The Midnight Sleuth (radio)

The Midnight Sleuth

Genre	Comedy-drama
Running time	28 minutes
Country	United States
Language(s)	English
TV adaptations	The New Adventures of The Midnight Sleuth (TV Show)
Creator(s)	Clarence Hadden Ernest Greene
No. of series	10
No. of episodes	120 (90 missing)
Sponsor(s)	Opul Brand Soap

The Midnight Sleuth was a radio show that aired from 1937 until 1947, featuring an absent-minded detective solving mysteries with the aid of his newspaper reporter friend.

Origin of the Show

After the success of other detective radio shows in the 1930's, Clarence Hadden and Ernest Greene (both working in the mail room of a Los Angeles radio station) came up with a concept for a new show. During a pitch of their idea, a story about a mysterious detective solving crimes with the aid of his sidekick, the producers of the radio station called the show a copycat of the already popular "The Shadow" radio program. During the middle of their pitch, Hadden acted quickly and embellished on the story, changing the mysterious detective into a bumbling idiot who rarely solved the cases. With renewed interest in the pitch, Greene joined in and said the sidekick was the real brains behind the operation, stating that the idea was to give the helpless sidekick a chance to shine (an idea the opposite of what was common in most popular series of the time). The producers loved the new idea and hired the duo on the spot to create the show.

Main Characters

• The Midnight Sleuth ..... Samuel Perkins
• Linda Talbot ..... Dorothy Bell
• Detective Davis ..... Elmer Maynard
• The Daybreak Gumshoe ..... Ira Keller
• The Informant ..... Grace Hatfield

Reoccuring Supporting Characters

• Detective Howard ..... Lee Huffman
• Mysterio ..... Ernest Portman
• Mrs. Hildenberry ..... Sandra Bean

Episodes

Season 1

1937-1938 (Season 1)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Release Date	Episode Summary
1	1	"The Formula is to Blame-ula"	September 12, 1937 (1937-09-12)	When Midnight and Linda are called in to investigate the apparent suicide of a Doctor, they soon realize his death might have been forced by a known gangster and his goons all in an attempt to acquire a mysterious formula.
2	2	Unknown	October 10, 1937 (1937-10-10)	N/A
3	3	Unknown	November 7, 1937 (1937-11-07)	N/A
4	4	Unknown	December 5, 1937 (1937-12-05)	N/A
5	5	Unknown	January 9, 1938 (1938-01-09)	N/A
6	6	Unknown	February 6, 1938 (1938-02-06)	N/A
7	7	Unknown	March 6, 1938 (1938-03-06)	N/A
8	8	Unknown	April 3, 1938 (1938-04-03)	N/A
9	9	Unknown	May 1, 1938 (1938-05-01)	N/A
10	10	Unknown	May 29, 1938 (1938-05-29)	N/A
11	11	Unknown	June 26, 1938 (1938-06-26)	N/A
12	12	Unknown	July 24, 1938 (1938-07-24)	N/A

Season 2

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Release Date	Episode Summary
13	1	Unknown	August 21, 1938 (1938-08-21)	N/A
14	2	Unknown	September 18, 1938 (1938-09-18)	N/A
15	3	"Mrs. Hildenberry and Her Place of Residence"	October 16, 1938 (1938-10-16)	When Midnight and Linda are called in to investigate a haunting of a senile old lady, they find an underhanded plot to rob her of her home.
16	4	"What's Black & White and is a Newspaper?"	November 13, 1938 (1938-11-13)	When the daughter of the local newspaper’s Editor-In-Chief is kidnapped by a mysterious person, the kidnapper demands only Midnight and Linda can help, or else risk the death of the girl.
17	5	Unknown	December 11, 1938 (1938-12-11)	N/A
18	6	Unknown	February 12, 1939 (1939-02-12)	N/A
19	7	Unknown	March 12, 1939 (1939-03-12)	N/A
20	8	Unknown	April 9, 1939 (1939-04-09)	N/A
21	9	"So Many Jewels, So Little Time-onds"	May 7, 1939 (1939-05-07)	When a rare gem is almost impossibly stolen from a local museum, Midnight and Linda must find out where it went and who stole it, all while competing against Midnight’s long time competition, The Daybreak Gumshoe.
22	10	Unknown	June 4, 1939 (1939-06-04)	N/A
23	11	Unknown	July 2, 1939 (1939-07-02)	N/A
24	12	Unknown	July 30, 1939 (1939-07-30)	N/A

Season 3

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Release Date	Episode Summary
25	1	Unknown	August 27, 1939 (1939-08-27)	N/A
26	2	Unknown	September 24, 1939 (1939-09-24)	N/A
27	3	Unknown	October 22, 1939 (1939-10-22)	N/A
28	4	Unknown	November 19, 1939 (1939-11-19)	N/A
29	5	"The Midnight Sleuth Christmas Special" (Unconfirmed Episode)	December 17, 1939 (1939-12-17)	N/A
30	6	Unknown	March 17, 1940 (1940-03-17)	N/A
31	7	Unknown	April 21, 1940 (1940-04-21)	N/A
32	8	Unknown	May 19, 1940 (1940-05-19)	N/A
33	9	Unknown	June 2, 1940 (1940-06-02)	N/A
34	10	Unknown	June 16, 1940 (1940-06-16)	N/A
35	11	Unknown	July 14, 1940 (1940-07-14)	N/A
36	12	"Dr. Terrible’s Listen-At-Home-Radio-Show"	July 28, 1940 (1940-07-28)	When Midnight’s favorite radio show is suddenly canceled, he and Linda travel to the radio station only to find one of the stars has been murdered. C.an they solve who done it before the whole cast is killed?

Lost Episodes

During the 1960's a fire destroyed the original masters of close to 90 episodes, leaving only 30 of the original show still available for the public. The episodes that were lost spanned all over the show's run, with most of the loss being during the first, third, eighth and ninth seasons. Slowly collectors of the program and network across the country are finding badly damaged copies of the missing episodes.