(1734–1820) "What a Boone. What a wonder. What a dream-comer-truer, was he..." --lyrics from the TV theme song by Vera Matson and Lionel Newman "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend...” from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Ah, the interconnectedness of all things... One of my very first childhood heroes (after Roy Rogers, … Continue reading Daniel Boone
Tag: Early Eyes
Natty “Hawkeye” Bumppo
Also known as "Hawkeye," "Leatherstocking," "The Pathfinder", "Deerslayer" and "La Longue Carabine" Created by James Fenimore Cooper (1759-1851) "I would dare to speak truth, Hurry, consarning you or any man that ever lived." -- Natty reveals his code in The Deerslayer Honorary private eyes throughout history for a thousand, Alex... No, James Fenimore Cooper's frontiersman … Continue reading Natty “Hawkeye” Bumppo
The Projectionist (Sherlock Jr.)
Created by Jean C. Havez, Joe Mitchell & Clyde Bruckman Okay, this silent film classic isn't really a private detective film, not really. But 1924's Sherlock Junior, Jr. is private eye adjacent, and you just gotta see it, regardless--you won't regret checking out this little bit of surrealistic slapstick. The great Buster Keaton plays a lowly film projectionist … Continue reading The Projectionist (Sherlock Jr.)
Ralph Henderson
Created by Charles Felix Pseudonym of Charles Warren Adams (1833-1903) "Is that chain one of purely accidental coincidences, or does it point with terrible certainty to a series of crimes, in their nature and execution too horrible to contemplate?" -- Victorian P.I. Ralph Henderson gets all noir on us Forget The Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie … Continue reading Ralph Henderson
David Carroll
Created by Octavus Roy Cohen (1891-1959) If Octavus Roy Cohen is remembered at all these days, it's for his two early detectives: fat, folksy white private eye Jim Hanvey and buffoonish black sometime-detective Florian Slappy, and the latter's unflattering and unfortunate caricatures of African-Americans. Granted, those were different times, and there doesn't seem to be … Continue reading David Carroll
Jim Hanvey
Created by Octavus Roy Cohen(1891-1959) Down these mean streets a man must waddle... One of the earliest American private eyes to gain any real popularity, Octavus Roy Cohen's JIM HANVEY was already appearing in The Saturday Evening Post a year before John Carroll Daly's Three Gun Terry, although his style tended to run more to … Continue reading Jim Hanvey
John Barman
Created by Arthur William à Beckett (1844-1909) "...the Raymond murder--pretty piece of bushness--genteel piece of bushness. I'm proud of it! Itsh been managed capitally--I shay capitally!" -- Barman One of the earliest private detectives actually identified as such, JOHN BARMAN was a pipe-smoking, whiskey-drinking (and occasionally over-served) Victorian-era gentleman sleuth who lived at King’s Road, … Continue reading John Barman
Burton Combs (real name unknown)
Created by Carroll John Daly (1889-1958) "I ain't a crook; just a gentleman adventurer and make my living working against the law breakers. Not that work I with the police -- no, not me. I'm no knight errant either." Carroll John Daly's short story, "The False Burton Combs," which appeared in the December 1922 issue … Continue reading Burton Combs (real name unknown)
Who’s on First?
The First Hard-Boiled Private Eye Story "Firsts" are the sort of game literary historians, scholars and bookgeeks love to play, giving them a chance to strut their stuff, loudly and proudly offering up the most blurry of distinctions and the most wishy-washy of definitions, turning hair-splittery into a fine art -- and occasionally a contact … Continue reading Who’s on First?
Fred J. Dodge
(1854-1938) Born in Butte County in California in 1854, FRED J. DODGE grew up in Sacramento, and became a detective for Wells Fargo, working for them for over fifty years, much of it undercover, in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma. There's no doubt Dodge got around. While working in Tombstone, Arizona in 1879, … Continue reading Fred J. Dodge