OVERLOOKED TELEVISION: MICHAEL SHAYNE

Michael Shayne, everybody's favorite tough guy redhead, began his literary life in 1939 in the novel Dividend on Death by Davis Dresser writing as "Brett Halliday."  My memory is fuzzy, but I recall reading somewhere that Dresser based the character on a man he chanced upon in a bar in (maybe) Mexico.  Anyway, Michael Shayne blazed his way through novels, short stories, movies (first played by Lloyd Nolan pre-Fixodent commercials, then by the Beaver's dad, Hugh Beaumont), radio (with a number of actors taking the title role, including Jeff Chandler), a mystery magazine, and -- of course -- a television show.  Although Dresser retired in the late 1950s, "Brett Halliday" and Michael Shayne continued on in books and stories via a number of ghost writers, including Robert Tyrell, Ryerson Johnson, Dennis Lynds, and James Reasoner.

     Michael Shayne, the television series, ran for 32 episodes from 1960 to 1961 and starred Richard Denning, who had previously played Jerry North in the series Mr. and Mrs. North.  Shayne's secretary, Lucy Hamilton, was first played by Patricia Donahue, then by Margie Regan.  The show created a younger brother for Lucy, Dick Hamilton, played by heart-throb Gary Clarke (later seen in The Virginian.)  Rounding out the regular cast were Herbert Rudley as Police Lt. Will Gentry and a young Jerry Paris (The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Bob Newhart Show, and a zillion other things) as reporter Tim Rourke.

     The episode below, Murder in Wonderland, was one of several written for the show by William Link and Richard Levinson (Mannix, Ellery Queen, Columbo, Murder, She Wrote), and has Patricia Donahue as Lucy.  This video, from 1960, is a little jerky but will give you the flavor of the series:

http://www.archive.org/details/MichaelShayneMurderInWonderland

     For more Overlooked Films, drop by Sweet Freedom, where Todd Mason will have the latest low-down.

UPDATE:  In his comment, Randy mentions that this series slipped by him.  It probably slipped by a lot of us (myself included) because it ran against The Twilight Zone.  The slot was the kiss of death.