FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “When all players hold suspicious cards, good idea to have joker up sleeve.”

GREETINGS… This week we join “Charlie Chan at the Olympics”! A strange series of events in Honolulu sends Charlie Chan racing to the Berlin Olympic Games in a manner that would be the envy of the legendary Phileas Fogg himself! Once there, Chan and Number One Son, Lee, take on a ruthless international gang involved in a very deadly game of espionage; perhaps the detective’s most dangerous and challenging case EVER!

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 Olympics” (1937; 71 minutes) along with our “extra,” the 13th and concluding episode of “The Green Hornet“: “Doom of the Underworld” (20 minutes).

“Charlie Chan at the Olympics” CAST:

Warner Oland: Charlie Chan
Katherine De Mille: Yvonne Roland
Pauline Moore: Betty Adams
Allan Lane: Richard [Dick] Masters
Keye Luke: Lee Chan
C. Henry Gordon: Arthur Hughes
John Eldredge: Cartwright
Layne Tom, Jr.: Charlie Chan, Jr.
Jonathan Hale: Hopkins
Morgan Wallace: Honorable Charles Zaraka
Fredrik Vogeding: Captain Strasser
Andrew Tombes: Police Chief [E.R.] Scott
Howard Hickman: Dr. Burton
Selmer Jackson: Navy Commander Wright (not credited)
Edward Keane: Colonel Webster (not credited)

Arno Frey: Carlos (not credited)
Caroline "Spike" Rankin: Hotel Landlady (not credited)
O.G. "Dutch" Hendrian: Miller (not credited)
Billy Wayne: Ship's Steward (not credited)
Al Kikume: Honolulu Police Officer (not credited)
Emmett Vogan: Ship's Officer (not credited)
George Chandler: Ship's Radio Operator (not credited)
William von Brincken: Berlin Police Officer Posted as a Guard (not credited)
Brooks Benedict: Henchman (not credited)
Ferdinand Schumann-Heink: Officer on the Hindenberg (not credited)
Hans Fuerberg: Berlin Police Radio Officer (not credited)
John Peters: Berlin Police Radio Officer (not credited)
Minerva Urecal: Olympics Matron (not credited)
Constant Franke: Attendant (not credited)
Paul W. Panzer: Berlin Police Officer Posing as a Vendor (not credited)
Virgil B. Nover: Sign Language Expert (not credited)
Perry E. Seeley: Sign Language Expert (not credited)
Tommy Klein: Page Boy (not credited)
Ben Hendricks: Coast Guard Officer (not credited)
Don Brody: Navy Commentator (not credited)
Phillip Morris: New York Police Officer (not credited)
Lee Shumway: New York Police Officer (not credited)
Stanley Blystone: New York Police Officer (not credited)
Glen Cavender: Berlin Police Radio Car Officer (not credited)
Walter Bonn: Berlin Police Radio Car Officer (not credited)
David Horsley: Edwards (not credited)
Frank Bruno: Footman (not credited)
Theresa Harris: Black U.S. Olympic Athelete (not credited)
Tony Merlo (not credited)
Louis Natheaux (not credited)
Bill Beggs (not credited)
Perry Seeley (not credited)
Virgil B. Nover (not credited)
Dale van Sickel (not credited)

FEATURE SUMMARY: During flight tests over Honolulu an experimental airplane is hijacked and its pilot murdered. When the missing plane is chanced upon by Charlie Chan and son Charlie, Jr., it is discovered that the new guidance device, designed to allow military planes to fly unmanned, is missing. The detective traces the strategically important invention to the summer Olympic Games in Berlin, where spies, enemy agents, and other criminals are trying to obtain it, intent on selling it to another government. Chan's son, Lee, a member of the U.S. Olympic swim team, is on hand to help his father recover the device and solve the mystery.

FEATURE NOTES: This film contains newsreel footage of the dirigible Hindenburg which exploded only two weeks before the release of Charlie Chan at the Olympics, as well as several highlights of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, including a sequence featuring American runner Jesse Owens participating in the 4x100 relay. John Carradine is listed as a cast member in Hollywood Reporter production charts, but his participation in the final film has not been confirmed.

TRIVIA: The film, which referenced the ‘Hindenburg’ as a means of transportation and included stock footage of it, was released only 15 days following the ‘Hindenburg’ disaster on May 6, 1937.

THIS WEEK’S TERM: big noise - (Slang) An important person.

Charlie Chan: "Letter apparently from big noise..."

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. Fortunately, OUR FEATURE IS AVAILABLE ONLINE, so please use the link provided at our Chat Room.

OUR MONTHLY POLL: Please take a moment to cast your vote in our MARCH 2020 POLL, found as you scroll down our Entrance Page (http://www.charliechan.info/index.html)! This month’s question relates to “Charlie Chan‘s off-year.” Please be sure to cast YOUR vote!

OUR FEBRUARY POLL RESULT:

How are you like Charlie Chan at times?

I say "Thank you so much." 10%
I use occasional aphoristic statements. 10%
I use Chan-like courtesy at times 30%
From time to time, I do all of the above. 50%

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

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, April 6, for a shared viewing of “Charlie Chan on Broadway”!

AND… DON’T MISS THIS GREAT CHARLIE CHAN BLOG!: Continuing strongly in 2020, great blog site, The Postman on Holiday, offered by our own Charlie Chan and Earl Derr Biggers expert, 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/

THE CHARLIE CHAN FAMILY NEWSLETTER FOR THE YEAR 2019 IS NOW AVAILABLE! HonoluLou has edited and produced this year's recap of the past year, 2019, for all things Charlie Chan. This tour de force issue can be accessed at: https://thepostmanonholidayhome.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/2019-newsletter-master1-dec-28.pdf ENJOY!

SO, PLEASE JOIN US for this week’s Monday Evening Chat and Film Viewing as we share “Charlie Chan at the Olympics.”

THANK YOU SO MUCH…

Sincerely,

Rush Glick