking Sergeant
Velie, played by Tom Reese, who always addresses Ellery by the moniker, “Maestro;”
recurring cast members include John Hillerman ("Higgins" on Magnum P.I.) as the smarmy mystery-radio host
Simon Brimmer, who’s always butting in and getting in the way; Ken Swofford
as sensationalist New York Gazette
columnist Frank Flanagan, who also, in search of an exclusive, becomes quite a nuisance;
and Arch Johnson as Deputy Commissioner Arch Johnson, who applies the appropriate
pressure at the appropriate time.
I haven’t enjoyed mystery television like this; I once
started watching Murder She Wrote,
starring Angela Lansbury, but kind of lost interest. I guess putting out the
cash to actually buy the DVD set impresses a certain responsibility on me – I’d
better like it, or I’ve wasted my money, right?
Just before the final scene, where Ellery gathers all the
suspects (which includes a lot of very famous stars of the time), he turns to
the audience and challenges us to figure out who the culprit is. After all, all
of the clues were presented to us at one time or another. We just need to
remember what they are and get into his mind so we can figure everything out.
By the way, the name “Ellery Queen” is a pseudonym. Despite
the fact that the name appears as the author of the Ellery Queen novels, it’s
actually a name used by two cousins – Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay, and
Manford Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee. Jeez … aliases AND pseudonyms.
Why was Ellery Queen cancelled after only one season? I can't find a good answer, but it probably had something to do with the fact that Jim Hutton died of cancer in 1979, so perhaps it had something to do with his health, or a desire to do some living before he died.
So … I’ve been watching one or two episodes a night and
force myself to stop, lest I keep watching until the wee hours of the next
morning. These things are addictive because they’re so well done.
You ought to give Ellery Queen a try yourself.
5 comments:
This is a underrated series. It is too bad it didn't last longer. Have you completed the entire series yet or do you still have some episodes to watch?
Jim Hutton died in 2010 not 1979?
Unknown, you’re thinking of the wrong Jim Hutton.
The actor died in 1979, the partner of Freddie Mercury died 2010. They had the same name.
Here is what I read a long time ago.,They supposedly cancelled the series because it was too expensive to do a 'period' show. Ironically, after they cancelled the series They used the left over scripts to create The Eddie Capra Mysteries. Big mistake!
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