The Saint
(1945-1951)
CAST: Vincent Price, Lawrence Dobkin, John Brown, Ken Christy, Louise
Arthur, Tom Collins, Theodor von Eltz, Joe Forte, Peter Leeds, Lawrence Dobkin,
Stanley Farrar, Dan O¹Herlihy, Ed Begley, Mary Shipp, Betty Lou Gerson
ANNOUNCERS:
Dick Joy, Don Stanley
ORCHESTRA: Harry Zimmerman
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS:
Leslie Charteris, Bill Rousseau
RADIO HISTORY
The Saint made its debut on radio in 1940, when Terence De Marney starred as the debonair private eye Simon Templar in six episodes for Radio Athlone.
Vincent
Price took over as a summer replacement in 1947 (after Edgar Barrier and Brian
Aherne completed 13 episodes each in 1945 for NBC and CBS respectively), making
51 episodes for CBS. In July 1948, the show moved to the Mutual Broadcasting
System where Price made a further 47 episodes, with Ford as the sponsor. A final batch of
44 episodes were then produced at NBC during 1950.
Barry
Sullivan and Tom Conway then replaced Price, until the show ended in October
1951, thanks to a new medium called television.
THE INCARNATIONS
Crime
novelist Leslie Charteris wrote over 100 adventures during the 1930s, which
became successful in print before winding up on the silver with the eternally
suave George Sanders in the title role. When Charteris decided to bring the
Saint to radio, he originally had Tom Conway (who was The Falcon on screen and
Sanders's real-life brother) in mind for the role. But Edgar Barrier, who had
worked on Escape, Dimension X and other radio series, was the first. His Templar
was essentially a good crook who solved murders. Film star Brian Aherne
followed, in much the same mold.
But it was
Vincent Price who went on to give listeners its most wry dilettante of the
demimonde. Price added a new dimension to the character - sarcastic wit. And he
had a lot of fun with it. Supporting him was Lawrence Dobkin as Louie, a cabbie
who kept Price's private eye streetwise. There was also a congenial cast of
characters on hand, or fist, thanks to the show's intelligent scripts. But it
was the singular sound and style of Vincent that really gave this Saint its
halo and continues to do so today in the world of the internet.
THE EPISODES
Below is a
list of shows currently available through a variety of sources on the internet, including the Voice of Vince.
The prefix numbers indicate the year, month and date of the original broadcast.
Please note that this is not a complete list. But I shall update as and when I
source the necessary information.
471015
Mr Important
471029
Mr Richie¹s Loss
471217
Saint Goes Underground
480303
Case of Unhappy Homicide
480526
Case of Blond Who Lost Her Head
490731
Conley Silver Mine
490814
Old Man¹s Car
490918
Color-Blind Killer
491106
Unhappy Homicide
491107
Prove I Did It
491113
Fake Amnesia Killer
491225
Nineteen Santa Clauses
500000
Real Gone Guy
500108
Cake That Killed
500122
Case of Lonesome Slab
500611
Sinister Sneeze
500618
Music Murder
500702
Search for a Killer
500709
Contract out on Saint
500716
Death of Saint
500723
Fighter¹s Contract
500730
Author of Murder
500806
Corpse Said Ouch
500813
Dossier on a Damsel
500827
Cupid and Corpse
500903
Baseball Murder
500910
Horrible Hamburger
500917
Ghost That Giggled
500924
Dossier on a Doggone Dog
501029
Wanted a Husband
501105
Kidnapped Daughter
501112
Return of Harry Morgan
501119
Plot in Prison
501126
Terrible Tintype
501203
Young Detective
501210
Monkey
501217
Fight
501224
Christmas Eve Problems
510107
Alive Dead Husband
510114
Actor
510121
Tuba
510204
Carnival
510211
Missing Bridegroom
510218
Noon Deadline
510225
Amnesia Victim
510304
Furniture Move
510311
Shipboard Mystery
510318
Bookstore Murder
510325
Intruder
510401
College Campus Threat
510408
Hawthorne House Mystery
510415
Mayor's Son
510422
Missing Gun
510429
Missing Husband
510520
Red Rose
510527
Military Instructor
510603
Train
510624
Peter Great
510701
Cowboy
510708
Missing Angel
510715
Nursemaid
(Unknown date) Diamonds in Cake