Flashgun Casey

Flashgun Casey
Created by George Harmon Coxe

Originally appearing in the pages of Black Mask, under the watchful eyes of then-editor Joseph Shaw, FLASHGUN CASEY was the originally fast-talking crime photographer, a big, hot-tempered Boston Mick with a gift for gab and a nose for trouble. No "artiste", Casey kept a bottle of hooch and a .38 in his desk drawer, and boasted of being able to put a "slug where he aimed" and having "two big fists he knew how to use." He appeared in several short stories in the pulps and several novels. While writing the novels, Coxe decided "Flash" was a bit rough-edged, so he cleaned him up a bit, married him off, made him a bit more "professional" and created a new photographer/PI, Kent Murdock, who went on to appear in twenty two books.

While his crosstown rival, Murdock, enjoyed much more success in books, ol' Flashgun became a bit of a multimedia superstar. Two (or three?) quite popular B-flicks; a very successful radio show, CASEY, CRIME PHOTOGRAPHER on CBS which ran for several years, starring Staats Cotsworth as FLASHGUN CASEY, and a spin-off television show which ran for two years, simply called CRIME PHOTOGRAPHER, starring Darren McGavin. The radio show was so successful that there was even a four-issue comic book tie-in by Marvel, with photos of Staats Cotsworth on the cover as Casey.

In the radio and TV shows, Casey hung out at the Blue Note Cafe, and, at least on the tube, related his cases to Ethelbert, the bartender. He landed a girlfriend, Ann Williams, a reporter, and eventually a partner, Jack Lipman, rookie newshound, who wrote the copy to go with Casey's pics. Somewhere along the line, Casey had gone from working for the Boston Express to the New York Morning Express, but he was still our Casey.

Well, sorta. The producers weren't satisfied with the original casting, and after only a few months, Richard Carlyle and John Gibson, who played Casey and Ethelbert, respectively, were replaced by Darren McGavin and Cliff Hall. Another interesting note is that the director of the show was then-27-year old Sidney Lumet, now a bigshot Hollywood director.

The prolific writer Coxe has several other PI series characters: Sam Cromie, Max Hale, Leon Morley, and Jack Fenner.

TRIVIA

A young Charles Bronson starred in a very similar television series in 1958-60 entitled Man With a Camera.

SHORT STORIES

21 stories in Black Mask, plus two serialized novels
"Return Engagement" (March 1934, Black Mask)
"Once Around the Clock" (also The Hard-Boiled Detective)
"Killers Are Camera Shy" (1941, Black Mask)
Serialized novel in Black Mask; reprinted as "Silent Are the Dead."
"Murder in the red" (June 1942, Black Mask)
"Blood on the Lens" (Part One) (January 1943, Black Mask)
Three-part serialized novel appeared in Black Mask; later reprinted as "Murder For Two."
"Blood on the Lens" (Part Two) (February 1943, Black Mask)

COLLECTION

Flash Casey, Detective (1946, reprints of four Black Mask stories)

NOVELS

Silent Are the Dead (1942)
Murder For Two (1943)
Error of Judgement (1961)
The Man Who Died Too Soon (1962)
Deadly Image (1964)

FILMS

WOMEN ARE TROUBLE
(1936, MGM)
60 minutes, more or less
Written by George Harmon Coxe (story) and Michael Fessier
Director: Errol Taggart
Cinematography: Oliver T. Marsh
Produced by Michael Fessier, Lucien Hubbard
Starring Stuart Erwin as FLASHGUN CASEY
Also starring Paul Kelly, Florence Rice, Margaret Irving, Cy Kendall, John Harrington, Harold Huber, Kitty McHugh, Raymond Hatton , Robert Homans
MEET FLASH CASEY
(AKA Here's Flash Casey)
(1937, MGM)
Starring Eric Linden as FLASHGUN CASEY
One other film?

RADIO

CASEY, CRIME PHOTOGRAPHER
(1943-1950, CBS)
Written by Alonzo Dean Cole (with some help from Coxe)
Starring Staats Cotsworth as FLASHGUN CASEY
Also featuring The Teddy Wilson Trio as The Blue Note Musicians
Reader Eric Allstrom points out that Wilson was a great jazz pianist of the day, probably more famous than the detective show on which he played.

"Acquitted" (July 3, 1947)
"Lady Killer" (July 10, 1947)
"Self-Made Hero" (July 17, 1947)
"Photo of the Dead" (July 24, 1947)
"Hide Out" (August 28, 1947)
"Graveyard Gertie" (September 11, 1947)
"Great Grandfather's Tent Receipt" (October 30, 1947)
"The Blonde's Lipstick" (November 6, 1947)
"The Serpent Goddess" (December 4, 1947)
"The New Will" (December 11, 1947
"Ex-convict" (January 22, 1948)
"The Piggy Bank Robbery" (January 29, 1948)
"The Fix" (February 26, 1948
"Tough Guy" (March 4, 1948)
"Fog" (March 11, 1948)
"Murder In Black & White" (March 18, 1948)
"Blind Justice" (March 25, 1948)
"Scene Of The Crime" (March 10, 1949)
"The Wolverine" (May 5, 1949
"Souce Of Information" (January 20, 1954)

COMICS

CASEY CRIME PHOTOGRAPHER
(August 1949-February 1950, Broadcast Features Publications, Inc./Marvel Comics)
Artists: Vern Henkel
Tie-in to radio show, featured photo-covers of Staats Cotsworth, who played Casey on the radio show. But after four issues, Marvel changed the title and theme of the comic book to Two-Gun Western.

"The Sinister Carnival!" (October 1949, #2)
"Face-To-Face With The Strangler!" (October 1949, #2)
"Trapped By The Penny Plunderers!" (October 1949, #2)

TELEVISION

CRIME PHOTOGRAPHER
(1951-1952, CBS)
40 30-minute episodes
Directors: Sidney Lumet
Producers: Charles Russell, Martin Manulis
Broadcast live from New York
Starring Richard Carlyle as CASEY (April-June 1951)
Later replaced by Darren McGavin (June 1951-1952)
and John Gibson as Ethelbert (April-June 1951)
Later replaced by Cliff Hall (June 1951-1952)
Also starring Jan Miner as Ann Williams
Archie Smith as Jack Lipman
Donald McClelland as Captain Logan
with The Tony Mottola Trio as The Blue Note Cafe Musicians

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

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