The Casebook of Gregory Hood

[The Wolf]

Every once in a while people ask for recommendations of old time radio shows so I thought I would write about one of my favorites.
I came across "The Casebook of Gregory Hood" simply because my favorite year is 1946. The show started on the Mutual network in June of 1946 and was a spin-off of the Sherlock Holmes radio show with Rathbone and Bruce. At the end "The Baconian Cypher" Watson says announcer Harry Bartel that he will no longer be sharing his stories as he is returning to England but introduces a friend of his named Gregory Hood to tell Bartel his unusual cases. Consequently, the show is a spin-off, still sponsored by Petrie Wines and hosted by Bartel. Denis Green and Anthony Boucher, who wrote the Holmes radio scripts, provided the new scripts. Boucher also wrote a great collection of short stories called The Compleat Werewolf
Gregory Hood was an antiques importer in San Francisco played by Gale Gordon. He might be remembered from The Lucy Show as her put upon boss. He also played Flash Gordon on the radio and amusing roles as Mayor LaTrivia on "Fibber McGee and Molly" and as the prinicipal on "Our Miss Brooks". As Hood he is smooth and clever. Quite the radio career considering he was born with a cleft palette and doctors weren't sure if he would be able to talk right.
Hood is a composer, chef and pilot aside from amateur detective and dealer of antiquities. He is aided by his attorney friend "Sandy" Taylor.

Surprisingly, Radio Spirits does not sell the show in a collection. I bought the episodes years ago as cassettes and Radio Spirits does have episodes for download. So you might want to give the show a chance.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[Salty O'Rourke]

According to Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio logs, there are only 14 episodes of Gregory Hood circulating among collectors.

 

[Shangas]

The producers of "Adventures" begged Rathbone to continue with the radio show. I believe they even offered him some gigantic pay-rise. But he refused to take it.

I think he regretted it or something later on, but he refused to be typecast as Sherlock Holmes. Bruce continued for another year and a bit with actor Tom Conway but the second series of Holmes radio stories was never as popular as the first and it died after something like 40 episodes.

 

[Salty O'Rourke]

I enjoy the Rathbone-Bruce stories, but the clumsy in-studio banter between Bruce and Bartel, particularly as they introduced the commercials, is a big distraction. Plus the Mutual series perpetuated the Hollywood depiction of Watson as a dimwit.