OUR CCF MONDAY EVENING CHAT AND FILM VIEWING FOR November 11, 2019, Veterans Day:
"Docks of New Orleans"

FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Even melon grown in shade will ripen in the end.”

OUR MELBOURNE CUP NIGHT WINNER: Congratulations to Nothere (NT) who had this year’s winning horse, Vow And Declare, and will receive the coveted silver half-dollar. This was our 19th Melbourne Cup evening, a tradition that goes way back to the very beginning of our Monday Evening Chats!

OUR CHAT ROOM: Our Chat Room can be accessed the same way that we accessed by going to our “Chat Room” link at charliechan.info, or use this direct link: http://www.charliechan.info/id17.html

THIS WEEK’S PRESENTATIONS: “Charlie Chan at the Race Track” (1948; 64 minutes) and Chapter 4 of the radio drama, “The Baffling Murder of Col. Willoughby“ (October 8,1936; 15 minutes) starring Walter Connolly.

“DOCKS OF NEW ORLEANS” CAST:
Roland Winters: Charlie Chan
Virginia Dale: Rene Blanchette
Mantan Moreland: Birmingham Brown
John Gallaudet: Captain Pete McNally
Victor Sen Young: Tommy Chan
Carol Forman: Nita Aguirre (alias Countess Allemand)
Douglas Fowley: Grock
Harry Hayden: Oscar Swendstrom
Howard Negley: Andre Pareaux (alias Mr. Fernand)
Stanley Andrews: Theodore Von Scherbe
Emmett Vogan: Henri Castanaro
Boyd Irwin: Simon Lafontanne
Rory Mallinson: Thompson
George J. Lewis: Sergeant Dansiger
Dian Fauntelle: Mrs. Swendstrom (not credited)
Ferris Taylor: Dr. Dooble, Coroner (not credited)
Haywood Jones: Mobile Jones (not credited)
Eric Wilton: Watkins (not credited)
Forrest Matthews: Detective (not credited)
Wally Walker: Chauffeur (not credited)
Larry Steers: Doctor (not credited)
Paul Conrad: Man from D.A.'s Office (not credited)
Frank Stephens: Sergeant (not credited)
Fred Miller: Armed Guard (not credited)
Charlie Jordan: Fingerprint Expert (not credited)

FEATURE SUMMARY: Simon Lafontanne, head of a chemical company, goes to consult Charlie Chan who is staying in New Orleans along with his number two son, Tommy, and his chauffeur and assistant, Birmingham Brown. Lafontanne suspects that he has an enemy who is having him followed everywhere he goes. Chan agrees to investigate further just before Lafontanne is nearly kidnapped in front of the detective's residence. The next morning, a pair of Lafontanne's business partners pressure him to sign a clause that has been added to their business agreement whereby, in the event of the death of any of the principals, his share of the profits will go to the remaining partners. A short time later, Lafontanne is found dead in his office, apparently of a heart attack, but Charlie Chan believes otherwise.

FEATURE NOTES: The film's title card reads: “Charlie Chan in ‘Docks of New Orleans’". Despite the title, the docks are seem only briefly during the credit titles, and, during the opening scene of the film, they are suggested as the ship ‘Presidente’ is being loaded through a cargo door with chemicals from the Lafontanne Chemical Company. Although not acknowledged in the onscreen credits, the film's story was derived from Monogram's 1938 picture, Mr. Wong, Detective. The working title for this movie was “Charlie Chan in New Orleans.”

TRIVIA: The ship seen portraying the SS ‘Oceanic’ through stock footage in our feature was the Canadian Pacific liner RMS ‘Empress of Japan.’

WORD OF THE WEEK: dogs - (Slang) The feet.
Birmingham Brown: "My dogs is killin' me."

TIME: We begin with greetings at 7:30 EASTERN TIME. Then, we share our “extra” presentation, part 4 of “The Baffling Murder of Col. Willoughby,” which will be followed at exactly 8:15 when we roll our first feature for our Monday evening, “Docks of New Orleans.”

LOCATION: Our Charlie Chan Family Chat Room, which is accessed at http://www.charliechan.info/id17.html.

IF YOU LACK A COPY OF OUR FILM: Often our features can be found online. Unfortunately, our feature is NOT available online, but our extra is, so please use the link provided at our Chat Room.

THIS WEEK’S IMAGE: (Please see the attachment located at the extreme lower portion of this newsletter.) Overcome by gang members who have taken over Charlie Chan's New Orleans apartment, Tommy Chan is carried to a closet for safe keeping.

OUR MONTHLY POLL: Please take a moment to cast your vote in our NOVEMBER 2019 POLL, found as you scroll down our Entrance Page (http://www.charliechan.info/index.html)! This month’s question: “Would you like to see a revival of the collaborative group-produced Charlie Chan film script project?” VOTE!!

OUR OCTOBER POLL RESULT: “Which would you most likely participate in to celebrate the Charlie Chan family Home's platinum 20th anniversary, Sunday, October 3, 2021?”

A trip to Earl Derr Biggers' home, Warren, Ohio and dinner at the nearby Welchfield Inn. 0%

A trip to Honolulu, Hawaii with tour of the HPD police museum, Chang Apana's grave, a Charlie Chan tour by Hawaii Steve's "Honolulu Ghost & Mystery Tours," and dinner at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. 42%

Organize a one-day Charlie Chan symposium (location to be determined) with discussion groups, guest speakers, and dinner. 42%

Meet at an existing film-related conference or convention, possibly pre-arranging to participate in some way such as hosting a film presentation with a group discussion, a "live" chat, etc. 16%

OUR CCF CHAT ARCHIVE: Please take a look at our growing collection of CCF Chat Texts from previous years and this year: http://www.charliechan.info/id630.html

NEXT WEEK: Please join us on Monday, November 18, as we commemorate the birthday of Boris Karloff with a viewing of “MR. WONG DETECTIVE.”

DON’T MISS THIS GREAT CHARLIE CHAN BLOG!: A great blog site, The Postman on Holiday, offered by our own Lou Armagno which is: "A place to explore all things surrounding Detective Charlie Chan, his creator Earl Derr Biggers, and their connection with Hawaii, Cleveland, and mystery fiction." It can be found at this address: https://thepostmanonholiday.com/

DO YOU HAVE A POLL QUESTION? Please feel free to suggest a Monthly Poll question! Send your ideas to: charliechanfamily@lyahoo.com!

SO, PLEASE JOIN US for this week’s Monday Evening Chat and Film Viewing as we share “DOCKS OF NEW ORLEANS.”

THANK YOU SO MUCH…

Sincerely,
Rush Glick