DOC SAVAGE               With the success of the Shadow in the pulps (and on the radio), Street & Smith Publications went looking for someone to write a high adventure counterpart to the Shadow's gritty mystery stories. Lester Dent, a telegrapher and occasional pulp writer (contributing mainly to mystery series) was chosen to write the adventures of Doc Savage, a scientific adventurer who solved problems all over the world, under the penname of Kenneth Robeson. Dent was not alone in this. In fact, he hired several ghostwriters throughout the years, but Dent set the style of Doc and, while he hated writing under a pseudonym, created an adventure series that succeeded from 1933 through 1949 and inspired many great comicbook characters like Superman, Batman, and James Bond. Doc Savage, his real name being Clark Savage, Jr., was raised by a group of scientists to become a genius in many fields including engineering, law, physics, archaeology, chemistry, and medicine (this last giving him the nickname "Doc"). But Doc wasn't all brains. Using a series of exercises (performed two hours everyday), Doc made his physical and sensory skills to human perfection. He wore a gadget vest (filled with items that helped him in his quests), bulletproof undergarments, and could do just about anything that was possible by a human being (and a few things that weren't). With Doc were five aides, top members of their own fields, that aided him on his adventures. Tom "Long Tom" Roberts is an electrical expert that was small in stature. He received his nickname from defending a town (in WW I) by filling scrap iron into an old "Long Tom" cannon. John "Renny" Renwick, one of the world's foremost engineers, is a huge man with giant fist that have a penchant for pounding panels out of doors with one punch. When surprised, he has a tendency to use his favorite phrase "Holy Cow!" He normally has a puritanical expression on his face which becomes more dour when he is enjoying himself in the excitement of the group's escapdes. The monocle-wearing William Harper "Johnny" Littlejohn, the smallest and frailest looking member of Doc's group, is a world reknown geologist and archaeologist. Though appearing as the weakest member of the crew, he may in fact be the toughest. He's shown that he can take (and give) tremendous amounts of punishment. A major source of frustration to his friends, though, is Johhny's habit of using large words regularly in his conversations (at least until the action starts). His pet phrase is "I'll be super-amalgamated!" Anyone who would consider simian Andrew Blodgett "Monk" Mayfair to be unintelligent from his looks or usually unkempt appearance would be sadly mistaken. One of the best chemists in the world, said to be second only to Doc's skill, was as brainy as he is eager for action. (It is said, with some justification, that Monk is the most bloodthirsty of the lot, sometimes going against the crew's code against killing. When he yells "Blazes!" and roars into battle, you had best be on his side.) He has a longtime feud with the remaining member of the group, Ham, that started in the war. In fact, he keeps a long-eared pig named "Habeus Corpus" just to annoy Ham. Theodore Marley Brooks (the aformentioned "Ham"), a lawyer with knowledge that could put Perry Mason to shame, appears to be the exact opposite of Monk. Handsome and dapper in appearance, carrying a sword cane tipped with an anaesthetic to knock out his enemies is constantly argueing with Monk (or competing with Monk for the attention of the winsome females that were the focus of many of the stories). His nickname came from WW I, where some hams were stolen and the frame was placed on Brooks. Although Ham always suspected Monk of doing the deed, his sharp legal mind was never able to prove that Monk did the deed. Of course, while their squabbling appears to be on the edge of hatred, the two men are the closest of friend, willing to lay down their lives for the other. Also included in some of the stories was Doc's beautiful, bronze cousin, Pat Savage. This gun-toting woman is the owner of a boutique in New York, but has a penchant for adventure that matches any of Doc's crew. Doc's crew served a couple of important purposes in the stories. As often happens to the fellows of heroes, they were often captured and needed to be rescued by Doc. More importantly, they added a large amount of color to the stories. Doc, the epitome of the strong, silent hero, was pretty straightforward and the other characters (especially Monk and Ham with their constant fighting) kept the stories interesting and worth following. But this isn't a column about the pulp magazine, this is a commentary of the characters on the radio. There are three different series that have appeared over the airwaves featuring this crew. The first two, sadly, are lost to the mists of time, but the third, while not exactly old-time radio, is still available. Very little is known about the first series, including the actors who played the parts, except that it aired on the Don Lee Mutual Network in 1934 and was written by Lester Dent himself. Lester Dent was not a complete newcomer to the world of radio drama, having written an occasional episode of Scotland Yard. Twenty-six episodes were recorded, though no copies of the show survive. Unlike many radio shows, these were not transcriptions of Doc's stories in the magazine, but were brand new adventures of Doc created just for the radio show (and including only Monk and, occasionally, Ham in his crew). In fact, the only thing that remains are 14 of the original scripts that can be found on various sites around the Internet. The show was not renewed due to its sponser, a patent medicine by the name of Cystex, being put out of business by new legislation regarding patent medicines that came out in that year. The second show also has no existing copies. In 1943, a radio show based on the comic book version of Doc Savage also had 26 episodes recorded. This version gave him a ruby-decorated blue cowl that gave Doc super-strength and hypnosis abilities. Most of the scripts were published though I am unaware of any copies on the Internet at this time. The third version was two of the published stories by Lester Dent and adapted for radio. The first was "Fear Cay", originally published in September, 1934. It was adapted by Roger Rittner (who was the director and producer for both stories). The second, "The Thousand Headed Man" was adapted by Will Murray (author of many "Destroyer" novels and biographer of Lester Dent as well as author, based on incomplete outlines of old Dent stories, of several Doc Savage stories that were published in the 90s). This was a spectacular show (with all of its campiness) with a superb cast. In fact, if the stories had any flaw in bringing them to the radio, it was in the fact that the normally silent Doc had to give so much exposition in the stories. Still, it hardly took the excitement away from the Dent stories and the show truly tickled the imagination of its listeners. Cast Members: ========== Doc Savage - Daniel Chodos Monk - Robert Towers Ham - Art Dutch Renny - Bill Ratner Johnny - Kimit Muston Long Tom - Scott McKenna Pat Savage - Robin Riker Additional Voices - Douglas Coler, William Irwin, Bob Farley, Michael McConnohie, Glen Shadix, Bob Lines, Marcia Kramer, and Ann Ross Sound Effects: ========== David Surtees, assisted by Jerry Williams Production Assistants: ============== Samantha Kimmel and Doris Christie Engineering: ======== Denny King