Our Chat this week: Happy Birthday, James Hong: TWO episodes from "The New Adventures of CC"!
FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Silence often speaks louder than words.” (“The Counterfeiters”)
THIS WEEK, we celebrate the 89th birthday of James Hong, Number One Son in “The New Adventures of Charlie Chan,” the 1957 TV crime drama. We will be featuring two episodes: “The Counterfeiters” and “The Death of a Don.”
Preceding our Charlie Chan features, our weekly “extra,” will be another chapter of the 1936 radio dramatization of “The Landini Murder Case,” an adaptation, of Earl Derr Biggers’ “Keeper of the Keys,” the only Biggers Chan Story never to have been made into a film, starring Walter Connolly. We continue the adventure with Episode 16 (as episode 15 is unavailable).
OUR PRESENTATIONS: “The Counterfeiters” and “The Death of a Don” (Both: 1957; 25 minutes) …AND “The Landini Murder Case,” Episode 17 (Radio Drama: 1936; 15 minutes).
FEATURE SUMMARIES:
“The Counterfeiters” - Charlie Chan is called to Paris when the Bank of France reports the theft of printing plates used to produce 5,000-franc notes. Chan must rely on connections that date back to the war as he seeks to solve this complex case.
“The Death of a Don” - In London, a student friend of Charlie Chan's son, Barry, son is accused of murder following a heated confrontation with a music professor. Chan seeks to find the truth behind what, on the surface, appears to be an open and shut case.
FILM NOTES: Barry Chan (to his father): "Next week is your birthday." (This would, from other evidence found in this film in the form of the opening date of "In a Dancing Mood" at the theater where Janet Rushton performed. If the show offered by what Janet Rushton called "a second-rate company" had a short, perhaps one-week run, this would place Charlie Chan's birthday at either the end of the month of February or early March.)
TIME: We begin with arrivals and greetings at 7:30 EASTERN TIME. Then, we share our special short “extra” which will be followed at exactly 8:15 when we roll our first feature for this Monday evening, “The Counterfeiters,” followed by “The Death of a Don.”
LOCATION: Our Charlie Chan Family Chat Room, which is accessed at http://www.charliechan.info/id17.html.
IF YOU LACK A COPY OF OUR FEATURES: Often our features can be found available online. However, sadly, neither of our features is available online this week…
However, for our Charlie Chan radio drama, you may use this link: https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/crime/charlie-chan/charlie-chan-17-landini
OUR MONTHLY POLL: Please take a moment to cast your vote in our February 2018 Poll, located at our Entrance Page (http://www.charliechan.info/index.html)!
NEXT WEEK: Join us on Monday, February 26, as we view and share “Charlie Chan in Shanghai,” as Lee Chan returns to assist his famous pop!
PLEASE JOIN US as we celebrate James Hong’s birthday with TWO episodes of “The New Adventures of Charlie Chan”!
