Come with us now as we skate over the surface of time, bumping back through the years to 1953 and to the story, DANGER: DINOSAURS! by Richard Marsten.
Evan Hunter, king of pseudonyms, wrote a few juvenile fiction/Sci-fi books early in his career of which this is one such lizard-filled example. Taking time-travel as a starting point, Hunter/Marsten brings us Goodies, Baddies, Monsters, Mayhem, Machinations and a Singing Chef. Who could ask for more?
Trying to make sense of the story with Paul this episode is his brother, Garry Abbott, a writer of Sci-Fi/Speculative fiction whose work can be found at https://garryabbott.com, with his books available via Amazon. Sweep back the jungly tendrils of the cycads and join us on our mission.
Fare thee wel... oh lord... no... ALLOSAURUS.... AAAAAARGH!
We jump time-streams from the 87th Precinct of the written-word to the 87th Precinct of the acted-world, as we explore the fifth episode of the NBC TV series (1961-62) based on Ed McBain's stories. McBain/Hunter himself only wrote three teleplays for the series. Two were based on books but this one, Line Of Duty, was an original story.
Paul shares what he's found out about the story and we speculate on how it relates to the broader concept and series of the 87th Precinct and we also say the word "Haberdashery" several times. You have been warned.
This december bonus episode has been enhanced by the amazing generosity of one of our listeners, thus providing us with ample book-huffing opportunities. Should you wish to gift us anything, then our hearts would be gladdened by a review or rating on whatever podcast platform you use - a share and a recommendation to others goes a long way too!
There's more extra pods coming soon, but we'll be back before too long with our main podcast and 1966's "EIGHTY MILLION EYES". See you soon, Merry Christmas and Fare Thee Well!
Hark! It’s an 87th Precinct Podcast Bonus Episode!
Our focus is on the covers of our editions of Ed McBain’s twentieth 87th Precinct novel, Doll and we discuss those as well as the original release covers of the US and UK editions.
Book Huffing is discussed in ludicrous detail and Stevo reveals his love for supergroup “Book Huffington and The Huffers” as we descend even further into Bonus Episode madness. We also tackle some listener questions both McBain based and personal.
Join us soon for the next book, Eighty Million Eyes. As always please rate, review and share wherever you can. We appreciate it and, if you’re listening to these bonus episodes, we admire your tolerance!
In our last episode, Morgan
teased at some research he’d done relevant to the story, but which we decided
not to share in case of spoilers. We also didn’t do what we suggested and put
it in the bonus episode (out soon) so here, for those curious to know, is that
information pertaining to the twentieth of the 87th Precinct novels,
“Doll”.
The title of the book is the key
giveaway here. Obviously the doll in question is, literally, the doll being
played with by Anna, the child of the victim, Tinka Sachs, as she overhears the
murder of her mother. ‘Doll’ is used figuratively throughout as well, with the
obvious implications of fashion models as dolls but even our embattled hero,
Steve Carella, becomes a plaything himself.
But we think the root of the story
is found in the Macguffin of the literal doll of the title. Whilst there
certainly was a doll called “Chatterbox” on the market in the
early/mid-sixties, made by the Madam Alexander doll company, this didn’t have
the capabilities of the toy described in the book. They were 23” tall dolls
with a battery compartment in the back that also concealed a small vinyl record
that would play a series of stock phrases such as “Do you love me?” and “Let’s
go to the park!” and “Take Daddy’s Wallet. Burn the car. Leave no traces!” –
stuff like that. Anyway, it seems that McBain took the name Chatterbox, which
suits the narrative of the story, and applied it to a different doll model.
The American Doll Company, most
famous for their Tiny Tears doll, produced “Little Miss Echo” between 1962-64
and it was on sale until at least 1965, which nicely matches the writing and
release period of the book.
The toy in the book is described as:
“The doll measured
thirty inches… There were two D-size flashlight batteries and one 9-volt
transistor battery in a recess in the doll’s plastic belly… there was a
flesh-colored, open plastic grid that concealed the miniature electronic device
in the doll’s chest… The device was a tiny recorder. The brooch below the doll’s
collar was a knob that activated the recording mechanism.”
The description matches the
real-world Little Miss Echo almost exactly, save that the mechanism of the real
world doll (essentially a simple tape loop) could only record 30 seconds where
the recording in the book is described as lasting a minute and a half. It’s
lucky that when Meyer Meyer and Kling retrieved the doll, they didn’t turn the
brooch the wrong way and erase the recorded evidence of Tinka Sachs' murder.
Witness the full horror of Little
Miss Echo’s blank unmoving face and relentless repetition of those around here,
in this contemporary advert.
Welcome back to 1965 and to the savage and strange world of “Doll” – the 20th novel in the series.
We have a look at the context in which it was released by exploring the Christmas charts and television of that year, with an exclusive Dave Clark Five rendition thrown in as well. Paul shares some intriguing research linking McBain with the espionage writer Eric Ambler and we share another mutual passion as we talk about Joseph Wambaugh. Oh – we go on about motorways a bit as well. Sorry.
Join us in the next episode for “Eighty Million Eyes”. Please rate, review and share the show wherever you can. It is true that every little contribution helps, however you make it.
Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Extra Special Bonus Podcast!
We're delighted to be able to bring you this short extra episode, which features a discussion with radio presenter, James Naughtie, who is a well-known voice to millions in the UK, as presenter of the fantastic show, Bookclub, on BBC Radio 4 (also available as a podcast), the former presenter of the flagship morning news programme, Today, amongst other duties as a correspondent and contributor. He's also a writer himself, having written history and music books, as well as thriller stories.
During the recent Liverpool Literary Festival, James was presenting an episode of Bookclub and hosting other talks, and having heard about his love for McBain in an article for the Radio Times, we contacted him and he kindly and enthusiastically agreed to meet up and have a chat. Paul went along with his trusty portable recorder and spoke to this broadcasting legend about his love for McBain, Wodehouse, Simenon and much more - this is a conversation about love for reading, love for the worlds authors can create and James also tells us about his own encounter with Evan Hunter.
We hope you enjoy this. Please share, rate and review us - it all helps us to reach a wider audience and if you feel inclined to donate the price of a digital coffee towards the running of the show, you can do so at www.ko-fi-com/hark87podcast. Thanks for listening - see you soon for our next episode about Ed McBain's "DOLL". Fare thee well.
We're back with our usual round of exploring the physical book - looking at the editions and covers of the versions we've got of Ed McBain's "He Who Hesitates", as well as the original releases. Stevo gives his usual olfactory assessment of the books and seems to become slightly obsessed with the notion of 'fonts'.
We answer a couple of listener questions here, in particular about other lesser-known authors we enjoy and, what with it being late October, give our Haunted House Halloween Recommendations! All these are listed on the blog as well. Thanks to everyone who got in touch - we love being able to respond, so please contact us through social media or via hark87podcast@gmail.com
We'll be back soon to enjoy the next 87th Precinct novel, Doll, with you, but we should have some super-special bonus stuff coming up soon as well. Fare thee well!
When you think about it, the idea that the worlds of Ed McBain's 87th Precinct and Columbo ever intersected is a strange thing. Of course, the detectives of the 87th Precinct and Columbo are both dealing with violent crime, murder usually, and of course they exist as part of the police force - not independent agents, detectives or amateurs. Other than this though, the differences seem more pronounced than their similarities. The cops of the 87th Precinct act as a force, the various personalities well-drawn, but ultimately acting as part of the machinery of detection. Columbo is an individual and, for all his scruffiness and supposed absent-mindedness, he is a maverick. The 87th Precinct is set on the East Coast, in a New York-a-like city with urban decay, deprivation and the problems associated with that, whilst Columbo's beat is the mansions and playgrounds of the L.A. rich - industrialist playboys, businessmen and women, stars of the silver screen and so on.
It might have been these differences that meant that when two 87th Precinct stories were adapted for the later seasons of Columbo (So Long As You Both Shall Live became No Time To Die in 1992 and Jigsaw became Undercover in 1994) they generally didn't work to serve either the source material or the show well - although Undercover does give us a chance to see Detective Arthur Brown leap off the pages of the book and onto screen (played by Harrison Page).
The first season of Columbo has now been released on Blu-Ray and Paul got the chance to review it for the website We Are Cult, so please go along and have a read of the article, here.
As an aside, below is a list of the various relationships between Columbo (Season One ONLY) and the 87th Precinct. Obviously for the most part this means the 87th Precinct TV series, but there are some other relationships in there as well. If you can think of any more, let us know!
Ed McBain's first 87th Precinct of 1965 is "He Who Hesitates" and it's a change from the norm. Join us as we tag along with Mountainy Man Roger Broome as he walks the streets of Isola, trying to decide whether to go to the police about.... something.
As usual, we set the scene by taking a look at the pop culture and events of the time and Paul outlines all the research bits'n'pieces he can find about the book, and we share contemporary reviews of the story and some of our listeners' opinions as well.
Remember you can find us on all the podcast platforms and social media as HARK87PODCAST and you can contribute to the running of the show with a one-off donation at KO-FI.COM. Or help us out by writing a review and sharing!
We'll be back with our bonus episode soon, and then onto the next book in the series - "DOLL". Fare thee well.
Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast Bonus Episode!
Following on from our main episode discussion of Ed McBain's 1964 87th Precinct novel, Ax (or Axe, if you like), we take our usual dive into the editions we own and the original publications. In a shocking turn of events, Morgan reveals that his edition has re-awoken his dormant sense of smell. This is book huffing To The Max.
We then ruminate on matters such as what Crimey things we've been watching and reading, where you'd set a US adaptation of Inspector Morse, before the evening takes its toll and reduces us all to helpless idiots whilst Stevo attempts to perform another story from the "TRUE CRIME?" canon. Please, forgive us our indulgences!
Apologies, also, for the sound of loose-elbows hitting microphone boom arms. We'll list the books we've read/recommended on our blog/website. Join us next time in 1965 for "He Who Hesitates". Chop chop!
Careful with that ax(e), Eugene! Let's take a trip in the time-travelling toolshed back to 1964 and the 18th novel in the 87th Precinct police-procedural series by Ed McBain. The clear winner of the shortest-title-in-the-series competition - "Ax" - is a gruesome whodunnit, leading the cops of the Eight-Seven down blind-alleys and into dark-basements as they attempt to find out why poor old George Lasser ended up eating a faceful of chopper.
We open this episode with a little recap over what the essence of this book series is, as a recap and an initiation for new readers and listeners, before tackling our usual round of "What happened in this year?" in advance of our discussion, in an almost spoiler-free fashion, of the book. There's plenty of giggling at craps as well.
This week we feature a promo for our friends atLoaded Literature Podcast- check them out, and remember to use #lithappens on social media to find more literature and books podcasts.
A rating or review on iTunes is super-appreciated and super-useful for helping us reach new listeners or if you wish to contribute another way, we're rattling our digital donations cup over at ko-fi.com.
Join us soon for our bonus episode and then we're onto book 19 which is (wait for it...) "He Who Hesitates". Fare Thee Well!
Thanks to Evan Hunter's book, Me and Hitch, published in 1997, it's pretty easy to pull together a timeline of the relationship between the writer and the director - including the decline and fall of their working relationship.
Hunter, although referring to his own records, does seem to get some dates wrong in the book, although as much of the volume is based on letters between him and the production team (Hitchcock or his assistant, Peggy Robertson) we can assume that those dates are accurate.
What's reproduced below isn't a detailed timeline, merely an overview. But it's really interesting to see how the story of their time together plays out and hints at the intensity of their relationship during this period. For many more details, read "Me and Hitch" to hear the story from Hunter's perspective.
During the podcast, our special guest, Herbert West (he of the "Trial Of A Timelord" podcast), mentioned a very interesting article from Cinema Fantastique, from 1980. This is really worth a read - a fascinating insight into both the technical and the creative processes of making the film. The article is reproduced on the Hitchcock Zone website, here.
Hunter officially contracted to start work on adapting
Winston Graham’s “Marnie”. Hunter writes to Hitchcock to say that he
anticipates “No Problems” with adapting the story.
June 1962
Hunter submits his completed script for “Marnie”,
but work on that film is postponed.
November 1962
Work recommences on “Marnie”.
March 1963
“The Birds” premieres and goes on general release.
April 1963
Hunter delivers his revised script for “Marnie”,
with alternative versions of the wedding night sequence, contrary to
Hitchcock’s intention. Hunter receives notification that the script doesn’t
meet Hitchcock’s requirements.
May 1963
Hunter officially ‘fired’ from the “Marnie” project.
