Fu Manchu -- the Radio Shows
Last updated 30 Junel  2004

Some lucky listeners heard the shows on this Crosley Model 609 Gemchest, ca. 1929.

   (Photo by Gerald Schneider, copyright©1996)
 

In "Art Deco and Radios -- Web Version," Gerald Schneider notes that "Chinese decoration crept into French art moderne design sparked by popular Sax Rohmer Fu Manchu novels. Notable examples are the Chinese Chippendale patterns in the 1929 Crosley Gemchest radio models." From the Antique Radio Classified site.

The Shows

There were four distinct incarnations of Fu Manchu on U.S. radio, three of them during the 1930s and a briefer last gasp during World War II. Two of Rohmer's non-Fu Manchu novels also had radio serializations.

The Collier Hour

The Collier Hour, 1927-1932, on the Blue Network. Weekly, 60 minutes. Creator/producer: Malcolm LaPrade.

This program was created to promote Collier's magazine, and presented weekly dramatizations of both short stories and serials from the magazine's current issue. Originally broadcast on Wednesday evenings, before publication of the week's issue, the program later moved to 8:15 pm on Sundays. Three Sax Rohmer serials from the magazine were presented, each in 12 weekly parts; a fourth has been reported but not confirmed.

[The Emperor of America     1927-28 Unconfirmed.]
The Day the World Ended   1 May 1929 - 17 July 1929 (Wednesdays)
Daughter of Fu Manchu       9 March 1930 - 25 May 1930 (Sundays)
Yu'an Hee See Laughs        1 March 1931 - 17 May 1931 (Sundays)

Arthur Hughes, who also served as one of the program's announcers, played the part of Dr. Fu Manchu in the second serial. Rohmer himself participated in the 1 March 1931 broadcast, presenting a brief introduction to the third serial.

Fu Manchu

Fu Manchu was first broadcast as a series of twelve programs in 1929 to 1930.

Fu Manchu, CBS, 26 September 1932 - 24 April 1933, Mondays at 7:45pm (Chicago time, on station WGN) or 8:45pm (New York time, on WABC), 31 half-hour programs, sponsored by Campana Balm. Directed by Fred Ibbett.

 

 

    Cast: John C. Daly [later Harold Huber] as Fu Manchu
    Charles Warburton as Nayland Smith
    Bob White as Dr. James Petrie
    Sunda Love [later Charlotte Manson] as Karameneh (sic)
    Stanley Andrews as Malik, the French detective

 

 

 

John C. Daly in costume as Fu Manchu 
This photo appeared in The Rohmer Review, No. 9, August 1972.
It was supplied by subscriber Jack Buck, a dealer in Old Time Radio shows and owner of Radio Memories.

The program originated in Chicago, recorded in the WBBM studios but broadcast over the CBS Chicago affiliate, WGN. Sax and Elizabeth Rohmer were in Chicago for the initial broadcast, which was presented with the cast in full costume. On the Sunday morning before the first episode, Rohmer was heard on WGN in a 15-minute interview with CBS writer Steve Trumbull (rebroadcast at 12:30pm on WABC in New York). Rohmer also spoke briefly at the end of the first broadcast on Monday, September 26.

Dr. Fu Manchu

During the 1930's, various pirate radio stations outside of England broadcast shows in competition with the BBC. Two of these pirate stations, Radio Luxembourg and Radio Lyons, broadcast "Dr. Fu Manchu." In their article, "SH-H-H!  Dr. Fu Manchu Is On The Air," W. O. G. Lofts and R. E. Briney provide a detailed account.

The Dr. Fu Manchu series on Radio Luxembourg consisted of fifty-two 15-minute episodes, broadcast every Sunday at 7 P.M. from 6 December 1936 to 28 November 1937. Following the completion of the series, episodes #19 through #28 were repeated, lasting from 5 December 1937 until 6 February 1938, when transmission ended. Earlier, the first eleven episodes had been repeated in a different time-slot: Wednesdays at 4:45 P.M., from 21  July through 29 September 1937. The entire series of fifty-two episodes was also broadcast over Radio Lyons, Sundays at 10:15 P.M., from 7 March 1937 to 6  March 1938. Thus, for an eleven week period during the summer of 1937, listeners to the pirate radio stations could hear Dr. Fu Manchu three times a week---three different episodes, at three different times.

In a letter to R. E. Briney dated 1 May 1973, Cay Van Ash notes that "Sax himself wrote the scripts during the first half of the series. Thereafter, when the series continued beyond his original expectations, he found it too great an imposition on his time. He continued to write some of the scripts, but others were written either by Elizabeth or myself" (TRR #11). In Master of Villainy, Cay Van Ash calls these fifty-two episodes "the most faithful versions of the original stories that have so far appeared 'on he air'" (241). In his letter to Briney he explains: "We just went straight through the books in their natural sequence. The dialogue did not require changing very much"  (TRR #11).

Cast:

Fu Manchu, Frank Cochrane
Nayland Smith, D. A. Clarke-Smith
Dr. Petrie, Jack Lambert (1-9), John Rae (10-24), Gordon McLeod (27-43) 
          and Cameron Hall (44-52)
Kāramančh, Pamela Titheradge and later Rani Waller

Other actors included Arthur Young, Mervyn Johns and Vernon Kelso.

The Episodes:
1. The Painted Kiss
2. The Clue of the Pigtail
3. The Mystery of the Red Moat
4. The Green Mist
5. The Call of Siva
6. The Hulk of the Flats
7. The Brain Thief
8. Aaron's Rod
9. The Living Dead
10. The Fungi Cellers
11. The Lord of Fires
12. The Wire Jacket
13. The Cry of the Nighthawk
14. The White Peacock
15. The Coughing Horror
16. The Capture of Kāramančh
17. The Silver Buddha
18. The Terror Tower
19. The Fiery Hand
20. The Return of Aziz
21. The Six Gates
22. The Mummy
23. The Brass Box
24. The Flower of Silence
25. The Golden Pomegranates
26. The Adventure of the Queen of Hearts
27. The Xagazig Mystery
28. The House of Hashish
29. The Lillies of Death
30. Lady of the Si-Fan
31. The House of the Wild Cat
32. The Lion Crypt
33. The Flying Death
34. The Shadow Army
35. Satan's Chapel
36. The Purple Shadow
37. The Flying Plague
38. The House of the Devil Doctor
39. The Hairless Horror
40. The Scented Drug
41. The Devil Doctor's Daughter
42. The Flower of Eternal Life
43. The Return of the Monk
44. The Big Raid
45. The Arrest of the Devil Doctor
46. The Secret of the Living Dead
47. The Sleeping Vennus
48. The Vault of the Living Dead
49. The House of the Bloodhound
50. "Man Made Gold"
51. The Human Incinerator
52. The Hell Below the Thames
 6 December 1936
13 December 1936
20 December 1936
27 December 1936
3 January 1937
10 January 1937
17 January 1937
24 January 1937
31 January 1937
7 February 1937
14 February 1937
21 February 1937
28 February 1937
7 March 1947
14 March 1947
21 March 1947
28 March 1947
4 April 1937
11 April 1937
18 April 1937
25 April 1937
2 May 1937
9 May 1937
16 May 1937
23 May 1937
30 May 1937
6 June 1937 
13 June 1937 
20 June 1937 
27 June 1937 
4 July 1937
11 July 1937
18 July 1937
25 July 1937
1 August 1937
8 August 1937
15 August 1937
22 August 1937
29 August 1937
5 September 1937
12 September 1937
19 September 1937
26 September 1937
3 October 1937
10 October 1937
17 October 1937
24 October 1937
31 October 1937
7 November 1937
14 November 1937
21 November 1937
28 November 1937

The Peculiar Case of the Poppy Club

This radio script was written by Rohmer and broadcast by the B.B.C. "in late December or early January 1939, and was later broadcast in Australia" (Master of Villainy 298). Rohmer later converted it to a short story, but it was never published.

The Shadow of Fu Manchu

From the collection of Lawrence Knapp

 The Shadow of Fu Manchu pinback button was distributed in 1939 to promote the radio serial.
The Shadow of Fu Manchu, syndicated.

 Beginning 8 May 1939 156 15-minute programs, were broadcast, initially three times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) and later daily. The series was made available in transcription and re-broadcast on other dates in various parts of the country. (For example, the series was broadcast in New York beginning 18 March 1940.

The "Mystic Keys" puzzle was a promotional device for The Shadow of Fu Manchu radio serial on WFBR, Baltimore, in 1939.


From the collection of Mike Saler


From the collection of Mike Saler

 Cast

Ted Osborne as Fu Manchu*
Hanley Stafford as Nayland Smith
Gale Gordon as Dr. James Petrie
Paula Winslowe as Karame* [sic]
Edmond O'Brien as Inspector Rymer
Gerald Mohr or Edmond O'Brien? as the announcer #

*Information supplied by Ken Weigel

Another promotional item was Fu Manchu matches. The cover would be interesting alone, but the little Fu's with the explosive heads were quite the thing!

 

ShadowMatchesInside.jpg (20931 bytes)
#"The announcer of the show was none other than Edmond O'Brien, who also appears as Inspector Rymer.  I'm sure as I make my  way through the episodes I'll hear him in other roles as well.  O'Brien made his Hollywood debut in '39 in HUNCHBACK of NOTRE DAME and went on to do quite a bit of radio." -- Ray Faiola (Email, 10/24/98)

"The voice is similar to O'Brien's, but I think that in fact, it is Gerald Mohr, the prolific radio actor who, among hundreds of other roles, starred in 'The Adventures of Philip Marlowe.'  I have heard his voice for years, ever since as a child I saw him play the villain in 'Jungle Girl,' and he has a roundness to his tones that O'Brien doesn't have (O'Brien has more of an edge to his voice). The only other evidence that I have of this, other than my own hearing, is from Carl Amari, the honcho of Radio Spirits, who agreed in an e-mail some time back that it was Mohr doing the announcing." -- John Henley (Email, 1/22/00)

John Dunning, in On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Oxford University Press, 1998), says, "The show captured admirably the creeping yellow fog of London at midnight and the sense of evil that were so much a part of Rohmer's books."

Ray Stanich provided a quite thorough discussion of "Radio Fu Manchu" in The Rohmer Review, No. 12. He notes that "The adaptation is quite faithful to the original books, though in the middle of the series the episodes occur in somewhat jumbled order. #1-21 are from THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU, #22-27 from THE HAND of FU-MANCHU, and #28-39 from THE RETURN of FU-MANCHU."

For many years, only the first 39 episodes were available. In addition to the initial 39 episodes, a fortieth episode, "The Purple Spot," has been included on many compilations. While it is clearly a fortieth episode, it is not necessarily or even likely to be episode 40. Its plot is derived from Bride and Fu Manchu and is likely to be one of the later missing episodes (136-141).

Forty four additional episodes were made available recently by Ted Davenport who purchased the original 16" transcription discs from a collector in Ohio sometime in 2003. As a result 84 of the 156 episodes are now available.

Based on the available episodes, the complete series was adapted and initially broadcast as follows:

Episodes

1-21
22-27
28-39
40-78

79-94
95-97
99-117
118-135
136-141
142-156

 Broadcast

8 May 1939 - 23 June 1939
26 June 1939 - 7 July 1939
10 July 1939 - 4 August 1939
unknown

7 August 1939 - 24 August 1939
unknown
30 August 1939 -20 September 1939
21 September 1939 -11 October 1939
unknown
19 October 1939 - 4 November 1939
 

 Plots derived from

The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu
The Hand of Fu Manchu
The Return of Fu Manchu
The Trail of Fu Manchu &
President Fu Manchu
Daughter of Fu Manchu
unknown
The Mask of Fu Manchu
The Drums of Fu Manchu
unknown
Bride of Fu Manchu
 

 Published

1913
1917
1916
1934
1936
1931

1932
1939

1933

The shows themselves originally had no titles, so the stations that aired them titled them. As a result there are a variety of titles associated with each episode. Ray Stanich reported the following episode titles and airdates in The Rohmer Review:

  1. 05/08/39 The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu
  2. 05/10/39 The Zayat Kiss
  3. 05/12/39 The Zayat Kiss
  4. 05/15/39 The Clue of the Pigtail
  5. 05/17/39 The Clue of the Pigtail
  6. 05/19/39 Red Moat
  7. 05/22/39 Red Moat
  8. 05/24/39 The Green Mist
  9. 05/26/39 The Green Mist
  10. 05/29/39 The Call of Siva
  11. 05/31/39 The Call of Siva
  12. 06/02/39 Kāramančh
  13. 06/05/39 Kāramančh
  14. 06/07/39 Andaman - Second!"
  15. 06/09/39 Andaman - Second!"
  16. 06/12/39 The Golden Flask
  17. 06/14/39 The Golden Flask
  18. 06/16/39 The Spores of Death
  19. 06/19/39 The Spores of Death
  20. 06/21/39 The Knocking on the Door
  21. 06/23/39 The Knocking on the Door
  22. 06/26/39 The Traveler from Tibet
  23. 06/28/39 The Flower of Silence
  24. 06/30/39 The Si-Fan Move
  25. 07/03/39 Zarmi of the  Joy Shop
  26. 07/05/39 The Tūlun-Nūr Chest
  27. 07/07/39 The Golden Pomegranates
  28. 07/10/39 A Midnight Summons
  29. 07/12/39 The Cry of a Nighthawk
  30. 07/14/39 Under the Elms
  31. 07/17/39 Enter Mr. Abel Slattin
  32. 07/19/39 The Climber
  33. 07/21/39 The White Peacock
  34. 07/24/39 Dark Eyes Look into Mine
  35. 07/26/39 The Coughing Horror
  36. 07/28/39 The Questing Hands
  37. 07/30/39 The Silver Buddha
  38. 08/02/39 The Bells
  39. 08/04/39 The Six Gates

The titles listed below are from The Shadow of Fu Manchu - Bookshelf Edition BS 061   from Radio Memories. In a few instances the titles are the same; in other cases, they are closely related.

  1. 05/08/39 Nayland Smith Enlists Dr. James Petrie
  2. 05/10/39 A Zayat Kiss For Nayland Smith
  3. 05/12/39 Cadby & Mason Were Murdered
  4. 05/15/39 Planning Raid On Chin Yan's
  5. 05/17/39 Arrive At Red Moat
  6. 05/19/39 Barking Dog At Red Moat
  7. 05/22/39 Red Moat's Secret Revealed
  8. 05/24/39 A Green Mist At Sir Lionel's House
  9. 05/26/39 How The Green Mist Was Released From Tomb
  10. 05/29/39 Kidnapped Outside Sir Guthrie's Hotel
  11. 05/31/39 On A Train To Save Sir Guthrie
  12. 06/02/39 Smith Captures Karame
  13. 06/05/39 Karame Leaves A Message About Houseboat
  14. 06/07/39 Karame Throws A Message From A Car
  15. 06/09/39 Hashish Switched With Sleeping Pills
  16. 06/12/39 Lord Sotherby Found Dead
  17. 06/14/39 Dr. Petrie Sees Karame's Brother
  18. 06/16/39 Dr. Petrie Injects Karame's Brother
  19. 06/19/39 An Experiment In Fungology
  20. 06/21/39 On Fu's Launch
  21. 06/23/39 Seek Not My Ashes
  22. 06/26/39 Watch Out For The Si-Fan
  23. 06/28/39 The Flower of Silence
  24. 06/30/39 Si-Fan Kidnaps Nayland Smith
  25. 07/03/39 At John Key's Joy Shop
  26. 07/05/39 Having The Chest Appraised
  27. 07/07/39 The Golden Pomegranates
  28. 07/10/39 Sir Guthrie Kidnapped Again
  29. 07/12/39 Nayland Smith Has A Double
  30. 07/14/39 Karame Has A Bird Net
  31. 07/17/39 Slade Will Sell Out Fu
  32. 07/19/39 Did A Snake Kill Slade?
  33. 07/21/39 The White Peacock
  34. 07/24/39 The Sacred Order of The White Peacock
  35. 07/26/39 Coughing Horror Attacks Nayland
  36. 07/28/39 Burk Will Sell Slade's Papers
  37. 07/30/39 Smith And Petrie Visit Antique Shop
  38. 08/02/39 Is The Gable House Haunted?
  39. 08/04/39 The Six Gates of Joyful Wisdom

The set of  tapes from Adventures in Cassettes lists yet another set of titles for the same dates.

  1. 05/08/39 Smith Enlists the Doctor 
  2. 05/10/39 A Zayat Kiss
  3. 05/12/39 Murders
  4. 05/15/39 Raid On Chin Yan's
  5. 05/17/39 Red Moat
  6. 05/19/39 Barking Dog
  7. 05/22/39 Secret Revealed
  8. 05/24/39 A Green Mist
  9. 05/26/39 Released From the Tomb
  10. 05/29/39 Kidnapped
  11. 05/31/39 Sir Guthrie in Danger
  12. 06/02/39 Captures of Karame
  13. 06/05/39 Karame's Message
  14. 06/07/39 Second Message
  15. 06/09/39 Sleeping Pills
  16. 06/12/39 Found Dead
  17. 06/14/39 Karame's Brother
  18. 06/16/39 Injection
  19. 06/19/39 Deadly Fungi
  20. 06/21/39 Fu's Launch
  21. 06/23/39 Seek Not My Ashes
  22. 06/26/39 Si-Fan
  23. 06/28/39 Flower of Silence
  24. 06/30/39 Nayland Smith Kidnapped
  25. 07/03/39 Joy Shop
  26. 07/05/39 Chest Appraised
  27. 07/07/39 Golden Pomegranates
  28. 07/10/39 Sir Guthrie Kidnapped
  29. 07/12/39 Smith's Double
  30. 07/14/39 Bird Net
  31. 07/17/39 The Sell Out
  32. 07/19/39 Slade's Death
  33. 07/21/39 The White Peacock
  34. 07/24/39 The Sacred Order
  35. 07/26/39 Coughing Horror
  36. 07/28/39 Slade's Papers
  37. 07/30/39 Antique Shop
  38. 08/02/39 Haunted House?
  39. 08/04/39 The Six Gates of Joyful Wisdom

The following titles were used for the New York re-broadcast dates:

1.   3/18/40 Enter Sir Nayland Smith
2.   3/20/40 The Red Hand of Death
3.   3/22/40 The Death List
4.   3/25/40 In The Clutches of Fu Manchu
5.   3/27/40 An Ally of Love
6.   3/29/40 The Creature In The Night 
7.   4/1/40 Terror At Greymoat  
8.   4/3/40 Green Mist of Death  
9.   4/5/40 Nocturnal Visit 
10. 4/8/40 Prisoners of Fu Manchu
11. 4/10/40 The Call of Siva
12. 4/12/40 Karamaneh's Story
13. 4/15/40 The Deadly Bargin
14. 4/17/40 Plans of Destruction
15. 4/19/40 hip of Spies
16. Karameneh's Plea 4/22/40
17. The Undead 4/24/40
18. Back To Life 4/26/40)
19. The Poison Pit 4/29/40
20. The Last Laugh 5/1/40
21. Into The Flames 5/3/40
22. Mystery of The Sifan 5/6/40
23. Flower of Silence 5/8/40
24 The Man With Limp 5/10/40
25 The Treasure of The Sifan 5/13/40
26 The Return of Nayland Smith 5/15/40
27 The Golden Pomegranite 5/17/40
28 Kidnapped 5/20/40
29 Double For Murder 5/22/40
30 A Slave Once More 5/24/40
31 Conversation In The Dark 5/27/40
32 Snake's Head 5/29/40
33 Riddle of The White Peacock 5/31/40
34 The Sacred Order of The White Peacock 6/3/40
35 The Coughing Horror 6/5/40
36 In The Grip of Death 6/5/
37 In The Lair of Fu Manchu 6/10/40
38 The Ghost of The Gables 6/12/
39 The Sword of Samurai 6/14/40
 

White Velvet

29 April  - 1 July 1940. Rohmer adapted White Velvet for B.B.C. radio and even wrote music and lyrics for the story's touring theatrical group  to perform. In Master of Villainy, Cay Van Ash recalls "I have nostalgic memories of the wistful 'Cold as Snow,' which I thought particularly appealing" (240).

NBC Molle Mystery Theatre

Tuesday, 22 August 1944, 9:00 pm
Tuesday, 3 October 3, 1944, 9:00 pm

A half-hour adaptation of The Insidious Dr.  Fu Manchu which was narrated by Roc Rogers. Both the August and October dates have been reported. Victor Berch found that both the New York Times and the Boston Globe for Aug. 22, 1944 list the Fu Manchu tale "The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu" as being aired that evening. Martin Grams, Jr., however, notes that the October 3 date "originates from the original script held at NBC Studios in New York, where the MOLLE scripts are housed." 

Additional details and observations are available from Martin Grams' article In the Shadow of Fu Manchu.

Sax Rohmer's scarab

Copyright © 1997-2004 Lawrence Knapp. R. E. Briney.  All rights reserved.