Richard Rogue (Rogue’s Gallery/Radio)

Created by Ray Buffum

Dashing RICHARD ROGUE was a hard-nosed, if not quite hard-boiled, private eye with a certain flair for solving crimes before the police do in Rogue’s Gallery, a NBC radio show that premiered in 1945, and ran for six or so years, under various titles, with different leads, on various networks. It was a summer replacement series for The Fitch Bandwagon for its first three years. Although never a huge success, it did distinguish itself from the rest of the hard-boiled detective pack with a definitely skewered sense of humour.

Rogue himself was a bit of a card, always handy with a wisecrack, a debonair gumshoe with a nose for blondes and trouble. In each show, told in the first person, Rogue somehow managed to get knocked out, coming to on “Cloud Eight,” that mystical place (Cloud Nine-adjacent) of joy and bliss where, unfortunately, a gremlin called Eugor (Rogue spelled backwards) waited to berate Rogue and eventually boot him off the cloud, back into consciousness.

During the summer of 1946, the show was re-titled Bandwagon Mysteries, in a nod to its sponsor, and in the summer of 1947, it was revived on NBC Sundays, this time sponsored by the F. W. Fitch company, which sold Fitch Saponified Shampoo, a dandruff shampoo, this time with Barry Sullivan in the title role. In 1950 the character again turned up again, running for two seasons on ABC, with Chester Morris, radio’s original Boston Blackie, as Rogue.

But by far the most memorable Rogue was Dick Powell, who played him in the first season. Known primarily as a song and dance man until his rebirth as a movie tough guy in the Edward Dmytryk film Murder My Sweet (1944) (where he played Chandler‘s Philip Marlowe with a deft combination of steely pragmatism and panache), Powell laid the groundwork for everyone else who stepped into the role. In fact, the show pretty much served as a dry run for Powell’s later star turn in the equally lightweight Richard Diamond, Private Eye, in which Powell would serenade his secretary with a song in every episode. It became a successful but much different television show starting in 1956, with Powell as producer. For one thing, newcomer David Janssen stepped in as Diamond (Powell thought he was too old for the role). Also, Janssen never sang. which might have been a small mercy, he admitted.

Not that Powell had given up playing private eyes entirely. He eventually starred on television as Willie Dante, an older, kinder take on Rogue, in Dante’s Inferno (1952-56) which ran as part of Four Star Playhouse.

TRIVIA

• The 1968 film, Rogue’s Gallery, starring Roger Smith as a private eye named John Rogue, had nothing to do with either the radio or television show. Although a lot of people keep telling me it does.

RADIO

• ROGUE’S GALLERY
  (aka “Bandwagon Mysteries”)
  (1945-52 NBC)
  30 minutes, weekly
  Writers: Ray Buffum, Douglas Hayes
  Directed by Dee Engelbach, Clark Andrews, Jack Lyman
  Producer: Charles Vanda
  Music: Leith Stevens
  Sponsor: Fitch Shampoo
  Starring Dick Powell as RICHARD ROGUE
  Later replaced by Barry Sullivan, Paul Stewart and Chester Morris
  and Peter Leeds as Eugor (uncredited)
  Guest stars: Lou Merrill, Gerald Mohr, Gloria Blondell, Tony Barrett, Lurene Tuttle
  • SERIES ONE (Summer run)
  • “I Break into Print–The Hard Way” (June 17, 1945)
  • “Won’t You Come Into My Parlor?” (June 24, 1945)
  • “I Used My Head” (July 1, 1945)
  • “The Lady and the Letters” (July 8, 1945)
  • “Title Unknown” (July 15, 1945)
  • “My Client Loses His Head” (July 22, 1945)
  • “Storm and Strife” (July 29, 1945)
  • “Beautiful Lady” (August 5, 1945)
  • “Father Sheay’s Miracle” (August 12, 1945)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 19, 1945)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 26, 1945)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 2, 1945)
  • “Jailbreak” (September 9, 1945)
  • SERIES TWO (Mutual)
  • “Murder on the House” (September 27, 1945)
  • “Blondes Prefer Gentlemen” (October 4, 1945)
  • “Murder in Drawing Room A” (October 11, 1945)
  • “Title Unknown” (October 18, 1945)
  • “Murder With Muriel” (October 25, 1945)
  • “Photo-Finish” (November 1, 1945)
  • “Little Drops of Rain” (November 8, 1945)
  • “The House of Fear” (November 15, 1945)
  • “Last Race” (November 22, 1945)
  • “Lovely Little Old Lady” (November 29, 1945)
  • “Eve and The Apple” (December 6, 1945)
  • Blood On the Sand” (December 13, 1945)
  • “A Fortune In Furs” (December 20, 1945)
  • “Hot Rubber” (December 6, 1945)
  • “Murder At Minden” ( January 3, 1946)
  • “As the Twig is Bent…” ( January 10, 1946)
  • “A Will In Question” ( January 17, 1946)
  • “The Murder Habit” ( January 24, 1946)
  • “Special Added Attraction” ( January 31, 1946; aka “Murder Under the Big Top”)
  • “A Girl, A Boy, and A Gun” (February 7, 1946)
  • “The Case of the Eager Murderer” (February 14, 1946)
  • “The Triangle Murder Case” (February 21, 1946)
  • “Alias Harold Hallaway” (February 28, 1946)
  • “Title Unknown” (March 7, 1946)
  • “The Cat Dies Once” (March 14, 1946)
  • “A Date With Tangerine” (March 21, 1946)
  • “Callahan’s Hat” (March 28, 1946)
  • “The Message” (April 4, 1946)
  • “Title Unknown” ” (April 11, 1946)
  • “Stormy Knights” (April 18, 1946)
  • “Headline Murder” (April 25, 1946)
  • “The Case of the Forgetful Blonde” (May 2, 1946)
  • “Snowbound” (May 9, 1946)
  • “The Impossible Murder” (May 16, 1946)
  • “The Latin Type” (May 23, 1946)
  • “Blue Eyes” (May 2, 1946)
  • “Title Unknown” (June 6, 1946)
  • “The Corpse I Didn’t Kill” (June 13, 1946)
  • “Missing Witness” (June 20, 1946)
  • SERIES THREE (Summer run)
  • “The Star of Savoy” (June 23, 1946; aka “The MacDonald Murder Case”)
  • “Lady with aGun” (June 30, 1946)
  • “Cabin on a Lake” (July 7, 1946)
  • “Where There’s A Will There’s A Murder” (July 14, 1946)
  • “Murderer’s Apprentice” (July 21, 1946)
  • “Title Unknown” (July 28, 1946)
  • “The Lovely Alibi” (August 4, 1946)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 11, 1946)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 18, 1946)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 25, 1946)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 1, 1946)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 8, 1946)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 15, 1946)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 22, 1946)
  • SERIES FOUR (Summer run)
  • “Title Unknown” (June 8, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (June 15, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (June 22, 1947)
  • “Phyllis Adrian Is Missing” (June 29, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (July 6, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (July 13, 1947)
  • “Buried Treasure” (July 20, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (July 7, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 3, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 10, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 17, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 24, 1947)
  • “The Amusement Pier Murder” (August 31, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 7, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 14, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 21, 1947)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 28, 1947)
  • SERIES FIVE (ABC)
  • “The Janice Kroll Murder Case” (November 15, 1950)
  • “Title Unknown” (November 22, 1950)
  • “Title Unknown” (November 29, 1950)
  • “Title Unknown” (December 6, 1950)
  • “Title Unknown” (December 13, 1950)
  • “Title Unknown” (December 20, 1950)
  • “Title Unknown” (December 27, 1950)
  • “Title Unknown” (January 3, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (January 10, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (January 17, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (January 24, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (January 31, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (February 7, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (February 14, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (February 21, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (February 28, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (March 7, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (March 14, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (March 21, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (March 28, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (April 4, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (April 11, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (April 18, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (April 25, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (May 2, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (May 9, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (May 16, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (May 23, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (May 30, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (June 6, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (June 13, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (June 20, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (June 27, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (July 4, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (July 11, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (July 18, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (July 25, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 1, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 8, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 15, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 22, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (August 29, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 5, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 12, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 19, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (September 26, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (October 3, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (October 10, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (October 17, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (October 24, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (October 31, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (November 7, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (November 14, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (November 21, 1951)
  • The Case of The Small Package” (November 28, 1951)
  • “An Unscholarly Case of Homicide” (December 5, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (December 12, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (December 19, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (December 26, 1951)
  • “Title Unknown” (January 2, 1952)
  • “Title Unknown” (January 9, 1952)
  • “Title Unknown” (January 16, 1952)
  • “Title Unknown” (January 23, 1952)
  • “Title Unknown” (January 30, 1952)
  • “Title Unknown” (February 6, 1952)
  • “Title Unknown” (February 13, 1952)
  • “Title Unknown” (February 20, 1952)
  • “Title Unknown” (February 27, 1952)
  • “Title Unknown” (March 5, 1952)
  • “Title Unknown” (March 12, 1952)
  • “Title Unknown” (March 19, 1952)
  • “Title Unknown” (March 26, 1952)

SHORT STORIES

• “The Case of the Missing Bandleader” (2002; It’s That Time Again; by Bryan Powell)

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith, with a special tip of the fedora to The Definitive Rogue’s Gallery Program Log.

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