Craig Kennedy

Fictional character created by Arthur B. Reeve
the South Dakota politician

Professor Craig Kennedy is a fictional detective created by Arthur B. Reeve.

Kennedy is a scientist detective at Columbia University similar to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Thorndyke. He uses his knowledge of chemistry and psychoanalysis to solve cases, and uses exotic (at the time) devices in his work such as lie detectors, gyroscopes, and portable seismographs. Like Dr. Watson from the Holmes tales and Dr. Jervis from the Thorndyke stories, Kennedy also has a companion who narrates his adventures in the form of reporter Walter Jameson.

Kennedy first appeared in the December 1910 issue of Cosmopolitan, in "The Case of Helen Bond." He ultimately made 82 appearances in Cosmopolitan, the last coming in the August 1918 issue. Twelve stories were reprinted in the first collection, and this continued, but soon the stories were fixed up into a novel, and some were adaptations of movie serials. He returned for many short stories in magazines as various as The Popular Magazine, Detective Story Magazine, Country Gentleman, Everybody's Magazine, and Flynn's, as well as in 26 novels. Through the 1920s, he became more of a typical detective. Craig Kennedy appeared in a number of 1930s pulp magazines, Complete Detective Novel Magazine, Dime Detective, Popular Detective, Weird Tales, and World Man Hunters, but many of these appear to be ghost written as they lack the style and flavor of the teen era Craig Kennedy stories. A series of six Craig Kennedy stories in early issues of Popular Detective are known to have been unsold novelettes rewritten by A. T. Locke.

The character's name was spoofed in 1916 by Douglas Fairbanks, who played "Coke Enneday" in the cocaine comedy film and Sherlock Holmes sendup The Mystery of the Leaping Fish. Detective Craig Kennedy was also played by Arnold Daly in the 1914 film serial The Exploits of Elaine as well as its 1915 sequel, The New Exploits of Elaine. Herbert Rawlinson portrayed Craig Kennedy in the silent serial film The Carter Case (1919). Robert Warwick took the role in the early sound film Unmasked (1929). Jack Mulhall played Kennedy in the serial The Clutching Hand (1936) for the Weiss Brothers, who also produced the 1951 television series called Craig Kennedy, Criminologist, which was based on the same character. Donald Woods portrayed Craig Kennedy in the television series.