Sat 4 Aug 2018
A TV Pilot Review by Michael Shonk: THE GREAT MERLINI “The Transparent Man” (1951).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[14] Comments
THE GREAT MERLINI “The Transparent Man.” Syndicated by United Artist Television, 1951. G&W Television Production Inc. Cast: Jerome Thor as the Great Merlini, Barbara Cook as Julie, Robert Noe as Inspector Gavigan, Howard Smith as Belmont, E.G. Marshall as Comell and Michaele Myers as Josephine. Original Story and Adapted by Clayton Rawson. Produced by Felix Greenfield and Robert Whiteman. Filmed at Fletcher Smith Studio, New York. Directed by Ted Post.
Question, who was the first Fictional Magician Detective to appear on television? Really, if you know tell me.
It may be the Great Merlini who made his TV debut in the episode “The Great Merlini” for the NBC-TV series CAMEO THEATRE (May 23, 1950). The thirty-minute anthology series featured plays performed live in the round. Chester Morris (film’s Boston Blackie) was the Great Merlini. From the plot as described and with author Clayton Rawson credited as one of the writers, the episode was probably an adaption of Rawson’s book FOOTPRINTS ON THE CEILING.
As far as I know, no copy of this episode of CAMEO THEATRE exists. However the second and maybe the last TV appearance of the Great Merlini is available to watch. A pilot film for a proposed TV series THE GREAT MERLINI, the episode was entitled “The Transparent Man” and was written by Clayton Rawson.
Created by Rawson for a series of books and short stories, the first, DEATH FROM A TOP HAT, was published in 1938. Two movies were adapted from the books, MIRACLES FOR SALE (1939; directed by Tod Browning, based on DEATH FROM A TOP HAT) and Michael Shayne film THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T DIE (1942) starring Lloyd Nolan based on the book NO COFFIN FOR THE CORPSE.
Clayton Rawson is considered one of the greatest writers of locked room mysteries and includes John Dickson Carr and Fred Dannay among his greatest fans. He would help found the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) and served for many year as managing editor for the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (1963-71).
“The Transparent Man.” When a famous thief announces his plans to steal a priceless necklace, it is a crime for the police, but when the thief has been dead since 1798 it becomes a job for The Great Merlini. He must solve how an invisible thief opened a locked door and stole the necklace from a room full of people.
For TV viewers “The Transparent Man” is an entertaining but flawed TV show, however fans of the books may find this TV episode disappointing. It is more an “impossible crime†story than a locked room mystery.
Rawson’s books and short stories even today are considered among the best of the locked mystery genre. Arguably the greatest flaw in Rawson’s books is the slow pace and the enormous amount of pages it takes to develop the locked room mystery. With time limited the TV version settled on a weak solution, faster pace, and more attention to the character Great Merlini.
Jerome Thor (FOREIGN INTRIGUE) played the Great Merlini with the confident flare one expects from a stage magician. The eccentric Merlini enjoys the challenge of solving impossible mysteries, and he is amused that his talent to deal with crime is in more demand than his stage act as a magician. There is no mention of owning a magic store.
Ross Harte, the Watson to the Great Merlini, was not in the TV pilot. Replacing him was Julie, Merlini’s talented Magician’s Assistant girlfriend with a wry wit. Barbara Cook played the role well, so it is a surprise that the IMDb claim this was her only role in television or film.
Director Ted Post would go on to a long successful career directing a variety of TV series including PERRY MASON, GUNSMOKE, TWILIGHT ZONE, and COLUMBO. He also directed films such as BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES and MAGNUM FORCE.
But this was one of his first attempts at directing television and it shows. The direction here is awkward, a clumsy mix of close-ups and medium shots with a missed shot or so. But much of the awkwardness could have been covered with a background soundtrack.
Robert Noe captured the essence of Inspector Gavigan. The suspects included two actors still remembered today. Howard Smith, who had a successful career from vaudeville to films and may be best remembered for his TV work (HAZEL), looked uncomfortable and lost. E. G. Marshall, a successful actor on Broadway and film (12 ANGRY MEN) is also best remembered for his work in TV (THE DEFENDERS), did only an adequate job with his small role.
Felix Greenfield and Robert Whiteman produced this pilot for a GREAT MERLINI TV series. I can find nothing about Robert Whiteman, but Felix Greenfield was best remembered as a publicist for Warner Brothers for over 30 years.
Greenfield was also a stage magician (mentalist) who starred in his own radio shows in New York during the 40s. His only other TV producer credit in IMDb was for the “Great Merlini” episode of CAMEO THEATRE, but according to his obit in the New York Times, he also was a technical consultant on magic for several TV series including THE DEFENDERS.
This show was filmed in 1951 and near the end of the wild days of television. The networks were still young. NBC and DuMont began in 1946 and CBS and ABC would join in 1948. Independent TV stations many doing their own programming were growing all over the country and everyone needed programs to fill the time.
How crazy and forgotten was that time for television? Wikipedia does not even mention United Artist Television existed between 1948 and 1952 instead claiming it began in 1958.
From Broadcast (March 19, 1951) UA’s TV Director John Mitchell announced, “United Artist Television, New York has been appointed national distributer of the GREAT MERLINI, new half-hour TV film series produced by G&W Productions and filmed at Fletcher Smith Studios, New York. Ted Post of CBS is director of the show. The program is to be distributed on the basis of local and regional sponsorships.â€
John Mitchell was an early pioneer of television in how companies marketed TV programs to early television stations and networks. In 1952 he became one of the first three employees of Screen Gems.
Among the joys of watching old television shows are the many stories and questions behind the making of the program. Is the Great Merlini TV’s first Magician/Detective? Where did this attempt for a GREAT MERLINI TV series air? Why couldn’t I find an American TV series to feature a Magician/Detective before THE MAGICIAN (CBS, 1973-74)? And was “Transparent Man” the last TV appearance of the Great Merlini?
BONUS FROM YOUTUBE:
Clayton Rawson as the Great Merlini performing the “Floating Lady†trick with family and friends.
August 4th, 2018 at 1:19 pm
I watched Foreign Intrigue on a regular basis with Jerome Thor and Sydna Scott, but when James Daly a nd Gerald Mohr took over, I took a powder.
August 4th, 2018 at 2:00 pm
Barry, I have to admit to being a fan of Gerald Mohr (he was the best Philip Marlowe) but there is no doubt that Jerome Thor was the star. It was Thor’s popularity as an actor at the time that forced the producer to do stories with Sydna Scott (Thor and Scott were married). Producer Sheldon Reynolds also believed the audience would get bored with the same character every week over time.
It is a shame Thor is not better remembered or that Scott did not work more often as an actress.
I thought he did a great Great Merlini.
August 4th, 2018 at 7:12 pm
Jerome Thor is a new name (and face) for me. I see from IMDB that he was in dozens of TV shows over the years — maybe even a movie or two. There’s always someone new to learn about!
And (PS) who’d have thunk that a relatively minor production such as this from 1951 would still be around today — only a click away.
August 4th, 2018 at 7:21 pm
Steve, it is even weirder that such shows from the past where harder to see when new then they are today. Even in the fifties I would guess fewer people could watch this than the number of those who have watched this on YouTube or the public domain DVDs.
Add watching the home movies of Clayton Rawson and the around 500 original scripted TV series this season and you realize TV viewers are almost as blessed as book readers in the amount of choice.
August 4th, 2018 at 7:53 pm
Blessed is right, Michael.
August 4th, 2018 at 10:01 pm
Chester Morris, himself an amateur magician, only loosely fits the description of the character and would have been a great choice since many of the Boston Blackie films revolved around his standing as an amateur magician.
There is a third Merlini based movie you missed, CHARLIE CHAN ON TREASURE ISLAND (Sydney Toler) with Cesar Romero as the Merlini stand-in (sort of, see the film and you’ll understand the caveat) and boasting a screenplay by none other than Philip Wylie.
Re television magicians, there was a pilot in the fifties for Mandrake and a pilot if not a series with Chris George as an escape artist, then at least one season with Hal Linden of BLACKE’S MAGIC, a seventies pilot for yet another Mandrake, and though not a detective, a pilot of Marvel’s DR. STRANGE, and of course though not a sleuth Mandrake featured as a regular in the animated DEFENDERS teamed with Loathar, the Phantom and Flash Gordon and their children.
Though not a detective himself George Peppard’s BANACEK spent much of his time on screen deconstructing elaborate misdirection resembling magic tricks to solve impossible crimes.
August 5th, 2018 at 2:43 am
Didn’t know about the Chan film connection. The Mandrake pilot is at YouTube, it was a pilot for NBC in 1954. I am sure there were magicians mysteries in the endless anthologies during early TV but hoping someone remembers one.
Magician/detectives were very popular on radio but there has been fewer on TV. BLACKE’S MAGIC was on NBC in 1986. The latest was ABC’s DECEPTION this season.
August 5th, 2018 at 3:34 am
“It seems to me I’ve heard that song before …”
Charlie Chan At Treasure Island was not a “Merlini movie”; your ‘caveat’ is proof of that.
CC at TI has no basis in any Rawson story, aside from a character who’s kinda-sorta like Merlini; the story and screenplay are by Chan-regular John Larkin.
By the way, the previous FoxChan, CC in Reno, is based on one of Philip Wylie’s magazine stories; he didn’t write the screenplay here either.
In other matters:
– My DVD Wall has within it the early ’50s Mandrake pilot, with pro magician Coe Norton in the title role – and Woody Strode as Lothar.
– I don’t have the ’70s Mandrake pilot, which starred soap villain Anthony Herrera; I recall that they employed Harry Blackstone Jr. as magic wrangler (he had a bit as a bad guy, as I recall).
– The Escape pilot with Chris George and its stepchild series The Magician with Bill Bixby both reside in The Wall, alongside a C2C set of Blacke’s Magic – which brings me to a story:
– Back in ’64 (approx.), Burke’s Law presented “Who Killed Merlin The Great”, wherein a magico staged a “buried alive” stunt at a hotel swimming pool – and came up shot to death.
Amos Burke settled all the hash, of course.
Script by Richard Levinson and William Link, then at entry level.
Skip ahead to 1986; Levinson & Link, along with their protégé Peter Fischer, decide to launch their Blacke’s Magic pilot with the same “buried alive” murder gimmick, lifted bodily from the old Burke; all other story details were changed.
Watching the Blacke’s pilot with my family, I recalled the old Burke gimmick, to the intense annoyance of all.
Apparently, all the rest of America had long forgotten …
Last stop, 1994, when Aaron Spelling revived Burke’s Law for CBS.
One episode was called “Who Killed Alexander The Great?” – about Guess What?
Once again, completely different story details, but the same murder gimmick.
Levinson & Link got a story credit (and a paycheck), but the actual script was done by a Spelling house writer.
And again, nobody noticed (but me, maybe …).
– I thought I had this Great Merlini pilot in one of my DVDs full of unsold pilots, but apparently I don’t; here’s hoping YouTube doesn’t find out any time soon …
August 5th, 2018 at 10:15 am
Add Bill Bixby as The Magician. Early seventies.
August 5th, 2018 at 1:41 pm
In today’s world where fantasy is a popular genre on TV it is hard to believe the genre was so unsuccessful in the 50s and 60s. When it existed it was for kids, anthology series, or a sitcom (BEWITCHED – 64).
Below is the Mandrake pilot. My favorite line is in the intro describing Mandrake, Lothar and the Princess as “three against evilll.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4s7OI7IbvY&list=PLIXVzVZywqCoE5sSHa_6g-NgDWDvLayih&index=65
Some of the problems facing the Magician TV show was the lack of technology in television (radio did not have to show the magic), watching magic with your own eyes is more impressive than on TV where they can cheat, and the need to reveal tricks to audience such as Mandrake does.
It took the 70s with its gimmicks detectives to give the detective the job of magician.
As for the Great Merlini lack of success, it may have have been the lack of name recognition among the mainstream public. Certainly his locked room mystery would have been near impossible to produce on a weekly basis. It would have been a great idea for NBC MYSTERY MOVIE paired up with COLUMBO and BANACEK. I would enjoy seeing a series of a magician who owns a magic shop and gets involved with mysteries.
August 6th, 2018 at 1:10 am
JONATHAN CREEK is a British mystery show that has produced five series (seasons) of episodes between 1997 and 2014, along with Christmas specials in 2001 and 2016. The show’s title character is an inventor of illusions for magicians, who also uses his talents to help solve seemingly impossible crimes. I remember PBS running the first series of episodes some years back, before apparently losing interest in the show.
August 6th, 2018 at 1:30 am
Gary R. good call and that can be seen at BritBox streaming service.
I remember the series DRESDEN FILES based on the books by Jim Butcher. Dresden is a PI who specializes in supernatural.
SYFY channel has THE MAGICIANS based on fantasy mystery novels by Lev Grossman.
August 6th, 2018 at 1:48 am
My brother is a big locked room mystery and impossible crime fan, and he’s been telling me about JONATHAN CREEK almost since it started. I bought the first series on DVD, but somehow I haven’t found the time to watch it yet. I am going to have to do something about that.
August 6th, 2018 at 1:49 am
No post should have exactly 13 comments.