Boston Blackie

Fictional character created by author Jack Boyle
the fictional noir pulp hero

Boston Blackie is a fictional character created by author Jack Boyle (1881–1928). Blackie, a jewel thief and safecracker in Boyle's stories, became a detective in adaptations for films, radio and television—an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend." Actor Chester Morris played the character in 14 Columbia Pictures films (1941–1949) and in a 1944 NBC radio series.

Writer Jack Boyle was born in Oakland, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. While working as a newspaper editor in San Francisco, he became an opium addict and was drawn into crime to support his habit. He was sent to San Quentin for writing bad checks. Later convicted of robbery in Denver, Colorado, Boyle was serving time at the Colorado State Penitentiary when he created the character of Boston Blackie.

The first four stories appeared in The American Magazine in 1914, with Boyle writing under the pen name "No. 6066". From 1917 to 1919, Boston Blackie stories appeared in The Red Book magazine, and from 1918 they were adapted for motion pictures. When Boston Blackie began to find success on the screen, Boyle edited the Red Book magazine stories into a book, Boston Blackie (1919). He revised and rearranged the order of the stories to create a cohesive narrative—a common practice at the time known in publishing as a fixup. This was the only appearance of Boston Blackie in book form, but his adventures continued to appear in periodicals.

Year Title Publisher Publication date Notes 1914 "" July 1914 As No. 6066 1914 "" August 1914 As No. 6066 1914 "Death Cell Visions" September 1914 As No. 6066 1914 "" October 1914 As No. 6066 1917 "Boston Blackie's Mary" November 1917 1917 "" December 1917 1918 "" October 1918 1919 "" Cosmopolitan June 1919 1919 "Alias Prince Charming" Cosmopolitan July 1919 1919 "Black Dan" Cosmopolitan October 1919 1919 "" Cosmopolitan November 1919 1920 "Grandad's Girl" Cosmopolitan March 1920 1920 "" Cosmopolitan May 1920 1920 "" Cosmopolitan October 1920 1920 "Boomerang Bill" Cosmopolitan December 1920

Concurrent with the Columbia Pictures films, a Boston Blackie radio series—also starring Chester Morris—aired on NBC June 23 – September 15, 1944, as a summer replacement for Amos 'n' Andy. Lesley Woods played Blackie's girlfriend Mary Wesley; Richard Lane played Inspector Farraday. Harlow Wilcox was the announcer for the 30 minute program. A new incarnation of the Boston Blackie radio series aired April 11, 1945 – October 25, 1950, starring Richard Kollmar. Maurice Tarplin played Inspector Farraday; Jan Miner was Mary. More than 200 half hour episodes were transcribed and syndicated by Frederick Ziv to Mutual and other network outlets. The series was set in Los Angeles; Mary and Blackie had a dog named Whitie, and comedy sometimes took precedence over crime.

Scripter Stefan Petrucha and artist Kirk Van Wormer created the graphic novel Boston Blackie (Moonstone Books, 2002) with a cover by Tim Seelig. A jewel heist at a costume ball goes horribly wrong, and the five year old son of the wealthy Greene family disappears and is presumed dead; the body is never found. The main suspect is Boston Blackie, who is still haunted seven years later by what happened that night. Drawn back into the case, he finds that the truth of what happened that night is awash in a watery grave. A sequel to the graphic novel was published years later.

In the 1955 film Tight Spot, Ginger Rogers exclaims "Well, aren't we the real life size Boston Blackies." In a 1957 song Searchin by The Coasters, there is a reference to "Sergeant Friday, Charlie Chan and Boston Blackie." A 1957 Daffy Duck cartoon, Boston Quackie, is a direct parody of the television serial, with Daffy as the detective – who needs everyone else's help to solve his case. Jimmy Buffett's song "Pencil Thin Mustache" references Boston Blackie, as do some versions of "The Wabash Cannonball". Boston Blackie's Restaurant was a bar and grill with locations in Chicago and Deerfield, Illinois. In a 1967 episode of Bewitched ("Samantha's Thanksgiving to Remember", Season 4, Episode 12), "Boston Blackie" is mentioned in fond remembrance by Aunt Clara (Marion Lorne), who confuses him as attending the First Thanksgiving with famous Pilgrims. In Errol Morris' 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line, interviewee Emily Miller cites Boston Blackie as an inspiration for wanting to become a "detective, or the wife of a detective." The film's score by Philip Glass also has a cue titled "Boston Blackie." In Chuck E. Weiss's 2014 release, Red Beans and Weiss, track 3 is entitled "Boston Blackie" and comprises four verses, sandwiching three repetitions of the chorus; the chorus lyrics include "I'm just like Boston Blackie, yes I am", and, derived from the original stories, "Friends to those who have no friends". In a 2007 television episode of Mad Men, when talking about John F. Kennedy as a potential opponent for 1960 presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon, character Bert Cooper says, "It's going to be Kennedy. 'Boston Blackie' won West Virginia." In chapter 7 of the 2007 novel Now and Then by Robert B. Parker, Hawk refers to Spenser as 'Boston Blackie' after Spenser directs him to "Follow that car."